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Well-Being at Home, some Reflections
Joanna Kirkpatrick
Acording to the Buddha's teachings, well-being
can only be experienced when one dumps dukkha: how? by not
clinging. It is as simple and as difficult as that. Why do
we cling? because we are deluded by the assumptions of atta
and permanence. This is "my body, these are my things
and my people. They will always be there." Not.
Feelings of well-being often arise as we
look around our home and see our favorite things… mementos
from long ago, family reminders, favorite pictures, their
arrangement in the room as we like it… Should we throw
them all out and live in a bare cell? Not if we are not renouncers!
As I look around my room and see the various
objects, the light from the windows on them, the colors and
shapes: a vase of peacock feathers from Nepal---a clay pig
made by my son--inherited cut glass--a few dried flowers---Bosnian
embroidered pillows---a satsuma lamp base--each of them brings
a story of how I found them and how they got here in this
room… and this story leads on to other stories about
how I have been faring through life. Memories of failure and
success, pain and happiness.
Contemplating the sense of well-being provoked
by sitting peacefully on the sofa and looking around the room
also leads to another awareness: "I won't be here some
day; where will all these things go? I don't know, and it's
not necessary for me to know." Every time I begin to
think of who among my family gets what pieces of my stuff,
an expression of clinging, I feel dukkha disturbing the feeling
of well-being.
If I am paying attention, these mementos
remind me of my impermanence and their impermanence in the
special arrangement they now have, the arrangement that says,
"This is 'my' arrangement, 'my' collection, these are
pleasant signs of my life in their arrangement now."
Do I find the sense of well-being disappearing when I consider
that not only these things but I too am on my way out? No--not
since I began practicing the dhamma teachings in my everyday
life. Knowing the truth of anicca, I enjoy the sense of well-being
without succumbing to the dukkha of clinging.
At least not now! Attention and insight
come and go--but once experienced deeply, they are ever available.
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