Pet Dog as the Buddha

I was reading in Elizabeth Drescher's Choosing our Religion about the "spiritual" connection between people and pets. One Linda Olson considers her dog Sheamus her most important spiritual sensei. She calls him "Mr. Present Moment" aned "Mr. Loving Kindness." These are the values the dog teaches her everyday. The dog teaches her "to pay attention to the present moment, to really be in it, and to approach everyone as though they're going to be awesome, wonderful friends. I don't think the Buddha could do much better than that." (p. 140)

The Sutra on Totality

I was just really awestruck, even flabbergasted by this very succinct expression of -- what I think is -- the core of Buddhism: focus on the here and the now! It just stopped me in my tracks!
Of course, it's been years now that I've been convinced that what Buddhist masters such as Thich Nhat Hanh have claimed is profoundly true: True happiness lies when you can really live to the full the present moment, the here and now!

"Monks, I will teach you the totality of life. Listen, attend carefully to it and I will speak.

What, monks, is totality? It is just the eye with the objects of sight, the ear with the objects of hearing, the nose with the objects of smell, the body with the objects of touch and the mind with the objects of cognition. This, monks, is called totality.

Now it anyone were to say, "Aside from this explanation of totality, I will preach another totality," that person would be speaking empty words, and being questioned would not be able to answer. Why is this? Because that person is talking about something outside of possible knowledge."

(From the Samyutta Nikaya, trans. by Gil Fronsdal)

Teachings of the Buddha (Pocket Classics), p. 57

/jkk

Mindfulness and Elephants

(Jan Chozen Bays, Mindfulness on the Go, pp. 20 ff)

In the Buddhist tradition, the practice of mindfulness can be described using the analogy of elephants. In the Buddha's time, elephants were used in war. They had to be trained in order to follow orders and accomplish vital tasks in the midst of the din and confusion of the battle.

When an elephant is untrained or wild, it runs away; it attacks when scared. In short, it is of no use but can rather cause great damage.

The untrained mind is just like that: When confronted with problems and challenges, it might just run away, go numb, engage in disastrous behaviour or even attack others. It needs mindfulness training in order to remain calm in the midst of the different stress factors in life and in order to continue really life to the full every moment in life.

"Daddy, I want to be like you"

I've heard this line a few times from our 8-year-old in the past few months. She says she wants to earn a PhD, teach in a university, and be "like me." My standard response to that is: "You don't have to be like me, honey. You have to be yourself!"

Of course, even when I consider that this is just a phase of "daughter thinking daddy is a 'Superman'," it still touches and moves me at a very deep level. My wife has even told me that DD (dear daughter) idolizes me. That is very flattering.

As I look with much love at my eight-year old daughter, I see that she has indeed gotten many things from me up to this point. I'm immensely proud of that. I hope though that I'm not just trying to shape her into an image of myself - that would be idolatry. I hope I can really give her the freedom to discover who she really is and help her to grow into that person.

Still, what a joy to a father's heart when he feels his daughter is proud of him. I savour, cherish and treasure this!

"Savour", "Cherish", and "Treasure"

In our consumerism-driven culture, these three words "savour", "cherish", "treasure" seem to have little or no space in people's lifestyles. We are so accustomed to "consuming" something--be it a thing, an event, a person, an experience--and moving so thoughtlessly and unmindfully to "the next thing" that could titillate our consumeristic instincts with something like a new "high."

In an age or a lifestyle that had/has fewer "things" and fewer "stimulants," someone could in principle "savour," "cherish," and "treasure" each and every experience--both positive and negative--better, learn what needs to be learned and emerge from it a richer, more whole, more mature person.

This is why these three words could potentially be some of the most important keywords of a lifestyle that is necessary, especially today in our crazy consumeristic and frenetic world.

Worship Together with my Darling Daughter

Since D (my wife) started working at a nursing home, it happens often that only Hajime and I go to Sunday morning worship because D has a shift or has to rest from a shift. One of my favourite moments of this unique daughter and dad bonding is during the Eucharistic prayer when H. is seated beside me and she leans her head on my shoulders as we both follow the prayers on a shared prayer book. My heart is just filled with joy as I savour this special moment when both of us join the liturgy to worship God. Ahhh... such a sweet, precious experience. There is something so sacred and profound when you pray with an innocent little angel who worships God with such a pure, unsullied heart like this my little girl.

It will not always be like this. Life will become more complicated and challenging. Prayer will also become more grown up as she herself grows up. It may even become a "wrestling with God." But today, I pause and savour this pure moment when I can blissfully worship God and be thankful that this little girl is somehow imbibing the sense of the sacred and the profound which, I hope, she'll carry all her life.

I cherish and relish this experience!

Thoughts of a "Golden" Boy

I'm 50 years old! ...Now, I've become a member of the half-century club! The first thing that strikes me is: 50? now that's a sobering thought! If I'm lucky and God/Fate has it that I would reach 75, then, I've already lived 2/3 of my life so far... Only 1/3 remains. That may seem like a dark thought but I don't intend it to be that way ... The realization that one's time is limited is actually an invitation and a motivation to live life to the full, to live meaningfully and graciously whatever limited time is allotted to you ... to me. 

Let me divide my life into periods of 25 years...

I've had one heck of a life so far. The first 1/3 (up to 25): I lived in two countries, my mother's and my father's (the Philippines and Japan). I sensed a religious calling very early on in life and pursued it actively. I uprooted myself from my native land and re-rooted myself in a new land that I came to consider my own as well after a few tough years of trying my best to also become truly Japanese. I went to college/university two times. I learned four modern languages: Tagalog, Ilongo, English, Japanese / one ancient one, Latin.

The second 1/3 of my life (25 up to now): I went to Rome to begin graduate studies in theology and biblical studies. I was able to visit and live (a stay of a month or more) in many different cities and countries: (visited: so many places in Europe, the middle East,  North America, etc.) (lived: Rome, Perugia, Klagenfurt, Vienna, Jerusalem, Munich, Paris). I learned many languages both ancient and modern: Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Italian, German, French, Spanish. I was ordained a priest, a goal I had pursued from the time I was 12 years old. I worked wholeheartedly and joyfully in the ministry, trying to help people and bring what I understood of God and grace into their lives. I fell in love but thought I should sacrifice "earthly love" for a greater cause.

I did my PhD studies in Berkeley, California, a great place. I was blessed with great professors and mentors to whom I owe a lot! I managed to finish the PhD program in a record 3 1/2 years. However, during this period, a great ("paradigm") shift happened in me, caused in part by my studies, knowledge of history, critical thinking and exposure to a great, wide world. I felt that the state I was in had become too "small" and too restrictive for me. That's why I decided to change my status radically. That hurt and disappointed a lot of people, including some very close family members and friends. I couldn't do otherwise. I had to follow my conscience or be condemned to live a life of deception. When I did make the tough decision to be true to my heart, I felt free to be who I had become. I got married with the love of my life. I got very surprisingly and unexpectedly hired by a great institution of learning and was accepted for who I was/am by a great academic department. My beloved and I had a daughter, the great joy of our lives. I wrote a book. I lost my dad ...  The second 1/3 has been quite important and crucial...

Along the way, I've encountered and become friends with a lot of truly amazing people. I met a few terrible people as well, encounters from which I learned much. 

What lies in the (presumably) last 1/3 of my life?   At present ....   I'm supposed to submit the manuscript of a second book this year that I'm 50. I've been invited to be a visiting professor back in Japan, an unexpected and happy development. I have a great relationship with my wife and daughter. I'm not sure what challenges lie ahead but I say today, "Bring them on!" I'll face them and hopefully make the most of what remains of my life. Today, I resolve ever more to live life to the fullest;  I resolve anew to live mindfully each day, each step, and I will cherish, savour and relish every single thing in live - enjoy the good experiences, learn from the tough ones. 

If I were a sports player, my career would have been long over. I've never forgotten an observation I heard from a friend back in Berkeley, Br. John Rasor. He said, the great thing about a career as an academic immersed in history, religion, and other areas ...  a career as a theologian, a thinker ... In other words, what's exciting about this job and career that I have is that at 50, life has, in a sense, just begun. The academic's best years are still ahead of him or her because the best and most mature works of academics often come towards the 60s and even 70s when one has long experience, wide breadth of thought and much learning and critical thinking accrued through many years ... Hence, my best years as an academic might still lie 10 to 15 years from this point! How exciting!

Above all, I'm thankful, really thankful for the life I've had, most especially together with Del and Keitlyn Hajime, my family back in the Philippines, my family and friends all over the world!  I can die anytime and be at peace ...  although I really wish and pray that I would live to see Hajime grow into a fine, mature woman and I also fervently hope to grow old graciously with Del. I would still like to write a novel one day, that has been a constant dream since my boyhood. But nothing is guaranteed. I entrust it all to God, to whatever is allotted to me and I smile and try my best to live THE HERE AND NOW, every single moment as fully as possible.

These are my thoughts as I turn 50 ...