J 'Bell - The Mindfulness Bell

Daily Practice
Being Present with Suffering TwoMagnolia Trees
byLeslie Rawls byDai-En Bennage
One day I took on a very difficult appeal involving much
suffering all around. I had designated the day a Day of
Mindfulness and decided to keep it, even after I got the call
asking me to review the new case. I am glad that I did, because
I needed all my mindfulness to be present with the suffering.
My client and his neighbors had escalating hostilities,
which led to my client—a one-armed, middle-aged man—
firing a semiautomatic weapon into an apartment, killing a
grandmother and wounding two young children. The victims
were not the people with whomhe had disagreed. As I read the
witness statements, I stopped to breathe many times. Even
before the shooting, there was so much pain in the relationships
among the neighbors and family members. It struck memany
times that even a small actof kindness might havedefused the
situation and avoided the ultimate tragedy that resulted. As you
might expect, intoxicants played a part in the shooting.
It is a tough case. Before I had received the Fourteen
Precepts, I think I would have turned this casedown without a
second thought. Somehow, though, I feel thisisoneway I can
be present with suffering, and offer my wholehearted practice
of mindfulness.
New Order member Leslie Rawls practices law in Charlotte,
North Carolina, where she also organizes local Sangha activities.
One day when I was a child of eight or nine, my father
brought home a young magnolia treein blossom to plant
in ourgarden of the many other trees, flowers, and vegetables
that he loved so much. We plantedthe tree, enjoying its slender
trunk and delicate petals.
It seemed that the less well my father did in business, the
more beautiful our garden became. My younger brother and I
had a secret, unspoken grudge against our father because,
while there was always butter on our grandparents' table, there
was only margarine on ours.
Years passed,and our house was sold. Later yet,my father
died. Many years later, after practicing at Plum Village during
the winter of 1990-1991,1 had the opportunityto teach walking
meditation in a beautiful arboretum in Philadelphia. It was a
bright spring day and I enjoyed touching the tree trunks and
blades of grass. Upon rounding a corner, I came upon a very
young magnolia tree in blossom. Without thinking, I reached
out to the petals. Upon feeling the blossom against the palm of
my hand, the ancient grudge against my father totally dissipated.
I had come to realize that his talent lay not in raising
money, but in raising trees, vegetables, and flowers.
A few days afterward, I visited my former home and found
our majestic magnolia completely coveredin blossoms, reaching
over the garage and even halfof the neighbor's yard! From
oneof the bowing branches that hung over the fence, I picked
two blossoms. Bringing them home to my altar, I placed them
in a vase beside the photograph ofmy father. Iknew that both
of us were very proud of the magnolia tree.
Patricia Dai-En Bennage is a Soto Zen priest in Muncy,
Pennsylvania.
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So many thoughts and ideas
attachments and desires
So many expectations
judgments and opinions
Must give way to unattached mind
immersed in eternal now
Filled up with original silence.
Olgierd Dilis
Warsaw, Poland