The Nirvana of Buddhism or Peace of Christ of Christianity is more than a mere, passing emotional state. Nirvana or Peace of Christ we could see as an underlying bliss that we could characterize as calmness of being, or tranquility of presence. Emotional states, such as sadness and happiness, are by nature transitory, yet we engage spiritual practice to cultivate a joy that is not transitory. At first, we may get only brief glimpses of this; in time, this bliss comes to characterize our lives more and more, until this bliss is stabilized as the natural, normal environment we live and live from, sharing with others mostly without words. That is, we become like a flower giving off the scent of calm sweetness through no effort on our part. In some sense, we have become the Sweetness.
*Arem Nahariim-Samadhi
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A Buddhist story tells of a man fleeing from justice. He tried to escape into the forest, but he fell into a pit. He grabbed hold of a vine, as he was going down. He escaped death. He saw there were two large snakes at the bottom of the pit. Holding tightly to the vine, he saw, additionally, two mice above and eating at the vine he was holding. He could not ascend or descend. He, suddenly, noticed a bee nest above, at the rim of the pit. The bees flew in and out of the hive and, as they did, honey began dripping down upon his lips. He tasted the sweetness and, so, forgot all about all else. He was rapt by the sweetness of blessing.
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One of the most surprising things we may see about ourselves - which is true of most others, also -, when we start having time for Silence daily and choose to live mindfully, is how we can habitually resist seeing the good and focus on what we see to be the bad. We may be astonished to see how we do not trust the good and how we, therefore, sabotage it, running back into the miserable, but known, cave of emotional misery. Simply having resolve not to live this way is not enough. We have to retrain ourselves, cultivating sensitivity to and receptivity to the good, along with the grace of gratitude. We are not here to live in emotional suffering, thinking somehow this is a life of humbleness and honoring to the Sacred.
Too much religion tends to educate persons to be miserable, thinking this is honoring a "god" and true humbleness. For example, notice how almost always Jesus and Mary in Christian art, when together are apart, have a look of sadness. Contrast this with Buddhist artwork depicting the Buddha. While central to Buddhism is the teaching that emotional suffering is not the way we are to live, much Christian teaching seems to validate such emotional suffering as the best way to live.
Rather, we can by Grace and sincere intent apply a new way of living that slowly transforms us from sufferers to enjoyers. We need to practice allowing ourselves to taste the sweetness of positive emotions, including the quiet contentment which is both pleasing to and healthy for us. This will cultivate an attitude of gratitude and habituate us to living a life receptive to and enjoying of the joyfulness of Life. Then, slowly, we will see that we are more and more comfortable with tasting life as blessing, and we are less prone to seek a false security behind the shadows of emotional disquiet.
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*Lotus of the Heart is a Work of Arem Nahariim-Samadhi ~ a Hospice Chaplain, interspiritual author, writer, poet, and bicyclist. He is someone in love with Life and inviting others to that same ecstasy of Love ~ and, by the way, herein is nothing he claims as his own.
