I watched a wonderful interview with one of my teachers, Pema Chodron, on Bill Moyers' program "Faith and Reason". There are many full length programs from PBS at WNET New York's website.
Here is an excerpt from that interview that I feel is appropriate in follow up of last weeks criticism of the Bush administration. I try to nurture compassion for George W. and all others trapped in their attachments and fears to the point of terrorizing others.
PEMA CHÖDRÖN: In Tibetan, the word is Dunzi. I love this word, Dunzi. It means distractions -- distractions that just sort of, you can waste your whole life in Dunzi, you know, just, like, the lifestyle of just sort of flipping through magazines. Or -- I don't know. The thing is, what we find if we're not used to sitting quietly with ourselves and not used to meditation and not used to having any inner solitude in our lives, we find that we're very threatened by nothing happening. And we are addicted to dunzi addicted to distractions. And that's why you get on an airplane, and it's as if, I think they're just, like, terrified, what would happen if the video went off and there was no food, and we all had to sit there for the whole, you know, 1 1/2-hour flight, You know, and not have any entertainment? And, you know, all the books, you forgot your book and everything. It would be kind of interesting to see if people would, like, freak out. Because you look up -- you walk up and down the aisles, you know what everyone would do, they'd close their eyes and go to sleep. They'd just try to not be there. I try to meditate on airplanes. It is not easy, actually, because there is so much, the -- the videos are going like this, change, change, change, and there's all this electrical sound going through, and everyone is working with their little gameboys. And their little things and there's, like, so much happening in that little space, you know? Everyone's sitting in their little seats, and there's just, like, chaos. But it's all in the name of entertainment, you know, distracting you from being in this dreadful experience of being in this airplane for, you know, for however long. This lousy world, this lousy people, this lousy government, this lousy everything. Lousy weather, lousy blah blah blah blah. Pissed off, you know, it's too hot in here, it's too cold, I don't like the smell and, the person is too tall in front, and -- too fat next to me, and they're wearing perfume and I'm allergic, and just -- unnnh! So he says, the analogy is that you're barefooted, it's like being barefooted and walking across blazing-hot sand or across cut glass. Or in a field with thorns. And your feet are bare, and you say, this is just, you know, it's really hurting, it's terrible, it's too sharp, it's too painful, it's too hot. Do I have a great idea! I am just going to cover the whole, everywhere I go, I'm going to cover it with leather. And then it won't hurt my feet anymore. That's like saying, "I'm going to get rid of her and get rid of him and get the temperature right, and I'm going to ban perfume in the world and, you know, there will be no, nothing that bothers me anywhere. There -- I am going to get rid of everything, including mosquitoes, that bothers me, anywhere in the world, and then I will be a very happy, content person." We're laughing, but it's what we all do. That is how we do approach things. We think, if we could just get rid of them or cover it with leather, then our pain would go away. Well, sure, because, you know, then it wouldn't be cutting our feet anymore -- I mean, it's just logical, isn't it? But it doesn't make any sense, really. So he said, "but if you simply wrap the leather around your feet" -- in other words, shoes -- then you could walk across the boiling sand and the cut glass and the thorns, and it wouldn't bother you. So the analogy is, if you work with your mind, instead of trying to change everything on the outside, that's how your temper will cool down.
No comments:
Post a Comment