Stories
Adams Memorial - Saint-Gaudens
“There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of them.” (Naked City)
We each, every one of us, has a story just as unique and important as everyone else’s. Everyone’s story is complicated and compelling, equal to your own. We don’t listen to or sometimes don’t care or inquire about other people’s stories but they are there just the same. You may see a smile, but you may not see the pain that is being hidden by that smile. You may not see the tears, nor the scars, the hurts and disappointments. When you see that other person what you don’t see is greater than what shows.
All too often though we don’t get to hear the story that is the other person. We may not ask, we may not care, we certainly don’t know. In my work as a Chaplain one of the most healing things I can offer another individual is the hearing of their story.
You know we rush through our days, scurrying here and there, either as part of a crowd of people boarding a bus or as individuals safely ensconced in our personal travel conveyances, but we know so little about the people around us. Perhaps we know our co-workers, or we may think we know them, yet the larger number of people we are most closely interacting with we know nothing about. We may look at a face, see some small behavior pattern, hear some phrasing of words, and then we sum up the person, write them off, and carry on with our lives.
“Kasyapa, know this! I reveal the enlightenment of the Buddha with various stories of previous lives, with various parables and similes, that is, with various expedients. All the other Buddhas do the same.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter V)
Those other people, the people that surround our lives are all stories of individuals, much like ourselves who are trying their best, as they understand, to live lives full of joy and free from suffering. Our challenge as Buddhists is to recognize the individuals we see as lives not so different in basic ways as our own.
“All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is. I see that the triple world is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear, that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which I do not disappear, that it is not real or unreal, and that it is not as it seems or as it does not seem. I do not see the triple world in the same way as the living beings of the triple world do. I see all this clearly and infallibly. The living beings are various in their natures, desires, deeds, thoughts and opinions.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter XVI)
I don’t always do this, yet frequently when I pass someone in the hall, or see someone on the elevator, I’ll linger a moment and ask how they are doing while looking them squarely in the eye. When I invite people to really respond to my question as a sincere attempt to connect and not as some functional greeting I have had some very memorable encounters. Take a moment to get to know the many Buddhas around you. You might give it a try, let me know what your experience is.
