The message in the sand is a changing one
Print Friendly Version| From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB | July 2, 2008 |
| Vol. 6, No. 4 |
This week, in a very real way, I watched the world both come together and fall apart. The interesting thing is that the insight came from where I least expected it. In the middle of Atlanta, Ga., sits Drepung Loseling Monastery, a quiet little Buddhist community intent on reminding us that we may be ignoring one of the basics of life. Here? Us? How could that be? .
Psychologists tell us that it’s often exactly what we take for granted in ourselves that we find so surprising when we see it somewhere else. For instance, missionary work has been a staple of Christianity for centuries. We took it for granted that it was of our essence to go around the world, not to become something different ourselves, but to begin something different, to promote other values and insights somewhere else. And it worked.
As a result, whole continents became Christian, thanks to the life work of missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant.
What the rest of the world saw in missionaries from the West, they often became themselves -- literate, educated, professional, western. But now the process seems to be working in reverse, as well.
Buddhist monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta, the descendants of a revered 12th century foundation in Lhasa, Tibet, have come to the United States “to contribute to North American culture by providing theoretical knowledge and practical training in Tibetan Buddhist traditions for Western students, scholars and the general public” and “to preserve the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of wisdom and compassion” that thrived there until the Communists closed 6,500 Buddhist monasteries in Tibet in 1959.
Their message, a sobering one for us all, is not given in words. In fact, they never utter a syllable as they work. Instead, the monks bring the message in a medium seldom thought of as beautiful. Which, of course, makes it even more striking, and more meaningful.
The monks, you see, spend their lives going from place to place, from occasion to occasion, making sand mandalas, sacred cosmograms, that originated in Buddhist India over 2,500 years ago.
The creation of a cosmogram, the representation of the world in divine form, perfectly balanced, precisely designed, is meant to reconsecrate the earth and heal its inhabitants. But it is more than a picture. Sand painting is an intricate process. It requires millions of pieces of sand to make a mandala five by five feet square. It requires a team of monks working anywhere from days to weeks, depending on the size of the mandala, to create this floor plan of the sacred mansion that is life. It requires the interplay of vivid colors and ancient symbols.
The monks bend over the piece for hours on end, dropping one grain of sand after another into intricate symbolic patterns. The purpose is to call the community to meditation and awareness of something larger than their own small world. As they work, they spell one another off at intervals for the sake of physical relief from the backbreaking work but they look at no one of the faithful who have come to pray them through it, talk to none of the curious who stand by chattering about the process, acknowledge none of the fellow artists who come to admire as the work progresses. In perfect silence, they simply work while the world watches. They are not about conversation; they are about the transformation of the world, and each of us in it, into something closer to enlightenment and balance that we and it are now.
But the process itself, as laborious, as precise, as artistic, as stunningly powerful as it is, is not really the message.
When the mandala is finally finished, however long it takes for the monks to deal in this divine geometry of the heavens, they pray over it -- and then they destroy it. They sweep it up, every last grain of sand, and give handfuls of it away to those who participate in the closing ceremony as a final memory of sublime possibility. Then they throw the rest of the sand into the nearest living stream to be swept into the ocean to bless the whole world. And that’s it. It’s gone. In an instant, after all that artistry, all that work, it’s over.
They destroy it. Why? Because the underlying message of the mandala ceremony is that nothing is permanent. Nothing. All things are in flux, it says, beautiful but ephemeral, moving but temporary, a plateau but not a summit. All things are called to balance and enlightenment and the fulfillment of the Divine image in them, yes, but in flux. Always in flux.
There is nothing in the meaning of the mandala that denies or undermines the Christian story or its message, of course. But there is something shockingly profound to hear it coming from a wisdom written on the other side of the world. It gives a new note to an ancient truth. It strengthens the ties of humanity a world away.
Most of all, perhaps, it makes us all think again about what we think we’re going to make permanent. Like our own domination of the world. Our privileged place in the community of nations. Our sense of status. Our surety of specialness among all the peoples of the world. Our place of comfort and security in the face of all the poor on the planet.
This Buddhist missionary message is clear.
Nothing is permanent, neither their state in life -- nor ours. Maybe we can begin to see the truth of that better now as we begin to deal with the powerlessness of nuclear power that we were sure would give us eternal security. Maybe we will begin to understand better now the meaning of global hunger as we live with escalating prices for food in a country known for its wealth. Maybe we will come to realize the necessity of world community, equality and global democracy as we live in the wake of a culture in which the traditional dominance of whiteness is shifting in a largely brown, black and yellow world. Maybe we will some day get it: the Persian Empire came and went. The Roman Empire came and went. The Ottoman Empire came and went. The British Empire came and went. And the American Empire -- the engine of world politics and wealth now centered in the United States of America -- is hardly here and already close to over.
The fact is that the politics of permanence is a sham. It has never lasted, and it never will. We may be seeing the dawn of that reality right now in the stock market, in oil prices, in jobs, in cost of living, in national infrastructure.
From where I stand, it looks to me as if these monastics from another world may have as much a message for us as we ever did for everyone else. Hopefully we’ll be as able to hear their message now as the rest of the world did ours and learn from others as they clearly have from us. Heaven knows, by anyone’s geometry and symbols, we have mighty need for the “wisdom and compassion” they’re trying to preserve.
For more information about mandalas, see: Healing the Earth: A Sacred Art by the Tibetan Lamas of Drepung Loseling Monastery
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It is always easy to point
It is always easy to point fingers and play blame games. Today's popular villain is the "evil white western imperialists", tomorrow it will be someone else. Theroux is one author, exploiting the shifting sand of popular opinion for a profit, nothing more.
As with all forms of racism, key elements and issues of the problem at hand are simply ignored. The bulk of the violence on the african continent in just the last 50 years (we could easily go back farther) has been ethnic black against ethnic black, tribal rivalries, community rivalries. The vast majority of atrocities that have occurred and continue to occur in the african continent are committed by blacks against blacks. Genocide, gang rape, mass murders, slavery, forced starvation, mutilation, all and more are perpetrated by one black community against another black community. It has been that way for centuries.
Theroux is a pawn in this diorama, nothing more. His work is a lame attempt to divert the attention away from the real problem by blaming the "white NGO's" (whatever those are), a lame attempt to divert attention from the real problem of intertribal ethnic rivalry and hatred that has existed unchecked for centuries. One group against the other, each one convinced in some way that they are the "chosen ones", and that everyone else are "heretics" who need to be purged. That was the problem yesterday, that is the problem today, that will be the problem tomorrow. That will continue to be the problem until it is acknowledged and addressed.
But, one does have to admit, it is much easier to point a racist finger of blame at "white westerners", than it is to look in the mirror and admit where the other three fingers are pointing. Much easier to accuse the current popular villain, than to acknowledge the real problem, "ethnic hatred", and then work "together" to find acceptable resolutions. Easier to point the finger at "white westerners", than it is to engage in a dialogue that would inspire those who are blinded with hate and rage to forgive and act in a more loving fashion.
You ended your post with: --- "at least they are not White!" ---
If the last word in that sentence was a different color, what would your attitude be toward the person who wrote it? What rhetorical references would you use to describe the statement and the author? What does that statement reflect about you?
Reminds me of Bosnia. All
Reminds me of Bosnia. All the white NGO's running around in their landrovers had zero effect on that situation as well-- unless they happened to keep someone from starving or succombing to battle wounds.
Ethnic cleansing doesn't seem to be a racial phenomenon. It seems to be a human phenomenon.
http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com
P.S., everything that exists
P.S., everything that exists in Time is changing, but the Word Made Flesh is still the same, yesterday, today, and always.
TO:ALL Why is it that so
TO:ALL Why is it that so many females resent it when a male lays it out to them what God's LOVE is about?? What I have posted on this board was taught to me by NUNS and now if I am to be in the good graces of the women on this board I must deny all I have been taught by the good SISTERS and revert to pagan ways!!! Where did all this silliness begin?? Someday there will be changes in the CHURCH but God's words will never change. When the good NUNS taught me, instant obedience was insisted upon!! Am I now to believe that what they insisted was just a big joke?? Discipline for our entire pilgrimage demands that we submit to our Superiors!! God insists that we obey HIS COMMANDS and God left the CHURCH with a CHAIN OF COMMAND!!! Why do we continue to fight GOD???
I've been thinking about
I've been thinking about this tom ... you asked "Why is it that so many females resent it when a male lays it out to them what God's LOVE is about?? "
Could it possibly be that women have finally have had enough of being abused, raped, beaten into submission, enslaved, treated as if they are nothing more than property, bartered, sold, prostituted, ignored, vilified, humiliated, mutilated ... by men for the pleasure of men? Men who claim superiority for no other reason than the nature of their reproductive organs. Men who proclaim their divine ordination from God, men who commit attrocities in God's name under the umbrella of infallibility. Men committed to keeping them in "their place" and justify their actions by divine appointment. Men who dont have a clue what love is about.
The more I think about it Tom, I simply cant imagine why women would be filled with so much resentment toward male authority.
Tom, the good nuns taught me
Tom, the good nuns taught me a lot of things ...they taught me to think for myself, question everything, and how to properly use the phrase "the church teaches ..." to pass a test.
You are incorrect when you say "God insists that we obey HIS COMMANDS".
God gave us free will, freedom to choose.
My question to you now is, if God has given us free will,
who are you or anyone else to pontificate otherwise?
By doing so, it is you who are fighting/disobeying God.
If you carefully study history, one fact always jumps out.
Blind obedience to authority ALWAYS leads to ATTROCITY.
I'm not fighting with God.
I'm not fighting with God. I'm disagreeing with the notion given to me by NUNS that the men who rule the Church speak for God, and I'm to see them as if they were God, and obey them as if they were God.
For some reason as I get older and older I see these notions as nothing more than a form of idolatory--a concept brought into the Church from Pagan Rome having to do with how the masses were to see the Emperor as a Divine personage. In short I now see these notions as a Pagan practice.
Please note this: http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com
1Cor 13:11 When I was a
1Cor 13:11
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
New King James Version © 1982 Thomas Nelson
Oh, come on, tom234z, where
Oh, come on, tom234z, where do you get off 'laying it out to FEMALES (my how sociable that sounds!) what God's LOVE is about???' Unless, of course, you really are prepared to hear what females say to males about 'what God's LOVE is about? The answer is that you are not, and if the least woman challenges even the strongest of men in the Church (say clergy) about what they should be able to see or do in regard to God's love, the reaction is dramatic, usually underground and unidentified, but full of power and damage. GOD is not being fought; men's egos are famously fragile to the least of a woman's criticism and they won't fight; they annihilate.
I cant and wont speak for
I cant and wont speak for anyone but myself, but for me, in order to obey an authority, that authority has to be trustworthy. Somewhere in the last 5 decades, that sacred trust was violated. I cannot point to a single incident or person or time, but over time, most likely as a result of one incident stacked upon another, I lost faith in the leadership of the church. And as all of us know from personal experience, once a sacred trust is violated, it is very difficult, sometimes impossible to restore it.
So why do I stay? I stay because I still hope that one day something will happen and that trust will be restored. Besides, I'm catholic, where would I go?
I read an interesting post
I read an interesting post under one of the Sr. Louise articles, I'll try to recreate it as best I can:
Basically, the author stated that once a person is a catholic, they are always a catholic, whether they participate or not, excommunicated or not, interdicted or not, etc or not, always a catholic ... always a catholic .... and .... never can be a non-catholic. The only question is one of "standing in the community".
If that is really true, and I havent found any catechismic, canoniacal, or doctrinological evidence YET to prove either way, but if it is true, then we really need to reconsider the practice of labeling those who do not agree with the fundamentalistic orthodoxies as "protestant", "liberal heretic", etc, because in effect, that is disparaging our brothers/sisters in Christ, which aside from being unloving in Christ's eyes, I'm sure also violates a few of the "deposits of faith".
Don't you have a mind of
Don't you have a mind of your own?
No, not a 'big joke' but a cruel deception of over-simplification. Mind you not totally the fault of any one nun but the entire system of traditional religious women training and endoctrination. I have a great deal of respect for nuns and a bit of anger for what the systems of traditional formation have done to so many of them. I have met nuns who would also put most of us to shame in understanding conceptually and in 'act exercitu' what love is.
"Discipline for our entire pilgrimage demands that we submit to our Superiors." Hogwash.
God's love is not all about 'obedience'. It is about I Corinthians 13. I suggest that you don't give 'women' all the credit for having an opinion on what love might be.
Dear Dennis, It is a problem
Dear Dennis, It is a problem addressing a nun especially when the nun's name is Dennis! Of course I have a mind of my own. Why is it you reject the notion of answering to Superiors?? Jesus Christ listened to the dictates of His Father every second of His Life!! Are we to do less?? Sure we fail but get back up and try again! Do we want less for any human? I think not!! Why do we question the motives of those we think of as Saints?? John Paul the II, Mother Theresa, Lucy of Fatima, Paul VI, St. Benedict, and so many thousands and thousands of others. All were obedient to their God and their Superiors!! What is wrong with this??????
That it implies that my
That it implies that my 'superiors' are equal to God, and that they are my 'superiors'. We are all equal in Christ. He appointed some of His dispciples to be servants. He did not recognize them in any way as 'superiors'. That's the problem.
http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com
I don't understand your
I don't understand your opening sentence, maybe it is because it is nonsensibly sexist? Your multiple question marks bespeak of a fanaticism that, along with extremist positions, does not merit further discussion
You gave me a lovely
You gave me a lovely framework for an examination of conscience. Does my impermanent life radiate the beauty of God? And when it's over, will what I leave behind bless the earth? I am pleased to be sand in His hands.
Dear SR. Joan, It is good to
Dear SR. Joan, It is good to spread helpful deeds and words throughout the world, however our God commanded us to preach the Gospel to all peoples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The only reasons for any human's existence is to Know God, to Love God,and to Serve God in this world and to be Happy with God forever in the next WORLD (HEAVEN). All created by God are given the same command. Sometimes we forget about OBEDIENCE and want to do things our own way-God's WAY is the ONLY WAY!!! God's representatives on earth, the Twelve Apostles (BISHOPS)and the Church Head (POPE)as appointed by Jesus deserve OBEDIENCE as do our parents or any Authority Figure. This is the ESSENCE of LOVE!
Tom You really need to
Tom
You really need to memorize 1 Cor 13, and meditate on it through a few decades of the rosary.
You might find the results to be "enlightening".
You might find a richer definition for "ESSENCE of LOVE!"
Any Authority Figure?????
Any Authority Figure????? HEAVEN help us.
When Jesus met the centurion whose young man was ill, he did not lecture him on the relative merits of the Roman pantheon and the God of Abraham. He cured the young man and praised the centurion for his faith. Discernment is such a precious gift.
PS Are you related to Anne? Your words have the same rhythm.
Just so you know Frannie, I
Just so you know Frannie, I do not have a relative named Tom234z. Give me one example of anything I have discussed on this blog regarding my Faith that is not consistent with what the Catholic Church teaches. When Jesus cured the young man, he praised the centurion for his Faith in the Word Made Flesh.
Thanks for the response. I
Thanks for the response. I never said you or Tom said anything inconsistent with Catholic teaching. I'm sorry if anything I wrote could be interpreted that way.
He did not praise the centurion for his faith in the word made flesh. The centurion didn't know anything about that. Had you explained it to him, he probably would have laughed. His faith was in Jesus, an itinerant preacher who inspired in His hearers a trust in God. There was something about Jesus. There is something about Jesus. Since I myself was healed of cancer at His word, you will never find me disparaging that kind of faith.
One last thought. Einstien has given us a system in which word made flesh makes perfect sense. But the centurion didn't know Einstien. But he knew he loved his young man and was not ready to lose him. And he knew Jesus could heal him. And he said so.
Drs. John & Karen Dwyer Pax
Drs. John & Karen Dwyer
Pax Christi Naples
Nothing is permanent except change.
There are bigger changes in
There are bigger changes in store for the USA than falls in the stock market and failings in national infrastructure and rises in oil prices, in joblessness, and in cost of living. There are already clear signs of it in how the Third World is reacting to America's "dark side"--its sense of “intellectual superiority” and the “implicit obligations” it places on recipients of its so-called generosity. (The words in quotes are by Canon Gregory Cameron, deputy general secretary of the Anglican Communion Office, as laid out in his Hellins Lecture this week in Wales.)
Observe how Africa opposes U.S. (and European) intervention in Darfur and in Zimbabwe. Notice too how African Anglicans have risen up against the U.S. Episcopal Church (and the Church of England).
Africa will carefully choose its friends, white friends included, and listen to them. What Africa will not do is permit itself to be bossed around by White People, whether of Conservative OR Liberal persuasion.
Sabithah
Sabithah, what is up with
Sabithah, what is up with the anti-white racist rhetoric?
Are you interested in discussion of topics that are affecting contemporary catholicism or are you trying to promote a more sinister agenda?
Three of your posts that I have read so far all three contained anti-white racist remarks, I found all three offensive, as I'm sure you would if a different color were used in the comment, and none of them really added anything to the discussion.
Sabithah~ I ask this
Sabithah~ I ask this question not as a counter or criticism, I am sincerely interested: What about Africa and China? It seems that the investment of China in Africa is immense in money, arms, industrial developement. China's role in human rights is less than admirable and seems to be finding a neo-imperial foothold on that continent.
Sabithah, you stated: "how
Sabithah, you stated: "how africa has...", "what africa will not do ..."
You seem to miss an essential point about africa ... the algothrithmic rise in HIV/AIDS in all segments of the population is staggering.
There is no cure, only prevention. The population of Africa is currently unable, unwilling or perhaps simply lacks the education to practice prevention. The cause of the spread is now irrelevant.
The main cause for the spread has been identified by the UN as reuse of improperly sterilized medical supplies. Whole villages and towns are now infected. Villages and towns that do not have access to the expensive medications available in the west to keep it under control. The infections continue.
At the current rate of infection, in 10 years or less, it is not inconceivable that most of Africa will become HIV killing fields and AIDS burial grounds. Africa is on the verge of becoming irrelevant.
Africa's natural resources
Africa's natural resources are certainly not irrelevant. Perhaps that's why China has such an interest. Just like white European colonizers. It's not the people, it's the resources.
http://enlightenedcatholicism-colkoch.blogspot.com
Good point. All whoever is
Good point. All whoever is there has to do is wait for the AIDs epidemic to run its course and the resources are theirs for the taking ... no resistance.
The laws of nature and of
The laws of nature and of God are permanent.They are the relationship between the Creator and the Created. The laws of man and those invented by the church are like the mandela,to be swept up and thrown in the stream. The civilizations that passed into history and history itself are just man's attempt at making a mandela. Is co-operation neccessary? is a plan neccessary? Christ and Christianity are the pattern
Thanks for the post.
Sister Joan, I am
Sister Joan,
I am reminded of G.K. Chesterton's comment, made (interestingly enough) in 1928: "These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own."
I understand that your point is to put in check American arrogance. But, is really nothing fixed or permanent? Have we nothing to anchor ourselves to? I think of Matthew 16:
"Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Our Catholic faith, instituted by Christ, is not just another matter of pride, domination, or arrogance. It is the assurance of things hoped for, passed on for love of humanity.
Fin, you ask "Have we
Fin, you ask "Have we nothing to anchor ourselves to?"
1 Cor 13 would be an excellent place to start
Jesus also said "By their
Jesus also said "By their fruits you will know them." May I give God the glory for the fruits of thses monks?
It's too bad that the Church
It's too bad that the Church doesn't offer anyone peace anymore. What with all the clamour of guitars and puppets during Mass, there's no peace to be found. That's why Catholics have to look for answers from the Buddhists, I guess.
*****
http://www.WhollyRoaminCatholic.com
Sister Joan, I must disagree
Sister Joan, I must disagree with you. There is permanence. The past is permanent; whatever has happened, has happened and nothing can change it. And as far as the "politics of permanence" goes, the West has never really gotten over the fall of the Roman Empire. What is the struggle over the European Union but a struggle to reunite what was once the Roman Empire? And as far as the Persian Empire goes, they may be Muslim now, but they are still the adversaries of "Rome", and its offshoot, the United States of America. The more things change, the more they remain the same. Or, as Nietschze called it, Eternal Recurrence.
The french power and the
The french power and the spanish didn't last either yet all of them still are here in the cultures present today - only the power is gone. That is the comforting part of this message - we lose the power but the good part of a culture can keep on going.
Corrine Egan, Erie, PA I was
Corrine Egan, Erie, PA
I was privileged to watch these monks create a beautiful mandela at Mercyhurst College here in Erie, a few years ago. The process is amazing and the results spectacular. Like Sister Joan, I went a way with a feeling of peace and profound humility.
Both of you, Dennis & COL55,
Both of you, Dennis & COL55, should dip into Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari. The author is American and Middle Class and White, but certainly not a Rick Steves (travel author and tour guide) specializing in pub crawls through Dublin so he can “make some new friends” and “have a new experience”. Theroux, in other words, is not a silly man.
One of his book’s themes is the destruction brought upon contemporary Africa by “the agents of virtue”. And who are they? White Western NGOers who drive around the continent in their white Land Rovers dispensing good but doing untold evil. Even those Whites from the West working in Africa on a shoestring, and therefore not driving around in white Land Rovers, are no better. Theroux likens them to gamekeepers feeding wild animals because, deep down, they think of Africans as primitive beasts. And as they project, so they create.
Every African problem—from famine to AIDS to bad government—is, Theroux thinks, made infinitely worse by these insufferably virtuous do-gooders. And, by contrast, why are Africans so welcoming of the less-than-admirable Chinese? Well, at least they are not White!
Sabithah