Some of you are aware that close to a year ago Thich Nhat Hanh suffered a stroke, and for a time it was touch and go as to whether he would live. I received a link, today, about his recovery; and for those of us contemplating how to live sanely, I thought this report of his rehabilitation process would give us something – a spirit to take into our last moments, minutes, days, months, years, or our last life. Hence, I thought it should take precedence over my piece for the day.
Yesterday’s poem was my spontaneous response to where I am at this point in my exploration of the presence of death. What has emerged since, in today’s writing, has been the matter of the bright, still pool, to which Narcissus is attracted, the power of which he doesn’t even see. There is the still heart of Being. And, I’m still carrying the understanding that love is not of time. Tomorrow, then, I will venture into the narcissistic relationship with the Still Forest Pool.
Recently, I was sharing with a friend that I feel blessed to have had so much loving support in the second half of my life. In part, that blessing has been appreciated because, after a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh in 1983, I began to see the reality of support from others, and so to allow it into my heart more consciously.
I shared with my friend, that: When I open to memories of true support in my later life (for example, my Zen teacher Subhana’s guidance for my fifteen years of Zen), then it is easier to recognise the support that was there in the earlier periods, such as in my difficult childhood. Even at that time, support was present. The narrative-mind, ‘Teflon for good experiences’ ((Hanson), might easily have missed that fact, without the message from Thich Nhat Hanh to water the seeds of joy.
Thay (Thich Nhat Hanh), even in his present difficulty, is giving us a great lesson in receiving love and support. The report on this link is a touching reminder to appreciate being alive, to enjoy breathing, and to pause and touch the stillness in one’s heart, which reflects the whole miracle of life. It’s then that we can see things in perspective, and can transform Narcissus:
http://plumvillage.org/news/an-update-on-thays-health-8th-september-2015/
“And now they were preparing the funeral pyre, the brandished tortures and the bier; but his body was nowhere to be found. In place of his body they find a flower, its yellow centre girt with white petals.”
– From Ovid’s Metamorphosis. (Translated Louise Vinge)