Pariyatti

Story 97 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . How long will it take to be enlightened? This is such a firstworld question. We want the truth and we want it now, to paraphrase Jim Morrison. There is no answer to that question, because it is the wrong question. And what’s more, enlightenment is not simply an answer, similar to the woman in Saks Fifth Avenue who asked how much the fur co...

Story 96 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . My teacher in India eventually attracted so many students that he began to appoint assistants to lead retreats on their own. I began assisting him in 1996 and soon was made a senior assistant teacher. I led ten-day retreats throughout Canada, the United States, England, Myanmar, and India. I especially enjoyed addressing the many issues my...

Story 95 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Doing non-doing is a long path and is not always straightforward. To understand what you need to do and why and how is relatively easy, and in this regard I hope this little book has been a help. However, old habit patterns, especially latent tendencies, are pernicious. You may continue to be sidetracked by their beguiling beckoning to rea...

Story 94 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . With the death of a loved one, a grieving period is important, as is understanding how the mind works and how doing nothing with clear comprehension does not eliminate the grief. Once again, grieving is a natural condition of the mind. It is neither good nor bad. Some may be tempted to put on a happy face to demonstrate the powers of medit...

Story 93 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . According to Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I think when people read this, they focus on the word “quiet” as the problematic one in the sentence. Echoing Pascal, quiet isn't the problem, it is the inability to accept the quiet that leads to the desperation. We don't need to change our environs as much as change...

Story 92 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In the center of Igatpuri village is a street market. Vendors sit at stalls and sell their produce. Because every vendor sits in the same location, everyone knows what they sell. So all they need announce is the price. They don’t try to out shout one another. They take turns. This creates a sort of chant, a back and forth. Except for the H...

Story 91 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . We needn't pause to figure out our next step in life. Life, real life, is there in the pause, in the quagmire of conflicting choices. We then choose one route and look for signs that this is the correct way to go. No doubt. “I have a good feeling about this” is more a sense of relief about finally choosing one route than a certainty that t...

Story 90 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Most everyone is possessed by their possessions. I know people who are owned by their pets. I know others who build heated garages for their prized automobiles. My aunt bequeathed me an old rocking chair to which she added the caveat that I never change its mauve covering. In those years, I moved almost every year and carried that rocker t...

Story 89 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I remember a Sayadaw (respected teacher) who lived in a remote monastery in upper Burma in the vicinity of Sagaing Hills. He was elderly and blind and very much loved. I visited him, excited to both meet a living legend and pay my respects. I was told to wait until he went for his evening walk when he would be with his attendant who could...

Story 88 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I volunteered with Mother Theresa at her Sisters of Charity palliative care hostel in Calcutta. My service was to help with the lunch meal as well as a certain undefined “nursing.” The hostel was smaller than I had expected and the number of volunteers fewer than I had hoped. I thought a larger cohort would allow me a few days to get my be...

Story 87 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Two more salient points about mettā . Mettā must be tempered by wisdom. There is a parable from India of a kind man who came upon a frog in the middle of a busy road. Concerned that the frog might be crushed under the wheels of a bullock cart and feeling uncomfortable leaving him to his fate, he gently picked him up and transferred him saf...

Story 86 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Mettā is a Pāli word meaning loving-kindness. As the mind deconditions, many positive mind states arise. The emergence of these so-called divine abodes had been held back by the continually self-reinforcing habitual patterns that you thought defined you.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2023 6 minutes 14 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your b...

Story 85 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In Maharashtra a few decades ago, my elderly meditation teacher was delivering his evening discourse when a deranged sādhu rushed at him from the back of the hall. The sādhu screamed incoherently and thrashed his arms about, ready to strike him. My teacher stopped his talk…and closed his eyes. He remained seated.... narrated by Ian McCrori...

Story 84 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In her book, Educated , about growing up in a survivalist Mormon family where school was not an option and daily manual labor a necessity, Tara Westover relates how she found herself standing on a rooftop in England during a windstorm.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 2023 3 minutes 43 seconds Listen to Streaming Audio Your browser does not sup...

Story 83 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Friendship. Where would we be without our friends? This is true for the homeless alcoholic who followed his friends’ lead, quit school, took to the road, lived high and free until he lost his health, his integrity, and the courage to turn his life around. And this is true for most of the titans of Silicon Valley who succeeded thanks to fri...

Story 82 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . An old proverb says that “as a man thinketh, so he is.” I’d like to alter this somewhat and proclaim that “as a man is conditioned, so he is.” Oft-repeated behaviors, beliefs, views, and thought patterns define who we seem to be. This we feel is carved in stone, because we feel comfortable with what is familiar.... narrated by Ian McCrorie...

Story 81 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . One time I chose to simply live in a small guesthouse on Gnat Agi Pagoda Road in Bahan Township in Burma. I would forego all travel. Across from my guesthouse was a tea shop from which I could watch all of Burma, past and present, pass by. Further down the road was a stitcher lady who would alter and repair my longyis. And behind her was a...

Story 80 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Matthew 21:22 promises us, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, ye shall receive.” Now I grant you that few people read the Bible these days, perhaps because they took Matthew too literally. But it doesn't matter, because today the good news of the Bible has been replaced by the Gospel according to Wellness. Pursuit of a good life has been...

Story 79 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Our cottage is on a small lake on the Canadian Shield. Our shoreline is very rocky, with large boulders deposited there as the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago. Amazingly this shoreline provides sufficient sustenance for trees to grow and, in their own way, thrive. They protrude out perpendicularly from crevices between the rocks before...

Story 78 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . One summer I drove a truck for an oil company. Two of us installed the oil tanks for furnaces in the basement of houses. It was dirty work. The basements were often unheated. They were seldom clean. One day, it was particularly cold and rainy. We entered through the back door into the kitchen. On my way to the basement stairs I came upon t...

Story 77 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Doing non-doing deconditions the mind so that a happy life, defined by the Stoics as true, virtuous, and natural, arises like a phoenix from the ashes of the conditioned mind. Since the real shift is within you, your new life may retain all the appearances of your old life. After all, the difference, they say, between heaven and hell is a...

Story 76 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . In Korea it is considered rude to speak immediately after someone else has just spoken. Korean culture demands a slight pause to indicate the listeners have fully digested and appreciated the input. It gives them pause for thought. This promotes civilized dialogue in which everyone’s view is respected. It also calms blind reactions to some...

Story 75 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . Years ago, when I would walk around my house late at night after everyone else was asleep, it felt like I had always lived there. I liked that it felt that way. As my oldest son said when he was three, “It feels as perfect as right.” I knew where the hardwood floors creaked, and I avoided those spots so I wouldn’t wake the baby who, like m...

Story 74 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I loved the water buffalo I encountered in India. Despite their girth and their horns, they were very gentle creatures. They calmly abided all and sundry afflictions, heat, mosquitoes, and monsoon rains without so much as a by-your-leave. Other than whisking away unwanted bitey things with their tails, they endured, and they did so ever so...

Story 73 from 'A Lifetime Doing Nothing' by Ian McCrorie . I loved to go fishing with my father, because he was a terrible fisherman. He never caught anything. I was fine with this. I didn't like to put a worm on the hook. I didn't like taking the hook out of the fish's mouth, and I certainly couldn't bash the head of the fish against the seat of the boat to kill it.... narrated by Ian McCrorie 20...