Senses and perception
Mar. 21st, 2025 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mickiA short one today, since i am on holiday and typing on my ipad. The chapter is on senses and perception. It talks about transforming neutral feelings into positive feelings through the meditation of smiling. "We call seeing a neutral feeling. It's someone who has lost her sight would give anything to be able to see you, and if she could, she would consider it a miraculous gift. We have eyes capable of seeing many forms and colors are often unhappy. If we want to practice, we can go out and look at leaves, flowers, children, and clouds, and be happy."
I'm thinking of my friend who died recently, because we were talking about her with the friends we were visiting in Nevada. One of the things we talked about was her failure to recognize that she was dying, and why she was in denial. I think it's just because she had fought the cancer so long she couldn't anticipate getting up. And she maintained home in the face of despair. I'm not sure if that's a good thing end the world to continue-or if it's a kind of deliberate denial of reality? Some Buddhist traditions really emphasize preparing for death; on the other hand, some Western traditions emphasize the need to continue to help. I don't know which is right, but clearly perception plays a role here.
But to get back to Thich Nhat Hanh I am doing that thing where you make someone's death all about you, and saying Ok-- I woke up and my foot was numb and my hand was numb and I'm very worried about spinal stuff; spending the evening with my friends who have multiple health problems due to their advancing age has really made me think about the vulnerabilities of the body. And yet, I am alive to wake up. I am alive to grieve. I am alive to wish that I had known more about my friend's approaching death so I could've done some thing, even though I never know what exactly to do an all sorts of situations. I am alive to appreciate this amazing sunrise, even though it's cloudy, over the mountains of this great basin right now covered in snow so quite beautiful. So what Thich Nhat Hanh keeps saying is to see the joy in the heart of the sorrow. There is so much sorrow right now that it's quite challenging, but when I think of what he lived through, I realize that the capacity to hope is really important.
I'm thinking of my friend who died recently, because we were talking about her with the friends we were visiting in Nevada. One of the things we talked about was her failure to recognize that she was dying, and why she was in denial. I think it's just because she had fought the cancer so long she couldn't anticipate getting up. And she maintained home in the face of despair. I'm not sure if that's a good thing end the world to continue-or if it's a kind of deliberate denial of reality? Some Buddhist traditions really emphasize preparing for death; on the other hand, some Western traditions emphasize the need to continue to help. I don't know which is right, but clearly perception plays a role here.
But to get back to Thich Nhat Hanh I am doing that thing where you make someone's death all about you, and saying Ok-- I woke up and my foot was numb and my hand was numb and I'm very worried about spinal stuff; spending the evening with my friends who have multiple health problems due to their advancing age has really made me think about the vulnerabilities of the body. And yet, I am alive to wake up. I am alive to grieve. I am alive to wish that I had known more about my friend's approaching death so I could've done some thing, even though I never know what exactly to do an all sorts of situations. I am alive to appreciate this amazing sunrise, even though it's cloudy, over the mountains of this great basin right now covered in snow so quite beautiful. So what Thich Nhat Hanh keeps saying is to see the joy in the heart of the sorrow. There is so much sorrow right now that it's quite challenging, but when I think of what he lived through, I realize that the capacity to hope is really important.
