Old Growth

— C. S. Lewis

In yielding the child, all he said was: “Is that so?”

– Anthony de Mello

Buddhism is a weird thing to define, especially in the Zen vein. Breaking down the very term we might understand Buddhism to mean “the process” (-ism) of awakening (Buddhi). That said, the historical person that we call Buddha (Sidhartha Gautama) never defined his teachings as a self-referential -ism, rather he spoke of “Dharma,” that is “natural law” or the principles underpinning the natural world. In this way, Buddhism (Dharma), isn’t so much a religion contained to the insights of a singular salvific figure, rather, the Dharma is about aligning oneself with reality by means of paying profound attention to it, and through a cultivated, concentrated, and holistic awareness transcending, as much as is possible, the limitations of our individuality while embracing it in its proper place, and with proper perspective. The Dharmic way of life is one that finds affinity easily with people across time and space, not with a rigid set of supposedly uniquely true suppositions that demand adherence, but rather through a sense of gravity pertaining to the very act of surrendering our attention to this very moment, and an ensuing and implicit acceptance of what we come to find there. Indeed, there are numerous ways in which such surrendered attention can be rendered. It can take place in formal yogic methods such as sitting meditation, and through various liturgical forms (both those developed as uniquely Buddhistic in nature, and otherwise), alongside myriad other modes of condensing attention and combining it with intention to yield awareness derived wisdom of the nature of being. In my own practice I find that I’m not a Buddhist in any sense implying devotion to a singular set of practices or even devotional reverence to any particular historical figure or archetype. Rather I consider myself a Buddhist only in so much as the term is historically related to the practice of Dharma, which is a concept not limited to the Indic culture that gave rise to it, nor to the Sino influences that refined it, and which, by means of western inheritance and adoption through various traditions, has become as much a part of an emerging global lexicon as it is of its tongue and culture of genesis. The 13th century Japanese bastion of Dharma, Eihei Dogen once wrote: “To study the Buddha Way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things. When actualized by myriad things, your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others drop away. No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no-trace continues endlessly.” Becoming enlightened by the myriad things, to be taught by reality itself, until the teaching and the teacher are realized as inseparable, simultaneously then progressing and abiding together until no concern for, or even awareness of this-or-that persists. This is the Dharma as I know it, and I believe, as it has been known to countless others throughout history (whatever that is) and certainly not just to Buddhists, or even humans.  ~Sunyananda

Long story short, there were about 1,000 more dandelions that year and we had to bring home little memos on bright orange paper that children were not allowed to bring dandelion fluff to school in ziplock bags, which my mom looked at when I brought it home, and said, “Did someone actually do this?” Completely unaware that it was her own daughter who started the riotous seedbombing

Like you have to actually say - with words coming out of your mouth or hands or whatever way you use to directly communicate in person - what you would like from the other person! You have to say stuff like “hey the thing you did made me feel some ways and we have to address this like adults” and hope that the other person says “I see, yes I also think we should address this like adults” (instead of “no I didn’t” or “you’re overreacting” or other shut-down-ing shit that ruins lives).