Listen to the Buddhist teachings, even if you must take time out from your daily business. To believe that you will listen when you have some spare time is shallow thinking. There is no tomorrow in listening to the teachings.
– Rennyo Shonin
I want to share a story and talk about how we can use narratives and storytelling in our daily Buddhist practice. First, let’s talk about narratives.
The events of our past get woven into the tapestry that tells our own personal story. This tapestry is how we share our story with others too. My story includes being a wife and mother, a survivor, an artist, and more. In a moment I’ll give an example of another narrative. But for now, it’s important to know narratives not only tell the story of where we have been but also guides our future. This narrative becomes the story that orients our lives. We also know how narratives can be self-fulfilling. So much so it’s become a powerful tool in modern day psychology, called narrative therapy. It goes without saying that stories can profoundly shape our lives in both a secular and spiritual setting.
Ready for another narrative story? We’ll begin the way all great stories do with once upon a time…
Once upon a time, there was a man named Jack Dawson. Jack would travel from place to work, working odd jobs, and making just enough money to get by. One day he finds himself strolling the deck of a luxury cruise ship after winning his ticket in a hand of poker. Rose, another passenger on the ship has her whole life planned out for her by her mother and it’s suffocating her. So much so that she thinks about jumping into the ocean to escape it all. This is where Rose and Jack meet and he talks her out of jumping into the icy water.
During the rest of their time on the ship, Jack paints a different future for Rose. He describes a new narrative for her to consider, one full of amazing adventures they could have together. All the places they would go and all the things they would do there. He shows her a different life. At first Rose is shocked and taken aback. These things are preposterous! And intriguing. Ultimately Rose finds herself with the difficult choice of deciding which path should she take – the life that is planned, a life of adventure, or no life at all. If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is the plot from the 1997 movie Titanic. As the movie comes to a close we see Rose again many, many years later. Rose looks back at old photos capturing the moments that tell the story of who she is. She created her own new narrative and then saw it come to life. She chose a life of adventure.
There’s no better time than New Years Eve to look at our narratives and reflect on how we see and talk ourselves. It’s also a good time to decide where our narrative will take us. Like Rose, we are the architects of our live and choose our narrative. Remember I said before narratives can be self-fulfilling, so write your narrative to embrace the “you” you want to be.
We might set our narrative as someone who listens to the Buddha’s teachings every day, allowing them to perfume our minds and become a part of us. But it all starts with what we do right now, each and every day. Rather than putting things off until tomorrow, we can set a daily intention to practice, to see our narrative come to life. Like the reading today says, “listen to the Buddhist teachings, even if you must take time out from your daily business…there is no tomorrow in listening to the teachings.” Where is your narrative going? How will you live a Buddhist life and what steps are you taking each day to get there?
Happy New Year Dharma Friends!
Namo Amida Butsu
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