Sensei Morris Sullivan and Rev. Sophia Lyons leading worship, with Kyle Belmont, Charlyn Bethell, and Guy Urban!
As Unitarian Universalists we believe that there are a myriad ways to touch fingers with the Divine. This Sunday let’s look to the Buddhist tradition as we come together to celebrate the Buddha’s birthday, otherwise known as Vesak! We will reflect on Buddhist teachings that will help to open our hearts and fill us with spiritual peace, as well as partake in a beautiful communal ritual together. You are not going to want to miss this special worship service!
Reading: From “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” by Shoon-roo Suzuki
I went to Yosemite National Park, and I saw some huge waterfalls. The highest one there is 1,340 feet high, and from it the water comes down like a curtain thrown from the mountain. It does not seem to come down swiftly, as you might expect; it seems to come down very slowly because of the distance. And the water does not come down as one stream, but is separated into many tiny streams…
And I thought it must be a very difficult experience for each drop of water to come down from the top of such a high mountain. It takes time, you know, a long time for the water finally to reach the bottom of the waterfall. And it seems to me that our human life might be like this. We have many difficult experiences in our life. But at the same time, I thought, the water was not originally separated, but was one whole river. Only when it is separated does it have some difficulty in falling…
When the water returns to its original oneness with the river, it no longer has any individual feeling to it; it resumes its own nature… How very glad the water must be to come back to its original river!