Long Walks On Leafy Streets

10/26/2014 Tuckerman St NW, Washington, DC
I just came home after meditation at the Srilankan Buddhist Vihara on 16th Street. I meditated with people from the Washington Mindfulness Community (WMC), a group of followers of Thich Nhat Hanh. He is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and we affectionately call him “Thay,” meaning Teacher. Thay lives and teaches at a monastery in a France named Plum Village.
WMC celebrated its 25th anniversary couple of weeks ago. One of its founders, Richard Brady, visited from Vermont to join us on this occasion. Richard is a dear friend of ours and he was one of the main speakers at our wedding. He is also a wonderful man, a great teacher and mentor. After teaching at Sidwell Friends for a long time he has retired to Vermont. That he has Quaker background and the fact that Nicole studied at a Quaker school was one of the things that created a strong bond between us when Nicole and I first started dating.
I have been meditating with this group for the past 13 years. For this anniversary I wrote an essay titled “My WMC story” that can be read on my website. Just click on the little photo at the top left of this page, then “Writings” and then “Stories.”
Today I walked to meditation. The Vihara is just over 2 miles from our home and I walked briskly, getting there in under 40 minutes. It was quite warm today with a cool breeze. These days it is such a pleasure to be out. To enjoy the cool sunshine, the glorious colors on the trees and the clear skies – it is heavenly.
Every season has its beauty but fall is especially beautiful. I was reading a very profound article about fall by the Islamic scholar Omid Safi on the blog On Being by Krista Triplett. It is titled “The Autumn of Our Existence” and talks about the Islamic teaching of letting go of our superficial ego and revealing the divinity within, just as the trees let go of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll gives the trees their green color and so the leaves don’t really turn color as much as they reveal their true colors.
This is really at the foundation of all religions, including those of the indigenous people of various countries. It is the theme of Eckhart Tolle’s book “A New Earth” that I mentioned in the previous post. Reading it has been really transformational. Although this is something I have read about and was aware of, Tolle makes it so much more clear and systematic. It is gratifying to know that what you have been thinking is not some obscure or offbeat thought but something that is central to all religions. Problem is that so much religious discourse is caught up in superficiality and the core teaching is lost. Simple as it may sound, it is extremely difficult to let go of this superficial ego that has been built up by what Thay calls our “mental formations.” While most of us prefer to go about our lives not looking deeply into the nature of life or our own selves it is good to know that there are many awakened souls who are asking those questions.
It is good to know that I am not walking alone. It is also good to be reminded of the divinity within each person. Life is truly joyful when you can see the divinity within yourself and also look to find the divinity in each person, in every living being, within every rock and every falling leaf.

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