Life can be Shocking

My Google dictionary defines "shocking" as that "causing offence or disgust".  When we think of shocking events, we think of the images and events of life that display incredible levels of suffering, carnage and damage.   We may see more and more of these happenings in today's world but we still expect them to be the unusual rather than the usual, to generally stay behind the scenes.   

Then in the week that is, this photo comes my way and I see the Pope giving a classic look.  It is just something to behold!  It tells me we can experience the shocking at the most unexpected of times and in the most unexpected of places.  It is not just in the great disaster stories that we experience the shocking in life but in our everyday life, in the little events of our life.  It is not always the big slap in the face.  We just don't know it.

A comment is made in our presence and it shocks us.  A look comes our way or we see the unexpected and it shocks us.  An unexpected story unfolds about someone we know and it is just unbelievable.  It can even be funny but it is still shocking.  Life does take its toll and we may not be even aware of what is going on around us.  Then the great tragedy, disaster or calamity happens and we are put in touch with that other side of life that is going on continually but we just do not feel comfortable confronting but at times we just cannot avoid it. 

I am at a conference on children caught up in the migration movements in our world.  I am hearing of what is part of our world's reality - child brides, child labour, child prostitution, child trafficking.  Unbelievable but it cannot be denied.  Yes, this is tragic and shocking but it still happens and goes on and on.  So what are we going to do about it?  Yes, this is not the whole picture and it is not the lot of the world's vast majoruity of children but it is still happening too often and to too many.  We are so unaware while the shocking is happening in our midst and we only gain a glimpse of it when the shocking hits the news or the shocking becomes too much or crosses that red line such that we can no longer ignore it. 

Rule of thumb is "once is too often".   So let us keep our eye open for the shocking. 

Worth Remembering, Worth Celebrating - Life is WOW.

I always place my photos using medium size but this photo deserves to be big.  This is not because of me but because of who is with me and what this represents.  You see this photo was taken 30 years ago on the occasion of my ordination which I am remembering this Sunday.  It was an event, a celebration, a commitment in my life that belonged very much to my parents who are here pictured with me at the time.

They are now dead and perfectly okay with God.  I am thankful to God for that.  More importantly, I am ever thankful for them as they were good and kind people who loved me and simply did the best they could by me.  They could do no more.  So why be anything else but thankful?  It is the very least they deserve to be remembered with kindness and thanks.  .

30 years!  Amazing!  One third of that time has been spent here in Bangkok.  Absolutely amazing that I have spent so long in one place as that is not my style but that is how life turned out.  I didn't plan it this way.  I couldn't have planned it.  I just found my little corner along my way in the strangest of places - Bangkok.

My journey so far could not have been planned by me as it would have been impossible for me to do so and handle it all in any style.  After so much questioning and challenging, to finally find such fulfilment in a Bangkok, which is such a crazy place, tells me that God surely is an integral partner in the journey.  How else could all that has happened in my life be?

And I have shared this journey with such great people, absolute classics - good and kind people like my mum and dad.  I am very gifted by God and I am most thankful.  What more can I say or do I need to say?  Keep the journey going.  As I shared last Sunday at Mass, life is a WOW event.  We just might not appreciate how WOW it truly is.  

A Change is Refreshing and Nourishing

There is an annual Buddhist Holy Day that remembers Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. All three supposedly happened on the same day of the year, just different years, or that is what I am told.  This day is Vesacha Bucha Day and coincides with the first full moon in May which was 10th May for this year.  As I do every year on Buddhist Holy Days, I go to the temple and join in the ritual with Om, my Buddhist mentor.


On these days, crowds flock to the temples to make merit.  Each day has its own ritual to be followed.  On this particular day, the simple ritual begins with buying a lotus, three incense sticks and a candle.  You then light the incense sticks and proceed to walk around the temple three times in a clockwise direction.  When finished this short journey, you place your incense sticks and  the now lit candle into a sand box at the front of the temple.  You then place the lotus before the temple and finish with paying homage to the Buddha image in the temple.  It is all an impressive and simple ritual, done with fervor, or that is my outside observation.


This year Om and I did it a little differently as we decided to go to the local temple in my area.  You see we usually go to a major temple in a central area which is so full of people and as a result difficult to access on the day.  All a bit much and so we decided on a change and see how that went.  In doing so, we found a temple easily accessible and also refreshingly quiet with a tranquil and conducive environment for the sacred.  The experience was not one of dealing with crowds while trying to deal with the physical tasks of a ritual in their midst.  This meant that lighting the incense sticks and candle and keeping them alight was not a major challenge which can be the case when surrounded by so many people.  It also meant that you could more easily focus on a task, instead of the crowds, this simple task that gave meaning to the ritual.

What I experienced this year in going to my local temple was a pleasant surprise as it allowed for me a special experience of a Buddhist feast and ritual which is the way it is meant to be. What I also discovered is that I live near a lovely temple within a quiet and nourishing space.  It only took me 10 years to discover it.  Just goes to show that exploring is the way to discovering good change .

It is the Simple Things that Matter Most

You may ask what is this picture about?  It is very simple actually.

I was at church this morning and this man goes around giving everyone a holy picture.  I get mine and look at him.  He appears as nothing extraordinary.  My image of the sort of person doing such activity at church comes to mind and I figure a simple enough, churchy person.  All may speak of my experience or bias.  Anyway he goes to his car and there it is - a lovely, new, whits BMW.  It blew my mind as the car did not go with all my preconceptions.  This guy was undertaking a simple act that he sees as worthwhile and good but his own life may not be so simple.

I am on the bus on the way to church and I am part of a simple, everyday act of kindness.  An older woman needs a seat and when one becomes free, I tell the younger woman helping her.  Then I notice both the man near me and myself reaching out and helping the woman to the seat.  Nothing complicated.  Very natural thing to do.

Then I think back to my encounter of a month ago with one of fellow workers at the office.  Remember, he was angry with me?  One of his key points was that I am a foreigner and he does not understand foreigners.

Well, today, it struck me in these simple experiences arising in my day that life is rather simple.  Why complicate it?  It is not where we come from or what position or nationality we hold that matters.  It is about our sharing a common humanity.  We naturally share the same day, no matter who we are.  We all have limited bodies and needs during the day.  It is natural for us to help those we see along the way that need some help.  So why do we make it complicated and go on about our differences and how those differences are so ingrained and important, being the cause for separation or annoyance?  It makes no sense.  

Then I had another little insight from work yesterday.  The guy's basic issue is not with me and how we are different.  His real issue is with his own and how he is unhappy or frustrated by the workplace system of authority set up by his own.  It is just easier to blame someone else, an outsider.  Now this is not so uncommon.  It just is that it does not deal with any issue and makes everything all the more complicated.  Let's keep it simple.

Contemplation in my Bangkok

Yes, I did find a centre of learning and prayerfulness at a temple near Pattaya.  Yes, it was an enlightening and enriching experience.  We all need these spaces and as much of them as we can get.  The secret is to create our special, prayerful spaces where we are.  It strikes me that is the great learning from Buddhism as Buddhists create where they are as their sacred space - the same space where they live, do business, do whatever. 

Now I am back at my office where we have moved the desks so as to create more space and this resulted unwittingly in my now having my own contemplative space where I am at work.  You see my desk has been placed at a glass front from which I look out and peruse the surrounds.  It is all buildings, streets and construction sites and some green but it all looks so quiet.  I look out and find it refreshing, inviting me to contemplation.  The Spirit is where we are or where we allow the contemplative to descend around us.  It is a pleasant change wihin the daily routine to be able to just look out and take in my Bangkok.   

I am My Change

This last week saw major holiday time in Thailand as it was the annual Songkran or New Year Festival which is the time for water fun.  Well, instead of indulging in the obligatory water sports, I went with good friends to a resort for a day or two and got to visit this marvelous Buddhist temple with them - Wat Yansangvararam.  It was a most welcome and unexpected surprise. 


You alone can change yourself.

I never knew that I was going to enter a centre where I would gain for the first time such real insights into Buddhism.  On leaving the temple, I had the feeling that I had just been somewhere powerful.  The visit had made its impact upon me.  What was it that had such an effect on me?

It was the exhibition presenting the Buddha's teaching in such a succinct and meaningful way.  It presented the Buddha's belief in "a human being's potential to be able to find the path to enable one to be freed from endlessly floating in an ocean of sensual desires, and to reach the shore and end the suffering".
A spiritual path - a path offered by all religions due to the very nature of religion.
So the lessons continued.
"A multitude of emotions circulate in your mind each day.  The soul determines which way to look at the universe."  So "when a viewpoint is changed, your life will be changed".  

The Buddha discovered that to escape from an ocean of sensuous desire, life has to be led not along the path of the extreme but along the path of perfect balance.  This is the life lived by following the way of the Middle Path.

There was much offered to ponder and reflect but here I just offer a part of what so spoke to me, a taste.

For the first time, I felt an inner understanding and appreciation for Buddhism and its message for humanity.  I also started to reflect how it was so lacking in its malpractice by many of its followers today around me in the wider community.  But then isn't that what Ghandi said about Christianity?  The problem was not with Jesus but with his followers.  We can change.  We are our change.

In the Christian context, the word is transformation.  Humanity - all of us and each individual - is transformed into the new humanity through and with the power of the Risen Christ.  This is not magic.  It takes belief and action together.  It is not an easy way to go but the way to go.  I have to remind myself of the way.  This is my preaching to no one but  myself, my sharing an experience that made its imprint on me so that I may not forget.  Happy Easter!  Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

 

Happy Thai New Year!

Yes, it is New Year in Thailand, as in Myamar, Laos and Cambodia, this week. They follow a Buddhist tradition using a lunar calendar.  So the local and real New Year for the locals falls on 13, 14 and 15 April each year.  It is full on holiday time and full on celebration.  I think you can see what the dominant symbol is for the festivities.  It is used freely and just watch out as no one escapes a dousing. 

All get into the spirit - young and old, police and firemen.  It is all quite something to behold.  What you see is the unfreeing of the Thai spirit and let her rip for three days and then it is back to Thai demureness. 

So for now, all one can do is join in and enjoy.