In 1968, I was eight years old. It was startling to me to see how quickly we went from the Summer of Love to hate. There were the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King along with many violent Vietnam War protests, both for and against. I found this all very frightening. I assumed that there was something wrong with our leaders or our culture until I saw this bumper sticker.

If anyone could develop focus it would seem that a monastery would be a very good place to start. Perhaps the only place. It is very difficult to find prolonged focus within everyday life. So perhaps a better approach for everyday people is to merely take it all in and “just smell the roses”. Seeing and validating all aspects of our lives, both good and bad. The struggles and the victories as the very things that give our lives meaning and make us who we are.

Have you ever noticed that “Hans Solo” is the lone wolf, he is independent and likes to go “solo”? There is also “Darth Vader”, the character of the “Dark Father”. “Darth” is a variation of “Dark” and “Vader” is Dutch for “Father”. And of course, the name “Luke Skywalker” is obvious and needs no explanation. “Luke Skywalker” is a “Sky Walker”. Artists work very hard to ensure that their message is received by the viewer. This also occurs with Buddhist sutras. We can see this throughout the Larger Sutra. Nothing is hidden. It is all there in plain sight for the reader to experience.

In popular culture, the term “Zen” has lost almost all meaning. Sadly, it is no longer a noun that refers to a Japanese school of Buddhism. Instead, it is now an adjective that connotes anything that is “cool” or “relaxing” or “minimalist”. It is an aesthetic type of design element. It also refers to a commodified form of self-help through mindfulness. As a lay person I understand this but as a Buddhist minister it still frustrates me.

We often hear that the Buddha taught an end to suffering. But this is not 100% accurate. In fact, it isn’t even half right. It is only a third right because there are three types of suffering.

I have always had an issue with the term Other-Power. It is a trigger word for me and many newcomers to Buddhism. Other-Power sounds suspiciously close to Higher-Power. In America, this is why Other-Power is often confused with the Christian concept of God. I still struggle to remember that Other-Power is not an external force or Being but rather a way of thinking. It is a new way of understanding and appreciating one’s life in a totally different way.

“Compassion” is usually thought of as being nice to another person. But in Buddhism it means being of one heart. Here the niceness of it is not emphasized. Often times we may have to say or do what needs to be said or done in the moment to be truly compassionate. It may not be “nice” but it is what is necessary to help another person. In this sense, as Buddhists, Compassion Is All You Need.

My son then looked at me, smiled and said “Dad you don’t understand. Some days the surface of the ocean is safe and calm while on others it is rough and dangerous. But the ocean is always calm – every day. This is where the lifeguard swims. We rely on the depth of the ocean not on the surface of the water.”

This is my favorite Western example for the power of insight and it can be found in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It is about the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge. He is the evil person. He has no family or friends. He lives in his own self-contained and self-created world of suffering. Then one night, after eating some bad porridge, he is visited by the three ghosts of Christmas. The first is from the past, the second is from the present and the third is from the future.

When considering Buddhism, we tend to envision its practice. For many, this would be sitting meditation on a cushion, facing a blank white wall for long periods of time. In his new book Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice, Charles B. Jones explains another Buddhist approach known as “The Story.” This is the foundation of Pure Land Buddhism.