Feeling more, not less

[RichardH]

This week there was news of a mass execution in Iraq. Those who calmly carried it out recorded it and posted it. Politics aside, seeing this kind of thing I feel it more deeply than ever before. It doesn't mean getting depressed or thrown off balance, but it is felt more. When i was younger i would look at images of cruelty and suffering and feel it, but there was also a separation or layer of insulation. That layer of insulation is gone. At the same time there is a bigger context, and it doesn't confuse. It is the same with seeing joyful things, seeing people happy and having a good time. I do not need to be personally participating, just seeing them happy is enough, like a wedding party taking pictures in the park the other day. I don't know if this is due to practice, seems so, but it could also just be getting older. Whatever the case I am grateful for all of it. It is more alive.

Has anyone had a similar change happen? ...what does it mean? Thanks.

Gassho Daizan

[Ishin]

Daizan

When my son was 3 he would get up on the back of the sofa and jump off the back of the couch and yell "In free and yon" ( three year old interpretation of Buzz Lightyear). His concern of where or how he would fall didn't seem to occur to him. It freaked me out. Now that I am a parent and I see my kids do things, I think back to the stuff I used to do when I was younger and I think, thank goodness I am still alive.

Perhaps with practice and age comes wisdom. We look with sadness at what the world is doing to itself and know how terrible it really all is, and at the same time unnecessary.

Your sadness at these events is mine, and I think not only of the victims, but the perpetrators, and realize we are ALL victims in this.

Gassho
C

[TimF]

I feel it more deeply than ever before. It doesn't mean getting depressed or thrown off balance, but it is felt more. When i was younger i would look at images of cruelty and suffering and feel it, but there was also a separation or layer of insulation. That layer of insulation is gone. At the same time there is a bigger context, and it doesn't confuse.

In my humble opinion, I think that this helps to show just how interconnected we all really are. Maybe you feel it more deeply because you are more aware of this deep down inside.

Gassho,
Tim

[Hans]

Hello Daizan,

it means you are beginning to open up. The pain will get worse and worse and more frequent in one way, yet you will learn to deal with it more and more as well. We've all been raised to not identify with the other, when in truth there is no ultimate separation in Buddha nature.

Remember Top Gun...and how the Russians always wore helmets that wouldn't show their faces?

Your tears are Kanzeon's tears...and in order to turn those tears into a call to action, to really embody and express Kanzeon, we all have to find ways in which to make Samsara a better dharma practise ground for everyone involved! ALL of them, even those ISIS guys. But make no mistake, Samsara's nature is to be raw and dissatisfying. That's why we have to awaken and realise our innate Buddha nature.

Gassho,

Hans Chudo Mongen

[Meishin]

Hello Daizan,

I read that during a public event, the Dalai Lama heard a woman's account of atrocities in her village. He was seen to weep like a baby. Moments later he tugged at the beard of one of two bearded clerics he was introduced to. He laughed like a child. Nothing was held back, it seems.

Gassho,
John

[Nindo]

Has anyone had a similar change happen? ...what does it mean? Thanks.

Yes, I have ... I don't know what it means. It just feels right. I find tears welling up sometimes during the morning news. I feel sorrow for victims and perpetrators alike. I feel joy and sympathy for people who are celebrating or just having fun. I feel proud of the achievements of young people in our community.
While I can still be very judgmental, I seem to allow more openness, immediateness at times. I am grateful for this, too.

Gassho,
Nindo

[Amelia]

After my grandpa died was when I stopped being able to separate what was happening to other people from myself.

[Kyonin]

Hi Daizan,

That happens to me as well. Living in this country where injustice and separation seem to be the way of life, one gets the opportunity to practice all the time.

Sometimes I cry. Sometimes not. Like them or not, I just understand things and keep on practicing. Sitting.

But then a little cat playing makes me happy.

Kannon is always present.

Gassho,

Kyonin

[Entai]

Your sadness at these events is mine, and I think not only of the victims, but the perpetrators, and realize we are ALL victims in this.

Gassho
C

Clark, you made an important point. Despite my political views, I try to remember that these acts are born out of anger and ignorance. All of our suffering is water from the same poisoned well.

Gassho, Entai

[Roland]

I'm 54 now and I'm a journalist for 28 years. Far from becoming more cynical, I empathize more with the victims and the suffering. I think it's part of my spiritual development but also a consequence of getting older. I also feel sorrow for the perpetrators. So often they are young men, denying their own humanity, killing themselves slowly as they forget how to empathize with others. Sitting is a moment of freedom for me - freedom from hatred and from being overwhelmed by it all - a way to center myself again.

Gassho, Roland

[Shinzan]

Daizan et al,
For me, this is Avalokiteshvara hearing the cries of the world. And thru this practice, cultivating the capacity to hold all the pain (and joy) of life. The only way is by being available, being vulnerable to it all, the pain of the slain and the pain of the slayer. And vulnerable to my pain as a witness, the vicarious trauma as well. And yet, still being able to discriminate that harming others is wrong. Taking appropriate action to prevent harm, especially to little kids who want to fly.
This practice does seem to tenderize me.
_/\_ Shinzan

[RichardH]

Thank you for these responses. The heart is more open, and anger at other people doesn't have traction for long. There is getting caught up in stories all the time, but they also pop like bubbles all the time. Swept away with the wave of a fan. Each morning can be a new morning, and each face a new face. The story of the Dalai Lama is beautiful... Time to cry is time to cry, time to laugh is time to laugh, no stain on Mind.

Gassho
Daizan

[Heisoku]

Thank you for this Daizan.
The sight of those rows of men lined up brought me so much sorrow for those lives about to be wasted, the ignorance that brought this about and the fact that this has been going on, particularly in this region, for thousands of years. It makes our practice of bringing compassion and wisdom into our lives (and hence into the lives of those we meet) so much more important. Each action a drop, but drop by drop even granite will erode.
It reminds me of the first chapter in Norman Fischer's book on Lojong where training in the preliminaries is described as understanding the preciousness of human life, the inevitability of death, the inescapability of suffering and for me the awesome and indelible power of our actions. It makes each of our actions so important. It still hurts though.
Gassho Heisoku.

[Amelia]

And metta for all victims.

[Heisoku]

Yes Amelia!
Gassho.