Thich Nhat Hanh Jewish Roots The Better Way to Live Alone in the ...

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jewish ROOTS14 Summer 2006There andBack AgainIntegrating My Buddhist Practiceand Jewish RootsBy Louis WeissMy roots in Conservative Judaism were established in the smallMidwestern town I grew up in. It was a town that didn’t understandor tolerate “others.” The local parochial schools taught myneighbors that Jews were responsible for killing Jesus and wereto be treated as outsiders. My days at school and playing in thestreets always required a defensive awareness. So the synagoguebecame a true sanctuary for me. Each day after school I went to thesynagogue, spread my homework out on the sanctuary floor, andfound comfort in learning about the world beyond my daily experiencefrom within the protective peace and quiet of that dim, mustyspace. I adhered to the ritual of Conservative Judaism because itworked for me. I learned, I recited, I prayed, and I hid out.Then in the 1960s I left town and went to college; there Ilearned that God had died while I was en route. Those years allowedme to develop a social consciousness, an awareness of spirituality,and a glimpse at the diversity of the world. Conservative Judaismdidn’t work for me anymore.In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s my kids came along. I wantedthem to have a religious identity and education, so I became a“pediatric” Jew. I did it for the sake of the kids. The Jewish ReconstructionistCongregation was in my neighborhood and I knewa number of other families who sent their kids to the religiousschool there. So I joined.All Things That BreatheI had stumbled into a community that would become a centralpart of my life, my identity, and my spiritual well-being. Reconstructionismis a new sect of Judaism that recognizes that ritualmust be preserved to maintain an identity as a Jew but it must notsegregate us from the world. In Reconstructionism, egalitarianismreplaces the paternalistic focus of Jewish practice. More importantto me, it emphasizes the need to be engaged in socially relevantactivities in the broader community. In Reconstructionist JudaismGod is understood as the life force, in fact, the very breath thatsustains life in all forms on this planet—and probably the universe.The prayer book we use is called in Hebrew “Kol Haneshamah”or “All living things” (literally, all things that breathe).In 1999, after many discussions aboutthings most important to us, my wife Vickiinvited me to read The Miracle of Mindfulnessand to join her at Lakeside Buddhist Sangha formeditation. Thay’s teaching resonated stronglywith my own emotional and spiritual experience.I became a regular on Sunday night forsitting and walking meditation and dharmatalks. I participated in days of mindfulnessand weekend retreats. As I read books by Thayand other contemporary Western Buddhists, Ibecame aware of several things. One was thatThay’s teachings of engaged Buddhism feltmuch like the engaged Judaism I had beenaffiliated with for the past twenty years. Anotherwas that Buddhist teachings were verysupportive of and based in the principles ofpsychology I use in my professional and personal life. And manyof the Western Buddhist teachers I was reading were Jews!My Neighbor Is MyselfRegular attendance at the Sangha made me yearn for moreof an engagement in my Jewish practice as well. I had worked onSaturdays for all of my professional life, but began to feel stronglyabout having a regular day of mindfulness. I decided to stop workon Saturdays and to attend Shabbat services and Torah study eachweek at the synagogue. Now I have two spiritual communities toshare and support my meditation practice and my engagement inthe larger world.Having taken and retaken the Five Mindfulness Trainings,received a dharma name, and read and chanted sutras with mywonderful Sangha community, I began to think about the principlesof Judaism that Reconstructionism asserts in the context ofmindfulness, breath practice, the concept of oneness and no-self,and the immeasurable value of belonging to a spiritual community.I have learned to read the Old Testament from a perspective offaith in community, right speech, right livelihood, right thinking,and other aspects of the Eightfold Path. To me the admonition ofDeuteronomy to “Love your neighbor as yourself ” isn’t aboutloving another person in the way you love yourself. Rather it is areminder that my neighbor is myself.The central prayer of all Jewish practice is “Shema Yisroel.Adonay Elohenu Adonay Echad.” or “Hear oh Israel, the Lordour God the Lord is One.” When understood in Reconstructionistterms—God as the life force in us and in the universe—thisdoesn’t just put a stamp on monotheism, it is a reminder that weare all one with each other, the natural world, and the spirit thatsustains life.Now where have I heard that before?Louis Weiss, Diligent Inclusiveness of the Heart,is a member of Lakeside Buddha Sangha inEvanston, Illinois and a clinical psychologist.
wonderful MOMENTI Ate the Cosmosfor LunchI ate the cosmos for lunchAnd then again for dinnerWhat will I tell my friends?I noticed that I am bigger now too—More to me than I thought.Not only is my Mom inside me,And that would be enough.I also have my Dad, blood ancestors andSpiritual ancestors.The Sangha, mindfulness trainings,Thay and the Buddha.There’s more too.Like the Forest I lived in for five years,Walking home on a dirt road in the moonlight,Or moonless night, to a ring of redwoodsWhere I made my home.And freight trains, as they creak and groanLike monsters waking up,As they start moving down the tracks,Taking my friends and me on adventures across thecountry.And my feline friend who started sleeping over on hisownAnd stayed with me for four years.The list is quite endless.But let me get this straight—I’m empty,Yet I have the entire cosmos inside me.I’m sure my friends will notice this,And how much bigger I’ve become.More solid, more joyous.More compassionate and loving.More able to live how I truly want—Joyfully working for the care, respectAnd dignity of all beings.And my friends will want to know my secret.I guess I’ll start with:Breathing in, andBreathing out…Maple Forest Monastery,, Vermontphoto by Lisa May Loveless—Caroline Nicolathe Mindfulness Bell 15
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