My kitty Spider died last night. He had a bad tooth infection and either it or the anesthetic was the end of him. So sad. He was the friendliest who thought every lap was made for him and would jump into anyone's lap although he was also very good at picking the person who needed a little extra love at that moment. So I buried him in his favorite spot in the garden so he can keep watching over us.

 

 "this traceless enlighten­ment is manifested completely"

 

While visiting the Aarau Zendo in Aarau Switzerland last month, I was able to do many walks along the river that runs through the town.  It was beautifully spring with sun, flowers and many dogs. It seemed to me that the best kind of life must be that of these Swiss dogs.  Their people seemed very happy to take them out to the river and spend time throwing the stick into the river for retrieval and the dogs were consumed with joy playing in the water.

I was suffering some from the inevitable jet lag that affects me when I travel, but looking into the face of one of these delighted Swiss dogs erased all pain.  Their whole wriggly happy bodies telegraphed the total bliss of a river, a stick and an accommodating person.  We call this total joy of the moment jijuyu zanmei samadhi. Sometimes translated as "joyful self-fulfilling samadhi" or as Roshi Bernie likes "play."

Watching dogs, I had an insight about the 10^th precept "Do not speak ill of the Three Treasures," which has always been a bit opaque for me.  The Three Treasures, of course, is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha which is the oneness, differences and harmony of our life.  Or more simply the Three Treasures is my life, your life, all our lives.  I was reflecting that when I am anxious or depressed or in despair or in any way not experiencing the joy of life then I am in some way not in touch with the truth.  For me the precepts are guides to help me check on what is separating me from the innate joy of being. So, when I am angry, I don't try to push the anger away or make myself wrong for the anger but allow myself to open up to the anger, to investigate if there is action that I need to take and to let go of the anger.  In the same way when I am anxious or depressed I want to embrace that neuroses as a prelude to doing what I need to do to let it go and experience the joy that is my life.

This dog analogy fails when it comes to the intrinsic perfection of our life.  The dog is happy when he's playing in the water and not so happy if he's left home alone when his person goes to work.  However, this jijuyu zanmei samadhi is always our nature regardless of our situation. That being so, we still feel anger, yearning, despair and fear.  And many times those feelings are indications of action that needs to be taken.

Last week-end on Earth Day I had such a strong feeling of sadness about the deterioration of our planet and because of those feelings I renewed my vows to do what I can to raise consciousness about the need for direct and speedy action towards saving our home.  I did feel despair about the human situation and because I also know that life is good and playful I could renew my vows to take action to make a difference.

Walking back from the river in Switzerland, filled with the joy of Swiss dogs, I came across a little fur bundle of a dog being walked by her person.  A few steps away a big dog also noticed the little one and, as well trained as Swiss dogs are, he could not avoid the notion that here was a dog that could be taken.  Like a streak of lightening, the big dog attacked the little one with humans pulling on leashes and gathering in the threatened.  O well.

"However, flowers fall giving rise to attachment, and weeds spring up, arous­ing antipathy."

Well I did it.  I gave $50 to the Obama campaign.  Boy do they ever have a nice website going.  I now have Mybarackobama page where I can organize friends, events, blogs, groups and best my fundraising.  Pretty impressive.