Gasshō,

I didn’t write you from Africa because I feared overwhelming you if you were keeping up with the blog. And, truth be told, we were writing so much every day that it was difficult to imagine there was something to say that we weren’t saying. Since returning home I’ve realized there’s more to say—I seem always to have more to say!

I arrived home in time to attend Sunday morning meditation and group at the Monastery. I don’t know if this is a common experience, but, for me, time and space are such odd characters that, after being in one place for a little while, other places, that appear very real when I’m in them, take on a kind of dream-like quality. If you asked me, of course I know there’s a Monastery in Murphys and there are people—of whom I am very fond—at that Monastery doing the things we always do there, but it becomes increasingly theoretical as the days pass. Before long, it’s as if I have always been in this current spot and everywhere else has a “previous incarnation” feel to it.

In my experience, this is even more so than usual in Africa. It is so different. Sometimes, looking at the landscape, I am reminded of California, but for the most part, no. The sights, the sounds, the smells are all uniquely African. Delightfully, wonderfully, uniquely African. At any rate, it was grand to arrive here in time for mediation and group discussion, and passing through the Monastery gate, I felt as if I had never been anywhere else. Lovely.

That experience of “this is all there is” was expanded upon, or perhaps clarified, in the discussion that morning. One of the participants spoke of reading the Africa blog each day and being surprised that, rather than feeling the judgment and guilt she would have felt in the past, she instead felt connected and included. Rather than believing voices that would tell her she and her children should eat only a bun with butter and peanut butter because that’s all the poor children in Africa have to eat, she was able to fix dinner for her family with happiness and gratitude for the food they had to eat and for the food the children in Kantolomba had to eat. Instead of believing that “the right people are the ones who go to scary places and feed starving children,” she felt the importance of her part in the “we” that is doing all we can to end suffering everywhere.

One of my favorite lines in our Daily Recollection says, “There is no self and other as the awareness of pure, undisturbed consciousness slips into all consciousness.” Once we move beyond the world of duality—even if it’s for only a moment—it is clear and obvious that there is no “self” and no “other.” There is only THIS, only HERE, only US.

The beauty of this is that we can practice all the time, wherever we are. All (!) we need do is disidentify, and the conscious, compassionate awareness we are bringing to any situation (including those conditioning would say are too insignificant to matter) is the very best a human can bring to any moment. We can each bring lovingkindness to all the interactions of our days. We can practice coming back to center, doing whatever we are doing. We can say “yes” and practice acceptance moment by moment—and that practice is the greatest gift anyone can give

Lest we fall into a conditioned trap, let me remind you that all this lovingkindness; conscious, compassionate awareness; and acceptance must begin inside, with ourselves. Nothing is going to happen anywhere that is not first happening in one’s own mind and heart. “There is no self and other.” Or as Jesus phrased it, “As you do unto the least of my brethren, so do you unto me.”

This is certainly not new information. There is no new information that anyone reading this needs to get. Ending suffering is shockingly simple. Drop everything other than being HERE. That’s it. Ego screams, “But what about…” It screams so you might get distracted from HERE and go along with one of its “Here’s what you need to do before you get to stop suffering” scams.

At the beginning and ending of each meditation here at the Zen Monastery Peace Center we recite:

We are here to end suffering.
If ending suffering is more important than anything, we will end suffering.
If ending suffering is not more important than anything, we will not end suffering.
If I am suffering it is because I am choosing something over ending suffering.
We are not here to create and cling to beliefs.
We are here to pay attention.
We are here to use everything in our experience to see how we cause ourselves to suffer so we can drop that and end suffering.

Awareness practice is a matter of remembering to wake up and get HERE. It’s not about learning or understanding. We don’t do retreats and workshops to get some tip or tool that’s finally going to push us over the edge into enlightenment. There’s no such thing.

This is why I want you to do the year-long email class. This is why I encourage you not to leave a workshop or retreat without having your next one on the calendar—and paid for! Egocentric, karmic conditioning does its work in forgetfulness, confusion, urgency, fear, and “something wrong” and “not enough.”

We need reminders to wake up as we’re doing the practice of waking up and ending suffering. The habits of going to sleep are old and deep. As long as a person is dozing and snoozing unconsciously through life, ego is happily (which feels to that person like suffering) going through the days stealing that person’s life. When that person tries to wake up, the irritation, self-righteousness, anger, rage, and defensiveness of ego gets truly alarming.

Sangha is the reminder. Sangha is the support and encouragement we need to remember that we, as conscious, compassionate awareness, are far stronger than the illusion that is egocentric, karmic conditioning.

Sign up for that year-long email class, and I promise to make egocentric, karmic conditioning completely crazy and miserable and prove once and for all that who you are is not that! Joy, gratitude, excitement, expansiveness, peace, and well-being are just a few of the adjectives that describe the life that awaits us when we sever our ties to ignorance and delusion. Is that possible? Absolutely!

We just finished our monthly Living Compassion Best Year Yet phone call, and the word we came up with for July was “TEAM.” Team Living Compassion. The Best Year Yet process we do is one of looking at all our accomplishments for the previous month. We always have huge lists of projects that we’ve completed and goals we’ve achieved, but this past month was off the charts. (We will get this list up on the website for you as soon as possible.) Not only were there people taking the next giant steps in our work in Zambia, there was a group back at the Zen Monastery Peace Center keeping everything zinging along there; a group of folks pursuing the Reflective Listening Buddies program; sitting groups around the country continuing to offer support to meditators; tech folks keeping communication alive; the radio show keeping us all in conversation; people in offices making the whole organization functional; generous folks sending in the donations to keep us all solvent; and most important of all, all of us doing the very best we can to drop egocentric, karmic conditioning, to come back to center, and to be the difference we want for the world. What a team!

Those of us just back from Africa are working diligently to get out to you follow-up on our trip. For instance, we have pictures of the 100 children we’re currently sending to school and feeding, a write-up of the focus group we did with the Kantolomba community, an update on the next phases of the Kantolomba plan, and specifics such as “what happened with Josephine?” So, please watch for the continuing blog.

As always, many, many deep thank yous to each and every one on this marvelous Living Compassion team.

Gasshō,
Cheri

PS Keep It Simple Books is looking for someone fluent in Spanish to do some translating. If you are that person, please email kisjune@goldrush.com.

 

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