Waiting it out

This morning, I received the Daily Dharma from The Tricycle Community in my inbox. It read:

Some people have the idea that practicing Zen or any religion is becoming God or Buddha, or even “becoming a good person.” But if you are grasping to become “enlightened,” it’s like putting icing over a mold of cow manure. Instead, we need to let our cow manure become compost.

Barbara Rhodes, “Composting Our Karma”

While we each have our own shit to shovel, I immediately thought about karma. Karma will ripen. We have no sense of when and where, but it will ripen. It may be positive karma ripening and what we perceive as positive events occur. It may be negative karma ripening and what we perceive as negative events occur. But any way you look at it, karma will ripen.

Perhaps we’ll have the good fortune of the universe (our guides, ancestors, teachers) softening the blow.

One of my teachers, Debra Poneman, encourages us to say, “Thank you, God!” (or the God of your understanding) whenever anything happens, good or bad. It seems strange to say thank you when something negative occurs. The point is to celebrate the negative karma ripening and passing. Whew! You don’t have to wait for that one to ripen anymore. More compost for the heap.

When I read the Daily Dharma quote, it made me think of waiting it out. And then I realized, perhaps that’s what calm abiding meditation is about. As negative karma ripens or the mind becomes entangled in all its various piles of manure, focus your attention on your breath or the flame of a candle or an image of Tara or Buddha or even of nature.

The karma already in motion will ripen. Can we find some calm in the storm so as not to create more chaos for ourselves and others from our entangled minds? Can we allow the cow pie to break down? Perhaps that compost will fertilize seeds of wisdom in our minds.

Then we can focus our thoughts and practice each day on being present to what is unfolding in each moment, and inviting compassion and kindness to inform our lives.

We’re not just waiting it out. We’re living all of life —and allowing manure to just be manure. No icing required.