Seeing Clearly: bringing the Buddha to the gym

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

bringing the Buddha to the gym

Hello, All,

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of attending a Sock Hop at Waukazoo-Carolyn arranged it as a farewell party, and a great time was had by all, as you can see from the pictures. I even got to teach the poor children how to do the Swim, the Jerk and the Pony (none of which caught on, by the way:)) Anyway, thanks to Carolyn for getting us all togehter. What a blast!

In other news, I returned to my old (really, really old) routine of going to the gym in the mornings. Doing this requires me to get out of bed earlier and bypass the couch, coffee and reading that have characterized my mornings for some time, and I have been worried about letting go of this meditation/reflection time that has been so instrumental in staying centered and returning to a peaceful place on a daily basis through the thicks and the thins of the past few months. In the past, going to the gym has become sort of an obsession and I this is not what I am seeking anymore. My plan was to take my Buddha to the gym with me, by downloading my audiotapes by Thich Nhat Hanh and Pema Chodron, along with my favorite spiritual rock star, Krishna Das, onto my little music player and see how that worked out. Happy to say that it has been very interesting and engaging, at least so far. The variety has kept me engaged-this morning, for example, I listened to Tay talk about the spirituality of nature, Krishna Das chanting, Tom Waits singing a great funky love song, Pure Prairie League singing Amy, and Fleetwood Mac, among many others. I adjust the treadmill or exercise to suit the song, so every day is different.

Having said this, I can also say that I have had some pretty significant ups and downs over this past week or so. There are days when my experience with my eye and cancer are very much at the forefront of my mind and I wish with all my heart that I could have my old eye back. When there is self-consciousness it is hard to be content. Thankfully, these days are followed by more days of joy and contentment. This is the way of life for all of us, of course. Thanks to the people in my life for carrying me along.

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The Journey

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

© Mary Oliver.

a poem from TRAVELING MERCIES by Annie Lamott

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridge to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water looking out
in different directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
in a culture up to its chin in shame
living in the stench it has chosen we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the back door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks that use us we are saying thank you
with the crooks in office with the rich and fashionable
unchanged we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us
our lost feeling we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us like the earth
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is

--w.s. merwin

from Kabir, Indian mystic poet

Friend, hope for the truth while you are alive.

Jump into experience while you are alive!...

What you call "salvation" belongs to the time before death.

If you don't break your ropes while you are alive,

do you think ghosts will do it after?

The idea that the soul will join with the ecstatic

just because the body is rotten--

that is all fantasy.

What is found now is found then.

If you find nothing now, you will simply end up with

an empty apartment in the City of Death.

If you make love with the divine now, in the next life you will have the face of satisfied desire.

Night Letter to theReader by Billy Collins

Night Letter to the Reader

I get up from the tangled bed and go outside,

a bird leaving the nest,

a snail taking a holiday from its shell,

but only to stand on the lawn,

an ordinary insomniac

amid the growth systems of garden and woods.

If I were younger, I might be thinking

about something I heard at a party,

about an unusual car,

or the press of Saturday night,

but as it is, I am simply conscious,

an animal in pajamas,

sensing only the pale humidity

of the night and the slight zephyrs

that stir the tops of the trees.

The dog has followed me out

and stands a little ahead,

her nose lifted as if she were inhaling

the tall white flowers,

visible tonight in the darkened garden,

and there was something else I wanted to tell you,

something about the warm orange light

in the windows of the house,

but now I am wondering if you were even listening

and why I bother to tell you these things

that will never make a difference,

flecks of ash, tiny chips of ice.

but this is what I want to do--

tell you that up in the woods

a few night birds were calling,

the grass was cold and wet on my bare feet,

and that at one point, the moon,

looking like the top of Shakespeare's

famous forehead,

appeared, quite unexpectedly,

illuminating a band of moving clouds.

This poem does what all good art does-it makes my heart fill as I recognize myself in it, and I say, "yes! that is exactly it!" and I realize once again that I need to tell you so many things. I feel inspired. Alive.

There are not enough hours.

a note from Kevin Griffin, author and spritual leader from Shambhala