Sunday, September 28, 2014

Gavin Harrison: The Song of the Child


Through whatever path we take - whether mediation or any other practice that
empowers us to grow in self-understanding, mindfulness, consciousness, 
and compassion - may we each awaken to our song, the beautiful song 
we came here to embody and share with the world.
Blessings ~ Molly

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Among one of the tribes of West Africa, when a woman decides that she wishes to have a child, she walks out alone from the village. Perhaps she finds a tree and sits down beneath it. Then she listens. She listens for the song of the child that she has decided to bear. The day she hears that song clearly is considered to be the birthday of the child. She teaches the song to her husband, and it then becomes a part of the mating ritual between the woman and the man. They sing the song during her pregnancy and again when the child is born. It is the song of that child, and it will be sung on each birthday and at each important passage of the child's life. On any wedding day, the song of the groom and the song of the bride are sung together. The last time that song is sung is when that child's body is lowered into its grave.

The path of meditation is like remembering or rediscovering our original song. Through the deepening of self-understanding, we reconnect with ourselves and remember all that has been forgotten. Perhaps we have never known ourselves at all, but if we listen inwardly, we may hear again the beautiful strains of our long-lost melody.
 
When we hear the song clearly, when we discover our true spirit, we stop blaming or praising others for making us feel bad or good. We no longer feel like victims of circumstance. Rooted in truth, we bend within the winds of circumstance, like fir trees. We engage with the forces in our lives instead of running away from who we are and from all that is painful. In that moment when we are willing to open to the ten thousand joys and the ten thousand sorrows of life, the gateway to our real selves opens. The is the gateway through the palace walls that have kept us isolated and limited for so long. Walking through the gates, we access the possibility of a profound happiness and peace that is not dependent on the conditions of our life.
 
- Gavin Harrison, In the Lap of the Buddha
Also found in The Buddha is Still Teaching, Selected and edited by Jack Kornfield

Mozambique © Kimberly Flowers/USAID

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