Buddha’s Belly
Thich Nhat Hanh’s poem, Please Call Me By My True Names, was included in a book I read in the 1990s, I am not sure, if the book was by Stephen Levine or Jack Kornfeld, and I apologize now for my sloppy research-memory. Stephen Levine, a pioneer in the conscious dying and living movement, author of the books Meetings at the Edge, Who Dies?, A Gradual Awakening and many others, was one of my first teachers as I attended his talks and workshops also in the 1990's.
In 1993 I read a book edited by John Welwood, Ordinary Magic: Everyday Life as Spiritual Path; it was a gorgeous collection of 35 spiritual teachers’ views on the everyday, how to live your life with the knowledge that chopping wood, taking out the garbage, sitting or standing meditation, playing the piano, drinking tea, are all to be used to bring us into present time. Each essay a reminder that we embrace moment to moment present time knowing we balance on a razor’s edge- any moment life changes; the pandemic, the diagnosis, the rent overdue, the job lost; we balance on this fine edge, finding joy in the present moment- working hard (at least I try to on a good day) to bring myself into PRESENT time, not future tripping with worry or hurling myself into the past with guilt and recrimination as I do the “should-a, would-a, could-a” lamentation dance.
The poem by Thich Nhat Hanh, included in one of the books I read, was about the oneness of life-that I am the bird, the twig, the mayfly, the starving orphan, the violent sea pirate, (substitute any kind of violently behaving human here), I am a heart broken by grief, I am a heart dancing in spiritual joy. Before this I was not acquainted with this amazing monk’s wisdom teachings. Encountering him through his poem opened yet one more door for me to deepen my exploration of my projections, my feeling of separateness from others, my lack of inner peace.
Years later I assigned Ordinary Magic to my grad students in both the track heading towards licensure as MFTs in California, and for the holistic track students training to bring their healing practices out into the world in a different form than psychotherapy. As I was learning to embrace a more conscious life, I wanted to share one of the books that had such a profound impact on my awakening.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s essay in that book was about washing the dishes as if they were the Buddha’s belly! Even now I smile thinking about that image.
To take that mundane task that many dislike, and turn it into a meditation, a celebration of mindfulness and living in the precious moment; touching the soapy sponge with reverence to the dish, utensil, pot, skillet. Feeling the warm water, the soapy-sliding of the pot, dish, utensils, beneath my hands. Blessing the Buddha, the Divine, whatever Incarnation was appropriate, as I genuflected, davened(Chasidic traditional way of praying swaying back and forth while standing)did my pranams (reverential bowing in traditions when the guru enters or leaves the room). Becoming present to dish washing and seeing the holiness in this action, no need to sit on a pillow and watch my incessant mind pictures and chatter-the here and now at my kitchen sink was all I needed to do. Yes, the pillow sitting, yes the silent retreats, but in my daily life, yes, the dishes!
Thich Nhat Hanh was a bright, shining gentle light on the planet. He touched the hearts of millions of souls yearning for peace, for an end to war and the endless cycles of mindless violence in our minds and towards one another, and towards our sacred Mother Earth and Her creatures great and small.
This morning as I wash my breakfast dishes my tears mingling with the soapy water, I bow to this Master of the Heart’s Way and give deep grateful thanks that he existed in my world, and still does.
