Can Samsara be fixed ? part 2
May be it was arriving back in Bhutan that brought this question in my mind the other day : Can Samsara be fixed ?
I was writing my last blog « Can
Samasara be fixed part 1 » about my work in Vietnam, about my wonderful colleagues.
I had been so busy the last weeks in Vietnam, being so involved, active, engaged, planning ahead, preparing etc…then arriving in Paro airport…I
felt like a deep outbreath… « just let go »…
In Paro airport Tho and me met a young Rimpoche « by chance ». His peaceful smile reminded me of the importance of « doing
nothing »…(actually these Rimpoches are usually quite busy worldtravellers ….not much : doing nothing actually ? Just look at Thay…my god I know no one so active and going around places !...but of course he goes
slowly and mindfully)
Looking at the news on TV in some hotel rooms on my recent trip, I felt so weary…history repeats itself again and again…
As long as the three poisons of the mind, as they are described
in buddhist view : ignorance hatred and greed, are the fuel to turn the engine of the of the wheel of Samsara…yes there can be some progress sometimes, but the circle of suffering comes back on « another level » of time and
evolution, place…
So I wondered, why trying so hard to « fix » it…Is it at all « fixable » ?
Just stopping, sitting down, like these monks in Bhutan high
up in the mountains…in some cave…looking at a leaf and seing in the leaf the whole cosmos…the sky, the wind, the rain, the earth, the sun…and letting the confused Samasara be….confused…down there in the busy valley…
Two days ago I went with Sherub and her family up to Tango monastery. It is summer retreat season and most monasteries are conducting many pujas (ceremonies) and special events are going on during this period. Monks should not leave the monastery,
but lay people are invited to come and support their practice bringing them food etc…
A young monk, a longterm school friend of Sherub, she calls him « my brother » , welcomed us in Tango. He showed us his
tiny meditation hut « glued » to the rock. We drank tea there, it was cosy and confortable. One wall just the plain rock, but everything very clean and down to the essentials, but nice.
He told us he really hopes
to be accepted as a « life long hermit ». After completing Tango buddhist University he will go on a 3 year 3 months etc retreat to Cheri, but actually he wants to stay in retreat ALL his life. He told us it is his greatest wish since
he is very young !
He was such a joyful young man, joking with Sherub a lot, very friendly with us…he certainly did not give the impression of being withdrawn, and yet his greatest wish is to « leave this world »
and concentrate all his life on enlightement, self transformation and prayers for the well being of all beings.
He puzzled me…
In my previous blog « Can Samsara be fixed part 1 »,
I wrote that it is the wonders of Love and Compassion that enable to turn around the wheel of Samsara and bring about healing and happiness…
Yes we need the prayers of these monks…but we also need our actions to transform
the suffering of this world…
There is a saying by Anne Frank (at least FB says this saying is from her) : How wonderful it is that nobody needs to wait a single minute before starting to improve the world,
And I have to think of all these billions of acts of kindness, of courage, of love without which the world would just not survive,…and I think of all these monks here and everywhere who’s prayers keep our world in balance,
But I also remember a really nice Plumvillage song :
Happiness is here and now,
I have dropped my worries
Nowhere to go
Nothing to do
No longer in a hurry
Happiness is here
and now
I have dropped my worries
Somewhere to go
Something to do
Still no need to hurry….
"The vow of the Bodhisattva is that she will
not go into Nirvana until every single suffering being has entered Nirvana. One has to understand what this means. Our awakening is not a personal triumph. We do not have to win a spiritual sprint. We are one mind. Awakening is to penetrate more and more deeply
into this truth. The world is alive. And as long as there is suffering then this living whole is shattered. Whether it is my suffering or the suffering of another, when seen from the perspective of the Bodhisattva makes no difference, because, seen from this
perspective there is no ‘me’ or ‘another.’ In the Diamond Sutra, “Although the Bodhisattva saves all sentient beings, there are no sentient beings to save.”
Ps...the photo of the monk in the
"diaporama" is Neyfuk Tulku a very inspiring young Tulku