Line From His Heart

Trickster appears as Raven in the Northwest.

Syehum's version of Raven story:

back when only animals lived here
there were no lines
the rivers flowed where they chose to flow
and the fish swam and spawned

and the bears slept in winter
and the weasels and otters and foxes
lived where the villages are now

and Raven lived there too.

(But you know this --
for you are blessed with the knowledge
of the Raven.)

Spirit came down from Tahomah
on a raft one day

a raft of spinning leaves

to visit Raven.  He said,

Hey Raven

What do you think of a new kind of animal
one that walks on two legs instead of four

and Raven said yeah so what I walk on two

Spirit said no what if they don't fly

What's so special about em then?

Hmm let's see what if they could talk

Veh sez Raven you and I talk all the time

and Spirit says I know, but when we talk
we know that what I talk comes to life
as easy as this

he snapped his fingers
and a butterfly flew out

But what if these new kind of animals
had a way to talk
that came to life
but they couldn't see it?

You're kidding me.  What's up with you, spirit,
restless?  Can't sleep so you're dreaming up new ways
to mess with what we got here?

No Really, Raven, look how simple this all is.
I dream up a valley, poof there it is.
I dream up a family of mice, poof there they are.
The mice get to be too many, I gotta dream up a way
to deal with em so they don't eat all the fruit.
So I dream up hawks to feed on the mice.

It's all nice and balanced.  But...

Busy busy busy, I like making stuff
but it gets kind of boring.

Yeah, spirit, I got it, you made this all
and it's nice n stuff

but you got somethin movin in your mind

Yeah
What if I could bring an animal in
that could do that too, what would it look like?

Raven looked at Spirit.
You're kidding.  You wanna give an animal
the power to do what you do?

Spirit said
Well I give all of you a little of my magic already
but what if I gave this one a little more

Raven said
You're askin for it.  There'll be no end of trouble.

But Spirit persisted.  This has been growing in me for a good while.
I want to see what can happen if the magic to build up and tear down,
lives in one of you.

Too much, said Raven.  You gotta draw the line somewhere.  Else they'll be all over
and mess this all up.

A twinkle of delight escaped from Spirit's eye.

Yeah. 

A line. 

So, Raven, you're the one to be the keeper of the lines
for the new animal.

Raven was astonished.  And a little irritated.
What do you mean, keeper of the lines.

I will give the new animal the power to draw lines.  So picture this:
Where they draw lines, new structures will come up.

I don't get it.   You make mountains without drawing lines first.

Yeah, lines, don't you see? If they think the only way to make things
is to draw lines first
they won't go making mountains and moving them around.

At least very fast.

So what does that have to do with me, said Raven.

You're the balance, said spirit.  I want you to mess with the lines they draw.
Just to keep it interesting.
Just to keep them from thinking they're god.

Oh. 

Hmm.

So the new animals came in
on two feet
and we called em
people.
Although they called themselves various other names
and began drawing lines

and houses and roads sprung up where the lines were drawn,
just as spirit said

and Raven saw that the lines they drew
were not real
but only lived in the spirit side.

This is real trouble, said Raven.

So he sat on a post
and watched
to look at what kinds of lines there were.

There were lines in the pictures of the land
that lived in the minds

and Raven saw that when they drew those lines
the lines soon became real on the land

as roads
and houses
and bridges
and fences
and telephone and power lines

And  raven saw that there were other kinds of lines
like the lines connecting two hearts
or the lines drawn between them

and he found that when his shadow fell across one of these lines
of any kind

it moved
just a little

especially if it didn't yet have a structure.

hmm.

this could be fun after all

so he watched
a guy would draw a line from his heart to a woman's heart

and where those lines were drawn, the structures that emerged
were children.

and when raven would redraw it to another woman's
more lines would come up, fence lines between the first two.

See, Raven, says Spirit
Wherever you move the lines they draw
they will be in the right place,

even though they are confused by it.

This keeps them in balance
so they do not move too fast
in their creating the universe...
So the world they create will be a work of great beauty.

Raven smiled.

Yeah, I think this'll be fun.

No one works this hard...

"Coyote is a trickster and a clown
Yet the most serious person you’ll find

Coyote is the smoking mirror
Where we look for personal beauty
And see our vanity staring at us

If coyote sees you being sorry for yourself
He’ll grab you and beat you up
Then take your spot
And start doing the same things you were doing
So you can see yourself

Coyote never follows
Yet he’s there with you at all times

The other day
I waited and waited for him at the airport
Right next to the arrivals gate
Then he yelled my name
All the way from the departures door
Laughing at me and my backward ways

Coyote comes dancing
And takes or gives me my comfort zone
With a big scalpel or a smile

Coyote is a space cadet, yet a genius
Even if to you talking backwards makes no sense
This was something that his third grade teacher
Couldn’t understand

Coyote is a jerk on the third day of dancing when I am starving
And he speaks of his breakfast coffee, steak and eggs

Coyotito stole my mate
And saved me form a certain heart pain

I went with Coyote to a winter sweat the other day
He insisted to uncle to please give us some warmth
While he was freezing we were melting
Once done
We were running for cover
While he jumped naked in the snow

Coyote speaks of being tired
Yet I have never seen him rest

I found him drinking cold lemonade in the jungle
As I was struggling to climb for dear life
And to breath some air

I saw him in the dessert
I saw him in the plains
I saw him right by the door in the tipi meeting
I see him all over at Sundance
I saw him in the hill
And If I am not careful
He’ll write for this me…"

~ "Chuntaro's Corner"

Art ~ "After a near-fatal bout with Crohn’s Disease in early 1985, Markus Pierson  declared that the accountant was “dead” and in his place was a man pursuing his dream of becoming a successful artist.

The Coyote Series was born in June of 1986, after Markus heard the Joni Mitchell song, “Coyote.” He loved it, played it often and memorized the words. The focus of the song, a guy referred to as “Coyote,” is a reckless, footloose Casanova type fellow – Pierson aspired to be the carefree romancer described in those lyrics. Then he did something he’d never done before or since: Markus made a drawing of a song.

  Over the next six months Markus painted billboards by day for a living and drew his Coyotes into the night. To the wall above his desk he taped these words, “No one works this hard and this smart – and has it come to nothing.” Within a year, he walked out of Artexpo in New York City with commitments from 110 art galleries who sought to represent his work."

Markus’ wife and muse is artist, Sher Pierson. The two live and work in a converted loft in Kansas City, Missouri.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that my success has more to do with luck than talent, more to do with stubbornness than vision, more to do with ignorance than insight, but the fact remains that I pursued my dream and attained it against staggering odds. I say this now to anyone who will listen: even if I had failed, it would have been worth it. Better to face a brutal truth than to grow old wondering what might have been.” Markus Pierson

You Smell Bad

“Coyote, Coyote, Please Tell Me –  What is a shaman?
A shaman I don’t know anything about. I’m a doctor, myself. When I use medicine, it’s between me, my patient, and the Creation.
Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – what is power?
It is said that power is the ability to start your chainsaw with one pull.
Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – what is magic?
Magic is the first taste of ripe strawberries, and magic is a child dancing in a summer’s rain.
Coyote, Coyote, please tell me – why is Creation?
Creation is because I went to sleep last night with a full stomach, and when I woke up this morning, everything was here.
Coyote, Coyote, please tell me who you belong to?
According to the latest survey, there are certain persons who, in poetic or scholarly guise, have claimed me like a conqueror’s prize. Let me just say once and for all, just to be done: Coyote, he belongs to none…

"There are many different kinds of bugs in this world," Coyote was telling his grandchildren. "Creation must be partial to bugs because it made so many more than other creatures. "Of course, bugs do have a lot in common with us: some are very good-looking, some sort of good-looking, and there's even some that smell kind of bad." Coyote was so busy talking that he didn't notice a stinkbug right close to his foot. "Just a minute," said the stinkbug. "Just because you don't think you smell bad doesn't mean that other creatures agree.

Matter of fact, you, Coyote, smell kind of rank to me! "And for another matter of fact, we stinkbugs kind of enjoy our own smell." Coyote couldn't argue with that and felt bad for what he'd said. He wanted to get out of this story quickly. Just then he heard the circular whisperings of Coyote Old Woman stirring a basket of acorn mush. "Hear that?" he asked. "Now there's something everyone understands. Why don't we all go have some mush?" Stinkbug liked the idea. Heloved mush and gladly set aside Coyote's recent insult. "Yes", he said, "I'd really like to do that. We stinkbugs love acorn mush, but it's very hard for us to grind the meal, you know. We have to tie pebbles to our feet and stomp these acorns for a long time."

Just then an acorn lying close by said bitterly and a bit acidly, "And I suppose you creatures think us accorns enjoy being ground up and stomped on? All we really want to do is to grow into saplings, you know." Coyote thought that this story had gone on long enough and was even getting a bit confusing. So he ended it, right here!”

~ Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate) (1935 – 2011), was a highly respected Native American poet of Mohawk and English/Welsh heritage. Born in the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Nation on the Caughnawaga Reserve in Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada, Blue Cloud was raised speaking Mohawk and only later learned French and English. While his early experiences living with the tribe and a grandfather, who taught him the art of storytelling. He travelled to the west coast of the USA where he spent years as an iron-worker, logger and ranch-hand. He participated in the craziness of Beat and Hippy cultures in the California of the early 1960s through the mid- ‘70s – learning from those amorphous “movements” yet distancing himself from their excessive self-absorption.  Spending time with Maidu Elders in California, he was strengthened by their wisdom and their stories. In 1972 his history of the 1969 Native “Occupation” of the former Alcatraz Prison/Island – “Alcatraz is not an Island” – was published.  In 1975-76 – and again from 1983-85 – he wrote for and edited Akwesasne Notes, a Native journal published out of Akwesasne, New York. He was a recipient of the American Book Award in 1981 – chosen by other writers.

How Ridiculous

Defining coyote is a little like trying to
juggle hummingbirds. ~ Jarold Ramsey

“Coyote teaches Two-leggeds to find joy in their own foolishness. When the Heyokah calls upon Coyote to assist him in keeping prying eyes off his trail, Coyote will assist in a multitude of ways.

I learned my first Coyote lesson in Mexico when Joaquin, my Medicine Teacher, wanted me to see how ridiculous my seriousness had become. We spent one whole day gathering dried Cow dung, Rabbit pellets, Coyote, Dog, and Owl waste and carefully placing each in an old tin bucket. The next day we spent mixing all of it together, crushing each part into powder and slowly adding water to make a paste. After this was completed, I was told to mark a circle in the earth with string and a stick making sure that the circle was perfectly round. Then Joaquin told me to fill the tiny groove in the soil with all of the paste I had made from all of the feces. I was very careful to make a perfect circle and not to let any of the circle be crooked. Joaquin praised my work and how careful I had been during the two-day process. He then told me to enter the circle and sit in the center until I understood the value of the lesson.

I sat there for at least three hours, thinking that maybe this was a way to contact the Power Animals. Finally Coyote came into my consciousness, took one look at me, and rolled on the ground in side-splitting laughter. Coyote was laughing so hard he could not speak. I was fascinated, while still sitting in my circle of poop, serious as ever. In between his guffaws, Coyote spit out the words that taught me my lesson. "For the past three days you've been examining other people's shit!" he screamed. "Now you've surrounded yourself with it and you are so serious you can't even see how ridiculous you look."

I started to laugh at myself as I imagined how Joaquin must be rolling in hysterics at the joke he had played on me. I wondered how he could have kept a straight face for two days. It finally came to me that I had spent the previous days worrying about the problems of others. All of these worries had left me, in effect, sitting in a circle of others people's mental garbage. The lesson hit me hard, and I laughed until I was aching with no breath and tears ran down my face. It has taken me many years to master the lesson and I still get sucked in the drama of others at times. Joaquin was an excellent Teacher and even now he will come to me, in spirit, and break my seriousness with more Heyokah antics. The primary lessons of the Heyokah trick us into revelations rather than giving us all the answers. Heyokah is needed when we refuse to allow ourselves alternatives. The view will always expand if we use the Divine Medicine of laughter - Nothing is beyond repair. We may need to use comedy to crack a smile so we can reclaim our Sacred Space.

Heyokah Medicine can be called upon through Coyote. Remember that the Divine Trickster is the perfect integration of all things wise and foolish, sacred and irreverent. When we ask for those lessons, we need to be prepared for adventure. We need to be willing to laugh and to have others laugh with us. We will have achieved the ultimate union of opposites when we learn to celebrate more than we mourn. The time has come to laugh and reclaim our divine right to find pleasure in the sacredness of being human.

If the Trickster has appeared on your horizon, you are in for a barrel of laughs. You may be doing exactly the opposite of what you need to be doing and are about to get busted for it. Stop leaking your creative energy on other people's problems or high drama. Stop being so serious and crack a smile, or Coyote will dog your dreams. Remember that some days you are the fireplug and some days you are the Dog. That goes for everyone, so don't let getting pooped on get you down. Learning through laughter or opposites can be fun.

The keynote to Heyokah is to lighten up and start balancing the sacredness with irreverence. If you are just being stubborn, it may be time to create a contrary lesson that will force you to crack up, crack a smile, or trick you into going into the crack in the universe to find out what's really important!” ~ Jamie Sams

Art ~ 'Trickster 1 - Coyote' by Colleen Parker

The Dude Abides

All this is nothing but space to be danced in. There’s no need to feel limited in any way... Life just blossoms. ~ The Dude ;)

“I met Jeff Bridges in Santa Barbara and we started hanging, as he likes to put it, often while smoking cigars. Jeff has done movies from an early age; less known, but almost as long-standing, is his commitment to ending world hunger. I was an aeronautical engineer and mathematician in my early years, but mostly I’ve taught Zen Buddhism, and that’s where we both met. Not just in meditation, which is what most people think of when they hear Zen, but the Zen of action, of living freely in the world without causing harm, of relieving our own suffering and the suffering of others. We soon discovered that we would often be joined by another shadowy figure, somebody called the Dude. We both liked his way of putting things and it’s fun to learn from someone you can’t see. Only his words were so pithy they needed more expounding; hence, this book. May it meet with his approval, and may it benefit all beings.”

~ Bernie Glassman, Montague, Massachusetts

“SOMETIMES YOU EAT THE BEAR, AND SOMETIMES, WELL, HE EATS YOU

JEFF: We’re making the movie The Big Lebowski, and everyone who’s seen the movie knows that the Dude and Walter dig bowling, right? Now, I’ve bowled a little bit in the past, but I’m not an expert like the Dude. So the Coen brothers hire a master bowler to teach John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, and me how to bowl. The master bowler is a world champion and he brings his assistant along. I ask the bowling master, “How do you think the Dude might bowl? Does he prepare for a long time? Does he have to get his mind set? Is he like Art Carney in The Honeymooners?” Whenever Art Carney would be asked to sign something, say a document, Jackie Gleason would tell him, “Sign there, Norton,” and Carney would start twitching and fidgeting, carrying on for so long that Gleason would finally yell, “SIGN THE DOCUMENT!” So I ask the bowling master if the Dude might be like that. His assistant starts laughing so hard he just about pees in his pants. The master bowler shakes his head and rolls his eyes, looking embarrassed, so I ask him what’s going on. “Oh, nothing, nothing,” the assistant says. The master says, “Go on, you can tell him.” The assistant says, “No, you tell him.”

Finally the master tells his story. It seems that years ago he tried to bowl like in the book Zen in the Art of Archery. That book teaches the student to completely let go of his ego in order to hit the bull’s-eye. If the mind is settled and clear, the pins are practically down before the bowler cocks his hand back to throw the ball. So the bowling master tried to get into that mind-set and ended up like Art Carney. He had certain tics to release tension in his body and he’d do this little stress-relieving dance that would go on five, ten minutes, all in the middle of a tournament. Meantime, his teammates are sitting on the bench doing their version of Jackie Gleason: “JUST THROW THE BALL!” Things got so bad he couldn’t throw the ball at all. He would not release it from his hand because he couldn’t get into the right mind-set. Finally he went to a shrink and they worked it out. “So what do you do now?” I ask him. “I just throw the f**king ball! I don’t think.” I dug that. And isn’t it interesting that after all that, you never once see the Dude bowl in the entire movie. So is thinking the problem? We’re so good at it; our brains are set up to think, man. 

BERNIE: Thinking’s not the problem. We freeze up because we expect a certain result or because we want things to be perfect. We can get so fixated that we can’t do anything. Goals are fine; what I don’t like is getting caught up in expectations or attachments to a final outcome. So the question is, how do you play freely?

JEFF: Just throw the f**king ball! Yeah right, only sometimes I care so much. When I was a kid, I stuttered pretty badly. Even now I still stutter every once in a while, feeling like there’s something I want to share but I can’t get it out. I become anxious and that causes things to get jammed up. It happens in movies, too. I’ll often worry for a long time about a big scene: How am I going to do this? Meantime, there’s another little scene I’m not concerned about at all, I’m sure I know what to do there. Now comes the day when I’m filming, and the big scene is a snap while the little one is trouble. And I’m reflecting, All that time you were worried about the wrong thing! Mark Twain said, “I am a very old man and have suffered a great many misfortunes, most of which never happened.”

My brother Beau turned me on to Alan Watts by giving me his book The Wisdom of Insecurity when I just started high school. Later I read his other books and listened to his tapes. I’ve always liked Watts because he wasn’t pompous, didn’t think of himself as a guru or anything like that, didn’t want to convince you of anything, he just liked to share his thoughts with you. And one of them was that if you’re going to wait to get all the information you think you need before you act, you’ll never act because there’s an infinite amount of information out there.

~ Jeff Bridges, The Dude and the Zen Master

~ “Founded in 2005 by Oliver Benjamin, a journalist based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Dudeism's official organizational name is The Church of the Latter-Day Dude. An estimated 450,000 Dudeist Priests have been ordained worldwide as of May 2017 and marriages have been officiated legally by Dudeist clergy in some US states.

Although Dudeism primarily makes use of iconography and narrative from The Big Lebowski, adherents believe that the Dudeist worldview has existed since the beginnings of civilization, primarily to correct societal tendencies towards aggression and excess. They list individuals such as Laozi, Epicurus, Heraclitus, Buddha, and the pre-ecclesiastical Jesus Christ as examples of "Great Dudes in History". More recent antecedents include pillars of American Transcendentalism such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman and humanists such as Kurt Vonnegut and Mark Twain.”
~ Wikipedia

;)

Never Disparaging

“Once there was a bodhisattva bhikshu named Fukyo (Sadaparibhuta) whose name meant ‘Never Disparaging.’ Why was he given this name? Because he paid respect to everyone he saw, whether bhikshu, bhikshuni, layman or laywoman, by bowing in reverence to all of them, saying, ‘I deeply respect you. I would never condemn or disparage you, because you all walk the bodhisattva path and are becoming buddhas.’ Bodhisattva Fukyo did not devote his time to reading and reciting the scriptures but only to bowing and paying respect. If he happened to see any of the four kinds of believers far off in the distance, he would go to them and bow, saying, ‘I would never disparage you, because you are all to become buddhas.’

Bodhisattva Fukyo was often subjected to insults and abuse, and yet, he did not give in to anger, instead, each time, he spoke the same words, ‘You are to become Buddhas.’ There were those who said, ‘Where did this ignorant person who predicts we will become buddhas come from ? We need no such false predictions!’ And some of them attacked him and beat him with clubs and sticks and pelted him with stones. Still, while escaping from these people, he continued to call out in strong voice, ‘I would never disparage you, for you are all certain to become buddhas!’ It is because he always spoke in this way that the contemptuous bhikshus, bhikshunis, laymen and laywomen gave him the name ‘Never Disparaging.’

When Bodhisattva Fukyo was at the point of death, he was able to receive and retain a million verses of the Lotus Sutra as it had been taught by the Buddha Awesome Sound King.  As a result, he obtained the purity of the sense organs and extended his life span by two hundred ten thousand million billions of years, and taught the Buddha-dharma to countless beings. Those who had slighted and condemned Bodhisattva Fukyo then became his followers.”

In this story, Bodhisattva Fukyo sees that all people have Buddha nature, that they inherently possess the capacity to become enlightened. The practice he engaged in is called raihaigyo or “bowing in reverence.” He represents the Buddha himself, in another lifetime. Obviously, the major point here is that we should treat others with respect, and it is offered as an example of bodhisattva practice. The reward of long life that Fukyo obtains as a benefit from this austerity represents the principle of ‘what goes around, comes around’ in the positive sense.

Here’s what Thich Nhat Hanh has had to say about this inspiring bodhisattva:

Sadaparibhuta, the bodhisattva who says, “I would never dare to despise anyone,” is also everywhere. Even if someone does not seem to have the ability to be awakened, he sees that within everyone there is that capacity. Sadaparibhuta helps everyone to have self-confidence and remove any feelings of inferiority. This kind of complex paralyzes people. Sadaparidhuta’s specialty is to be in touch with and water the seeds of the awakened mind or the mind of love in us. This bodhisattva is not just a person in the Lotus Sutra but can be found right here in our society in many different guises. We have to recognize the bodhisattva Sadaparibhuta, who is around us in flesh and bones. We do not worship imagined or mythological figures. Bodhisattvas are not figures from the past living up in the clouds. The bodhisattvas are real people who are filled with love and determination. When we can understand someone else’s suffering and feel love for him/her, we are in touch with the bodhisattva of understanding.

This bodhisattva removes the feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem in people. “How can I become a buddha? How can I attain enlightenment? There is nothing in me except suffering, and I don’t know how to get free of my own suffering, much less help others. I am worthless.” Many people have these kinds of feelings, and they suffer more because of them. Never Disparaging Bodhisattva works to encourage and empower people who feel this way, to remind them that they too have buddha nature, they too are a wonder of life, and they too can achieve what a buddha achieves. This is a great message of hope and confidence.”

~ David Riley,  The Endless Further, a blog about wayfaring.
The Lotus Sutra contains a number of stories, this story of Bodhisattva Fukyo is from Chapter 20.

Respect even the Smallest

Respect for an insect or head of state reflects respect for ourselves and the principles that inform healthy society. ~ J. Halifax

“When I was four years old, I fell seriously ill and lost my eyesight for two years. After I recovered, I had a hard time keeping up with my age-mates. I was smaller and skinnier than many of my peers in my first-grade class. A group of girls made a sport out of ganging up on me and putting me down. I don’t recall their words, but I do remember how it felt to be disparaged. I also remember creeping into the back seat of our family’s station wagon after school one day, and crying. I didn’t understand. My mother comforted me, but her words did little to soothe the sting of scorn.

Years later, in recalling those days, I saw that my peers’ attacks on me were nothing compared to the attacks on those in our nation who had endured abuse for generations because they were people of color, or differently-abled, or had sexual orientations which were not considered usual; disrespect, bullying and worse continue to this very day. Yet, the lessons I learned from being bullied have stayed with me all these years. The slights I experienced then, though minor in comparison with what others have suffered, continue to link me to an ever-expanding community of those who are subjected to disparagement, and how in the right circumstances, compassion and resilience can emerge from the dark pool of disrespect.

I also realize that my deep concerns around disrespect spring not only from childhood episodes, but from my experiences inhabiting a woman’s body, working in academia, being on various boards of directors, and living in contemplative communities. It has also been fueled by witnessing the tyranny and meanness that is present in our society today. For me, it is especially disturbing to see others who are perceived as weaker or threatening being disparaged, socially marginalized, and even banned from our country. Aside from witnessing increasingly pervasive disrespect of others, I am concerned about what this kind of behavior is doing to the very fabric of our society, where incivility is becoming normalized and seems to be eroding our moral sensibilities.

On the other hand, I believe that there are few who are not aware of the importance of respect in our world today. It is the very tissue that makes for a healthy world. Anthropologist William Ury wrote in his book The Third Side: “Human beings have a host of emotional needs – for love and recognition, for belonging and identity, for purpose and meaning to lives. If all these needs had to be subsumed in one word, it might be respect”. Respect builds trust, healthy empathy, and moral character; it lends dignity to our human relationships and our relationship with our earth. It is the basis of love, justice, and is an expression of wisdom. It is also an expression of what it means to treat others with consideration and compassion, and is the path for transforming conflict into reconciliation. Without having ourselves firmly rooted in respect for all beings and ourselves, our world is imperiled.

This is why, for me, respect is an edge state. Standing on the high side of respect, we express the best in the human heart. Falling into disrespect, we engender vast harm…

In a neuroscience meeting in Dharamsala, I saw His Holiness the Dalai Lama stop in the middle of a heady science discourse, and reach out with one hand for a small piece of paper, while holding his other arm immobile. Without explaining what he was doing, he took the note card, and gently moved it against the flesh of his left forearm. He then handed the card to Tsoknyi Rinpoche, who was sitting next to him. As Tsoknyi Rinpoche was carefully taking the insect out of the room, His Holiness returned to his high-level discourse. I remember remarking to myself on how His Holiness seemed to respect even the smallest beings.

Respect for others, whether a tiny creature or a head of state, is a value that benefits not only those around us. Respect for others reflects respect for ourselves and respect for the moral principles that inform healthy societies. I was taught this as a young person. As an adult, Buddhism has been a powerful source of moral guidance and wisdom regarding issues related to how to treat others with respect and, as well, have respect for the principles that inform our basic decency.

And yet, respect is an edge state. It is all too easy to slide off the precipice of unconditional regard for others into the experience of objectification and disparagement. An example close to home for me personally is when respect gets exaggerated. This can cause us to idealize another to the point of making an object of them. I know this from being a teacher and the object of both good and bad projections over the years. One day, your student adores you. The next he or she hates you. Because of projections, or shifts in interpersonal dynamics, or our own biased judgments, or the normalization of contempt in our culture, inflated respect can turn quickly to scorn, where we degrade others and in turn degrade ourselves.

Or we can turn disdain toward others different from ourselves, a so-called “out-group.” I remember meeting the Black writer James Baldwin years ago. He said: “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.” This is one of the edges that I feel we need to make very visible at this time, a place where we can stand high, and if we don’t, we fall low and take others with us. When we deny the basic humanity of others, this obliterates our own humanity and erodes the very ground of our society and the heart of our world. When we stand on the high edge of respect, we can free others and ourselves from inner and outer oppression, and nourish the roots of civility and sanity.

Whether we are the perpetrator or the target, disrespect is a toxic landscape to inhabit. We live in a world and in a time where there is more forgetting of who we really are and disregard for the preciousness of life. A hand automatically slaps the gnat or mosquito. We mindlessly look at the homeless person with disgust and disdain. We treat the dying person like an object, as our attention is coopted by our digital device. We speak sharply to the child crying out for attention in the classroom, as the recess bell rings. We rudely push aside the complaint of the employee or constituent in the press of demands of our daily routine. Recognizing respect as an edge state can help us not get sucked into the swamp of incivility and contempt, bullying and abuse. It can keep us grounded in humility, integrity, morality, and care for others and self.

Our work of standing at the edge of respect is to look deeply, again and again, into things and beings as they are, with all their virtues and non-virtues, and hold them with both kindness and insight, even the worst of us or the worst in us. Harming others, including those who harm, is suffering too. In realizing respect as a core value, and in recognizing the fragile edge of respect, I believe that we can discover how respect is one of the great treasures of being human, ennobling us, and opening us to love that nourishes our basic humanity.”

~ Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet (Avail. 5/1/18)
Although she is a priest in the Japanese Zen religion, Roshi Joan has extensive ties to Tibet and to Tibetan teachers, with whom she has studied since the early 1970s. Roshi Joan is an anthropologist and an activist, a wild child of the sixties and a celibate priest.  She is the founder, abbess, and head teacher of Upaya Zen Center, a Buddhist monastery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is best known for sitting at the bedside of terminally ill patients and pioneering a form of contemplative care, known as the Being With Dying project, now in its seventeenth year. One of her core messages is "strong back, soft front," which, she explains, "is about the relationship between equanimity and compassion. 'Strong back' is equanimity and your capacity to really uphold yourself. 'Soft front' is opening to things as they are."