Buddhist<\/a> practice oriented teachings in the West, as well.<\/p>\nI do believe the bottom line of awakening is discovering our joy. It is about a genuine coming home.<\/p>\n
The catch is that the other stuff that comes along in the traditional tradition, while in some ways secondary, in some ways unnecessary, is also in many ways a pointing to the fact that awakening is a joy that comes with responsibility.<\/p>\n
Chang Chiu-ch\u2019en says it all.<\/p>\n
That frog croaks! A stone hits a bit of bamboo. A father falls down and his daughter throws herself to the ground with him. Martin Luther finally has his bowel movement. I sit in the warmth of my office and look at at the snow falling so gently, so persistently, so beautifully and terribly.<\/p>\n
And, if we\u2019re just a little lucky: we really do notice.<\/p>\n
And then, not even a heartbeat away: what joy!<\/p>\n
Joy.<\/p>\n
And then, as Chang Chiu-ch\u2019en says, immediately following, the first thought that follows that joy is a discovery that \u201cthe whole cosmos\u201d doesn\u2019t actually turn into, it simply reveals \u201ca single family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Living awake in the world is seeing how we are one family. There\u2019s grumply uncle Al wagging his finger. There\u2019s aunt Hillary coming on strong, cousin Barak saying it\u2019s time for new visions. There are the cousins we don\u2019t like, perhaps, like Mahumoud or even the one we don\u2019t like to mention, such as Osama. Cousins, uncles, aunts, parents, children.<\/p>\n
A single family that needs to be engaged.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_niPwTW3rBbU\/ReL6A6_GcFI\/AAAAAAAAAGs\/wobxyl3ME3s\/s1600-h\/kids_on_sled.jpg\")
<\/a>I just opened the Spring 2007 issue of UU World<\/em>, the magazine of the Unitarian Universalist association, and on the front page they featured a poem by the Chan (read Zen) master Chang Chiu-ch\u2019en, something he composed in celebration of his awakening.<\/p>\n