After watching the news this morning and seeing all the “un-peace” going on in the world I decided to add another chapter to my blog on peace. As I looked around my office, I could see my two little doggies sound asleep in their beds with visions of supper soon to appear. Suddenly Bubbles the barker heard the sound of the cat in the other room using the kitty liter and up she jumped barking and trying to run to where she heard the noise. My peace and hers had been interrupted with the simple sound of a cat in the other room. Has some simple thing, or words, or newscast interrupted your peace today? Mine has and I’m writing a series on peace! Yikes…
I began to wonder how some of my favorite authors have dealt with the subject and so I looked on my bookshelf and found this wonderful book by a Zen Buddhist teacher and writer, Jan Chozen Bays, MD, entitled The Vow-Powered Life A Simple Method for Living with Purpose. I quickly found the word peace in the index on page 140. Here is part of what she wrote:
I asked myself, how can I work for world peace when I see it to be unattainable? Then I realized that the power of anger, greed, ignorance, and their resulting violence is so strong it is like entropy. If we do not work against it, if we do not work actively for peace, everything will inevitably run downhill, and then peace, even a piece of peace, will be impossible.
Thus, in full realization that it was impossible, I renewed my vow to work for peace. I began at home. The only world I can bring to peace is my own inner world. My motto became, “If I am a little more at peace, the entire world is more at peace.’”[1] (emphasis mine)
If we all take Dr. Bays’ advice and take up her motto and use it every day whenever and wherever we can imagine how much more peaceful our individual lives would be. And just like a common cold that spreads with a sneeze around the house or the office we could spread peace with a simple affirmation in our homes, at work, in the grocery store, or at the gas pump!
Work to change your life and when someone tries to “un-peace” you don’t let them. Keep your peace because it is always with you. Sometimes it’s hidden behind a wall of fear, anger, or despair but it is there if we open our hearts and minds to it and let it back in. Let’s recite our affirmation and hold to the truth that life with peace is worth living and without it–it’s an unnecessary struggle and burden.
[1] Bays, J. C. (2015) The Vow-Powered Life A Simple Method for Living with Purpose. Shambhala: Boston
Entropy: A doctrine of inevitable social decline and degeneration. (Dictionary.com)
We feed our mind with many things and what we feed it with can determine who we are, how we treat others, and what will manifest in our lives. Words can be sweet like the taste of a ripe apple in Spring or sour like a pickle that has been soaked in brine for many weeks or months. But it is always up to us which we will eat and which we will share with others. And how we share it…
Cleary titles a section in the book “The Great Task.” “We are swept away by memorizing sayings and living inside conceptual consciousness. Has it not been said, ‘Concepts act as robbers, consciousness becomes waves’? If you have not mastered the great task, nothing compares to stopping, in the sense of quiet cessation, the purifying and quieting of the body and mind. At all times avoid dwelling obsessively on things, and it will be easy to unveil this (page 42).” [1]
This last chapter will totally debunk the 9 chapters before it! What a fabulous way to end my story…
Kaz Tanahashi writes about it so clearly. What an “original face” he has! Filled with joy for sure!
Many of us may remember the wonderful play and movie “Oliver! the Musical” with warmth and laughter. There is a song in it that is so powerful and yet sad if you really listen to the words. Watched by his fellow orphans, Mark Lester, as Oliver Twist, dares to ask for more, in the film “Oliver!” (Columbia Pictures). [1]
The Secret to a More Fulfilling Life: Part 5 Atonement
Posted in attachment, birth, BUddhism, cause and effect, chant, Christianity, death, enlightenment, fears, happiness, hate speech, human race, Kazuaki Tanahashi, love, prayer, religion, self-help, sickness, suffering, Uncategorized, wisdom, Zen, tagged anger, atonement, faith, greed, ignorance, inspiration, karma, learning, Living by Vow A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and Text., Living by Vow A Practical Introduction to Eight Essential Zen Chants and texts, relationships, sitting, thoughts, thoughts are things, Truth, Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary on June 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Atonement has been defined in many ways such as reparation for a wrong doing or making amends for your actions, words, and/or deeds. Or even read as “at one meant.” In, Buddhism we have a gatha or chant that we recite at the end of our sitting period. It is simple yet powerful.
All harmful karma ever committed by me since of old
On account of my beginingless greed, anger, and ignorance,
Born of my body, mouth, and thought,
Now I atone for it all…
Kaz Tanahashi in his book Zen Chants reminds us that “We are in the midst of changeable and unchangeable karma in each moment. We are bound by cause and effect, but at the same time we are partly free of cause and effect. This is the case during meditation, when we can be completely free from the chain of causation. At this time, we can be anybody and anywhere. We are what we meditate. We are also the source of cause and effect (page 146).[1]
Each time I recite this chant I feel like I’ve been given a new life, and a new opportunity to get something right! To have a “do over” as we might say today. I may not be able to have a “do over” with someone who has passed away or no longer will take my calls, texts, or emails, but atone I must—to forgive myself for my behavior or words or deeds that harmed or hurt another. Regardless of whether the person is someone you know or a total stranger if we have harmed then atonement is the best action to take. If we decide not to take that action it doesn’t mean that we’re done with it anyway!
I once worked with a congregant of mine who had a very bad relationship with his brother. Upon his brother’s untimely death, he went into a great depression for how he had left their relationship. It came to me when we were together one day for him to simply meditate on the love that he had held back from his brother and ask an imaginary angel to deliver him a message of repentance, love, and compassion. Not long after he said that his brother had come to him in a dream and they hugged and forgave each other, and his pain and suffering was relieved. His love for his brother was evident in his countenance he was smiling joyfully.
He was freed from the chain of causation through atonement! How chained are you? What will you do about it? Will you atone and be released from those thoughts and emotions? Or do you choose to live with the pain, anger, and animosity? The choice is yours—which will it be.
[1]Tanahashi, K. (2015) Zen Chants Thirty-Five Essential Texts with Commentary. Shambhala: Boston and London
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