“Live in joy, live in love,
Even among those who hate.
Live in joy, in health,
Even, among the afflicted.
Live in joy, in peace,
Even among the troubled.
Look within. Be still.
Free from fear and attachment.
Know the sweet joy of the way.”
My zen student Karleen Manchanda gave a wonderful Sunday Morning Zen talk recently. (recording attached below) She is originally from Oahu and has been living just outside Winnipeg, Canada for many years. She knew the first two lines of this quote and was particularly drawn to them because she wanted to find joy in her life. She researched the quote and found that the full text had been said by none other than the Buddha.
Getting in touch with joy is sometimes elusive. But it is here. How to find it? Sometimes when you look too hard, you can’t find it. Pause and breathe more. When you slow down, you have a better chance of seeing it.
I think tenderness is related to joy. Tenderness is something I notice that happens to me when a passage I’ve read surprises me or I listen to someone chanting Hawaiian or reciting poetry from the heart. My heart opens.
For example, I was reading Norman Fisher’s commentary on the Mountains and Rivers Sutra. He was talking about the words chan and zen and how they were derived to sound like the Pali word dhyana which means meditation. He said Chan or Zen do not mean meditation. Their actual meaning is to bow before mountains and rivers.
When I read that, tears immediately sprung to my eyes. My heart felt open, tenderized. That image of bowing before mountains and in my case – oceans – was so beautiful - just the thing to do whenever I am in their presence. The grandeur of the four mountains on Hawaii Island and the great Pacific Ocean is still with me.
We do not have kings and queens in American culture to bow to but we do have the magnificence of Nature in our National Parks and other park systems. They are an integral part of our community and our being. If we can truly appreciate and take care of Nature, it is in a way also appreciating and taking care of ourselves.
That is pono - being right with yourself, your family, and your larger community which includes All. It takes good work to slow down, be still, and look within. Let joy that is naturally there/here, bubble up and permeate your whole life.
Malama pono (take care of body, mind and heart),
June Kaililani Tanoue
Kumu Hula, Roshi
P.S. Here is Karleen Manchanda's talk on Joy https://youtu.be/o91Iyd2Qluo?si=nY5rs9LFQaOLIrNx