Dear Bodhisattvas,
It has been one month since the US presidential elections. One month of disbelief, of fear, of anxiety, of polarization. Much has been exchanged on social media, on the news, in conversations. Sides have been chosen and strategies shared to deal with, to protest, and to revolt against what is coming to pass.
I recognize in my own body the intense waves of trauma with each new cabinet appointment or tweet. These waves began while watching, from Ireland, the US election returns. I sat with my eyes popping and my stomach in knots all through the sleepless night, a growing nausea in my gut, fogginess and a sense of surreal-ness persisting over the following week. Even here across the Atlantic the impact was inescapable.
It was not until two weeks later while taking a political tour of Belfast, led by an ex-prisoner, that I began to sense a shift. My vision cleared, my physical and psychic body aligned, and I could sense energy returning to my limbs, fight impulse was coming back on line. Somehow walking the streets of Belfast, where the spirit of protest still lives, where the struggle against colonization and corporatization is still seen in the murals and felt in the wall still straddling two sides, the trauma bubble burst! A bubble of ignorance, a bubble of conditioning that had blinded me, a white US American woman, into believing the US is different from any other country! A powerful insight searing through my consciousness.
Since then I have noticed this body fluctuating between responses of fight, flight and freeze. Between these pendulations I remind myself to orient to the beauty of these rocky hills, the tidal rhythms of the ocean waters, and especially to the soft receptive, bodies of the four legged Temple Guardians who know nothing about politics and who remain unconcerned about anything when allowed to nap on the bed.
Last January, while Two Streams served up dinner at the Northampton Cot Shelter, a white, middle-aged volunteer who was in charge of the kitchen, arrived wearing a Trump button; she had been to a rally that day in Massachusetts. Thousands of people were there, she professed with open joy and pride. Ryūmon Sensei and I engaged her in conversation asking her to help us understand her views. She said that the candidate spoke to her heart, he connected with the people, he wasn’t just reading a speech, but speaking authentically heart to heart. She was passionate and truly believed that “I could trust him and he could help America”. She said all this as she nodded and patted her right hand over her left breast. I couldn’t believe it. I tried not to contort my face. How could she believe this? What planet was I on? I was horrified and confused.
I have come a long way since that day almost a year ago. Eventually, I have begun to get curious about these ‘Trump supporters’ and ‘white supremacists’. I have started to question my very real physical aversion to them. My impulse has been to push against all THEY stood for, to fight, to speak MY truth, to make THEM see the light, to be different.
The other day Ryūmon Sensei, who had predicted the results of the election in the summer of 2105, reminded me that given different causes and conditions, I too could have voted for the US President-Elect. She added, referring to herself, “I too am the white supremacist, the white supremacist is me.”
On November 16th I received an email from a fellow white Dharma practitioner with an attached article. Her email spoke of the importance of listening. Was I really ready to listen, without having a secret agenda of changing anyone? I saw in my mind the image of Avalokiteshvara and remembered that she is the one who "hears the cries of the world." I asked, What is it to truly hear? What do I need to let go of in order to hear? I began to get the message that this election was not so much about changing THEM, but about changing ME.
The article I received attached to my friend’s email moved me. So as one year ends, and another one begins, I invite you to consider joining us at Two Streams Zen in this deep listening practice: http://urbanconfessional.org/blog/howtodisagree.
With Love,
Anraku Sensei
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3 butter lamps lit in prayer. May Wisdom, Compassion and Skilllful Means manifest.
Dzogchen Berra, Co. Cork, 12 Nov.
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Dun Briste sea stack severed from the mainland by St. Patrick's crozier (hooked staff). Rainbow blessings. Co. Mayo
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From Ryūmon Sensei:
In these times of profound chaos and endless opportunities, I share with each of you the following words passed on to me by a Dharma sister two days after the presidential elections.
Grieve First
By Irwin Keller on November 10, 2016
“(Last night 65 people gathered at Ner Shalom to sit with and react to the results of the election. This is part of my welcome.)
We are here tonight to be together as a community; as a community of people suffering loss; as a community of people sitting shiva together.
Pirkei Avot tells us not to try to comfort someone while their dead still lie before them. This loss is too fresh for comfort. And we are not here to be comforted, although we might find comfort in the process.
Tonight is to grieve. To be with our feelings. To be with each other. To be witness to this moment.
We’ll have some quiet time. Some music. Some prayer. I know that these are things I need right now. Quiet. Music. Prayer. And I need all of you too.
I will tell you what I don’t need right now; what I’m not ready for:
I am not yet ready to plan the perfect response.
I am not yet ready to organize.
I am not yet ready to speculate what went wrong.
I am not yet ready to think about all the worst-case scenarios.
I am not yet ready to entertain ideas that maybe it’s not as bad [as] it seems.
I know I will find my anger—it’s not far away—but I’m not yet ready to protest.
Vitriol has gotten old.
I notice this is the anniversary of Kristallnachht, but I am not yet ready to draw meaning from that.
I know I will soon be ready to organize and speculate and protest. But not tonight. Tonight I want to mourn. Today has been a day of mourning. Of getting busy and forgetting. And then feeling it all pour, nauseatingly, back in, like news of the death of a loved one.
I am not mourning this country.
Because this country is alive and still
full of possibility.
I am mourning an idea that things were
slowly and linearly getting better.
I am mourning my innocence,
underestimating backlash.
I am mourning my sense of safety, and
my trust in the safety of those I love and
care about and honor.
So tonight I am here to sit and feel my
own suffering, without trying to solve it
or replace with anything else.
Some say don’t mourn. Organize. I say
mourn. So that then, when we are
ready, with hearts that are full, we may
organize.
Let us recommit to defending Muslims,
Mexicans, African Americans, our
daughters, the Earth, each other. Let us
start imagining our new ways of
informing, enlightening, resisting,
changing the world. Let us do all these
things. But for today, grieving is okay.”
Two months ago Rabbi Keller spoke for me. Today he is still speaking for me.
So dear friends, in this spirit I offer you the seven practices I intend to embody in 2017:
Hearing. Seeing. Sitting. Opening. Praying. Laughing. Loving.
May these practices guide us in the coming years so that we may be fortunate to know in our hearts, imagine in our minds, and feel in our bodies, the words of Arundhati Roy:
Another world is not only possible,
She is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
Love and Blessings,
Ryūmon Sensei
DECEMBER PRACTICE EVENTS
You are invited to join the Two Streams Zen community on
31 December for a New Year’s Eve All Night sitting at
the home temple in Westhampton.
Program begins at 8 pm with orientation followed by the traditional temple cleaning.
We then will share a simple meal, and listen for the Han's call to Zazen.
After the 108 bells at midnight, sitting is self-timed throughout the night.
We will walk in the moonlight, sit by the fire, and hold self and others in gentle caring.
From the dark night silence, we will come forth together and welcome the first light of a New Year with a dawn ritual, sacred drum circle, and breakfast.
Program ends at 8 am.
JANUARY EVENT
What better way to start the New Year than to contemplate and speak to the matters of life and death while having tea and cake?
In support of practicing this profound teaching,
Two Streams Zen invites you to Death Café #7
on Sunday, 1 January 2017 from 3 pm to 5 pm.
For more information on Death Café, visit www.deathcafe.com
END OF THE YEAR APPEAL
Friends, at Two Streams Zen we strive to live and promote a Culture of Gratitude.
All Dharma events are offered on Dana basis, thus supporting the continuous practice and cultivation of Generosity. Know the work of Two Streams Zen could not happen without your contributions of money, labors, presence, and practice.
At this time we ask you to consider including Two Streams Zen
in your end-of-the-year giving.
"In a culture of gratitude, everyone knows that gifts will follow the circle of reciprocity and flow back to you again. This time you give and next time you receive. Both the honor of giving and the humility of receiving are necessary halves of the equation…We dance in a circle, not in a line."
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass-
Please let us keep the Dance alive and the equation manifesting endlessly!
Thank you for one more year of sharing the Dharma. And may you and yours be blessed with joy, peace, strong health, and long life in this holiday season and beyond.
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