Are you a Buddha or a buffalo?

How often do you find yourself in pedantic conversation, repetitive motion, mindless routine? You are engaged in activity, but barely aware of what you are doing.

We are a culture of doing. We have learned how to do many things at one time. We know how to get things done. Activity in action. But our awareness is sleeping. We are mindlessly going about our day. Year. Life.

And then there are those who “mind the gap.” They know that in the silence, in the empty spaces, is where enlightenment lies. It is not boredom. It is an aloneness that is not lonely. It is the person that dares to watch and not participate. The art of non-doing. Like a scene from a movie, we become the ones who look. But even that is not right. Watching connotes action. What I am talking about is seeing. When you are seeing, there is a stillness. It is a sense of being. Being without doing.

Buffalos are happy to graze all day long, content to munch for endless hours on grassy lands. They are busy doing something all day long. But they are not just bored, they are boring. They are not engaged. They are just doing.

Buddhas are beyond boredom. They are engaged, but do not engage themselves. They learn how to see the same as new. They are fearless and dare to do things differently. The unknown is not a shocking surprise. It is a delicious mystery of life waiting to unfurl and unfold. Sometimes it is ugly and sometimes beautiful, but in the end, authentic and real. Authenticity is alive. Even in its ugliness, there is beauty. Even sadness. Especially sadness. It is the emotion that connects the warrior to the world. Allow yourself to be daring enough to feel what is real. Be authentic. Be a Buddha.

You already are.

copyright 2009 Alisa Barry