Yesterday I had the very good fortune of being asked why we do a particular thing in our mindfulness community. My response was, “to encourage inclusivity, so everyone can participate without any kind of obstacle.” Inclusivity in this context wasn’t only in regard to life choices, gender, ethnicity, or race but specifically inclusivity of views. Inclusivity is a strong North Star for me, particularly inclusivity of whatever a person may be struggling with in their life.
Bodhisattva is a word in the mindfulness tradition that describes
someone or something who vows to not turn away from suffering and instead, do
their best to alleviate it. One of my favorite Bodhisattvas is named Never
Disparaging Bodhisattva. Such a one sees the goodness inside living beings, no
matter their backgrounds, dirt and grim and accepts them with an open heart,
trusting that they know how to wake up and are in process. Never Disparaging
reminds me of something Thich Nhat Hanh was famous for saying—right view is the
absence of all views. The idea here is not that we shouldn’t have views, that’s
recognized as impossible, we will have preferences, values, ethics, however, we
acknowledge that others also have preferences, values, ethics and come from a
background completely unlike ours. Their experiences are entirely different and
we will support one another in waking up, we’ll keep our hearts open, our views
open to include and listen to others. When we practice doing this, our ripple
out is expansive.
Yesterday, our mindfulness community in Lake Tahoe had a
beautiful opportunity to practice inclusivity of views and supporting one
another on the path of practice. Never Disparaging Bodhisattvas hashed out why we
make the personal decisions we do and managed to hold each other with love and
compassion ~ our highest ideals. Supporting one another in this day and time,
when so much division and hatred plagues our country and the world is the
ripple that will heal our families and communities. Listening, trusting we
are all growing in our awareness and understanding, that we are in process,
learning how to be more open hearted and take care of those around us in the best
possible ways, is our rubber-hits-the-road practice. I take a deep bow of
gratitude for mindfulness community, for our practice, for my Never Disparaging
Bodhisattva friends on the path, for a place where we can be accompanied, our
suffering hashed out, understood and ultimately loved and supported.
