Everywhere Dhamma.

My teacher arrived back at his monastery one afternoon after visiting his other monastery in London. He came straight to the kitchen where I, as a monk, was making a cup of tea. His smile was enormous and he said immediately, "Paññadipa, I have just heard my whole philosophy in a song on the car radio." (He was searching for a news station and bumped into pop music.)
"Really," I said, "What was it?" "Don't worry, be happy," he replied

(Don't worry, be happy: Bobby McFerrin 1988)

Dhamma is everywhere. We don’t have to seek it out, we only have to open ourselves to the reality of life and look, there it is! We can spend years chasing ideas of enlightenment and liberation only to find that they were qualities we were carrying with us all the time. We didn’t see them because we were always looking into the distance, always looking for something special. Chasing the imagination and waiting for the big moment in meditation, or the bolt of lightning that would transform our lives forever!

However, the real masters speak of old age, sickness and death as the objects of our reflection. They speak of our ordinary lives as being the vehicle for our liberation. Once we step outside that, we are lost. Running after a series of misunderstandings about Dhamma that we have created in the mind.

Before we have children we cannot imagine what it is like to have children. Once we have our children, it’s just being a parent.

It’s everything, but nothing special. This is Dhamma.

Before we have understanding our life is just our ordinary life, when our heart is finally open our life is still our ordinary life.

It’s everything, but nothing special.

So we let go, and let go, and let go and allow the Dhamma to come to us.

It’s a little bit like those old 3D images we used to stare at. For a long time nothing, but the moment we relax, look, there it is!

May all beings be happy.