As I write this one among our cats, Finn, is sprawled throughout my lap.
He’s an all-white, American brief hair with blue eyes and under common intelligence.
I’ve watched him fastidiously plan his leap onto the bookshelf solely to leap headfirst into the wall.
And he recurrently will get misplaced wandering by means of our home; meowing sadly till I or my companion go to search out him.
He rubs his head in opposition to my legs after I stroll by means of the home, he watches from the window after I work within the backyard. And if I sit on the sofa to write down, learn, or watch a film, he magically seems in my lap.
I prefer to assume that I am the robust, impartial sort. However the fact is that I am not so completely different from Finn.
After I kneel in entrance of my altar, I justify my actions with philosophical jargon. I can speak for hours about sacral realism and the way my Butsudan is a bodily illustration of Buddhist virtues.
However the fact is that I observe Buddhism for a similar motive that Finn is resting on my lap. I crave affection. I want love. I am trying to find stable floor beneath my toes; a help in opposition to the intrusions of our fashionable world.
And in his compassion, Buddha constructed the teachings to supply for my wants.
After I research the sutras, I achieve knowledge from the women and men who wrote them. After I recite the prayers, I am united with Buddhists everywhere in the world who say the identical phrases and specific the identical wants.
Buddhist observe jogs my memory that there are occasions that I really feel lonely, however I’m by no means really alone.
And that appears like like to me.
Namu Amida Butsu
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