"Beauty confronts us with the requirement that we place ourselves among...the redeemers, the leaders in the protection of life. Once you have seen the bush on fire, you are not going to get out of the assignment unless you close your eyes to the beauty.... [You] either have to close your eyes or go back to Egypt and set the people free." - Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, "Rising to the Challenge of Our Times"

Monday, October 11, 2010

too tired to think of a title

In lieu of striving for enlightenment I think I'll just work on staying awake for 30 minutes at a time. Not that easy. Through years of schooling, sitting in meetings, and now sitting zazen, I like to imagine that I've somehow developed the ability to play off my hypnagogic twitching as merely turning in my seat, adjusting my posture, nothing wrong here, you've got my full attentio... AAH!

If the title "Buddha" or "Bodhi" means "Awakened One," does it mean permanently awakened, or intermittently awakened? How do you say "Frequently Startled Awake One" in Sanskrit? Maybe the more often I doze off, the more awakenings I will accumulate, ergo the more Buddha-like I'll be. Even as we speak. I dozed off right in the middle of that sentence. Can you feel the enlightenment just zzzzz. Huh?

4 comments:

Alice said...

I personally, feel much more enlightenment after a good nap.

Emily said...

So the more you nap, the more Awakened you can be! I will need to ponder this truth.

Emily said...

I wonder how many hours of sleep I could accumulate in 100 days...500? Maybe a shorter-term goal, i.e. 50 hours in 1 week, would be a good place to start. Roshi Ripley may be able to offer some guidance.

wordsfromhome said...

As a practical matter, I have often used the 20 minute power nap as a way to boost my energy to continue on a marathon house cleaning prior to having company for dinner or other significant events for which my semi annual dusting off is inadequate.