Morris Sullivan preaching, with Djalai Babazadeh, Kyle Belmont, Charlyn Bethell, and Guy Urban.
This time of year, we are often reminded that we receive many gifts in this life, and we have the opportunity to share our blessings with others. Let’s consider how gratitude and generosity are spiritual practices–gateways leading us toward awakening. We will also honor the first day of the Advent season.
Sensei Morris Doshin Sullivan is a Soto Zen priest and president of the leadership council for Bright Dawn Institute, a nonsectarian Buddhist seminary. He received dharma transmission in the Vietnamese Buddhist lineage. Morris is the spiritual head of a Buddhist organization in the Daytona Beach area, where he often spoke to several Central Florida UU congregations. He is a member of Zen Peacemakers International and the UU Buddhist Fellowship. Morris moved with his wife, Michelle Sullivan, PhD, to Watertown in late 2022, and joined First Parish about a year later. They now live in Wellesley with their dog, Diogenes (DeeDee). Morris leads the Monday meditation group, serves on the worship committee, and plays steel guitar in the First Parish Band.
Reading: “Gratitude Disappears in the Shadow of Entitlement,” from the book, Tunneling for Sunlight, by Gregg Kreech. Edited for length.
Whenever you believe you are entitled to something, you are placing it in a shadow. It’s like being given a beautiful rosebush and then planting it in the darkest spot in the forest, where it gets no sun. What will happen? Well, gradually, it will die. The more we think we deserve something, the more difficult it is to appreciate it as a gift…
…But suppose I start from a different place—a place where I’m not entitled to anything, where I don’t deserve anything. I’m not entitled to coffee or to drive a car. I don’t deserve a nice dinner on my birthday…a Wi-Fi signal or cell phone service. Suppose you could start your day with a sense that you were entitled to nothing. Everything, at that point, would truly be received and experienced as a gift…hot water in the shower, a toothbrush, the use of a telephone and the roads that allow you to drive to work—each of these is like a rosebush planted in a sunny garden. Pretty soon, the whole garden is full of roses.