Fw: [allspirit] Lessons in Compassion

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- Gill Eardley

Allspirit

Monday, March 03, 2003 5:29 AM

[allspirit] Lessons in Compassion

This is from 'World as Lover, World as Self' by Joanna MacyOn this

particular afternoon a fly fell into my tea. This was, of course, a

minor occurrence. After a year in India I con-sidered myself to be

unperturbed by insects-by ants in the sugar bin, spiders in the

cupboard, and even scorpions in my shoes in the morning. Still, as I

lifted my cup, I must have registered, by my facial expression or a

small grunt, the presence of the fly. Choegyal Rinpoche, the

eighteen-year-old tulku who was already becoming my friend for life,

leaned forward in sympathy and consternation. "What is the

matter?""Oh, nothing," I said. "It's nothing-just a fly in my tea." I

laughed lightly to convey my acceptance and composure. I did not want

him to suppose that mere insects were a problem for me; after all, I

was a seasoned India-wallah, relatively free of Western phobias and

attachments to modern sanitation.Choegyal crooned softly, in apparent

commiseration with my plight, "Oh, oh, a fly in the tea.""It's no

problem," I reiterated, smiling at him reassuringly. But he continued

to focus great concern on my cup. Rising from his chair, he leaned

over and inserted his finger into my tea. With great care he lifted

out the offending fly -- and then exited from the room. The

conversation at the table resumed. I was eager to secure Khanitul

Rinpoche's agreement on plans to secure the high-altitude wool he

desired for the carpet production.When Choegyal Rinpoche reentered

the cottage he was beaming. "He is going to be all right," he told me

quietly. He explained how he had placed the fly on the leaf of a

branch of a bush by the door, where his wings could dry. And the fly

was still alive, because he began fanning his wings, and we could

confidently expect him to take flight soon...That is what I remember

of that afternoon-not the agreements we reached or plans we devised,

but Choegyal's report that the fly would live. And I recall, too, the

laughter in my heart. I could not, truth to tell, share Choegyal's

dimensions of compassion, but the pleasure in his face revealed how

much I was missing by not extending my self-concern to all beings,

even to flies. Yet the very notion that it was possible gave me

boundless delight.------------Allspirit Website:

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