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    Dharma Glimpse by Philip Wallbridge

    On a recent stay at the temple I became more aware how time spent there creates a softening and opening in me. I invariably arrive with my ego, self-absorption and delusions prevalent, underpinned by my fears, jagged edges and emotional wounds. But, gradually over the hours and days there, these start to ease and I can be nourished through allowing in some of the wisdom, compassion and truth (dharma) that is around. Where these come from, I’m not sure. Certainly the people there create some, or a lot, of it. Where do they create it from? Again, I’m not sure. Maybe the conditions are created for us all to allow something of the Infinite, the Divine, or whatever you might call it, to flow through us and into each other.

    A few weeks later I was sitting in my lounge having been to practice online. I had lost that connection again as I always do and hardened back into surviving inner and outer worlds where ego, anxiety, suffering, craving and grasping seem inescapable, pervasive and pernicious. I suddenly became aware of, and connected to, the waves gently lapping on to the beach at Morecambe Bay through my front window. Despite the cold December weather, the sky was clear and blue and there was enough sunlight to give the panoramic a radiant beauty and brilliance. I felt blessed. It was a moment of serenity and fullness, even if only fleetingly. It reminded me how that beauty and serenity, or perhaps something of the Infinite and Divine, is never far away. I briefly saw with a surprising clarity how it is always around us, within touching distance. And how I perhaps simply needed to create the conditions in me, the softening and opening, to allow it in. Even though I will inevitably lose it time and time again.

    Maybe those conditions are also always changing. What works at one moment in time doesn’t work the next. There is impermanence all around I guess. For me, sometimes those conditions seem to be with others who have self-awareness and allowed the Infinite and Divine to flow through them. Sometimes it is when I can quieten my mind to seek it within myself. Other times it is when I am out in nature and it is resonating at the same frequency as within me.

    I start to trust that the Infinite, the Divine, the Dharma Body is always there. Within reach for those who want to find it both inside and out. And realise that I am both in need and deserving of it. That I don’t need to grasp at it. That humility can keep me grounded in the meantime (gratitude to Beth for helping me see that one). That I can have the patience to wait for when the conditions are right for it to flow into and through me. Hopefully on to others. And that, although it will go, it will always come back again if I make room for it.

    Namo Amida Bu

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    Satya Robyn ()

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