My husband and I recently visited the Yellowstone National Park. It's famous for it's Geysers, hot springs and mud pots. The Old Faithful is its most famous geyser. A geyser is a hot spring that shoots up water because the rock bed the water is held is highly pressurised. But for me the Old Faithful held something more meaningful. The old faithful shoots up only at particular times of the day. When it shoots up, it stays for a while and then it dies down. It will flare again after many many hours when the rock bed pressurises for the water to shoot up again. It's inspiring and fascinating.
The Old faithful reminded me of the Dhamma and the rising and ceasing of our thoughts.
For me the shooting up of the Old Faithful was similar to how our thoughts appear and disappear in our minds. Though to us, seem so solid and so united...they are not. They are all stringed together like beads on a necklace. So close are they, that they give the illusion of solidity. Each thought appears and stays on for a while and disappears and then the the other appears. Just like the old faithful appearing and disappearing.
But it is so hard for us to notice it. Even if we know it, even if we notice the appearance of a thought, its; very hard to stay with it. Because they move so fast. Our lives move at such a fast pace that to notice the movement of our mind and the thoughts in it take extraordinary slowing down. That's what's achieved in meditation.
Focusing on the breath helps us to slow things down. We focus all of our attention on the breath, leaving the rest of the world outside. As we focus on the breath, which we hardly notice, in our day to day life, we learn to quieten our minds down. With that the mind quietens and slows down. This is why when most people, as they start to, meditate they get bombarded with thoughts. It's not that they did not have thoughts before. Its' just that for once, they are quiet enough to notice the thoughts. Anyway, with the breath slowing down, our thoughts slow down. Gradually and eventually we totally get absorbed so that when we come out of our meditation, we have slowed down so much that we are able to noticed the world in a totally different way.
The old faithful reminded me of the rising and the ceasing of the thoughts and with that everything as we know. It's a wonderful phenomena. The experience is hard to stick, no matter how much you notice it. I do find it hard when the going get tough at times. It takes much mindfulness to bring to focus all the experiences and keep the mind in balance. But when the mind is brought to balance, there is incredible sense of peace and happiness. You know in typical life, all we try to do, is justify, prove "I am right and you are wrong" or even to say something back to put the other person in order that others don't walk all over you is an 'EGO' assertion. But if I am able to bring a moment of mindfulness in the midst of all that chaos and know that it's all an ego battle and that there is no need for any of that "for this person called "me"' in that moment I find that peace. I believe, this is essence the peace one aims to find once and for all in Nibbana.
Watching the Old Faithful inspires you, because it's a natuaral wonder. It's a sight to behold.
So is Dhamma. Practice of Dhamma is inspiring but it is also very difficult. I find that much energy is required for the effort. I have done much in my life but nothing has asked so much of me like the practice of Dhamma. But at the same time, I have never felt like giving all of me, like I do for the practice of Dhamma. There is an intrinsic motivation and a sense of gratification that arises out of the practice of Dhamma that is so hard to explain. I am a person who gets bored with things easily. I need to be challenged constantly and my mind needs to be challenged and a sense of curiosity has to be aroused often in order to continue with whatever I do. Time and time again, in almost everything I have done in my life, I have found boredom, lack of inspiration but I feel Dhamma still has not failed to inspire me, it still has not failed to arouse my sense of curiosity. I am amazed and at the same time I am inspired.
Just like the old faithful, the Dhamma has remained an "Old Faithful' right by my side. May it continue to inspire me for all of my life and throughout my Samsara!
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