buddhismIt was not long before Billy emailed.
He flattered me.
This—
"I was teary-eyed over your careful, meticulous scholarship."
This—
"I am amazed at how you have so lovingly collected all of these materials over the years."
This—
"I am thankful that your rendering of me was so kind."
He added—
"I thought of our training with O'Malley."
Oh!
Our beloved mentor.
Yes.
"I found myself sympathizing with the master," Billy said.
Excellent.
Yes.
This pleased me.
Success.
"In spite of his harshness and his unenlightened neuroses," Billy added.
Yes.
His commitment.
Yes.
His discipline.
Yes.
His effort.
"Your relentless questioning must have been taxing for him."
Inquiry.
"But that is who you are and what you do."
Is it?
That sounded ugly.
Ick.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Hmm.
I would.
Billy continued.
"I am not making light at all of the pain he caused you and other zen students but for what it's worth I keep seeing this as some kind of karmic connection—and may all karmic connections whether good or bad be auspicious. No doubt his continual health problems created a background of constant emotional irritation for him. On that level he does not seem to hold back in exposing who he is."
Not at all.
"That takes great courage."
Yes.
Billy explained that the blessings of the lineage can be present even if the teacher is not all that we want him to be. The formality of the teacher-student ritual, he said, and the aspiration to look into a clear mirror at ourselves help the relationship and the practice succeed.
"The ground longs for the path," he said.
Indeed.
By that the gurus meant, Billy said, that our enlightened but obscured mind longs for the way; but when ground begins to be realized then evil is not bad and all experience is indiscriminate.
"One taste."
In his email Billy apologized.
Concern—
"I hope that my careless words," he said, "have not harmed you."
Too kind.
Billy meant in all our years of correspondence.
They had not.
My friend said he looked forward to volume two.
Ha.
"If we live so long."
Yes.
He flattered me.
This—
"I was teary-eyed over your careful, meticulous scholarship."
This—
"I am amazed at how you have so lovingly collected all of these materials over the years."
This—
"I am thankful that your rendering of me was so kind."
He added—
"I thought of our training with O'Malley."
Oh!
Our beloved mentor.
Yes.
"I found myself sympathizing with the master," Billy said.
Excellent.
Yes.
This pleased me.
Success.
"In spite of his harshness and his unenlightened neuroses," Billy added.
Yes.
His commitment.
Yes.
His discipline.
Yes.
His effort.
"Your relentless questioning must have been taxing for him."
Inquiry.
"But that is who you are and what you do."
Is it?
That sounded ugly.
Ick.
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Hmm.
I would.
Billy continued.
"I am not making light at all of the pain he caused you and other zen students but for what it's worth I keep seeing this as some kind of karmic connection—and may all karmic connections whether good or bad be auspicious. No doubt his continual health problems created a background of constant emotional irritation for him. On that level he does not seem to hold back in exposing who he is."
Not at all.
"That takes great courage."
Yes.
Billy explained that the blessings of the lineage can be present even if the teacher is not all that we want him to be. The formality of the teacher-student ritual, he said, and the aspiration to look into a clear mirror at ourselves help the relationship and the practice succeed.
"The ground longs for the path," he said.
Indeed.
By that the gurus meant, Billy said, that our enlightened but obscured mind longs for the way; but when ground begins to be realized then evil is not bad and all experience is indiscriminate.
"One taste."
In his email Billy apologized.
Concern—
"I hope that my careless words," he said, "have not harmed you."
Too kind.
Billy meant in all our years of correspondence.
They had not.
My friend said he looked forward to volume two.
Ha.
"If we live so long."
Yes.
