What is fear? Why do we go there so easily in times of turmoil instead of reaching out for creative alternatives?
In the Kansas Zen Center I learned about meditation techniques, breathing and mindfulness, but what I remember the most was the beautiful chanting. In a barn made into a meditation hall, a large community of practitioners sat quietly facing each other in a large circle.
One of the Dharma teachers chanted alone:
Photograph by Suzanne Christine
Hearing the sound of the bell,
all thinking is cut off,
cognition grows
wisdom appears
suffering is left behind.
The beautiful poem caught my attention. How can the sound of a bell do all of this? How is it that engaging in the practice of deep listening cuts off my own suffering and the suffering of the world? I asked Zen master Hae Kwan one evening. We were drinking coffee in a small diner in Lawrence. There were some farmers in the place, drinking some beer and having fun. He said: “Moment by moment everything is complete. If you can hear the sound of the bell it means you are really present to this moment. If you live your life like this, taking care of every moment, paying attention, listening carefully, your life will be complete.”
When we live in fear we can’t pay attention. Being focused, or operating on a survival mode, is not the same either. I came to realize this vital contrast—‘productivity’ sometimes is understood as a single-minded concentrating on producing by ignoring our bodies, our environment, our neighbors and ourselves; instead, mindfulness integrates all the aspects of our experience in relationship to others. Mindfulness erases the border between doing and the doer, between the ‘I’ and the ‘other.’ A sustainable peace involves engaging in this practice. I emphasized this aspect on a recent interview: http://www.scu.edu/sustainability/sustainabilityupdatearchives.cfm?c=10572
Photograph by Suzanne Christine
As writers, artists, and citizens, we need to pay attention to the small tastes of life, so we can perceive what’s clearly in front of us. When you really pay attention to the person in front of you, when you can really ‘see’ the person in front of you, then you can really help this world.
For a better process of creativity and writing we need to keep working with this kind of understanding. As an artist and teacher, I am committed to live my life in a more mindful way, more open to the practice of deep listening, more committed to finding a space for justice, peace and generosity even in the midst of uncertainty and difficulty. Going beyond fear, reaching out for creative alternatives, is the way to achieve sustainable peace. The use of those gifts, of that kind of practice, nurture my writing and my daily life.
Whether in your spiritual practice or in your writing, how do you use deep listening as an active working mode? How do you pay more attention to both your own voice and the voices of the community around you?
Juan