nurturing bodhicitta
March 3, 2017
Bodhicitta is a Sanskrit word meaning awakened mind, the mind that senses a oneness in the temporal and the eternal nature of all things. Sometimes we experience a flash of clear and fleeting knowing difficult to express in words, yet making perfect sense like two hands coming together in a loud clap. When the awakened mind is stirred by some sound or sight or circumstance, we are fortunate, and truly fortunate if the sound or sight actually catches our attention. We are being invited by our own life and being to pay attention and to take great care of ourselves and each other.The __th century Chinese nun Sun-Buer cautions us about this quick moment of awareness:
The relic from before birth
Enters one’s heart one day.
Be as careful as if you were holding a full vessel,
Be as gentle as if you were caressing an infant.
We are being invited to greet that which is ancient, undying and yet unborn within us. It is ours, omnipresent and ever available to us. So easy and yet we must reach for it. May we recognize this ancient omnipresence as our own life. May we nurture this recognition. We can take our time. There is no rush since this long, wide gaze will last a lifetime, if we wish it to be that way. Beyond what we think of as lifetimes.
Let us dare to be careful, gentle, confident, and determined . Using silence as source of so many branching streams flowing in the dark. Enter the stream, swim in it, splash!