We Share One Life, We Are One Life
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Smaragd - Meditation, Angela Marie Henriette, Flickr
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To know the truth, you must pass through your own experience.
*Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. I AM THAT.
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A Buddhist nun seeking Enlightenment made a wooden statue of Buddha and covered it with gold leaf. Years passed, and she was still taking the statue with her wherever she went. She joined a group of disciples at a small temple. There were many statutes of Buddha, each with its own altar. The nun began, as usual, burning incense daily to her golden Buddha. She became dismayed to discover that some smoke from her incense floated off to the altars of other disciples. So, she made a paper funnel through which smoke from her incense could go directly and wholly to her golden Buddha. This blackened the nose of the golden Buddha and made it very ugly.
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Prayerfulness includes devotion. Devotion is the expression of Love, is Loving, even as worship means that we declare the worth of another.
In the story of the blackened-nose Buddha, we could see the nun in different ways, positive and negative. Why such an exclusive attitude, so that all her incense smoke must go only to her golden Buddha? Why such attachment to a statute? Likely, most persons would see her devotion as extreme, even eccentric.
We can see the nun's marked devotion, also, as a sign of a strong, focused Love. The statute, for her, is merely the means of expressing a singular ardency, of passing through her personal experience into universal Grace. Her love for Buddha, representing wakefulness and compassion, was already reflected in her making it by hand and covering it with gold. While her behavior might seem unreasonable, possibly we need such examples of singular devotion to remind us that our devotion is often lacking, our once ardent Love been cooled down by dissipated affections and compromises, and partly by fear of Loving too much and being Loved too much.
As we deepen in the Life of Prayer, we find we rely less on feelings. Yet, feelings of Love arise and dissipate, still. And, underlying Prayerfulness is an intense devotion and, so, an intense Love. Without such Love, what motive do we have to give all we are and surrender to the depths of Grace, disowning even our right to ourselves. Love, a great Love, underlies Prayerfulness, and this is shown from the saints and sages of the great spiritual traditions over ages and over the world. And better we beware of lacking this Love, than being considered extreme in our commitment and devotion to Grace.
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We are each a lovely, pure Rose, in the Garden of Grace.
*White Rose, Pyogenes..., Flickr
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*You can contact Brian at briankwilcox@yahoo.com. Please keep in mind, when reading from this site, that teachings cover an extended period of years and, therefore, reflect changes over that time.
