Description
It is part of being human to have complex, multiple views. We are always communing with what is here. There is no escape hatch out of this life into another one. Where would we go? When we let go of imposing conditions on our life, then there is a profound freedom—refuge allows that. And we find there is a beautiful helplessness to our condition.
Summary
It is part of being human to have complex, multiple views. We are always communing with what is here. There is no escape hatch out of this life into another one. Where would we go?
We can have a resistance to refuge that points to fears of immersion, defenselessness, or of joining—losing identity.
Once we are born, the bodhisattva condition of “staying” applies. When we let go of imposing conditions on our lives, there is profound freedom—refuge allows that. And we find there is a beautiful helplessness to our condition.
You are taking refuge in your own miraculous life. Your life is your YOU, your Dharma. No need to distract yourself. You live your own way into full understanding of the vows and meaning of refuge.
The escape hatch idea is constructed of all my oppositions to now, to my actual life. So, refuge is entering the moment we are already in.
Taking refuge within community implies empathy for others and trusts a long Zen tradition that takes refuge.
The Dao takes its own time with our intractable problems and suffering. We already know we want to live the truest, most authentic life we can, before we think, refuge.
Sunday Zen with John Tarrant and Allison Atwill, recorded July 30th, 2023.
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