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

monastic INSIGHTKing Arthur and the Knights are all sitting there at the RoundTable. King Arthur stands up and says, “Okay! Before we eat ourmeal, who’s had an adventure this morning?”(It seems that they had many more adventures in those daysthan we do now.)None of the Knights of the Round Table had anything to share.They all just sat there.So King Arthur said, “Well, until we have an adventure, wecan’t sit down to our meal.”They’re all thinking, now what kind of adventure could wehave? What are we going to do so we can eat? And then the HolyGrail appears, beckoning them on a quest. They decide, all rightthen, we’re going to set out in search of the Holy Grail. They getonto their valiant steeds and tsch-tsch-tsch-tsch plod down to aforest, conveniently nearby, which just happens to be called theForest of Adventure.Interestingly, in this story of the Holy Grail, although youset out on a quest—you know, these valiant quests, with a bighorse, a big sword, and everything—you do not find the Grail,it finds you. Here we have the same teaching as Master Linji, tostop our seeking, to stop running around, and come back to whatis going on right here, because the path, the Holy Grail, the Forestof Adventure, is right underneath our feet. What is important isour willingness to undertake this journey, the journey of openingthe heart.So they arrive at the outskirts of the forest, where they realizethat there are two possibilities. Either they all enter the foresttogether, in search of the Holy Grail, or they enter the forest separately.Bear in mind that up to this point they had traveled togetherto get to the Forest of Adventure, as a Sangha, as a community.When they got to the Forest of Adventure, they felt, oh, it wouldbe a shame for us all to go down that very clear path through theforest, but rather each Knight should enter at a place of his ownchoosing. Only then would it be an adventure.In our journey of practice, initially we are in search of something—peace, enlightenment, joy, a chocolate donut—that wethink exists outside of ourself. We are carried by the energy ofthe Sangha. For the real adventure to begin, we need to discoverand nourish our own aspiration. What is your Holy Grail? Whyare you a practitioner? What brings you back to your Sanghaeach week?To see this, to touch this very deep and profound longing inyour heart is to touch your deepest aspiration. The Sangha is a placewhere we help each other to realize our deepest aspiration.The Sutra on Fear and DreadMany of the world’s myths and legends feature this image ofthe forest. In European fairy tales, to give just one example, wehave Hansel and Gretel going into the forest to the witch’s house.In the spiritual traditions as well we have this image of this forest,this place of the unknown. In Buddhism, what happened toSiddhartha when he decided to leave home? Where did he go? Hewent into the forest.26 Summer 2006There is a series of lovely teachings about Siddhartha, thefuture Buddha, entering the forest. When Siddhartha entered thewilderness, he experienced great fear and dread. Any little soundin the forest, like a stick cracking, he would imagine to be a tigercoming to eat him up.In one sutra, called “Fear and Dread,” he shares his experienceof entering the forest, this place of mystery. I invite you to enjoythis discourse in its entirety, as it has much to say to us. The Buddhashares about the intense fear and dread that overcame him when heentered the forest, the place of the unknown. Leaving behind thecomfortable and familiar, he shares his practice of understandingfear. When the fear and dread came upon him he would continuedoing whatever it was he was doing—sitting, lying, standing—untilhe understood where the fear was coming from.Once we have a solid place of refuge within us, we need to staywith what is happening, not run away, not try to distract ourselves.We in the West have a great tendency to do this—anything to avoidwhat we’re calling here fear and dread. It might be our sadness, ourdepression. The Buddha is telling us to dwell with what is beingbrought up for us. Meditation practice is about understanding whowe are, what is going on within us and transforming the experiencesthat we have into opportunities for insight to blossom.Where is the Holy Grail? Where is the Forest of Adventure,for us as practitioners, for us as cultivators? Where is the placewhere we feel fear and dread the most? Where is the place ofmystery? It’s within our heart. Meditation practice by its verynature brings us back to what’s going on within our body, withinour mind. Mindfulness practice is about learning to dwell withwhatever is present.The Sutra on InscriptionsThere is a beautiful teaching on this called “Inscriptions” :“Monks, there are these three types of individuals to befound existing in the world. Which three? An individual like aninscription in rock, an individual like an inscription in soil, andan individual like an inscription in water.“And how is an individual like an inscription in rock? Thereis the case where a certain individual is often angered, and hisanger stays with him a long time. Just as an inscription in rockis not quickly effaced by wind or water and lasts a long time, inthe same way a certain individual is often angered, and his angerstays with him a long time. This is called an individual like aninscription in rock.“And how is an individual like an inscription in soil? There isthe case where a certain individual is often angered, but his angerdoesn’t stay with him a long time. Just as an inscription in soil isquickly effaced by wind or water and doesn’t last a long time, inthe same way a certain individual is often angered, but his angerdoesn’t stay with him a long time. This is called an individual likean inscription in soil.“And how is an individual like an inscription in water? Thereis the case where a certain individual—when spoken to roughly,spoken to harshly, spoken to in an unpleasing way—is nevertheless