Be Still | The Mindful Christian Part II
From last week’s blog post “We all know the importance of words. Relationships are built with them. Our important teachers use words that help us structure our lives and we carry those words in our minds as we go about the business of living. Despite the fact that I had been flirting with Buddhist practice for over twenty years, I had not devoted myself with any consistency. My practice finally began on a spring morning several years ago. I sat in a room of three hundred strangers who had gathered from all parts of the country to experience a day of mindfulness. A diminutive woman gazed out at us from the elevated stage with a very gentle smile on her face. She took her sweet time looking at us and eventually uttered the words, “Welcome, my dear friends.”
The world changed for me with those four simple words. I thought about the possibilities that existed as I considered the strangers in this room to be “dear friends”. What if I went home and thought about my neighbors as “dear friends”? And the grocery store clerk. And people I ran into in my small town. The casual people in my life. Extended family. What if I included the people who had disappointed me to also be “dear friends”? I thought about all of this in the flash of an instant as Anh-Huong Nguyen uttered those words. It was her first Dharma teaching to me. I’m not sure there will ever be more powerful teaching in my life. I fell in love that morning with the practice of Applied Buddhism.
As a practitioner, I make a conscious attempt to take my practice wherever I go and I find the words of Buddhism creeping into my conversations. “Breathe.” “Smile.” “No judgment.” “Equality.” “Peace is every step.” “Suffering is universal.” “You are in me.” “
Sacred Touch
Sharing a physical connection is a sacred act visible in all of God’s creatures. Watch puppies, or lions, or giraffes. Watch the touching that goes on in nature. We human beings are often unconscious about how we touch each other. Being awake, being conscious allows us the pleasure of sacred touch.
Consider offering a very special hug, a sacred hug to the people you love. A sacred hug is not the typical quick leaning into each other and offering a few limp pats on the back. A sacred hug is an act of love given with great tenderness and great generosity.
Follow this recipe for sacred hugging.
Stand facing the other person making eye contact.
Smile.
Put your hands together over your heart.
Bow to the divine presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
Give them the gift of your smile.
Take three breaths in and out.
Open your arms and embrace the other.
Take three breaths in and out while holding.
Release.
Put your hands together over your heart.
Bow to the divine presence of the Holy Spirit in them.
Say a silent prayer of gratitude for them in your life.
Think about offering a sacred hug to the important people in your life. Then, think about hugging more people. Smile.
The wonderful people of that congregation emptied the pews and spent time giving each other sacred hugs. The farmer hugged his wife and then the blond little girl across from him. The new father cuddled his infant and hugged his mother-in-law with one arm wrapped around her. The priest went from person to person holding them close to his huge body, breathing in and out. The women hugged each other. The men hugged each other. Smiling.
I watched the scene as I held my bell in my lap feeling the joy of this moment. I was deeply moved at the willingness of these quiet, self-contained folks to breathe, smile, and hug. Once again, I understood that no matter what we are or who we are, when the goal is the peace we are all the Buddha, or Christ, or Krishna, or Yahweh.
Love Never Fails
No teaching is complete until we talk about loving-kindness. So I read one of the most powerful biblical scriptures:
“Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
We were created by God to be an example of His love and we are challenged to be visible symbols of that divine love. Transformation is a vehicle that carries us to the Kingdom of God.
Our loving nature allows us to look deeply at our beloved and those around us. The peace in our heart gives us the ability to let go of our misperceptions. We look at others and know that there is deep suffering in them. We are able to be with them without blame, shame, or judgment. As we look deeply and begin to understand the nature of pain in those around us, we are able to be there with them in their place of suffering. We offer them our true presence with love and with kindness.
Loving-kindness is a gentle spirit that whispers healing into the lives of others. Loving-kindness transforms who we are in this very moment.
Hear the bell of God calling.
Breathing in, I feel loving-kindness.
Breathing out, I give love.
As the evening came to an end, a few people hurried off to another meeting. Others came to me with their smile and a desire to hug me. The priest congratulated me and said, “You always teach us such new ways of looking at relationships.” I smiled to myself knowing that what I taught is more than two thousand years old.
My husband and I drove back to the city that night, winding through the quiet country landscape. I was reminded of some of the words in a Christian hymn.
Let there be peace on Earth.
And let it begin with me…
Brothers all are we
Let me walk with my brothers
In perfect harmony.
Let this be the moment now.
That night was a “burning bush” experience for me — a miracle. I shared the most amazing evening with a group of people in a small church in rural Ohio. Despite our differences, there were far more similarities and we were perfectly at ease with each other. I had the privilege of sharing the beauty of my practice. They were open and absorbed my words as they learned how to deepen their Christianity. They were in me and I was in them. Although the world didn’t notice us, I believe that we made things just a bit better for all of us with our smiles, hugs, and mutual breath.
Never once did I utter the “B” word. It just wasn’t the point.