Ruminations
Submitted by daniel.budd on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 4:29pm.
I used to be shy.
You made me sing.
I used to refuse things at table.
Now I shout for more wine.
In somber dignity, I used to sit
on my mat and pray.
Now children run through
and make faces at me. (J. Rumi, Coleman Barks, trans.)
There are two different kinds of laughter, two different kinds of humor: one mocks, and is serious about nothing; the other understands, knows deeply, and is serious about everything, but does not let that get in the way. And so the Buddha laughs, and the sound comes from deep within, not just skating along the surface. So do we need to laugh, to clear the sight, to let all those things nipping and nipping and nipping at us fall away, to look around and know that we don't have to be serious in order to take things seriously.
You made me sing.
I used to refuse things at table.
Now I shout for more wine.
In somber dignity, I used to sit
on my mat and pray.
Now children run through
and make faces at me. (J. Rumi, Coleman Barks, trans.)
There are two different kinds of laughter, two different kinds of humor: one mocks, and is serious about nothing; the other understands, knows deeply, and is serious about everything, but does not let that get in the way. And so the Buddha laughs, and the sound comes from deep within, not just skating along the surface. So do we need to laugh, to clear the sight, to let all those things nipping and nipping and nipping at us fall away, to look around and know that we don't have to be serious in order to take things seriously.