Dear Friends,
Continuing with the talk by Kamala Masters titled, “The Power of Patience.”
Kamala talked about a period of time she practiced as a nun because she wanted to live a simple life for a while. She describes her experience: “I just did the practice in a simple way. When something arose, just being able to see it with kind of a natural balance, that equanimity, and a lot of patience there.”
Even so, there were times she’d get in a “kerfluffle.” (That’s totally my new favourite dharma word, along with “discombobulated”!)
Kamala told of a time when exiting the meditation hall, one of the nuns in front of her was slowly, mindfully, putting on her slippers. Kamala said she really saw how impatient she was with that, when it really wasn’t a big deal!
I think that’s one of the benefits of the simplicity of retreat, or the simplicity of meditation. When there aren’t a whole lot of other distractions, we can see ways that we get caught up – in impatience or other habitual reactions. We can feel how this is painful, and we can learn, with time and patience, to choose more skillful responses in the future.
Reflection: What are ways you can you find simplicity in moments throughout your day?
Guided meditation: DaRa Williams had a short instruction related to simplicity in practice (about 5 minutes) followed by a meditation (about 40 minutes). The instruction includes a “visual” demonstration of simplicity, but even though this is an audio only description, I think you can visualize what she was demonstrating.
https://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/611/talk/52941/
Feel free to share your reflections or comments below, or by email.
With warm wishes,
Andrea