INSIGHTAotearoa
A newsletter for New Zealand's insight meditation practitioners and communities
kanya @ insightaotearoa.org | http://www.insightaotearoa.org
Monday April 4th, 2011
The theme of this issue is ‘The Buddha Smiles’
Kia Ora,
In this newsletter you’ll find…
EDITORIAL: Humour For Awakening
REFLECTION I: The Laughing Buddha, by Susan Jeffers
POEM: The Difference the Letter ‘R’ Makes, by Jacqui Furniss
REFLECTION II: Humour on the Path
WISE WORDS
CULTIVATING THE DHARMA GARDEN: The Buddha smiles in the dharma garden
WISDOM STORY
BOOK REVIEW: The Buddha Smiles, by Mari Gertrude Stein
THEMES: For upcoming issues
RESOURCES: for Dharma study and support
THE LAST WORD: Sharon Salzberg
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EDITORIAL: Humour For Awakening
When I started researching the theme for this month’s newsletter, I found there isn’t much available on Buddhist humour. This begs the question, are Buddhists a serious bunch? Surely not. But we live in a culture influenced by the Protestant work ethic, and the capacity to smile at life, to laugh and take things lightly is not part of that ethic. For adults, life is a serious business! Children laugh a lot, naturally and spontaneously, many times a day. They also live in the present moment. As we learn to be more present, we can also open to a more spontaneous way of being that arises out of presence. When we laugh or smile, it’s impossible to hold a negative thought, or to experience anger, ill-will, jealousy or resentment. When we smile, our hearts are open. One of the reasons why His Holiness the Dalai Lama is loved by so many is his capacity to see humour in any situation. More than most, he is someone who has experienced and witnessed great suffering, yet he is always smiling, always ready to laugh.
In this newsletter you will find something to make you smile, and maybe even laugh. Susan Jeffers’s words on the Laughing Buddha are a great teaching, and Jacqui Furniss’s poem is funny and insightful. There are some dharma jokes, and other delights. For those going through difficult times, may you be uplifted and enjoy the healing power of humour.
Kanya Stewart
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REFLECTION I: The Laughing Buddha
My outdoor Laughing Buddha…….never ceases to amaze me. He is laughing when the rain pours down on him. He is laughing when the sun bakes down. He is laughing when we put a Santa hat on him at Christmas time. There is nothing that takes away his laughter. I know he would be laughing even if a tree fell on him and crushed him into a million pieces. I would be crying, but he would be laughing! Obviously, the Laughing Buddha has learned that, “It’s all happening perfectly!” The spirit that emanates from his smile is one of trust, appreciation and inner joy.
I believe the Laughing Buddha represents the inner intelligence that lives within us all. He represents the part of us that is in tune with the “Grand Design”. He doesn’t try to control the chaos. Instead, he listens and moves comfortably within the chaos as the world unfolds around him. He stays open to a constant flow of “joyous survival” versus “turbulent survival.” He makes us realize that we can’t get rid of the chaos, but we can get very creative with the turmoil. We are all the creators of how we want to see this world.
Susan Jeffers, Ph.D., from her online newletter
Copyright © 2010 Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
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POEM: What a Difference an ‘R’ Makes
Dharma cat stares with his piercing green eyes
While drama cat wails with his pitiful cries.
Whereas dharma cat trusts there’ll be food on his plate
Drama cat thinks he can’t possibly wait.
His mind is possessed with delusion and greed
Whereas dharma cat knows he has all that he needs.
Fridge meditation has two sittings a day
For the rest of the time dharma cat plays.
But drama cat stares at the unopened door
For our little ‘performer’ always wants more.
So he sits by the fridge and mentally tries
To open the door with a glare from his eyes
While dharma cat sleeps in the shade of a tree
Complete in himself, he’s content as can be.
At the end of the day, as they sit by their bowl
One is half empty, the other is whole
Jacqui Furniss
Jacqui lives in New Plymouth with her partner and two cats; one is her muse, the other is her amuse.
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REFLECTION II: Humour On The Path
I remember something that Thich Nhat Hanh wrote some years ago, and how I was puzzled by it. He said “we must be able to smile to our sorrow”. I was going through a particularly difficult time of my life, and I had never thought of trying to smile to my sorrow. It didn’t make sense to me at the time.
Years later, I came across Laughter Yoga. As a teacher of yoga, I initially dismissed it, thinking that it was not “real” yoga. But my thoughts were narrow, and my beliefs about what is yoga and what isn’t were fixed. To me, yoga was a serious matter! When my sister-in-law started teaching a laughter class, she invited me along. I put my prejudices aside, went along to the class and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was something very liberating about having fun with a group of adults, and learning to laugh for no reason. I didn’t know any of them, and yet there was an intimacy in our laughing together which felt wonderful, as though we were old friends. When I left, I felt uplifted and happy, and physically I felt great.
Laughter brings a spaciousness and openness that we don’t feel when we are self-preoccupied or caught up in our thoughts. When we can step out of identification with our worries and obsessive thoughts, then we can stand back from the current story we are running. Being able to laugh and see the funny side of a situation means we are not contracted into the small space of ‘this is me, this is mine’; we are no longer caught on in the treadmill of the wanting, aversive and deluded mind states. With humour we change our stance, one where we can hold this ‘self’ and these desires lightly, where we can experience spaciousness and freedom. There are times, of course, when laughter isn’t appropriate, times when ‘smiling to our sorrow’ may be more what is required of us. Being able to turn things around can mean the difference between suffering and the end of suffering.
There are many different forms of humour – we can be mildly amused, enjoy some form of wit or repartee, or find something uproariously funny. And then there is the form of humour that can bring a smile to our eyes and lips, and change our mood so that we feel lighter, freeing us from the burdens we carry even if for a few moments. Humour is a great gift – it is a gateway to liberation. When we can laugh at ourselves, and learn to see our mistakes and foibles in a whole new way we aren’t so attached. It’s very freeing to stand back and be amused by our own absurdities.
Cultivating a sense of humour in the midst of life’s challenges can train us to stop and see clearly. One of the practices that can support us to gently incline our minds towards letting go and equanimity is the Inner Smile Meditation. This is a Tibetan Buddhist practice which I have been exploring lately. When I did it in my meditation this morning, my heart opened and I felt uplifted and happy. You begin with cultivating a genuine smile, so that you feel it in your eyes and heart as well as around the mouth. Then you expand that energy of the smile, feeling the warmth and openness it brings into your body/mind. You imagine that energy flowing through your blood stream….. moving up into your head, filling the whole of your head. You send it down into your torso, filling your chest cavity, abdomen and all your internal organs. You imagine this smiling energy, light and spacious, moving down your arms and into your hands…. down your spine and back….. filling your lower back and buttocks….. your pelvis, and then flowing down to fill your legs and feet. You do this slowly with awareness until your whole being is filled with this sense of smiling, filled with wellbeing. Take some time at the end of this meditation to experience how this is for you.
Kanya Stewart
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WISE WORDS
As we go through life thinking heavy thoughts, thought particles tend to get caught between our ears, causing a condition called truth decay. So be sure to use your truth brush and mental floss twice a day. And when you’re tempted to practice tantrum yoga, remember what we teach in the Absurdiveness Training Class: “Don’t get even, get odd.”
Swami Beyondananda. Listen to Swami on http://www.youtube.com
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At one time a young monk came to meet with Ajahn Chah, somewhat elated after a powerful experience in meditation. After approaching him and asking for a private interview, the monk said, proudly, ‘Ajahn, I think I’ve just entered the stream.’
After some silence, Ajahn Chah responded: ‘Fish sauce’.
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CULTIVATING THE DHARMA GARDEN: The Buddha smiles in the Dharma Garden
Sitting very still in the garden – as still as a meditator – and keeping watch, I usually have no trouble finding something to smile at. It often involves a bird. In mid-summer it is comical to watch the fat bulge of a cherry plum bob its way down the thin neck of a kereru. One day something landed on top of my (hatted) head, said ‘coo’, then flew off. It was one of the neighbour’s doves. Once I got over the surprise I laughed. I also have comical conversations with the fantails as they flit around me looking for insects, and I try to match their high-pitched squeaking. (They are not meant to be funny, but I am sure they sound like that to any humans overhearing them.)
I don’t have that many laugh-out-loud moments involving plants, but I have had a few smiles at vegetables that grow oddly, by design or accident. These have included beans which as they grew split into two ‘legs’ on their lower halves – and then crossed them. I also have a grin or two at ugly vegetables, such as overgrown Brandywine tomatoes, and the amazingly warty skin of the French heirloom pumpkin Galeux d’Eysines.
However most of my ‘Buddha smiles’ in the garden are smiles of contentment, as I see nature doing its thing in all its diversity, and producing good food and beautiful flowers and leaves for me while it is at it. It is an enjoyment which comes with a built-in warning against attachment. One knows that the glossy purple skin of a ripe eggplant will only look that beautiful for a short time, and that one is going to eat it as soon as it looks that good anyway. The red tulip will only glow for a week or two, and only once will you see it backlit by the setting sun so that it looks like a transparent red goblet. Maybe these experiences will come around again next year, and maybe not. If they are here now – now is the time to smile at them, to enjoy them to the full.
A picture of an amusing ugly pumpkin can be seen on Christine’s blog – http://www.ecogardenernz.blogspot.com – on the post ‘Ugly pumpkin seeks fairy godmother’
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WISDOM STORY
There is a story that goes like this. A man, standing on the edge of a deep precipice, loses his footing and falls. As he falls at a rapid pace, he manages to grab hold of a tree that is growing out of the edge of the cliff. Hanging on grimly to a branch, he calls out in desperation ‘Help, help!’. The silence is vast and deep. And then a voice calls out ‘Let go, my son, let go, and I will catch you’. Another long silence. Then the man’s voice quavers ‘Is there anybody else out there?’
Source unknown.
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BOOK REVIEW: THE BUDDHA SMILES – A Collection of Dharmatoons by Mari Gayatri Stein, White Cloud Press ISBN 1-883991-28-5
In the Foreword to this book, Sylvia Boorstein talks about how this delightful book came into being. During her first retreat as a teacher she gave a dharma talk on the hindrances, in which she expressed a wish that there was a cartoonist who could draw an image of meditators sitting calmly on their cushions, appearing serene. From each head there would be a balloon showing each person’s experience of the hindrances; an aversion here, a desire there and so on. An hour after the talk concluded, a drawing was posted on the bulletin board, showing seven meditators and a dog. Each meditators had a balloon showing her/his preoccupations. There was also a dog with a bone in her balloon, and a cat with a blank one.
I love this book – it’s insightful and quirky, with cartoons to make you smile or laugh out loud, offering Mari’s insights and personal reflections on life within the context of the dharma. Her work is a testimony to the power of images as a way to express something in a way words may not always do so effectively. Mari has a unique, playful and creative way of revealing aspects of daily life from a Buddhist perspective. I particularly love the way she has pets and animals interacting with her human subjects. The book combines images and words, her own as well as quotes from well-known teachers such as Pema Chodron, Charlotte Joko Beck, Sylvia Boorstein and others, not to mention the wise words of the original teacher, the Buddha.
I won’t be spoiling the joy of this book by telling you about the concluding cartoon. We see the same six meditators as at the beginning, joined by the dog and cat. All of their balloons are empty!
Kanya Stewart
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THEMES: for upcoming issues
Short contributions from readers (original or fully attributed) on the theme of the month are welcomed. Please email them to the Editor – kanya @ insightaotearoa.org
MAY 2011 – Dealing with Fear. Deadline for contributions: Sunday April 24.
JUNE 2011 – Dharma in Daily Life. Deadline for contribution:Sunday May 22.
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RESOURCES: for Dharma study and support
NEW! Locally-produced Stephen Batchelor DVDs/on-line talks
The November 2010, panel discussion between Buddhist teacher Stephen Batchelor and Christian theologian Lloyd Geering at St Andrews on The Terrace in Wellington is now available as a DVD. A well attended meeting, the DVD includes responses to the questions which were put by a lively audience. The topic of the evening’s discussion was “Can Christianity and Buddhism Remain Relevant in the 21st Century?”. Also available is a DVD of the talk that Stephen Batchelor gave at the National Library in Wellington in December 2004 on the topic of his book “Living With The Devil”.
Produced by the Wellington Insight Meditation community, each DVD costs $30, including postage. To get one or more DVDs, make a deposit into the WIMC account at Kiwibank 38 9010 0244181 00 with the reference ‘Geering Batchelor DVD’, “Batchelor DVD” or “both DVDs”. At the same time send a message to treasurer @ wimc.org.nz letting treasurer Janice Hill know how much you’ve deposited, which DVDs you want along with your postal address. Alternatively, send a cheque to WIMC, PO Box 6626, Marion Square, Wellington 6141 with a letter stating which DVD you want, and how many copies.
OR You can watch both the 2010 panel discussion and the 2004 talk online at http://www.wimc.org.nz .
‘MINDFULNESS IN PLAIN ENGLISH’
This excellent basic guide to Insight meditation by the Ven Henepola Gunaratana can now be downloaded from http://www.urbandharma.org/dharma4/mpe.htm
AOTEAROA BUDDHIST EDUCATION TRUST
A charitable trust which raises funds to bring insight meditation teachers to New Zealand. To find out more visit http://www.abet.net.nz
INSIGHT MEDITATION IN AOTEAROA ON THE WEB
http://www.insightmeditation.org.nz – information on New Zealand’s insight meditation practitioners and communities
http://www.insightaotearoa.org – the website for this newsletter
http://www.southern.insightmeditation.org.nz – Christchurch sangha Southern Insight’s website
http://www.temoata.org - Te Moata retreat centre in the Coromandel
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THE LAST WORD: Meditation and Humour
Meditation, though wonderful, can be hard work. As with most hard work, it’s greatly benefited by a good dose of humour. Humour is a balm that can frequently soothe the painful edges we encounter in intensive self-awareness practice, whether it’s on the cushion or in the midst of daily life. It is often noted that nuaming our demons is a good first step toward dis-empowering their hold on us. If we reach a time when our response is to gently laugh at their appearance, then we can have a moment of more freedom.
Sharon Salzberg
Taken from ‘The Buddha Smiles’ by Mari Gayatri Stein (1999), Oregon, White Cloud Press, p.xi
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with metta, Christine Dann, Kanya Stewart – supported by Peter Fernando & Marianne Adams. Thanks to Ron Dubin & Caren Wilton for their technical expertise & support.