This Precious Human Life
As we move through the change of seasons this time of year, we can’t help but become attuned to the swiftly-moving, ephemeral nature of life. It’s the natural progression of things, after all. We observe the turning of the world on its axis, and the arising and ceasing of everything around us. Events in our families, towns, nations and world continue to unfold, filled typically with equal parts joy and sorrow. All messengers of impermanence.
There’s a wonderful short teaching in the Pali Canon called The Hole Sutta that punctuates the wild improbability that we’ve been born into this life as human beings in the first place, that we can discern what’s healthy from what’s unhealthy, encounter the teachings, apply them, and awaken. It’s a short piece recounting the Buddha talking to his monastic followers, so have a read:
"Monks, suppose that this great earth was totally covered with water, and someone were to toss a yoke with a single hole there. A wind from the east would push it west, a wind from the west would push it east. A wind from the north would push it south, a wind from the south would push it north. And suppose a blind sea-turtle were there. It would come to the surface once every one hundred years. Now what do you think: would that blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole?"
"It would be a sheer coincidence, lord, that the blind sea-turtle, coming to the surface once every one hundred years, would stick his neck into the yoke with a single hole."
"It's likewise a sheer coincidence that one obtains the human state. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a buddha, worthy & rightly self-awakened, arises in the world. It's likewise a sheer coincidence that a doctrine & discipline expounded by a buddha appears in the world. Now, this human state has been obtained. "Therefore your duty is the contemplation, 'This is stress... This is the origination of stress... This is the cessation of stress.' Your duty is the contemplation, 'This is the path of practice leading to the cessation of stress.'"
In other words, it’s rare, friend!
We know that the way home to the present moment, which is the only space in which we are truly embodied and alive, is by connecting with what’s real – the joys, the sorrows, and the mundane. Yet it’s become the societal norm to distract ourselves from the real beauty and messiness of life, turning instead to things like food, work, and our phones (cat videos! Wordle!), which are poor substitutes for embodied presence. We give our sick and elderly over to strangers to care for, and our dead to the embalmer in an attempt to physically erase the signs of death. We say our lives lack meaning, yet we continually turn away from opportunities to connect with what’s real.
So how does the practice of mindfulness, and all the teachings that spring forth from this basic quality of awareness, help us to both savor this precious life and fuel the desire to practice? How do we use these contemplations to reflect on what’s most important, what Suzuki Roshi called the heart’s most inmost request?
Of course, there are many specific teachings that help us connect with what’s real in this moment – mindfulness of the body and breath, lovingkindness, and mindful eating to name a few. But a practice I find particularly helpful in stoking the desire to stay on the path, even when the going gets rough, is to reflect on what has changed in my life as a result of this practice. You might try this right now. Close your eyes and sense into the body. Imagine the time before you “woke up” to the fact that your thoughts are not all there is. Not to assume that you’re present all the time now, but can you remember? What were your habit patterns around stress and difficulty? You might ask: Have I become more easeful, less anxious, and more accepting of myself and others? Allow this realization to sink in, and the fruits of your practice to become the fuel for its continued unfolding.
Each moment we spend fully present, we spend being fully alive. According to the Buddha, that you’re here, in this body, in this moment, and have found these teachings is quite a miracle! May your practice continue to bear fruit, both for your own awakening and for the
