Tabling
One of the nice things about living in a a small community like Sedona is that you get to do things that bring you in contact with others, most of them unknown before an encounter like the one this past weekend when tabling in front of the local whole foods grocery store.
For those who don't know (I didn't; I came here from Washington, DC via Denver and we didn't do this there), "tabling" is just what you think it would be: sitting at a table in some high foot-traffic area, with your items of interest on display, with the express purpose of making connections.
We were tabling this past weekend to give people an opportunity to make a personal connection with the Stupa and Jetsunma through offering prayer flags. Individuals sponsored a flag for $5 and wrote their own personal aspiration in the margins of the flag. In "spiritual" Sedona this was a hit! Approximately 1 in 20 passersby stopped at our table and about 25 people sponsored a flag while several others purchased a roll of flags. The prayers that they wrote were interesting: many for relationships to be strong; several for healing for loved ones; almost everyone with kids and grand kids put down the names of the next generations praying for their happiness and health.
This activity on the one hand seems very simple: put down $5 and write a nice prayer. At a more profound, or maybe less materialistic level, its more complicated than that. Jetsunma has given us some direction on how to turn the ordinary into extraordinary kindness. For example, on the flag that I sponsored I was motivated to write a simple prayer for young adults. I had run into a young adult with whom I used to work who was fired because he was still half in the adolescent world of "rebellion" and half in the adult world of "responsibility" (this is too simple of a dichotomy, but it works for this purpose). The prayer ended up being for this person specifically and all young adults for their happiness and a successful transition to adulthood and its responsibilities.
This is the method that Jetsunma teaches: take the concern and expand it somehow to include sentient beings. This generates merit which will result in Buddhahood. It seems so simple, yet we generally don't spend the day generating this type of merit. I have to say honestly that throughout the day I forget it and then remember it, then forget it again, then remember... etc.
The tabling this past weekend gave many people the opportunity to generate merit and to connect to the purity of the dharma. Once again, as with our 24-hour prayer vigil and the various projects we have undertaken (visit www.tara.org for more information), Jetsunma is providing the means as well as the opportunity for our liberation. How remarkable!
By this effort may all sentient beings be free of suffering.
For those who don't know (I didn't; I came here from Washington, DC via Denver and we didn't do this there), "tabling" is just what you think it would be: sitting at a table in some high foot-traffic area, with your items of interest on display, with the express purpose of making connections.
We were tabling this past weekend to give people an opportunity to make a personal connection with the Stupa and Jetsunma through offering prayer flags. Individuals sponsored a flag for $5 and wrote their own personal aspiration in the margins of the flag. In "spiritual" Sedona this was a hit! Approximately 1 in 20 passersby stopped at our table and about 25 people sponsored a flag while several others purchased a roll of flags. The prayers that they wrote were interesting: many for relationships to be strong; several for healing for loved ones; almost everyone with kids and grand kids put down the names of the next generations praying for their happiness and health.
This activity on the one hand seems very simple: put down $5 and write a nice prayer. At a more profound, or maybe less materialistic level, its more complicated than that. Jetsunma has given us some direction on how to turn the ordinary into extraordinary kindness. For example, on the flag that I sponsored I was motivated to write a simple prayer for young adults. I had run into a young adult with whom I used to work who was fired because he was still half in the adolescent world of "rebellion" and half in the adult world of "responsibility" (this is too simple of a dichotomy, but it works for this purpose). The prayer ended up being for this person specifically and all young adults for their happiness and a successful transition to adulthood and its responsibilities.
This is the method that Jetsunma teaches: take the concern and expand it somehow to include sentient beings. This generates merit which will result in Buddhahood. It seems so simple, yet we generally don't spend the day generating this type of merit. I have to say honestly that throughout the day I forget it and then remember it, then forget it again, then remember... etc.
The tabling this past weekend gave many people the opportunity to generate merit and to connect to the purity of the dharma. Once again, as with our 24-hour prayer vigil and the various projects we have undertaken (visit www.tara.org for more information), Jetsunma is providing the means as well as the opportunity for our liberation. How remarkable!
By this effort may all sentient beings be free of suffering.
posted by Gonpo Yeshe (David) Williams at 10:00 PM
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