Long Walks On Leafy Streets

2/25/2014 Glover Road, Rock Creek Park, Washington, DC
I just got back from taking my father to the dentist. My parents are staying with my sister Hema now and so I drove to Gaithersburg, then back to DC to the clinic in Mt. Pleasant, then to Gaithersburg and back again to Washington. It was snowing heavily all morning, but the temperatures were at or above freezing, so not much stuck to the ground. I was able to go running and the driving was also not very difficult. But because I was rushing around I couldn’t really enjoy the snow. Nevertheless, even at a glance one could not but appreciate the beauty of the falling snow and how it covers the ground.
Yesterday it felt like the winter came back. For a few days during the past week we had a taste of spring. The snow banks from the big storm of the previous week all melted away leaving just a few reminders here and there.
Sunday evening I was signed up to “invite the bell” at the meditation meeting of the Washington Mindfulness Community.
This is a group of followers of the great Vietnamese Zen teacher, monk and philosopher Thich Nhat Hanh. I have been part of this group for over a decade now and it feels almost like family. The “bell inviter” literally rings the bell starting and ending the meditation gathering but it is much more than that. You can say the bell inviter is a sort of moderator for the meeting but even that doesn’t capture the essence of it. I have been doing this more frequently now, given that I am a more experienced practitioner and there is a need for someone to do it. I feel like it is my way of giving back.
Nicole had to withdraw at the last minute so I ended up going by myself. I walked the 2 miles from our home to the SriLankan Buddhist Vihara on 16th Street. When I go with Nicole I drive but I simply cannot contemplate driving by myself and adding all that carbon to the atmosphere. Especially on a perfectly beautiful day like that. The temperature was in the sixties and it was energizing to walk in the crisp late winter day. For a moment I started feeling melancholy about whether all this beauty would last or would it be destroyed by our greed and recklessness. But it helped that I was going to meditation and was practicing being in the moment and not being attached to anything. I realized that my attachment for nature to be in a certain way was causing much suffering and sorrow in me. One of the great teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Eastern religion in general is to look at the world as it is, and to accept it as it is. Everything in the world changes, whether it happens today or in thousands of years. Nothing is permanent. The earth has gone through many changes, and entire ecosystems and biota have disappeared.
Thich Nhat Hanh has a great way of describing the impermanent yet indestructible nature of life. He calls it “No coming, No going.” Things manifest when the conditions are right. Whether it is a flower or a cloud or a flame or any other object in the universe, it is never created nor destroyed. Before the cloud was a cloud it was present in the water. After it rains it goes back to the water.
I arrived just after 6pm. A SriLankan Buddhist monk was chanting a prayer on behalf of a family that was visiting the Vihara. The sound of the chanting was very calming and uplifting. But I found myself rushing to set up the meditation hall and get myself ready. Although I had help from Bill and Soye, two other members of the group, I was rushing until the last minute. The start of meditation was delayed by a couple of minutes. After I rang the bell three times we started meditating but my mind was still racing. I was castigating myself for rushing and for not being calm and relaxed. This went on for a few minutes before I realized that the central theme of this practice was to be full of peace and love within oneself and for others. I was not peaceful because I was upset with myself for not being peaceful! I had to accept myself the way I was and know that it was good. So I stopped worrying and focused on my breathing and the present moment, and being grateful for this opportunity to be with all these wonderful people and practice loving-kindness and harmonious peaceful co-existence. In a way this entire planet is our sangha, the community of fellow travelers in the journey of life, and every moment I am filled with joy for having this opportunity called life to experience it with all of its inhabitants, for the brief period during which we exist in our current manifestation.

Directory Previous