Rev. Gyomay Kubose sure seems to like to talk about not taking life too seriously. It struck me that he talked about how many people don’t want to laugh because they’re so preoccupied with “serious things”. I admit, I’m guilty of this myself. However, as hard as it can be sometimes, I think its a good idea to take a step back and try to see that everything is impermanent. Instead of being upset, why not choose to laugh? Its much more fun.Rev. Gyomay Kubose sure seems to like to talk about not taking life too seriously. It struck me that he talked about how many people don’t want to laugh because they’re so preoccupied with “serious things”. I admit, I’m guilty of this myself. However, as hard as it can be sometimes, I think its a good idea to take a step back and try to see that everything is impermanent. Instead of being upset, why not choose to laugh? Its much more fun.
Another resounding overtone was to concentrate on one thing at a time. Many people might not think of it like this, but concentrating on one thing at a time is what meditation is. It doesn’t need to be sitting meditation, its just putting all of your focus into one thing. Its such an important concept that it is one of the parts of the 8-fold path.
I always love the concept of independence. You must learn how to do things for yourself, because you are the only person that will truly be there for you your whole life. You cannot rely on external things, you must develop the ability to rely on the internal. This is when you get true freedom. Imagine that you are dependent on someone to do your dishes when you are fully capable of doing them yourself. If that person doesn’t do the dishes, you will have no dishes. You can think of them as a ball and chain in this situation. When you learn to do the dishes yourself, you free yourself from the need for that person to do dishes for you, and you take that ball and chain off.
There was also a very simple formula given to free ourselves:
- Listen
- Understand
- Accept
Often times, things will be whether we want them to be or not. We could fight against the truth, but that will be a big source of suffering. Or we could accept things. The difference between acceptance and resignation is listening and understanding.