School of Hard Knocks!

How being unaware taught me a lesson in Buddhism...

School of Hard Knocks!

The other day I went to Home Depot to get a thingie to fix a garden hose that sprang a leak. As I was leaving and walking through the parking lot the sun was low and I had my head down so my baseball cap shielded my eyes. I didn't see that big metal rail hanging out of the back of a pick up truck right at head level. I walked right into it and banged my face pretty good. Ouch! And #**$#@!

You know what I did? I immediately looked around to see if somebody saw me do this. Why? Because I still have attachment to my ego and a sense of self. I was embarrassed! That was more painful than my fat lip!

These are the little wake up calls that tell me I'm not enlightened yet. At least I noticed that right away and laughed at myself and thought well, there's more work to do. Why should I care what people think?

But, I did in that moment, and it made me realize how subtle the ego can be, and how it can work in the background even after years of meditation and study. I know I've made progress on this. There's a ton of things that don't bother me anymore about what people do. And I don't make up stories imagining what they think and beating myself up over that, like I used to.

Still, there's more work to do but I'm a bit grateful for the somewhat painful lesson I got at Home Depot.