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Pointing at the Moon
by Ananaia O'Leary |
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There is a Zen Buddhist
saying which reminds us that any spiritual practice or teaching is like a finger pointing
at the moon. The moon is the essential thing -- not the finger.
At this time on the planet there are many gesticulating fingers pointing the way to
spiritual insight. Many of these provide ideas and practices which help us on our
journey. But with so many wagging fingers it can be easy to lose sight of the moon.When this happens our spiritual practices become an end rather than a
means. Our spiritual tenets become a box rather than a conduit. |
We
begin to measure our spirituality by how many minutes we meditate, how many rituals we
perform, by the magnitude of our healing shifts or how many Noble Truths we can name.
We can begin to think that the goal of spiritual practice is to help us to cope with the
stresses and challenges of life, create a little calm, improve our health and well-being,
be nicer to our children, our co-workers, ourselves. These are simply more fingers
pointing us towards a deeper truth. |
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| When we
follow the trajectory of these pointing fingers and rest our awareness on the
"moon" we come into pure presence with the truth of our own luminous nature. In the light of that loving truth we realize that the purpose of spiritual
practice is not to help us manage a suffering existence, but to transcend suffering by
claiming our power as Creators and consciously choosing to use that power to create
harmoniously for the good of all. |
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