{"id":1763,"date":"2018-11-05T19:40:15","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T19:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2018-11-05T19:40:15","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T19:40:15","slug":"the-loveliness-of-things-by-lao-dizhi-shakya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=1763","title":{"rendered":"The Loveliness of Things by Lao diZhi Shakya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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The Loveliness of Things<\/h1>\n
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I have merely attempted to put the view of the universe and man\u2019s place in it which is common to all mystics in plain and simple language:\u00a0 and to suggest the practical conditions under which ordinary persons may participate in their experience. Underhill<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Watch out for the poop!
\nThese alarm words came into my head about three-quarters of the way down the path to the gate. Annoying\u2026just one more thing to pay attention to\u2026I\u2019ve got two full trash bags\u2026heavy and banging up against the fence\u2026I may have already stepped in the poop\u2026<\/p>\n

As I returned from depositing the trash in the alley bins I kept muttering to myself about how watching out for poop was an unwelcome addition.\u00a0 The muttering included justifications for how it wasn\u2019t my fault if I stepped in poop\u2026I was being careful\u2026I was always careful\u2026who could ever be able to watch out for poop all the time\u2026<\/p>\n

Half-way down the path I suddenly realized what had just happened to me.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t\u00a0participating in my experience<\/em>, I was complaining and moaning and groaning and muttering.\u00a0 In an instant I understood\u2026just watch where you are putting each foot as you walk back to the house\u2026that\u2019s all\u2026just watch out for the poop.<\/p>\n

It (practical mysticism) will teach them to see the world in a truer proportion\u2026<\/em><\/div>\n

A crash of thunder woke me from a deep sleep as it did our old dog.\u00a0 We had given him Melatonin to help him sleep through the storm, but he was anxiously awake and our young dog was barking to try to calm him down.\u00a0 This was the last thing I wanted\u2026being up in the middle of the night with a crazy dog\u2026and the barking\u2026I wanted it to stop\u2026I wanted\u2026I wanted calmness\u2026and quiet\u2026I wanted not to have to be bothered.<\/p>\n

I quickly corralled the old dog to his cushion\u2026this stopped the barking of the young dog and he lay down on his cushion.\u00a0 The storm wasn\u2019t over, but if I sat between the dogs a hand on each head perhaps they would go to sleep and I could get back to bed.\u00a0 An image of my humanitarian greatness floated into my mind…I would sit all night caring for these poor creatures. What self-sacrifice! To put their needs above my own need for a good night\u2019s sleep.\u00a0 And just on the other side I was still annoyed and irritated\u2026I was cold and uncomfortable and tired.<\/p>\n

And as I sat, surprisingly, a sense of\u00a0truer proportion<\/em>\u00a0appeared.\u00a0 All that was required was for me to drop my wanting things to be otherwise.\u00a0 I started into my litany of memorized chants, saying each one carefully.\u00a0 Just sit with the boys\u2026one hand on each one not wanting anything.<\/p>\n

Participate in experience<\/em>\u2026with\u2026\u00a0truer proportion<\/em>.<\/div>\n

That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

\"Humming<\/h1>\n

Author: Lao di Zhi Shakya<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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A Teaching<\/p>\n

When life presents us with a new problem, a new chapter of experience for which the old adaptation is inadequate our usual response is withdrawal.<\/p>\n

One phase of life has come to an end….and what is needed for the new is not immediately at hand.<\/p>\n

All sorts of unwelcomed feelings may arise – depression, exhaustion, inertia, even self-rebuke for being lazy. Our energy needs to be mobilized to meet the new and to be creative in the middle of it.<\/p>\n

M. E. Harding<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Watch out for the poop!
\nThese alarm words came into my head about three-quarters of the way down the path to the gate. Annoying\u2026just one more thing to pay attention to\u2026I\u2019ve got two full trash bags\u2026heavy and banging up against the fence\u2026I may have already stepped in the poop\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-by-yao-xiang-shakya"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phd6fo-sr","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/MF.jpg","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1763"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1777,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1763\/revisions\/1777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}