Greetings fellow spaceholders, This from today's edition of the daily dharma at tricyle(.com)
° Practice and the Butterfly The life history of a butterfly is similar to our practice. We have some misconceptions about both, however. We may imagine, for example, that because butterflies are pretty, their life in the cocoon before they emerge is also pretty. We don't realize all that the worm must go through in order to become a butterfly. Similarly, when we begin to practice, we don't realize the long and difficult transformation required of us. We have to see through our pursuit of outward things, the false gods of pleasure and security. We have to stop gobbling this and pursuing that in our shortsighted way, and simply relax into the cocoon, into the darkness of the pain that is our life. Such practice requires years of our lives. Unlike the butterfly, we don't emerge once and for all. --Charlotte Joko Beck, Nothing Special: Living Zen from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book On a related note, I have found Eric Carle's children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar to be an excellent kiddie version of Harrison's "Spirit." Absolutely delicious illustrations, including, of course, a butterfly. * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
