Enlightenment must be lived here and now through this very body or else it is not genuine. In this body and mind we find the cause of suffering and the end of suffering. For awakening to be an opening into freedom in this very life, the body must be its ground. Embodied enlightenment is not about special psycho- physical accomplishments, mastering the yogas of inner fire, fulfilling sexual tantras, or developing a rainbow body. Yes, certain Tibetan lamas can sit naked in the snow at 18,000 feet and generate sufficient heat to melt the snow in a twenty-foot circle around their bodies. And Catholic saints have demonstrated stigmata and miraculous healing powers. "But these powers are not the true miracle," said the Buddha. "Awakening to the truth is the miracle." Embodied enlightenment is about living wisely in your particular body, as it is, on this day, in this amazing life.
Western Buddhist meditation master and nun Pema Chodron calls this understanding "The Wisdom of No Escape."
*It is helpful to realize that being here, sitting in meditation, doing simple everyday things like working, walking outside, talking with people, eating, using the toilet, is actually all that we need to be fully awake, fully alive, fully human. It's also helpful to realize that this body that we have, this very body that's sitting here right now in this room, this very body that perhaps aches, and this mind that we have at this very moment, are exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, and fully alive. Furthermore, the emotions that we have right now, the negativity and the positivity, are what we actually need. It is just as if we looked around to find out what would be the greatest wealth that we could possibly possess in order to lead a decent, good, completely fulfilling, energetic, inspired life, and found it all right here.*
Enlightenment flowers not as an ideal, but in the miraculous reality of our human form, with its pleasures and pains. No master can escape this truth, nor does enlightenment make the vulnerability of our body go away. The Buddha had illnesses and backaches. Sages like Ramana Maharshi, Karmapa, and Suzuki Roshi died of cancer in spite of their holy understanding. Their example shows we must find awakening in sickness and in health, in pleasure and in pain, in this human body as it is.
How do we touch this body of life, the joys and sorrows of it? An embodied awakening neither denies nor reviles the body, nor does it grasp and mindlessly indulge in pleasures. In embodied awakening we become present for the life that is given us, respectful of what the Tibetans call "this precious human form." Tsong Khapa, the Tibetan master, taught: "This human body is more precious than the rarest gem. Cherish your body; it is yours for this one time only ... a thing of beauty that passes away." Such a respectful presence allows the life of our body to be blessed.
From: 'After the Ecstasy, the Laundry'
by Jack Kornfield
posted by Gill Eardley http://groups.yahoo.com/group/allspiritinspiration/
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