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{"id":1820,"date":"2013-05-21T12:07:46","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T18:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/?p=1820"},"modified":"2013-05-21T16:23:03","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T22:23:03","slug":"buddha-crosses-the-flood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2013\/05\/buddha-crosses-the-flood.html","title":{"rendered":"Buddha Crosses the Flood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Vine of Obstacles practice meetings, a passage from\u00a0The Connected Discourses of the Buddha<\/em> has been coming up for me frequently as I meet with Viner students. After stumbling to find the right quote in my unreliable memory, I finally did a search to find a deity of stunning beauty questioning the Buddha like this:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHow, dear sir, did you cross the flood?\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBy not halting, friend, and by not straining I crossed the flood.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut how is it, dear sir, that by not halting and by not straining you crossed the flood?\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came to a standstill, friend, then I sank; but when I struggled, then I got swept away. It is in this way, friend, that by not halting and by not straining, I crossed the flood.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

For one thing, the interaction says a lot about the teacher\u2019s role in the teacher-student relationship. \u201cHey, swimmer, looks like you\u2019re halting.\u201d Or \u201cHey, swimmer, looks like you\u2019re straining.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in recovery from \u201cminor\u201d surgery, it speaks to me about how to heal \u2013 without halting and without straining.<\/p>\n

And how do we find what\u2019s halting and what\u2019s straining?<\/p>\n

Halting and straining.<\/p>\n

So back to the couch.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"