We Are Counting on Each Other

Yesterday, I was at work and headed back to the administrative offices, when I passed the wife of a newly admitted patient in the driveway. She had stopped me, asking a few more questions about the program. Before the conversation ended, she took off her sunglasses looked me in the eye and said, "I'm really counting on You guys. My husband is a good guy who needs help." I said, "We know and are motivated to do our best to help him." With tears in her eyes, she put her sunglasses back on and drove off.

One of my favorite movies of all time is called "City of Angles." There's a great line that where the angles use the like, "Some things are true, whether You believe them or not." Yes!

There is a Bodhisattva named Kanzeon, sometimes known as the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The name is sometimes translated as "She who hears the cries of the world and responds." The Mind and intention of Kanzeon is to help those who are suffering. In fact the intention to help others is so vast and great that she's sometimes depicted having a thousand arms and hands to see and help all beings from their suffering.

If I said to You, "The heart of Kanzeon beats within Your own chest," You'd probably think that I was foolish, grandiose or being poetical. But the fact is exactly the case. Some things are true, whether You believe them or not.

In our life there are people that we must count on, for many, many, many, many things. At precisely the same time, whether we would prefer it or not, others count on our us to do something that could potentially help them. It doesn't matter if the action seems large or small to us personally. It has been said that the wings of a butterfly in Bhutan has the power to cause a great wind across the plains of America. It's all interconnected.

Life is a series of moments. In each moment there is a choice which only we can make. Will we accept or refuse the connection that we have to another? I must be honest, there are a lot of times that I want to refuse the connection. I don't want to wash the dishes, someone else made the mess. Why should I help You on your project, You probably wouldn't help me on mine. I don't what to help You out of the ditch, You put yourself there and will probably do it again cause you never listen. I'm my own person, I don't want or need the help of others and yet we actually do. We can have so many of these unhelpful messages, undercutting our very being, like an axeman trying to chop down a tree.

It's easy to get spun around and forget who we truly are. The illusions seem so real. Whether we remember or not, we are Buddha... Awakened Mind... We carry within us the heart of compassion and it can be easily expressed if we'd just stop ignoring "It." Once we stop ignoring our inherent Kanzeon Bodhisattva nature, we immediately want to start taking action and helping. It's as natural as rain falling from the sky and penetrating the earth. It will come naturally, we just have to let go of the "false" ego baggage. And how can You tell that it's false? Easy. It's anything that is willing to cause harm and separation. Just start there and we'll be okay.

We are counting on each other, whether we believe it or not. We need each other, believe it or not. We are each other believe it or not. And believe it or not, at this very moment, the heart of Kanzeon Bodhisattva is beating, just beneath the surface of your skin.

Be Happy and Free,

Jaye Seiho Morris, Curator
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