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(3)
of bowl are you? " |
The third perfection is patience. It's the one no one wants to hear about in this culture, with it's expectation of instant solutions to problems that are the fruit of lifetimes of unwholesome action. The bottom line is that we must practice, and we must learn to expect nothing. We continue to stimulate the experience of flow through giving, and consciously direct that flow into behaviour which creates positive, rather than negative, results for us in the future. And we don't make our practice conditional on getting any particular result or experience, because we have no way of knowing what patterning that we are blind to must be freed from distortion. We give up our expectations and practice patience, knowing that if our lives are generous and ethical, we will be moving toward the positive whether we are aware of it or not. As we let go of hopes and fears, a discovery dawns. It is called energy and it brings a renewed vitality and zest for life and the practice of Dharma. It arises because all the while we were practicing generosity and patience, the blocked energies of past conditioning were being freed. The challenge we face when these energies arise is to focus them on awakening, rather than dissipating them on pleasant pastimes. And we do that through the perfection of concentration. Even though we have been meditating through this whole process of unfoldment, now we are able to develop our practice of meditation much further. While we were afflicted by stored aggression, attachment and confusion, there was not sufficient calm to apply the mind to long periods of focused work. Now, as the energies are releasing, we can use them to explore the nature and laws of universe, and move into more direct experiences of realization. These lead to the final perfection, that of wisdom, which is nothing other than the universal mind which sees things as they really are, free of limited views. This whole process of unfoldment begins with great simplicity -- an open hand, informed by a heart aspiring to open and unfold. The universe itself is ultimate generosity -- sun and rain pouring down equally on all beings, support for unfoldment eternally, unconditionally present, manifesting in many flavours to stimulate your curiosity. What kind of a bowl are you? One that is open, but leaky, letting the opportunities for unfoldment drain away? One that is firmly turned upside down, so that none of the blessings of universe can be incorporated? Or one that is upright, wide open and overflowing with abundance in all directions? May all come to realization of that great fulfillment!
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