Unexpected Freedom

Unexpected FreedomFrance. Millions of trees were uprooted. In the forestsbelonging to our monastery at Chithurst about one third ofthe oak trees were brought down. It was a sad sight, one thatcaused everyone to feel disheartened. Yet a mere five yearslater the woods were welcomingly beautiful again, more openand brighter than before. Not only that, but here at Harnhamwe have benefited from the hurricane in that we have thislovely solid oak floor in our Meditation Hall.The hurricane gives me an image of what tends tohappen when we are faced with things we don’t like. Wereadily perceive such things as the enemy and tend to seethem as evidence of something going wrong. Because wefollow this initial perception, we don’t give ourselvesthe opportunity to reconsider our assessment; the result isthat we behave in ways that can have serious and oftentragic consequences.Nature can teach us to develop wisdom by encouragingus to reflect on our habitual initial reactions that make us feelthreatened and judgemental. When we are feeling hurt orthreatened by circumstances we can easily react in shortsightedways. Our untrained and untamed passionate natureis such that when anger arises we get caught up in it andmisperceive situations. This wild energy, if not wiselycontained, moves us to want to cause harm and to hurtothers. We may recall the Buddha’s words, ‘When we holdfast to such thoughts as, “They abused me, mistreated me,molested me, robbed me” we keep hatred alive.’ The heatcomes up from our bellies so that the anger can possess ourhearts and then go all the way up into our heads. If we areheedless, anger starts coming out through our mouth orthrough our limbs, or it can whirl around our heads anddrive us crazy with ideas and fantasies. All this can go onuntil the energy has been spent.72