Deer Park Monastery, Escondido, CA

Suppose someone standing alongside a river throws a pebble in the air and it falls down into the river. The pebble allows itself to sink slowly and reach the riverbed without any effort. Once the pebble is at the bottom, it continues to rest, allowing the water to pass by. When we practice sitting meditation, we can allow ourselves to rest just like that pebble. The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh, p. 26.

I was never really a huge Thich Nhat Hanh fan before because his writing is very practical and grounded, where I like ideas and concepts and developing theory. But I’ve been reading a lot of his books since there are so many of them here, and they are really quite good. I think of writings I like by great teachers from centuries ago. Centuries from now, I think Thich Nhat Hanh will be read in such a way, with reverence and authority. He will probably go down in history as one of the great “patriarchs”, so it’s kinda cool living at the same time as him.

But I’m not into adulation, and I’m not chomping at the bit to get to Plum Village to meet him. If anything, I’d rather avoid it, as I tend to shy away from “authority figures”. When I do meet him, I’m gonna try to make a point to cross my eyes at him. Maybe I’ll recite one of his mindfulness verses back at him as a rap.

I really liked the above passage by him in two contexts. I love the image, a Summer day in a sun-speckled forest with a river or a brook running through. I put myself into the point of view of the pebble. Someone comes along and picks me up. I feel the rush of acceleration as I’m launched into the air - *whhooaaaaaaaa!* The earth falls away and I catch a wonderful panoramic view from higher than I’ve ever seen before. Then gravity slows me down and I accelerate downward, plunging towards the water. I hit the water with a splash, impact, sudden deceleration, ripples, and then float to the bottom, and there I am in the Meditation Hall, sitting.

But the fall is like an image I have from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, in the “emergent existence” between during the period before being reborn. Our amorphous, disembodied, substance-less selves float through a mystical space that corresponds with physical reality, “searching” for a womb in which to be reborn. It is said that beings advanced in the way can actually navigate this between with some proto-consciousness, choosing where to be reborn. Ideally in a place with a historical mystic nexus, such as the Himalayas or the Middle East, although that one has been historically battered by humans and their religions. So the fall of the pebble is like the fall to earth to be reborn, not unlike the imagery of the haibane in the anime Haibane Renmei. Then the splash of being born, into the stream of life where one can struggle, swim, or just float calmly to the bottom.