As some of you know, my goal is to post at least one blog
entry every day for the year. I almost missed it today. LOL I have to change my
writing routine now that I’m working…
I mostly post only original content on my blog, but this
story (as retold by the wonderful teacher, Pema Chodron) reminded me of my own
efforts to commit to a life on nonviolence while I was incarcerated. This is a brief
but powerful story…
* * *
My Wing
One
of my favorite stories about Jarvis Masters [a person currently sentenced to
death row, who took vows as a Buddhist from behind bars] was when he
unintentionally helped some other incarcerated persons connect with the
absolute, vast quality of their own minds. There is a teaching that says that
behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always
fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch
that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable,
ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time.
And somehow Jarvis, in this story of trying to avert harm, conveyed this
fundamental openness to others.
One
day there was a seagull out on the yard in San Quentin. It had been raining and
the seagull was there paddling around in a puddle. Someone picked up something
in the yard and was about to throw it at the bird. Jarvis didn’t even think
about it -- he automatically put out his hand to stop the man. Of course this
escalated the man’s aggression and he started yelling. Who the hell did Jarvis
think he was? And why did Jarvis care so much about some blankety-blank bird?
Everyone
started circling around, just waiting for the fight. The other person was
screaming at Jarvis, “Why’d you do that?” And out of Jarvis’s mouth came the
words, “I did that because that bird’s got my wings.”
Everyone
got it. It simply stopped their minds, softened their hearts, and then there
was silence.
My name is Eddie and I’m in
recovery from civilization…
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