I have been thinking a great deal about Other Power recently. Other Power is how we describe the Buddha working on us, liberation through taking refuge in the Buddha, rather than liberation by our own means.
What I've been thinking about is something I've begun to call Radical Other Power. This is an idea that is a step beyond how I usually frame my experience of the world.
I have usually thought of Other Power as something which calls to me, a guide if you like, rather than an active agent in this world. Other Power tells me I am okay, just as I am, that I am loved. Other Power tells me to love, but leaves me to figure out the best way to do that.
But recently I’ve been thinking that there is more to it than that. More mystery. Today my therapist picked on up how many of the things I have been talking about somehow fit into ‘happening at the right time.’
Suddenly, when I have the emotional space to start taking on therapy clients, two appear at once. The timing seems more than coincidence.
There have been other similar examples.
I am reminded of the Buddhist idea that when one lives by one’s vow all the Bodhisattvas comes to one’s aid.
I suppose that comes to mind because I am fighting to resist “Everything happens for a (good) reason”. There must be something one can do, the self-power part of me says. I wonder if that’s true anymore?
Perhaps everything is in the hands of Amida. Namo Amida Bu. Namo Amida Bu.
Part of me is trying to find a middle way between these two extremes. When I practice in the morning, chanting, prostrations and so on, I do feel differently during the day than if I don’t. And yet – surely it’s Amida that brings me to practice...
Someone has posted a quote from Ty Unno on the front page of Friends of Amida. I think it’s from a recent interview he did for Tricycle magazine. It encapsulates what I am trying to get to. Another coincidence?
What I've been thinking about is something I've begun to call Radical Other Power. This is an idea that is a step beyond how I usually frame my experience of the world.
I have usually thought of Other Power as something which calls to me, a guide if you like, rather than an active agent in this world. Other Power tells me I am okay, just as I am, that I am loved. Other Power tells me to love, but leaves me to figure out the best way to do that.
But recently I’ve been thinking that there is more to it than that. More mystery. Today my therapist picked on up how many of the things I have been talking about somehow fit into ‘happening at the right time.’
Suddenly, when I have the emotional space to start taking on therapy clients, two appear at once. The timing seems more than coincidence.
There have been other similar examples.
I am reminded of the Buddhist idea that when one lives by one’s vow all the Bodhisattvas comes to one’s aid.
I suppose that comes to mind because I am fighting to resist “Everything happens for a (good) reason”. There must be something one can do, the self-power part of me says. I wonder if that’s true anymore?
Perhaps everything is in the hands of Amida. Namo Amida Bu. Namo Amida Bu.
Part of me is trying to find a middle way between these two extremes. When I practice in the morning, chanting, prostrations and so on, I do feel differently during the day than if I don’t. And yet – surely it’s Amida that brings me to practice...
Someone has posted a quote from Ty Unno on the front page of Friends of Amida. I think it’s from a recent interview he did for Tricycle magazine. It encapsulates what I am trying to get to. Another coincidence?
...we can never surrender ourselves. Resistance comes from the deepest center of our karmic selves... [nonetheless] the surrender takes place by virtue of true compassion. This is “other-power” working through “self-power.” But this requires a tremendous struggle. As long as I think I can do it myself, it’s not going to work
~ Ty Unno
