Day 8: Bodhi Day (Beautifully Different)

I knew that no matter what the Reverb10 prompt was for today, I was going to use it to describe my relationship to awakening, becoming a Bodhisattva (anyone who is motivated by compassion and seeks enlightenment not only for him/herself but also for everyone.) Today is Bodhi Day, the 8th day of the 12th Lunar month -- the day Buddhists believe that Prince Siddhartha Gotama experienced enlightenment and found the roots of suffering after sitting and meditating under a Bodhi tree 2500 years ago.

How does this relate to the prompt? Being Buddhist is certainly the primary way that I perceive myself as different. Not better or worse than others -- just different. Beautifully different is perhaps the best possible term I can think of. All those working years I was hesitant to declare myself Buddhist, especially surrounded by rabid Catholics. Not quiet, reverent, Compassionate Catholics, but RABID, opionated ones where I worked. Now, writing at home, free from government shackles and self-censorship, I can blurt it out. I've considered myself Buddhist since 17, and officially so (taking the vows) in 1990, twenty years ago. Even tho I call myself ZenWoman and Bodhi day is primarily a Zen observance, I follow the Tibetan Vajrayana tradition, Kagyu lineage.

I am far from perfect. I make mistakes daily, still get angry even though I try hard not to, but as Pema Chodron tells us: "that's why we call it our Practice" not our Perfect Buddhism. I am practicing -- more than I used to. And that, dear reader, is what I feel makes me beautifully different. Namaste!