Amid the crying, lack of sleep and all else that comes with a colicky baby, becoming a father has been a grounding experience. I can't explain my appreciation for precious moments — watching the mother and child relationship, the sky changing from daylight to dusk to dark, and realizing the interconnectedness of all things more often then the illusions of individual gain.
This morning I read a meditation by Thich Naht Hanh called Visualizing The World-Honored Buddha from his book TOUCHING THE EARTH. With little knowledge of the historical references, I appreciated the way it speaks from an ultimate perspective, journey and practice.
"Lord Buddha, I practice to be in touch with you as I touch the earth. I visualize you as a young man in Kapilavastu. I see you as an ascetic meditating in the wild mountains. I see you as a monk practicing samadhi solidly at the foot of the bodhi tree. I visualize you as the noble teacher instructing disciples on the Vulture Peak and in the Jeta Grove. I see you as a wandering monk whose mindful steps left their mark in the small kingdoms that lay in the valley of the Ganges River. Lord Buddha, you were healthy and strong in body and mind, living a long life without the help of modern medicines. I see you, my teacher, at eighty years old lying in the lion pose between the two sala trees before passing into nirvana. I touch the earth before King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, the two people who gave birth to Shakyamuni, offering this wonderful teacher to the world."
