Season of Peace

Yesterday, my Dharma teacher was in town and I had the good fortune to host him in our small apartment.

Of course, I was a bit self-consciously apologetic for the Saturday night street noise, as our guest bed room fronts a busy street that has bar traffic until 2am or so.

None of it mattered to him. He told me that he dreamed of orangutans in Indonesia. When I got up to pee at 5 a.m., his light was already on, and I could hear deep slow breathing coming from his room.

A little after 8 a.m., his assistant went back and forth to his room, carrying bagels and jam, tea, or a notebook, and for the next 8 hours, he simply gave freely of his time, with very little apparent concern for his own needs.

During the two hour intermission between the morning teaching and afternoon teaching, he engaged people in conversation, patiently responding to all questions without a hint of annoyance, always beaming compassionately.

Towards the end of the day, he commented that, being near the end of the year, it would be good to reflect on all our activities of the past year. If we find upon such self-examination, that we recall situations where we have regrets about our actions, then we can purify that energy (karma) by affirming that regret (not guilt - very important distinction!). Also, we can resolve to try to act more constructively and reflect on what values we we want to live our life by.

On the other hand, if upon examination we remember actions well done, then we should rejoice in those and mentally dedicate the positive energy associated with those acts towards our future enlightenment, lock them in our karmic bank account so to speak.

Riding home with a friend, my cell phone rang and it was my wife telling me the toilet was plugged and would I please fix it when I got home?

My return to Earth from the spiritual bliss of all day with my teacher was quickly put to the test.... and I passed! Yes dear, I would be delighted to fix the toilet for you. May the next ten zillion tests before I achieve enlightenment go as well.

Congratulations CAN on one year of working for justice and sustainability in our profession. May we rejoice in our many successes and keep learning from our ongoing challenges, that we may support more and more people in need of affordable acupuncture.

That we may support more and more acupunks in need of a sustainable business model that engages their skills.

That we may inspire others in any field to think creatively about bringing healing back into their local communities without being dependent on huge faceless corporations.

Peace.