Satisfaction.
- clearstreamzendo
- Feb 16
- 2 min read
This week’s topic for reflection is satisfaction. Imagine you are at the end of your life and ask yourself, “Am I satisfied?” Before you read on, please take some time with this question.
What does it mean to you to be satisfied? Is there something that needs to be completed or accomplished for you to feel satisfied? If you completed it do you feel complete or satisfied? Here’s a few of my thoughts on satisfaction.
There’s the satisfaction that simply says “Yes. I can deal with this.”
Satisfaction follows having few desires. Or at least few strong desires. The I can’t live without it desires.
Gratitude plays an important role in being satisfied.
A drink of clean, clear water on a hot day can be so simple and completely satisfying.
Sharing can be so much more satisfying than having it all.
Oryoki are the bowls we use for eating meals at Zen retreats. They are also called Buddha’s eating bowls. Oryoki means just the right amount. We are offered and receive just the right amount of food. We realize and cultivate the realization that in life we are given the right amount whether large or small. Enjoy equally the plain and the fancy, the good and the bad. It’s being satisfied with what you receive and not asking for more than you need. This is how to be satisfied.
Since everything and everyone is fluid and continually changing isn’t it reasonable to be satisfied with the ungraspable and not try to hold onto it.
Obtaining something satisfying, the desire becomes to repeat this again and again. Eventually it becomes stale and unsatisfying and then the desire is for something new and better. Once John D. Rockefeller, who was the richest man alive was asked, “How much is enough?” He replied, “A little more.” It appears he wasn’t satisfied being the richest man on earth. He needed to have it all and he couldn’t quite get there.
There is a way to have it all. All this requires is receiving everything as it is. Wide open experiencing without separating yourself from “it.” Also nothing is nailed down or fixed so it will change and can be changed. Nothing is stuck. Loss is an integral part of the process of life and death. Hopefully we will be free to feel the feelings that accompany these events. Free to receive them and free to let them go without clinging to them or pushing them away. Have it all.
Everything is born, grows, gets sick, old and dies. This process goes on and on, continuously changing and evolving. We also change and evolve and don’t need to stick to the way it was done in the past. Be in the changing present, choosing a new and better way forward. This is where satisfaction can be found.
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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