Yes, one of the keys to staying in the present moment is
to keep OUT of story.
Obviously it’s NOT as easy as it sounds.
You guessed it, we have two extremes and
in between, a middle path
{oh what a surprise, the Buddhist monk wants to
discus the middle path between all extremes}.
If one extreme is to make the mistake of
indulging our desire for catharsis, then
the other extreme is to utterly suppress the stuff we’ve
got going on in either our distant or recent past.
How do we find that middle point that
acknowledges what we’re going through
with enough detail to deal both with it and it’s causes,
but withOUT slipping into the trap of catharsis?
Whereas young students often make the mistake
of needless story telling,
middling students,
in their zeal to stay in the present moment…
often make the mistake of missing
profound contemplative opportunities
by trying to condense their circumstance
into a one or three syllable phrase…
that can be easily inserted into their teacher’s
contemplative exercises.
“Hey Lama Jigme, what are trying to say,
ya big nosed bastard?
Are ya trying to say that I’m f@#king up?”
Nope, you’re only guilty of being a middling Bodhisattva.
Yes, your heart is filling with compassion and enthusiasm, but
you are lacking a bit of experience.
That’s why it could be so helpful to share
ugly little experiences with a more senior Bodhisattva…
who could not only help you navigate it with
greater ease, but probably show you things that
might not have occurred to you for many years, thus
speeding up your learning curve.
Yes, this means telling a bit of a
reader’s digest condensed version of a story but
here our motive is NOT catharsis, or
making yourself look good, BUT rather to
learn as much as possible.
And don’t worry, if
it turns out you were the villain of the vignette, then
I won’t berate and scold you…
you’ve probably already taken care of that.
Do you work with your teacher every week?
May you and yours be
happy and healthy!
Om Mani Padme Hum,
NON-sectarian Buddhist: Monk, Teacher, Healer and Tantrika
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