Wake Down

I've been wallowing in the duh days of summer when colors are exquisitely vivid, the air is baby soft, the sky spotless blue, heat radiates on lovely wisps of breeze, and the sun just beams and beams that all's well-- if you let it be. It's too achingly beautiful to do anything but stop everything and bask in the glory of being alive. As the Dharma says, rejoice in having the precious human body and karma to be free to enjoy this magnificent gift. How lucky I am and we are here in the August days to soak up the sun, the squawk of the Canada geese, the cackle of the great blue heron, the sight of pleasure boats putt putting by, the feel of warm salt water on hot skin, while too many other are being bombed, shot at, gassed, imprisoned, enslaved, crammed, infirm and otherwise engaged.  We must have done something right. So I'm celebrating by doing nothing, like a bump on a log, being real duh.

Too blissed out for work, I've been paddling around in my fat yellow kayak, Nana Banana. Just leisurely glides through the inlet, going against the tide on the way out so on my return, going with the tide magically floats me home. I love the silence, the peaceful slide through the sea, the rhythm of the paddle as it rises and slices the water from side to side, in and out as I chant a mantra, usually om mani pema hung, to dedicate all this merit. 

But I am not alone. Last week a seal swam by. There are always cormorants and gulls swooping at close reach. And there are motor boats, sometimes fleets of them. Some have the decency to slow when they see a kayak nestled low in the water, some continue speed storming by as though nana banana is invisible. (Why do you think I have a bright yellow kayak?) They keep churning up huge waves that rock and roll so fiercely, the kayak plunges.  These jerks keep reminding me the first lesson I learned in boat handling class: you are responsible for your wake, for any damage it does.

What duh hell is wrong with these guys? Are they the only people on Earth, oops, I mean on the water? Frankly, because so many boats whiz past, I don't know if it's still the law that you're liable for the trouble your speeding causes, particularly when you are zooming past special buoys that say Headway speed only.

It's always a fight to steer clear of being upended and thrown into the sea. Immediately I have to stiffen, paddle like hell to change in seconds the direction of my kayak. I vehemently labor to get  across the surfer's waves at 45 degrees. That, I learned in boat handling class, is the safest angle.  Whether I'm foundering or not, my mantra always changes from Om mani pema hung to oh you bastard, may you drop an incarnation rung.  Sorry, but it really is upsetting...and sometimes scary being ignored and being left to fend off the mess they created with their wake. How can I have a nice day?

And so the duh! of my duh days: Dharma is actually about being responsible for your wake. As we say now, it's not laying your trip on others.  In a book I am reading on the lounge chair, Traleg Rinpoche is saying it's about not rubbing others the wrong way. (See: suddenly white capped wake waves smashing against a yellow kayak.)

Traleg Rinpoche kindly explains the whole point of shamata and vipassyana practice, the whole point of the whole Insight Meditation/Hinayana is to teach you to get control of yourself so you don't spew harm on those you come into contact with. Then the Mahayana teaches you that since you just can't avoid coming into contact with others, you might as well learn to deal directly with them positively. As he puts it: "The Mahayana view is that we are all human beings living in the same world and whether we like it or not, we have to relate to each other, so we may just as well relate properly." You know, basic courtesy. When you see a kayak, cut your motor to quit whizbang speed so it doesn't capsize from your boat's tumult.

Dharma practice can be like driving a speedboat through an inlet of kayaks. You recognize that the way you express yourself through the actions of your body, the words from your mouth and the thoughts in your heart has consequences for people sharing your circumstance. And because the law of karma makes you liable, you need to take responsibility for yourself. You need to be sure when you come into sight of others, you do not zoom by and churn up wake that upends them. You need to develop skills to use words that aren't hurtful, actions that aren't deadly, thoughts that are helpful. My teacher always says whatever you think, you will eventually say --and damn, he is right, so watch those thoughts. You may think they're hidden and nobody will know, but sooner or later they're going to zoom out of your mouth and create a wake.

We all look so forward and move so fast, we're those jerks driving the speedboats who don't think to look back and check their wake, the consequences of their behavior. So watch your back. And remember, especially in groups, headway speed only.