HomeA Reading from Hindu texts:
Be happy!
For you are joy, unbounded joy.
You are awareness itself.
From the writings of Abraham Maslow:
[Some people] have a wonderful capacity to appreciate again and again, freshly and naively, the basic goods of life, with awe, pleasure, wonder, and even ecstasy.
-A.H. Maslow
Good Morning!
Before my sermon I want to acknowledge that today is World Environmentalism Day. I used to keep tropical fish, once having as many as ten fish tanks in my bedroom. It has been years since I had any fish, but I recently re-subscribed to a tropical fish magazine. Now, in the old days, the rule of thumb was that you could have one inch of fish for every gallon of water in your tank, but if you aerated the tank, you could double that number. So years ago I had a ten gallon community tank; like most other people I know I had two angelfish, six neon tetras, two catfish, two zebra danios and two swordtails. Those were the standard community tank fish; then you would have something that made your tank special or unique. You might have a few kissing gouramis or something else. Today that would be considered a grossly overstocked tank. It would be considered as bordering on abuse of your fish. We didn’t know at the time, but those fish were swimming in a chemical soup of toxins. They were stunted and their colors were drab and they died early. But we simply were not aware of that fact; we didn’t know. It was what we were used to. I was thinking about how many people around the world live today in a chemical soup of toxic materials and simply don’t know it, are simply used to what they are living in. And I was thinking also about how many people in our world and in this country live surrounded by social toxins and are not aware of it; we are simply used to it. People who are living in conditions surrounded by social toxins will have stunted spirits and minds, but we will not be aware of that fact. But I am going to set that aside today as that is not the focus of my sermon.
The Sermon
In this sermon I am speaking to myself. You are listening in on a dialogue between me and myself. There is nothing prescriptive here, nothing directive for anyone else.
About two months ago I went out for a walk in my yard. A bluebird was startled by me and flew from one tree to another slightly farther away. I spoke to it quietly, telling it how beautiful it was and slowly moved towards it. It looked at me, stretched itself, puffed its feathers and began to twitter. I told it again how beautiful it was and that I was happy it had chosen to be in my yard that day. The bluebird then sang to me.
(Pause.)
Now, did it sing to me? Or, because I spoke softly to it, did it simply decide I was no threat and so it went on about its business? Perhaps the latter.
But note that if I had walked or talked gruffly, it would probably have flown away. And had I not taken the time to pause, to look to see what was there, to speak softly and listen, then I would not have heard the song. Because I did those things I can choose to say it sang for me.
Buddha was sitting under a large tree with his students gathered around. He rose to speak to them and, just as he did so, a bird in the tree began singing. Buddha stopped and listened to the song. When the bird stopped singing, Buddha said, the sermon has been delivered.
Buddha was saying “be open to the message of the Cosmos, to the messages of life, be open to the moment”.
In the Hindu Chandogya Upanishad is the story of the young man who leaves home at age twelve to study the Vedas. He returns home at age twenty-four full of his own self-importance. His father says to him, “Son I am glad you have learned so much. I assume your teachers have taught you of the deep essence of all things, that they have taught you about the deepest truths”. The boy says, “What are these, father”. The father says to him, “Do you see that giant banyan tree? Bring me one of its fruits”. The boy does so and the father says, “Break it open; now what do you see?” The son says, “Just these small seeds”. The father says, “Now break open one of those seeds, what do you see?” The boy says, “I see nothing, just empty space”. The father says, “That nothingness, that empty space, is the essence of this great banyan tree; it is the essence of the entire universe; thou art that”.
The father is saying:
Whatever it is that fills the universe, thou art that;
Whatever it is that we define as divinity, thou art that;
Whatever is, thou art that.
This story insists on a oneness to all. One way I have of reading it is that it says when we lose our sense of self-consciousness and are fully present to that which surrounds us, or to some piece of it, then it is the universe that is focusing its attention on that something.
Elsewhere in the Upanishads it says, “When we see, the universe sees; when we hear, the universe hears; when we breathe the universe breathes”.
Carl Sagan said, “We are the means by which the Cosmos may know itself”.
In the Sufi tradition of Islam there is the story of the merchant who lives a pretty good life. He follows the five pillars of Islam: he gives alms to the poor, he practices the daily cycle of prayer and he has made the Hajj to Mecca. There have been times when he did not give aid to the poor or did not give a word of comfort to someone who was in sorrow, but this was always out of a lack of full awareness about what was in front him, not out of greed. So, overall he feels that he has lived a pretty good life. Well the day comes for him to die, and he finds himself at the Gates of Paradise. A voice speaks to him saying, ”Stay awake for the Gates are open only once every one hundred years”. Well the merchant waits for the Gates, but it is a warm, beautiful, lazy day—rather like today—and after a while the merchant’s eyes begin to weigh heavy and they close for just a moment. He opens them in time to see the Gates swing shut with a loud bang. And that is the end of the story.
This story says that one ought always be awake, one ought always be ready for the moment when paradise or heaven is present, when the gate is open.
It is said that Sufi stories have seven layers of meaning.
My own sense of the story is that the Gate of Paradise is always open. We are always living in that moment pf possibility, that moment when we can enter heaven. The question is, are we awake? Am I awake now to possibility, to the presence around me of paradise? Am I aware of the fact that the door to Paradise is open in front of me right in this moment--but only if I am awake to that fact? And really, if I miss this moment, it will be a hundred years until this moment comes around again, but that doesn’t stop me from being awake in the next moment, which is also a moment when the gate is open.
The reading this morning (Lk 12:16-46) was the section where Jesus speaks of the lilies. I read more of this story than is usually read, so I went on the portion where he speaks of being ready for the lord to arrive. Jesus says, in essence, “Be awake”. He says, “Be ready, for you know not at when the Lord will come”. For those of us who are theists, we can read this as a reminder that the Lord will come and that we are but stewards of the earth. If we do not care for the earth, we will be punished. But even those of us who are not theists know that if we do not take care of the earth, we will be punished. I will not say that the earth will be destroyed, because it will not; something will live on after us. But if we do not take care of the earth, we will destroy ourselves, we will be punished.
But, what is “the Lord” in this writing; what is “the Lord” in the words of Jesus. Jesus continually speaks of the kingdom of heaven. He speaks of its coming. In the Gospel of Thomas he says, “If the Kingdom of heaven were above you, the birds of the air would precede you there; and if the kingdom of heaven were below you, the fish of the sea would precede you there; the kingdom of heaven is within you”. He is saying here, be open to the kingdom of heaven, be open to its coming unexpected. Be awake, be ready.
The one whose mind knows the clarity of perfect wisdom is never afraid or even anxious. Why? Because when being at one with the living power of wisdom, the mother of all the buddhas, that person has the strength to remain in a state of undivided contemplation even while ceaselessly and skillfully engaging in compassionate action. The wise one is enabled to act because of concentration on a single prayer: "May all beings never leave the path of enlightenment, which is their own true nature and is empty of separate self-existence."
-Prajnaparamita
The Zen student goes to the master and says, teach me how to attain enlightenment. The Master tells the student to sit in a particular way, to cup his hands in a particular way and to meditate. The student does this for hours and days. He then goes to the master and says, “Master I have done as you said, but all I have achieved is stiff legs and sore muscles, tell me what to do”. The Master tells the student to sit in a particular way, to cup his hands in a particular way and to meditate. The student does this for days and weeks, even months, but nothing changes. He goes to the master again and says, “Master, I have followed your instructions but nothing has changed; tell me what to do”. The Master says, show me how you sit and how you cup your hands. The student does this yet again. The master stands behind him and watches. Then, suddenly, the Master strikes the student on the back of the head, and the student achieves enlightenment.
The Hindu father has the son break open a seed. Within the seed is empty space. The father says, “That space contains the essence of the tree; thou art that”.
The Zen master slaps the student on the back of the head, and the student achieves Nirvana.
The Sufi story says, “Wake up!”.
Jesus says to his disciples, “Consider the lilies, be aware, be ready”.
Each of these teachers says much the same thing:
Are you caught up in the tasks of making money? Are you caught up in doing business? Are you caught up in doing laundry? Or in shopping?
Each of these is a good thing. Each of these is a necessary thing. But how different is life, how different is our doing of each of these tasks if every once in awhile we stop and notice, really notice, the world around us?
Stop right now. Set aside all thought. Let your vision go past me to that which is beyond the window. Let your mind flow long your vision until it is beyond the window. See what is there. See the beauty. Notice the magic.
What is rebirth? What does it mean to be reborn?
One meaning is when we experience that moment of magic; when we see the beauty of the world, the glory of creation.
Whether created by random evolution or according to the intent and plan of a divine power, we live in a world of glory and magic.
Awe and wonder can strike us at any moment.
It can seize us when seeing a deer walk across a lawn.
It can happen when peering through a microscope to see tiny life forms.
It can happen when gazing up at distant planets, stars and galaxies.
It can happen when holding a newborn infant.
It can happen the moment we know that this person is the one with whom we will share our life.
It can happen in the moment when we let go of a loved one as they pass out of this life.
A moment when we are so overwhelmed by wonder that though we still feel awe and sense, yet we cease to exist and are subsumed in the oneness of all. In that moment of being part of all that is and ever was is the moment of the eternal now. That is one experience of eternal life. To be part of everything; to feel a deep peace and calm, to know that all that is is right. That is eternal life.
(Pause.)
From the writings of Islam:
That which God said to the rose,
and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty,
He said to my heart,
and made it a hundred times more beautiful.
-Mathnawi [III, 4129]
Be Aware. Wake up. Consider the lilies. Hear the song of a bird sung just for you. Thou art that.
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