I’m a bit too intense at times, I could benefit from turning
down my intensity but that rarely happens. But when it does, I laugh a lot, a
whole lot and I’m a better human being.
Not willing to half-ass anything that I choose to
participate in, I woke up at 4:30 in the morning and drove out to a monastery
to participate in a meditation, yoga and teaching retreat.
Sitting down cross-legged on a yoga mat laid out on the open
deck we prepared for meditation. The
morning was rather quiet with the exception of the occasional breeze, the sky
was streaked with blue and orange and my intention to be present to my
experience was rock solid.
Half way through my meditation I heard a zipper being
pulled, not a short pull like one would with their pants on anything but a long
pull like with a body bag or something. Curiously I opened my eyes and glanced
at the tents that had been pitched in the yard. Not making much about it I
returned to my meditation peacefully.
Soon enough the senior monk sounded that bell and we all
broke out from the practice for a short break before yoga breathing. “You guys
woke me up!” complained Jamtso (I am not using his real name here), the young
monk who was to lead the yoga practice. “I was sleeping in the tent, when you
guys were meditating”, he continued much to my surprise. Wasn’t he supposed to
be up and ready I wondered part curiously and part judgmentally?
As he demonstrated the breathing practice, a young lady in
the group could not contain her laughter at Jamtso’s gestures. I was naturally
irritated. Jamtso remained calm and said, “It is funny isn’t it?” and laughed
along with her. I tried not to be judgmental but I had already judged, so I
made an observation and moved along.
Over our second break I got to know Jamtso better. I got to
know of his past, his history, his practice of meditation and his worry about
his homeland and his people. We both admitted to the isolation that we sometimes
feel as a result of being uprooted from our family and country of origin. I
enjoyed conversing with him.
It turned out that Jamtso was going to be the translator for
the teaching imparted by the senior monk and I eagerly prepared to focus in on
every bit of the teachings.
When the senior monk spoke about the three different kinds of
meditators, Jamtso translated it as meditators who intellectualize, the devoted
meditators and the idiot meditators. He guffawed as he mentioned the third kind
and I instantaneously knew that the word ‘idiot’, which in this context referred
to the untransformed meditators (those who meditate for years without
undergoing any internal transformation), was Jamtso’s interpretation alone and
not what the pious senior monk had spoken about. Yet I could not help but smile
widely!
Thanks to the smile that had grown upon my face, I softened
and felt airy. I was less intense more diluted and felt spaciousness within
myself.
Jamtso continued with his translations and I continued to
learn a whole lot in spite of being amused at his choice of words and his
chosen explanations. The whole group continued with meditating and learning.
In the end the senior monk opened the session to questions.
One particular lady barraged him with a bunch of them all of which seemed to
elicit the same or similar responses from the monk. Jamtso translated it as
patiently as he could.
Suddenly the larger part of the crowd that did not need
translating burst out into laughter, peels and peels of laughter at a
particular response from the senior monk. Instantly I increased the volume on
my translation aid (through which we heard Jamtso’s translations) to hear
Jamtso translate what the monk had said, my curiosity was at its peak. “Sorry,
I couldn’t hear the monk, everyone’s laughing, you also laugh! ”, translated
Jamtso and surely enough I laughed and laughed and couldn’t stop.
At least for a while Jamtso had cured me of my judging mind
and my habit of approaching life with unnecessary intensity. Maybe its because
I was laughing when I learnt it but I find the teaching of kindness towards all
sentient beings abiding in me for much longer than I expected.