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| Pidän tämän kirjan eleettömän kauniista kansista. |
No escape - No problem
"When the resistance is gone, so are the demons"
Tämä on jo toinen Pema Chödrönin kirja, jonka luen. Tilasin molemmat samaan aikaan Amazonesta, ja luin ne melko tiiviissä tahdissa, kuitenkin pienen välihengähdyksen kanssa. Näissä kun on sen verran paljon mietittävää, että putkeen niitä ei olisi jaksanut kahlata läpi. Pidin kuitenkin lukukokemuksestani jälleen kerran. Tiibetin buddhalainen Chödrön kirjoittaa lämpimästi ja elävästi siitä, miten elämään voi suhtautua rauhallisemmin, avoimemmin ja rohkeammin, ja miten kanssaihmiset voi kohdata lempeämmin.
Start where you are -kirjan (julk. 1994) lukeminen teki hyvää kahdella tasolla: Ensinnäkin viihdyin sen parissa, ja toiseksi uskon, että todella sain tästä jotain irti. Verrattuna viimeksi lukemaani The places that scare you -kirjaan Start where you are oli maanläheisempi. Jälkeenpäin ajatellen tämä olisikin kannattanut lukea ensin. Mutta no, joka tapauksessa molemmat kirjat olivat ehdottomasti perehtymisen arvoisia.
Edellisessä Chödrönin kirjaa käsittelevässä tekstissäni lainasin kohtia, jotka liikkuivat yleisellä tasolla. Tämän kirjan kohdalla haluan sen sijaan siteerata tarinaa, joka kertoo poikkeuksellisen rohkeasta miehestä. Kertomus on mukana kirjassa, koska Chödrön haluaa osoittaa, mitä tarkoittaa olla avaramielinen ja elää vailla ennakkoluuloja ja pelkoa:
There was a Native American man called Ishi, which in his language meant "person" or "human being".. Ishi lived in northern California at the beginning of the century. Everyone in his whole tribe had been methodically killed, hunted down like coyotes and wolves. Ishi was the only one left. He had lived alone for a long time. No one knew exactly why, but one day he just appeared in Oroville, California, at dawn. There stood this naked man. They quickly put some clothes on him and put him in jail, until the Bureau of Indian Affairs told them what to do with him. It was front-page news in the San Francisco newspapers, where an anthropologist named Alfred Kroeber read the story.
Here was an anthropologist's dream come true. This native person had been living in the wilds all his life and could reveal his tribe's way of life. Ishi was brought on the train down to San Francisco into a totally unknown world, where he lived - pretty happily, it appears - for the rest of his life. Ishi seemed to be fully awake. He was completely at home with himself and the world, even when it changed so dramatically almost overnight.
For instance, when they took him to San Francisco, he happily wore a suit and tie they gave to him, but he carried the shoes in his hand, because he still wanted to feel the earth with his feet. He had been living as a caveman might, always having to remain hidden for fear of being killed. But very soon after they arrived in the city they took him to a dinner party. He sat there unperturbed by this unfamiliar ritual, just observing, and then ate the way everybody else did. He was full of wonder, completely curious about everything, and seemingly not afraid or resentful, just totally open.
When Ishi was first taken to San Francisco, he went to the Orville train station and stood on the platform. When the train came in, without anyone really noticing, he simply walked away very quietly and stood behind a pillar. Then the others noticed and beckoned to him, and they all got to the train to San Francisco. Later, Ishi told Kroeber that for his whole life when he and the other members of his tribe had seen a train they had tought it was a demon that ate people, because of how it snaked along and bellowed smoke and fire. When Kroeber heard that, he was awestruck. He asked, "How did you have the courage to just get on the train if you tought it was a demon?" Then Ishi said, quite simply, "Well, my life has taught me to be more curious than afraid."
"..fresh way of looking when we're not caught in our hope and fear"
Edellisessä Chödrönin kirjaa käsittelevässä tekstissäni lainasin kohtia, jotka liikkuivat yleisellä tasolla. Tämän kirjan kohdalla haluan sen sijaan siteerata tarinaa, joka kertoo poikkeuksellisen rohkeasta miehestä. Kertomus on mukana kirjassa, koska Chödrön haluaa osoittaa, mitä tarkoittaa olla avaramielinen ja elää vailla ennakkoluuloja ja pelkoa:
There was a Native American man called Ishi, which in his language meant "person" or "human being".. Ishi lived in northern California at the beginning of the century. Everyone in his whole tribe had been methodically killed, hunted down like coyotes and wolves. Ishi was the only one left. He had lived alone for a long time. No one knew exactly why, but one day he just appeared in Oroville, California, at dawn. There stood this naked man. They quickly put some clothes on him and put him in jail, until the Bureau of Indian Affairs told them what to do with him. It was front-page news in the San Francisco newspapers, where an anthropologist named Alfred Kroeber read the story.
Here was an anthropologist's dream come true. This native person had been living in the wilds all his life and could reveal his tribe's way of life. Ishi was brought on the train down to San Francisco into a totally unknown world, where he lived - pretty happily, it appears - for the rest of his life. Ishi seemed to be fully awake. He was completely at home with himself and the world, even when it changed so dramatically almost overnight.
For instance, when they took him to San Francisco, he happily wore a suit and tie they gave to him, but he carried the shoes in his hand, because he still wanted to feel the earth with his feet. He had been living as a caveman might, always having to remain hidden for fear of being killed. But very soon after they arrived in the city they took him to a dinner party. He sat there unperturbed by this unfamiliar ritual, just observing, and then ate the way everybody else did. He was full of wonder, completely curious about everything, and seemingly not afraid or resentful, just totally open.
When Ishi was first taken to San Francisco, he went to the Orville train station and stood on the platform. When the train came in, without anyone really noticing, he simply walked away very quietly and stood behind a pillar. Then the others noticed and beckoned to him, and they all got to the train to San Francisco. Later, Ishi told Kroeber that for his whole life when he and the other members of his tribe had seen a train they had tought it was a demon that ate people, because of how it snaked along and bellowed smoke and fire. When Kroeber heard that, he was awestruck. He asked, "How did you have the courage to just get on the train if you tought it was a demon?" Then Ishi said, quite simply, "Well, my life has taught me to be more curious than afraid."
Amerikkalainen koomikko Jenna Marbles
ilmaisee tietämättään tällä "Why Girls Hate
Each Other" -videollaan erään buddhalaisen viisauden: me kaikki
olemme pohjimmiltaan samanlaisia: tunnemme kipua, kateellisuutta ja
yksinäisyyttä. Niinpä voisimme yhtä hyvin ottaa rennommin, ja
olemme pohjimmiltaan samanlaisia: tunnemme kipua, kateellisuutta ja
yksinäisyyttä. Niinpä voisimme yhtä hyvin ottaa rennommin, ja
unohtaa turhan kyräilyn. Suhtautua lämpimämmin
ja ymmärtäväisemmin toisiimme.
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