Albert Einstein: "There are two ways to live your life..." And then a kingfisher perched on a post by the window - a miracle. Photo / Getty images
Albert Einstein: "There are two ways to live your life..." And then a kingfisher perched on a post by the window - a miracle. Photo / Getty images
One feels, writing a regular column, that you should have some wise words to say at a time like this. But then I doubt that my words could possibly hit the mark. I'm just bumbling through life and lockdowns like everyone else.
Maybe not my words then. Instead, I couldoffer wise words from other people, more esteemed figures from the past. As the dead always seem wiser than the living.
On my desk, since I bought it for a dollar at the Tikipunga Markets, has been sitting a small, beaten-up black book titled "The Essence of Zen". It's one of those books of quotations you buy on a whim and then ignore after flicking through once.
Might it, though, offer anything now that could help with lockdown anxiety and fear of a dangerous virus?
The first quote to stand out is by a Chinese scholar from the 16th century, Huanchu Daoren: "Calm in quietude is not real calm. When you can be calm in the midst of activity, this is the true state of nature."
This quote immediately reminds me of the Prime Minister's assured performances announcing the lockdown and updating us the following days. It's her calmness in a pressure situation that allows her empathetic nature to shine through.
Something for us all to recall when we're feeling the urge to frustration standing in line at the supermarket.
Another quote that appealed because it pokes fun at being eternally busy was by 9th century Japanese Zen master Lin-Chi. Leonard Cohen was a big fan.
Lin-Chi says: "There is no place in Buddhism for using effort. Just be ordinary and nothing special. Relieve your bowels, pass water, put on your clothes and eat your food. When you're tired, go and lie down. Ignorant people will laugh at me, but the wise will understand."
Being stuck at home is a chance to do not much, which many of us struggle to achieve in normal times. So don't feel guilty doing less. Embracing it, says Lin-Chi, is the Buddhist way.
Not usually known as a Zen master, Albert Einstein pops up further into the book and offers this pearl: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
After writing this down, I looked up and saw out the window a kingfisher perched on a post. The bird's shimmering blue wings, head and back were lit by the golden light from the setting sun. A miracle indeed. There'll be one out your window now.
Because I'm a practitioner of the Zen art of doing dishes (no dishwasher in our house), I like this pithy quote by Buddhist teacher Robert Allen: "Washing dishes is not only a Zen exercise, but you get the dishes clean too."
There's lots of time for mindful cleaning and tidying during a lockdown.
The book is a little man-heavy, but there are also wise morsels proffered by women. Like these words from Anne Morrow Lindbergh (famous early aviator and later writer): "Arranging a bowl of flowers in the morning can give a sense of quiet to a crowded day—like writing a poem or saying a prayer. What matters is that one be for a time, inwardly attentive."
I like this suggestion and will endeavour to pick flowers for a vase every morning during lockdown.
"Anyone's partner or spouse who's getting too fidgety or grumpy. Give them the option of picking and arranging flowers or writing a poem to start the day. A bit of reflective time couldn't hurt."
Covid is terrible, let's not forget. And lockdowns can be disrupting and financially stressful. However, this quote from Danish author Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) remains true: "I think difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way, and that so many things one goes around worrying about are of no importance whatever."
At the heart of the Buddhist tradition as it developed in Japan are enigmatic sayings that puzzle and tease us, yet point us in a direction of thought that could be helpful.
To end, I'll let you ponder this one: "How can the drops of water know themselves to be a river?"
