Meeting heart to heart.
- clearstreamzendo
- May 4
- 2 min read
This week’s topic for reflection is meeting heart to heart. Meeting heart to heart is different from meeting to have a discussion. The heart is not intellectual or necessarily rational. The heart naturally cares and is at times, passionate. The heart is usually honest with us when we care to listen. We say the heart is intuitive because it doesn’t rely on rational thinking and observation to notice what is often not apparent. In this sense "meeting" is a connection where heart to heart communication happens.
We sometimes use the expression, “Coming from or speaking from the heart.” This is communication that expresses how we are, not how we think we should be or think how others expect us to be. It’s sharing what’s true for us in the moment.
Listen to your heart. Listening with your heart also involves seeing clearly, being moved and caring. It’s dropping the resistance that creates a protective separation. You don’t have to do anything but you might want to. And it’s not necessarily about fixing.
Avalokitesvara is the Buddhist expression of heart. It is said she hears the sounds of the world. In other words she hears the suffering, experiencing it directly and feeling it. She offers back the healing medicine of her tears which say, “I am not separate from you.” Yesterday Senkei and I went to Hendricks Park in Eugene to see the rhododendrons in bloom. The rhododendrons were beautiful as were the the little boys who recently learning how to walk, excitedly running along the gravel pathways. Their parents were also wonderful chasing after them with a blend of joy and concern in anticipation of the inevitable fall and scrapped elbows. This too is Avalokitesvara, the joy and concern of the heart. The meeting of hearts. It’s simply being open to the fullness of life. Open and flowing with it.
Please join us for morning Zoom zazen from 7:00 to 7:30 Tuesday and Thursday, and Sunday morning Zoom zazen and discussion of the topic for reflection blog from 8:00 to 9:00 Pacific Time. Here’s the Zoom link:
Meeting ID: 811 6100 3357
Passcode: 278259
Gassho,
Futai
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