Where the Buddha Meets the Road

 

“Mindfulness and the lost coffee” by Kiley Jon Clark



A Buddhist Life, is a life devoted to compassion and discovering the Buddha-nature within ourselves and others.

This was demonstrated; the very first time I shared a meal with my Teacher, Lama Tulku Tsori Rinpoche. I didn't know what Buddhists did before they ate, so I asked him if we should pray or something?

I will never forget what happened next. Then Lama Tulku got his fork, scooped up a single grain of rice and held it up at eye level. 

He said, "The only thing that is needed... is that we be completely mindful of how many lives were affected and how much it took to get this single grain of rice to our table today. This rice was planted by people in sweat and toil, it was probably harvested without machinery in some foreign land, with back-breaking labor, there were people in factories washing and packaging it, and folks loading and unloading it onto boats, and truck drivers, all of these people with lives, families, and troubles of their own, and all of them working to get this tiny grain of rice to our table today. 

And we are to be especially mindful of the cows that gave their lives for us today and the chickens who gave their lives for us today."

Then Lama Tsori said, "If you are mindful of all of these things when you eat, there is no need to pray and no negative karma created with the eating, and if you can go through life with these kind of things in mind...life become very precious.” 

Now, I can’t tell you, that I think about all those things when I slam down a Sloppy-Joe...but I can tell you about a Zen Moment that happens to me almost every day. I come into work every morning with a creamy, sweet cup of coffee. At 8 o'clock my work-day starts.

I run between four or five different buildings doing the cleaning and fixing this and that. At some point, during the day, it never fails, I will be back in the same building for the fourth time, and I will look up and there will be my coffee sitting on a shelf, a water heater, or some toilet paper box.

And there will be a split-second of surprise. I'll be surprise...like "Hey, alright! I still got coffee left!" And I'll take that first swig....and man, is it sooooo sweet! 

Those moments are an entire universe in themselves, and can happen all the time, just by being grateful about the small gifts that life gives you.