January 16 – Crossing the flood
Dear Friends, Continuing with Kamala’s talk, “The Five Spiritual Faculties’ relationship to Equanimity,” and in particular her comments on the faculty of effort and energy. This effort and energy is balanced. Kamala shares an analogy from Sayadaw U Tejaniya: This is not like a 100-yard dash, it’s more like a marathon. Kamala describes the qualities as patient and persevering – a continuity of effort. Kamala shares a discourse that helped her with this continuity. It’s called Crossing the Flood. Kamala clarifies that “the flood” references this seemingly never-ending cycle of wanting this, not wanting that, not even seeing what we want or what we’re averse to. In this story, a luminous being from a spirit realm visits the Buddha and asks, “How, dear sir, did you cross the flood?” The Buddha replies, “By not halting, friend, and by not straining I crossed the flood.” Bhikkhu Bodhi’s commentary suggests that the…