Dharma is everywhere.
Illustration with permission: Manion Gauthier
Susan shares a memorable story of finding the Dharma. If we are looking, we can find it everywhere.
In 2013, I went to Magnolia Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi for a retreat. Thich Nhat Hanh and his monastics built this monastery on a cotton field known for awful happenings and now remembered and reformed with peaceful practice.
Like other retreats, participants register and learn their assigned rooms. I join a long line.
It was my turn. A nun said, “This is where you’ll stay. When you find Compassion, your name will be on a bunk bed. Follow this path.”
I do.
I find Compassion. (I realize the buildings are named after our innate qualities.) I check for my name on each bed, but I’m not listed. Understanding is next door. I notice apple slices lining the perimeter of the building. I check to see if perhaps my name is there. It’s not. (I later learned that someone brought food into Understanding, and with that…ants. The apple slices were there to draw the ants back outdoors.)
I hike back to registration.
I get in line and tell my story. Puzzled, Sister checks a roster, smiles, and says, “You need the Solutions table.” She points to a sign with flowers drawn on the edge that says, “It’s going to be okay.”
Another nun offering solutions looks me in the eye, smiles, and says, “Let’s try Diligence.” My eyes light up because I just read about diligence in Thay’s book, The Art of Power. Delighted, I say, “Diligence is essential in maintaining a joyful spiritual practice!” Sister is glad I’m happy. “You understand,” she says. I chuckle, having just returned from checking the dorm Understanding.
We walk side-by-side to see if there is a bed available in Diligence. There is. I’m ready to wave goodbye and settle in, but Sister asks me to return with her to the registration hall to reserve my spot. I’m glad I do. When she checks the computer, she shakes her head back and forth—and for a reason that is still unknown to me, says, “Your home is in Deep Listening.”
I ask, “Are you sure?” She laughs. Deep Listening is right next door to Diligence. It’s not a dorm. It’s a new cabin with four beds. I’m the only one there. Built off the ground with a front porch, it is a short walk to bathrooms and showers.
Thay’s cabin is nearby.
I unpack and head to the meditation hall.
PS. I often find the dharma in fog. Bird pals, fog, and me. Gulf of Mexico, FL
Written by Susan Barrett