Ajahn Brahm is an UK-born Theravada Buddhist monk, who currently the Abbot of Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia. Brahm was ordained in Bangkok at the age of twenty-three by the Abbot of Wat Saket, and subsequently spent nine years studying and training in the forest meditation tradition under Ajahn Chah. Exceprt above is the opening chapter of his book, Art of Disappearing.
SEED QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION: How do you relate to the advice to accept that things go wrong from time to time? Can you share a personal experience of what came up for you when you accepted things as they were and focused on observing? How do you develop the strength to become an observer when things go wrong?
I am but a seed trying to find the the Light. In my world, beneath the soil, it is dark and sometimes too wet/too dry (which in either circumstance, could cause death)! As my roots spread out to seek nourishment, I run into every physical obstacle imaginable (as if I have been set up to fail). There are even living organisms living in that dark place that prey on "Light seekers" like me. However the Light above the the soil literally pulls me and insists that I "press on"! (And so I will).
To know . . . To Love . . . And to serve The Light.
I understand the point, however my view is there is no "wrong or right" there just IS. And that has made all the difference. Acceptance is valuable either way and not judging, just being.
Personally, I'm trying to accept the challenging situations as integral part of existence. We all have our share of experiences that bring about varying degrees of suffering. This acceptance does lessen the anxiety to avoid pain and gives energy to build resilience around the situations both personal and impersonal.
I can understand, accept and move on when my own life happens. But I have difficulty with this when I see and hear about injustices that exist in the world still today. Watching the lives of other people happen, watching them suffer...that is quite the challenge. I can work on myself to understand their lives, but do I then accept it and move on? What good comes of that? There must be more than just accepting it. My adaptation of the Serenity Prayer:
Life, grant me the mindfulness to understand and accept the things that are to be;
the courage to affect and help heal those that are unnatural;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
A surprising perspective. Although I think it goes a bit too extreme to the other side of the swing, there is a lot of truth in it. Right and wrong is our own construct, which is why 'the world is divided by the people who believe they are right." In one way, the world is perfectly fine as it runs its own course, until someone comes trying to fix it. In the other way however, life has its own course as well, and doing all these rights and wrongs is certainly part of the natural course of the universe, suffering included. I suffer, and I accept that I suffer.