As the new year begins, I’d like to share some reflections about the weekday morning teachings we call Dharma in Daily Life. First of all, I am grateful to all of you who participate; I love seeing you each morning. I began this form with several intentions, but it has evolved over these past nine months in surprising and unexpected ways.
My original motivation was twofold. One motive was to offer a sustainable way for everyone who wished to practice each weekday morning. Our lives had been upended and conditions had changed so radically that I thought even the most experienced practitioners might be confused as to how to apply the teachings during such a tumultuous time. A time in which practice was needed the most was the time when the Center’s doors were closed.
My other equally important motivation was to keep the CIMC community together. Seeing others, among them dear friends, still sitting together each morning seemed to me essential during this time. Finding refuge in an intact sangha seemed especially important, given the isolation of staying at home.
These two motivations are ongoing. However, as time has passed, I’ve observed and been told about a number of other meaningful developments. What began as a response to dire conditions has evolved into a serious way to deepen one’s practice in one’s daily life, to see all conditions as material for inner liberation.
CIMC is a daily dharma center. Yet, for those who don’t live nearby or aren’t supported by certain conditions, it isn’t possible to get to the Center regularly. Many former members of the Center haven’t been able to attend programs for a long time because of illness, disability, age, or because of moving to a different part of the country or world.
One person told me they live only on the other side of town yet couldn’t come for the morning sittings because of traffic and the responsibilities of children and work. This person is now able to join us daily. Those who live far away are now able to be a very real part of the sangha. And interestingly, some of you have even told me that the sangha feels more intimate than when we are gathered together at the Center.
A number of you have told me that after many years of trying to sustain a daily sitting practice, only now that you are coming on-line in the morning are you able to sit on a regular basis and that your home feels like more of a sacred space. Surely some of this has to do with the fact that the teachings are being beamed into your living rooms.
When CIMC opened its doors in 1985, people were sitting long retreats at IMS. When retreatants got back home, they would fall back into habits that had dropped away temporarily while on retreat. We saw the need for a daily life dharma center that could support a deepening understanding into the truth that although the conditions on retreat can be extremely supportive, one always has to come home. To understand freedom is to understand that all conditions are practice invitations and that inner freedom in the here and now is always a possibility. CIMC exists to support this vision; Dharma in Daily Life is a way of extending it.
As time passed, I began to remember the experiences I have had of being “behind the curtain”, so to speak. I had been with a number of my teachers in their daily life moments and could observe how they dealt with loss and spoke with their families. I learned from how they lived. In my own humble way, via daily dharma, I sense something similar is happening for those of you who show up each morning; you are hearing not just the words of the dharma but are receptive to the transmission underneath the words.
During this time, I have experienced many joys as well as sorrow and challenge. Some nights I sleep well, others, not so much. Some days I wake up to the news of a dear friend’s dire diagnosis and other days, to the bliss of the sunshine. Collectively, one day we hear about a phenomenal act of compassion and on another, the terrible news that yet another black man or woman has died because of racial violence. The pandemic has brought unimaginable loss to so many, and we are ever more aware that marginalized communities have been affected the hardest. Today, we continue to be hopeful that the transition of power in the White House will be peaceful.
Life brings a multiplicity of circumstances. Through it all, we’ve accompanied one another each morning, month after month, and for this I am deeply grateful. As Ram Dass used to say, “We are all just walking each other home.”
With all my love,
Narayan