“We can hold both the unbearable beauty of this earth and the ocean of tears in our heart. This is what it means to be a wise human being, especially at this time.” – Jack Kornfield
Dear ones,
We live in unsteady times. There are the looming effects of climate change, huge AI transformations, increasing divisiveness and warfare, and the widespread mistreatment of many beings on this earth. At the same time there is the orange butterfly that flew 1000 miles to land in your garden, the majesty of the oceans, and the unstoppable turning of the trees in their seasons. These realities are happening at the same time. This is our place of practice. Mindful loving awareness allows us to hold the unbearable beauty of this earth and the tender ocean of tears.
It’s clear. No amount of new technology will end warfare, racism, and conflict, because their sources lie in the human heart. The outer technology of our world must now be matched by our inner technology. If the heart is not tended, our technologies will follow our fear, greed, and confusion. The Buddhist path of practice offers an alternative. Through mindful loving awareness, we can learn to step back and hold the ten thousand joys and sorrows of life with compassion. We can set our highest intention. We can pause and listen to our hearts. We can let go of the thoughts and actions that cause harm to ourselves or others.
There is a story of an elderly man who arrived at a doctor’s office to have stitches removed from his hand. He was in a hurry because he had another appointment—to eat breakfast with his wife at the nursing home. His wife had Alzheimer’s disease and had not recognized him for five years. The nurse asked, “And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?”
The man smiled, patted her hand, and said, “She doesn’t know me, but I know who she is.”
This is the kind of love that our practice invites us to discover. We go through all kinds of states. We weep and grieve, and our tears are holy tears. They are honorable. There is no rulebook about how we are supposed to feel. Can you hold this life—your life and the lives of those around you—with compassion and say, “Yes, it’s hard,” without being afraid to keep your heart open anyway?
This is the uplifting practice of the Bodhisattva path: to turn your heart toward compassion no matter what has happened, and to commit your life to alleviating suffering and tending the well-being of whoever you meet. Including yourself. This commitment is traditionally expressed as a vow, but it does not need to be a grand poem. It can be very simple: I vow to be kind. I vow to keep my heart open.
May you meet both the beauty and the tears of this world with a steady heart, and may you have the courage to keep it open amidst it all.
With metta,
Jack
