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Red
Rock Friends
“What is
necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself.” A peaceful, but awake mind is aware of
the feeling of air against the skin: soft,
warm air floating about my face, flowing into my lungs, becoming part of my
blood, and then returning to the space from which it came. Air that presses against my closed eyelids and blows the hair
away from my face. I experience all
of this without internal dialogue, or intruding thoughts, and only now translate
my awareness into words that will always be shy of the true experience.
This is the most aware my mind has ever been. What
have I known of the natural, wondrous beauties that have come to be here
independent of my own existence? In
awe, I stand on the discarded rock, and it is I who looks up at the
earth’s formations. I am humbled
standing at the feet of red rock giants, and my respect for the earth has
deepened. As days, weeks, months,
and years pass; stone faces change, yet it will always be I that will
kneel before that which lives in spite of me.
We have autonomous existence, but similar sensory experience on this day.
It is the same soft air that warms our feet and cools our foreheads, the
same sun that nourishes our bodies and soothes our souls.
We are both capable of cultivating happiness and creating
destruction. We have both been
formed in layers shaped by the passing of time.
When the rock mountains and I look into the many faces of each other, we
find harmony between us. With that
being so, how could I stare into the many faces of man without the same
response? How could I liken myself
to rock mountains and cultivate difference toward my neighbor? All
of earth’s creations and life forms contain the same ingredients measured in
different proportions. I am my own
unique recipe made possible by the energy that exists beneath all form.
The world exists in two ways: that
which manifests behind closed eyes, and that which manifests before open eyes.
Closed eyes will never open to the Truth, the Dhamma.
With open eyes and an active practice of mindfulness, the Dhamma and I
will greet each other with love, as I will greet my neighbors in all forms with
love. On this day, I greet my red rock neighbor in Sedona, Arizona. I find the meaning of observation of sensation without thought, as I am rendered speechless by the presence of the living mountains. My awareness of myself in relation to all beings, human and nonhuman, has grown today. Awareness ages in one direction. Keep open eyes, open minds, and open hearts, and greet all existence with open arms. Let awareness humble the ego, and find that common recipe that can be created in the spirit of loving-kindness. This is the only path to the present moment. Written by: Kelly Johnston
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Great Lakes Buddhist
Vihara, Monks residence, 21491, Beech Road,
Southfield, Michigan 48034, USA
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