REGISTER

Taking the form of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, find shelter for the homeless person.

—PZI Miscellaneous Koan

Spending time with this koan about shelter for the homeless person, another koan has also been keeping me company: 

Put out the fire across the river.

With the arrival of the fire koan, I found myself remembering being in India where many people were living on sidewalks and train platforms. I felt overwhelmed by the number of upturned palms that I encountered, accompanied by the word baksheesh, or “charity.” 

I was newly launched in my Tibetan Buddhist practice, in which we were encouraged to remember that in infinite previous rebirths we had all been each other’s mother. How do you say “No” when your mother is asking for charity? I couldn’t give to everyone who asked; I would have no money left myself. What to do? I tried techniques like giving to everyone who asked me on certain days and not to anyone on other days, but that was not really satisfying. In the end, I found that I could at least give my attention to each person who asked, and remember that they had once been my mother as I gave them something or not and felt what I felt.

Home leaver is a term that was used in reference to people who left home to devote their life to spiritual practice, choosing homelessness as a way of life. But that homelessness is not one of a lack of home, rather the experience of being at home anywhere, even when saying, “Sorry, not today.” 

—David Weinstein

COME JOIN US on Tuesdays for koan meditation, dharma talk and conversation.
Register to participate. All are welcome.

David Weinstein Roshi, Director of Rockridge Meditation Community