The current book by the bed is one of the best I've chosen in a while. It reminds me of THE VERY USEFUL BOOK from Neil Gaiman's Mirrormask. The girl wandering through this wacky dream world goes to a library to find "a useful book," that might guide her to the object she seeks to save the sleeping queen. These pages have one to two sentences on them and she periodically tears out the pages to feed to the sphinxes (Guess you would have to see the movie for that to make sense... it's a dark Alice in Wonderland sort of story with Gaiman's passion for morals and lessons). Whenever she's lost or needing a hint, she opens the book randomly and finds something... well, useful.
I have a similar book at my bedside. Thich Naht Hahn's TAMING THE TIGER WITHIN; Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions has been my "very useful book." There is very little written on each page. Just a little dose each turn of Buddhist wisdom.
I like these bite-sized helpings. I turn to a random page or two every night and have something to think about that focuses my thoughts as I sleep. Hahn's advice is simple, but profound. It doesn't matter if I hit the same page again later... it might mean something different for me by then. It's a remarkable work appropriately speaking to the reader for each new moment... just like good Buddhism strives to demonstrate. Hahn's whole mission is to make this form of spirituality more accessible to the West and this particular book works pretty well.
This book also had the benefit of a decent translator. For my birthday this year, I was given a handful of his books and one or two of them read a little strangely. It's invaluable to have a translator who can do more than look things up word by word. I feel that TIGER's translator captures the meaning of the book which was originally written in Vietnamese. This is no easy feat, so I'm still grateful for my other books featuring less talented translators (THE MIRACLE OF MINDFULNESS was a long letter to Brother Quang of a school in South Vietnam in 1974; it is a valuable work though the translation to English is weak).
Below are some random pages for today:
All the suffering of living beings is our own suffering. We have to see that we are they and they are us. When we see their suffering, an arrow of compassion and love enters our hearts. We can love them, embrace them, and find a way to help. Only then will we not be overwhelmed by despair at their situation. Or our own.
(Page 271)
(Page 271)
I find this to be a simple reminder of our habit of separatism. Most of us are in our own world. We interact with a number of people everyday, but we do this from the constraints of our bubbles. Do you actually ask the barista how she's doing or are you following the script? Could you tell that your server at the restaurant was exhausted and desperately trying to keep it together or did you just get annoyed that your water glass was not always full? Do you have compassion for a confused tourist on the road or do you start honking and cursing with the protection of four walls around you to muffle what negativity you're imposing on that motorist?
I know I have an impressive lack of compassion for other drivers until I'm the one who makes a mistake. On a groggy morning, I've been known to make a few last minute moves that are less than considerate to others on the road. Once in a while, that causes a honking fest making me that much more nervous. Other days, people don't honk but nod to me with a sigh rising and falling in the chest; then I feel better and drive better for having been confronted peaceably.
Don't misunderstand- some people on the road are doing some remarkably inconsiderate things (no turn signal, cutting you off, highway weaving at a dangerous speed, etc). Still, I think those things are obvious and honking probably won't change anything... in fact, for some of those muscle-headed drivers, it encourages them.
So, as Hahn encourages us, a mindfulness will inform better actions and reactions... after all, you've probably done or been whatever the person annoying you has done or been at some point. Give them a little space and you'll learn to give yourself some wiggle room, too.
I know I have an impressive lack of compassion for other drivers until I'm the one who makes a mistake. On a groggy morning, I've been known to make a few last minute moves that are less than considerate to others on the road. Once in a while, that causes a honking fest making me that much more nervous. Other days, people don't honk but nod to me with a sigh rising and falling in the chest; then I feel better and drive better for having been confronted peaceably.
Don't misunderstand- some people on the road are doing some remarkably inconsiderate things (no turn signal, cutting you off, highway weaving at a dangerous speed, etc). Still, I think those things are obvious and honking probably won't change anything... in fact, for some of those muscle-headed drivers, it encourages them.
So, as Hahn encourages us, a mindfulness will inform better actions and reactions... after all, you've probably done or been whatever the person annoying you has done or been at some point. Give them a little space and you'll learn to give yourself some wiggle room, too.
Just like our organs, our anger is part of us. When we are angry, we have to go back to ourselves and take good care of our anger. We cannot say, Go away, anger, I don’t want you.’ When you have a stomachache, you don’t say, ‘I don’t want you stomach, go away.’ No, you take care of it. In the same way, we have to embrace and take good care of our anger.
(Page 59)
I like this concept of seeing anger as a component of ourselves... or maybe one of the many people we become on and off during the course of our lives. It's someone/something to care for... it has the need to be acknowledged, understood, soothed. I think this quote asks that we have compassion for ourselves. He does not suggest we reject our anger, admonish ourselves, or just snap out of it. He requests that we treat ourselves fairly and tend to our anger... to repair ourselves. So, we're still entitled to these feelings... but we have a calling to be constructive with those emotions.
I'm certain he means all parts of yourself. To hear something like this... especially as you are trying to get to sleep, is so comforting and feels like a loving gift from a stranger. You can let the day go after such selfless love is expressed...
It works better to read this book cover to cover. I'm enjoying skipping around in a VERY USEFUL BOOK fashion, but the thoughts link together. The book would probably be a good hundred pages shorter if he placed the thoughts in typical prose format. He has designed it to take one page at a time (very Buddhist... be here, not in the thought ahead) but the process is still linear.
I enjoy a regular novel to take to bed, too, but for now, it's been nice to have these understanding and compassionate thoughts swimming in my brain as I drift into slumber... I am grateful for the work and effort of Thich Naht Hahn...
Live your life daily in a way that you never lose yourself.
(Page 183)
(Page 183)
I'm certain he means all parts of yourself. To hear something like this... especially as you are trying to get to sleep, is so comforting and feels like a loving gift from a stranger. You can let the day go after such selfless love is expressed...
It works better to read this book cover to cover. I'm enjoying skipping around in a VERY USEFUL BOOK fashion, but the thoughts link together. The book would probably be a good hundred pages shorter if he placed the thoughts in typical prose format. He has designed it to take one page at a time (very Buddhist... be here, not in the thought ahead) but the process is still linear.
I enjoy a regular novel to take to bed, too, but for now, it's been nice to have these understanding and compassionate thoughts swimming in my brain as I drift into slumber... I am grateful for the work and effort of Thich Naht Hahn...
(from www.ineedmotivation.com)
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