Become a Lake
Yesterday morning, my daily meditation podcast had a reflection on lakes after the one the day before on mountains. Suffice to say, I was a happy meditator since those are two of my favorite things. Anyway, the one today ended with this quote from meditation teacher and researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn.
In the lake meditation, we sit with the intention to hold in awareness and acceptance all the qualities of mind and body just as the lake sits, held and cradled and contained by the earth - reflecting sun, moon, stars, trees, rocks, clouds, sky, birds, light. Caressed by the air and wind which bring out and highlight its sparkle, its vitality, its essence.
As I took this in, I got thinking about how so many of my photographs are of the reflections on the surfaces of lakes. There is something deeply (pun intended) reflective, calming, and restoring about these kind of moments.
This morning reminded me of a story that I shared in a sermon on joy a few weeks ago. In that sermon I shared a story I read from the Dalai Lama
Once an unhappy young apprentice came to an old master and told the master that he was deeply sad and asked for a solution. The old master instructed the unhappy young apprentice to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. Then he asked “How does it taste?” “Terrible!” spat the young apprentice. The master nodded and asked the young apprentice to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to a nearby lake and the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake. The older master said, “now drink the lake.” The apprentice cupped his hands and drank. Again, the old master asked, “How does it taste?” “Good!” said the apprentice. The master then asked, “Do you taste the salt?” and the apprentice smiled and said, “No.” The master sat beside the trouble young apprentice and took his hands. “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same. But the amount we taste depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the wisest thing to do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”