June 3, 2023

Buddha, sitting under a bodhi tree, deep in meditation, touching the earth at the moment of awakening.  What a sight to behold!  How often we think of enlightenment as some far-out, ethereal, other-worldly experience that only gurus attain, but the story of this human person suggests that the journey to awareness is actually quite close at hand (cf. Deut 30:14).  For the Buddha it was the posture of his body, a specific kind of tree, the rhythm of his breathing, and literally touching the ground on which he sat.  I wonder if my kitchen table, seat on the bus, vegetable garden, office cubicle or classroom desk could be places of transcendence, where the one is known not over and above but precisely through the many (cf. Mk 12:28-31).  I wonder if my five senses might serve as an exciting incarnational playground where time and eternity meet and constantly bring forth new expressions of life.  Whatever the case may be, my name is also Buddha and my destiny is sharing in the full flourishing of the human experience.  Ave Crux, Spes Unica.