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Category: Gill Washington

  • Perception

    Thich Nhat Hanh
    Thich Nhat Hanh

    Thich Nhat Hanh spoke of perceptions when I went to listen to him in London on my birthday in October 2000, and what he had to say has stuck with me all of these years. He said that we see everything through our perceptions, and they are nearly always wrong.  This was brought home to me again  when reading Byron Katie’s work. The first question she says to ask about anything we are facing is ‘is that true?’ It is amazing how many thoughts can float through our minds each day, and when the question ‘is that true?’ is asked, the answer is ‘no’.

    ~ gill

    The following is from The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
    by Thich Nhat Hanh

    Our perceptions are conditioned by the many afflictions that are present in us: ignorance, craving, hatred, anger, jealousy, fear, habit energies, etc. We perceive phenomena on the basis of our lack of insight into the nature of impermanence and interbeing. Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and deep looking, we can discover the errors of our perceptions and free ourselves from fear and clinging. All suffering is born from wrong perceptions. Understanding, the fruit of meditation, can dissolve our wrong perceptions and liberate us. We have to be alert always and never seek refuge in our perceptions.

     

  • Knowledge and Wisdom

    There is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.
    Accumulating facts and ideas and so on is knowledge.
    Understanding this knowledge is wisdom, and is totally
    unrelated to whether someone has a lot of book learned
    knowledge or a little. It is as mistaken to assume a scholar
    could not have realized as it is to believe a ‘dullard’
    as in the Joseph Goldstein story, or someone like Hastamalaka
    could not have realized. Each have their own
    advantages and disadvantages along the way, their own
    salvation to diligently work out.

    The ‘unlearning’ that people like Idries Shah talk about
    does not mean to become an intellectual jelly, with mush
    for brains. He was rather intelligent himself, and very
    learned. As was Rumi, and Hafiz and many others. The
    challenge for those blessed with intelligence is to utilize
    it in a way which helps and not hinders spiritual realization,
    to let go of the idea that intelligence will necessarily help
    them, or makes them superior. But nor is it wise to look down
    on the learned and intelligent and judge them as having only
    accumulated useless knowledge. Hafiz himself could recite
    the entire Qur’an, and we really are way off when we find
    ourselves judging the spiritual state of others.

    Something else to ponder on this topic: if there were not
    people who devoted their lives to learning, to accumulating
    knowledge, we would not have the Bible, the Qu’ran,
    the Buddhist scriptures and may other spiritual works. We
    would know nothing of the life of Jesus or the Prophet or
    Buddha, as these were all memorized by scholars and
    written down at a much later time, often hundreds of years
    later.
    I leave you with the idea that if we are feeling superior
    about something, such as judging for ourselves that if
    someone is knowledgeable they are per se unrealized, we may
    like to open our minds a little, and allow for another
    possibility. We could at least suspend judgement, as
    judging others is usually a much less fruitful use of
    our time than our own practice can be in helping us to
    see we are off. And when we do this we are no different
    to the intelligent brothers who dismiss the dullard in the
    Goldstein story – just doing the same thing in reverse.

    With much metta to those who are intelligent, those who
    are not, those who are learned, those who are not, and
    those who see no difference between the two and those
    who do!

    Gill Washington

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  • True Wealth

    With Love, did you ever notice the more you give
    the more you get? Jesus fed five thousand with
    a few fish and a bit of bread. There is no lack of
    abundance and true wealth grows the more it is
    shared.

    Gill Washington

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  • As You Find

    Take everyone as you find them. Do not make your mind
    up about them based on what other people tell you about
    them, and most especially not on what they tell you about
    themselves. Both are almost invariably skewed. People
    have their own prejudices against and biases toward others,
    and have their own hang ups or high opinions about themselves.
    And when entering a conversation with others, in a public
    setting, leave all personal bias, such as friendships, out
    of the equation as far as possible, as that leads to a more
    unbiased seeing of what actually is. Not an easy task, I
    know.

    ~ Gill Washington

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  • Where am I?

    A while back I travelled down to London by rail to meet
    up with a friend. When I left the train, I decided to
    pay a visit to the ladies. On coming out of the cubicle,
    I went over to wash my hands, and glanced casually up
    into the mirror. I wasn’t there!! The washbasins and the
    cubicles were reflected, but not gill!!!

    I stood there for what seemed like an age but must have
    been just a few moments. “Where am I?” “Well, I must have
    really disappeared now, but I didn’t realise you became
    invisible!”

    Just then, I watched in the mirror as a lady emerged from
    one of the cubicles. I turned around to look behind me, but
    she wasn’t there! I looked back, and then it suddenly clicked.
    There wasn’t actually a mirror. It was a washroom where each
    side was a mirror image of the other, and the double row of
    washbasins didn’t have a mirror above them, and the lady had
    been in one of the opposite cubicles. hahaha. I still laugh
    when I think about it. 

    Gill Washington

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  • The Written Word

    Words may be just words, or they may evoke
    experiences, memories, responses, reactions,
    feelings, emotions and more. Those written
    words may help us clear out a lot of garbage,
    especially when we can see that all of the
    traditions are saying much the same.

    Perhaps what we get from the written word is
    what we are ready to get from it. Perhaps if
    we are looking to get something, we won’t get
    anything. Perhaps if we are open to Truth we can
    see it in a child’s ABC book, a person’s face, a
    master’s eyes, or the smile of a homeless person.And
    if we are not ready, no master can transmit
    anything. And if we are ready, is a  master even
    needed? (“There are more questions than answers,
    and the more I find out the less I know…” )

    We may not be able to write Truth down, it does
    not mean someone cannot realise it by reading
    a book, or undertaking any other activity.

    ~ Gill Washington