Impermanence 101: Get Over It, Rick!

I knew it was coming. I was in the Spiritual Life Center board meeting when the plans to rearrange the courtyard were thoroughly discussed and approved. I even agreed that it was needed.

But I will always remember the shock I felt when I first walked into the courtyard and the Buddha and Tao sign — and the rocks — were gone. There was just brown dirt in the part of the courtyard near the entrance to the lobby, sanctuary, and restrooms.

A dear SLC volunteer assured me that the Buddha and the Tao sign were being moved near to the tree in the courtyard. A part of me thoroughly understood why we needed to improve the flow of people from the sanctuary and lobby to the courtyard. I mean, I see this need two times every Sunday! I also appreciate all of the hard work and planning that several SLC volunteers have put into this.

But if the truth be told... A part of me did NOT like it one little bit! The grown up inside of me had to say to the rest of me: “Rick, put on your big boy pants and go with the flow!”

But then a few hours after this I started journaling because I was so amazed by my reaction. I mean it is not like I have been a member of SLC since the last Ice Age. I have only been a part of SLC for about nine months.

Why was I so attached and set in my ways? What does our courtyard mean to me, and why does moving Buddha about 20 feet set off an emotional temper tantrum inside of me?

I came up with several reasons why the SLC courtyard means so much to me. First, it was in the courtyard during my tryout weekend that I first felt Spirit’s gentle nudge that perhaps Peg, Therese, Sphinx our cat, and I should come to SLC and Sacramento and not to Unity of “X.” I first really had a sense of Divine Order moving in that direction while standing next to our courtyard Buddha and Tao sign. I remember hearing the water flowing from the fountain in the background.

Second, I love the stories about the early Christian churches when “the Way” was an unstoppable counter-cultural force in the ancient world. This was before the Council of Nicaea sucked the life out of the churches.

Back then, after the Sunday services, which were often held in people’s homes, they had a so-called “love feast.” These “love-feasts” played a central role in building these early spiritual communities. At SLC our courtyard plays such a central role in our “love-feasts.”

So I asked myself: Does moving Buddha and the Tao sign 20 feet change any of this?

“Of course not,” I responded.

“Then get over it, and continue to examine why you so often don’t like change?” my Higher Self suggested.

But my Higher Self was not done: “Give yourself some credit for not flying off the handle and acting like a jerk over this.”

A story about that great Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, came to mind after all of the above. He was a young monk at the time, and he had a big question.

After Buddha was enlightened under the Bodhi tree and he became the Buddha, why did he have to continue doing all of his spiritual practices every day, Thich Nhat Hanh asked? After all, he was now the Buddha — the awake and enlightened one.

But then it dawned on Thich Nhat Hanh that impermanence was such a central teaching of the Buddha. He realized that even Buddhahood is impermanent unless the spiritual disciplines — the Eight Fold Noble Path — is/are practiced every day.

I doubt that Buddha would be perturbed by being moved by 20 feet in our courtyard. I wonder if Buddha had any need for big boy pants?

Looking forward to seeing you in the SLC courtyard.

Many blessings,

Rev. Rick