Becoming a Good Samaritan

Becoming a Good Samaritan

Discussion date: Thu, Feb 09, 2012 at our weekly Thursday evening practice

< at this Bodhisattva of Compassion with a thousand hands . . ., but here our focus is on the answer: an outstretched hand adjusting a pillow in the middle of the night. It is the middle of the night, the night of emptiness, the night of unknowing. One is asleep. In short, there is no trace of self-consciousness as to what is going on. And in the middle of this, somehow, as my pillow slips off, and my head feels displaced, spontaneously, my hand reaches out to adjust the pillow, and I go back to sleep. That’s all. This koan is saying, “That’s compassion.” . . .

What we “need to do” to enter eternal life is presented to us in this story. But it is not translated into the prescription to “help our neighbor in need,” though we are certainly not saying that one should not do so. All the Samaritan “did” was simply the most natural and spontaneous action that would follow upon breaking through the dualistic perception of “I” and “other.” It was the pain of the wounded traveler that, to use a Zen term here, became the “turning word” for the Samaritan, opening his heart and mind to enlightened action, activating the power of compassion.

As we look around us, the world is filled with all kinds of possible “turning words” that can open our eyes to this world of nonduality. The trees, the mountains, the sky, stones, rivers, are all saying, “Look at me, and see!” Can you hear them? For some of us whose hearts have been hardened by our own self-preoccupations, or by idealistic expectations that keep us dissatisfied with what is available, or else for those of us who have come to take these wonders for granted, we need to be thrown off our donkey, as it were, by something a little more jolting, like the very real and concrete pain of the trees of the Amazon being felled, the mountains being leveled by mining companies to get the minerals underneath, the earth being polluted by industrial waste. The pain of the refugees in war-torn countries, the pain of the starving children. The pain of those harassed or treated with discrimination due to ethnic origin or skin color or gender or sexual orientation. Or the pain of a friend who has lost a loved one in death. In the last part of the story, Jesus asked, “And who do you think was neighbor to that man in pain?” The lawyer’s answer was, “The one who had mercy.” Jesus responded, “Go and do as he did.”

in: Dharma Topics
Discussion Date: Thu, Feb 09, 2012


Share:

July 2022
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
Sun, June 26 Mon, June 27

Friends in Different Places

Tue, June 28

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, June 29

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

Thu, June 30

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, July 1 Sat, July 2

Mindful Artmaking

Sun, July 3 Mon, July 4

Friends in Different Places

Tue, July 5

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, July 6

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

//Kent Island Evening Practice

Thu, July 7

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, July 8 Sat, July 9
Sun, July 10 Mon, July 11

Friends in Different Places

Tue, July 12

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, July 13

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

Thu, July 14

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, July 15 Sat, July 16
Sun, July 17 Mon, July 18

Friends in Different Places

Tue, July 19

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, July 20

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

Thu, July 21

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, July 22 Sat, July 23
Sun, July 24 Mon, July 25

Friends in Different Places

Tue, July 26

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, July 27

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

Thu, July 28

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, July 29 Sat, July 30
Sun, July 31 Mon, August 1

Friends in Different Places

Tue, August 2

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Wed, August 3

Silver Spring Morning Meditation

Thu, August 4

Takoma Park Morning Meditation

Fri, August 5 Sat, August 6

Mindful Artmaking