I’ve been taking Buddhism classes with Jungto Society, and I love them. The classes teach about the history, the philosophy, and the principles of Buddhism, but mostly they encourage daily practice.

And, I’m practicing more than ever recently. I feel I need it. My life has felt very stressful for awhile now, and I think I’ve been trying ‘too hard’ and not trusting life… So, for the last 15 days or so, I’ve gotten up, done “108” prostrations, read the daily Sutra, meditated, and shared with my community there. I write “108,” because I don’t count, and my guess is I go slower than most practitioners during the time the bowing audio runs. Probably, 90 prostrations is a more accurate number on a good day. And, some days, I hit the floor only a dozen times and just focus on my laundry list and chamhoe.

This is okay by me. I don’t try to be perfect anymore. I don’t stand a chance.

Yesterday, I made my way downstairs at 4:45am, like I’ve been doing. I stopped in the kitchen and turned on the sink to wash my hands, get a sip of water, or something. I stood there confused, because no water came out. A few moments later I noticed the faucet had been turned around and water was running into the plants behind the sink, overflowing a bit onto the counter back there.

I didn’t even know our sink could do that.

This morning, I began my bows, and when I stood up, my foot landed on my dog’s tail. She yelped. She had ‘snuck up’ behind me but I didn’t notice. When my foot landed, and I heard her cry, I paused briefly to console her with gentle words and carried on. She scampered back to her place on the couch where she had sat every other morning. Winnie’s a sweet, sensitive golden doodle, who yelps if you even touch her collar. I don’t think I landed hard enough to cause damage, but I still felt badly about not noticing she was there and scaring her.

These two practice experience have given me pause: when I don’t understand how things work, or I am not 100% aware of my surroundings, surprising things happen. Some cause pain to others. Also, some good may come of it (plants getting watered?), but who knows. I just need to pay more attention, I guess.

I think I’ll keep practicing, because, I like to notice things, and do my best, even if I fail while trying. And it’s kind of good (I think?) to notice that I have some dumb/blind spots, and do better another day.

#Dharma