No One In The Boat

Wednesday, July 31, 2013:

A man was rowing his boat upstream on a very misty morning. Suddenly, he saw another boat coming downstream, not trying to avoid him. It was coming straight at him. He shouted, “Be careful! Be careful!” but the boat came right into him, and his boat was almost sunk. The man became very angry, and began to shout at the other person, to give him a piece of his mind. But when he looked closely, he saw that there was no one in the other boat. It turned out that the boat just got loose and went downstream. All his anger vanished, and he laughed and he laughed.

Thich Nhat Hanh: Being Peace

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When I thought there was someone to blame for my problems, I become obstinate and refused to budge. It might have been better if I just would have stepped aside to avoid collision, realizing that what was a threat to me had no one steering it… no one to yell at… no one’s fault. There are times when I have felt the heroic urge to stand my ground against the juggernaut of despair and there have been times when there has been no room to step aside; but, for the most part, this courageous rampart was little more than the wiles of the ego. Sogyal Rinpoche writes: "All effort and struggle comes from not being spacious, and so creating that environment is vital for your meditation truly to happen. When humor and spaciousness are present, meditation arises effortlessly.”

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