I had the sweet honor of spending yesterday afternoon at Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Church. My friend Michele has somehow managed to get the corner market on private lessons with their presiding monk Taijo and invited me along for a visit. I must admit that our time with him and the meditation we practiced provided the shot of mystic wonder that I have been in desperate need of. Taijo said so many beautiful things that went straight to the heart of why I love spiritual life and for the first time exposed a deep curiosity to explore the realm of Esoteric Buddhism. Now granted I need to do more research to find out exactly what that means, but when I hear esoteric I think mysticism. I think contact with another realm. I think grace and longing. I think “Why am I a Theravadan Buddhist and not a Whirling Dervish?!”
But I digress. What I really want to share is something from Taijo which went something like this…
When we bow we bring our hands before us, heart center, and acknowledge our left hand as “I” and our right hand as the Buddha. This is a mudra to remind us that the Buddha is within each of us. Often we think of the Buddha as living high above, far away in the sky. And we see ourselves as very small and low to the ground. But that does not make sense. There is no mudra with one hand way up high and one hand low. So we bring our hands together and we come to see that always the Buddha is with us. We can each become the Buddha.
Oh, my melting heart! (that’s me, not Taijo) Freedom is so close, so present, so direct. It is with us every step of the way. Mystic and otherworldly are right here, right now. We simply have to acknowledge it and that can be as simple as bringing our two hands together. This beautiful teaching also reminded me of a note I sent to some of my fellow Dharma Punx last year. I’ll just give you the tail end of the message and let Mos Def take it from there…
…here is a little something from Mos Def. Replace Hip-Hop with Dharma and you get us. It’s in our hands.
Fear Not of Man - Mos Def
Listen…people be askin me all the time,
“Yo Mos, what’s gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?”
Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?
I tell em, “You know what’s gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever’s happening with us”
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it’s some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We +are+ Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself…where am I goin? How am I doin?