Always News Goin' On! — The Middle Way Initiative

These days, people often talk about their addiction to their smart phones, and their continuous need to check the internet to try to make sense of the weirdness we often call “the news.” I sometimes experience it as an act of rebellion against my susceptibility to excitement and despair, when I go up into my shrine room and close the door behind me. It turns out, there is a lot of subtle, riveting, and profound news going on all the time.

Yes, I “retreat” to my shrine room. But meditation practice is not really a retreat from the world for me. When I walk into my shrine room it marks my willingness to enjoy the unceasing creativity of mind and its world - which arise together and cannot be separated. There is really not an “in” or an “out” in meditation. Great Buddhists Masters, such as Arya Nagarjuna, have given powerful teachings on the interdependence of mind and its world. Nagarjuna points out that we are neither the same nor are we separate from the world we encounter. We “inter-are,” as Thich Nhat Hanh calls it. “Are” here is active - mind and its world are in the act of creation at all times.

The Buddha taught that the Middle Way is not about disengaging from the sensory world, nor is it about chasing after it. Instead, it requires a shift into alignment with the unceasing creativity that occurs without our trying to manipulate it. A case in point: My shrine room window looks out onto a vast valley. My view is mostly sky, so when something shows up in that space, I can’t ignore it. Sometimes the wind blows some dirt that sticks to the glass, which is a bummer because it’s hard to clean from the outside. In the last month, a fairly large Orb-Weaver spider wove its magical net into upper left corner of my window.

Orb-Weaver spiders build spiral wheel-shaped webs, hence the name we assign them. First they construct a framework of non-sticky silk and then the spider adds a final spiral of thread covered in sticky droplets. The building of an Orb-woven web is an engineering feat. The spider floats a line on the wind to another surface. Then it secures the line and drops another thread from the center, making a “Y" shape. The rest of the scaffolding follows with many radii of non-sticky silk constructed before a final spiral of sticky capture silk. I have been watching all this.

A few days ago, my little friend (I call him Roy, after Roy Orbison), lost his prized moth wing. It’s hard to imagine how it shook loose from those sticky threads, but I saw it fall. The spider rappelled down two stories, in his attempt (I am guessing) to retrieve it. He ascended, “empty handed.” Then he took down the old web in a manner of seconds (not sure how), and immediately began constructing a new one.

People often say that when they get quiet they develop a special affection for the world around them - they begin to notice the magic, even in small things. To see my little Roy each day and to witness his struggles, touches my heart and mind. I watch his will to survive and the vulnerable state he is in. Yes, he is a predator, but he is also prey. And would be a juicy little morsel for a bird - a sitting target - utterly exposed. At times, there are moments of grace, when even during a windstorm that pulls his elastic web wildly in all directions, he abides without movement at the center of his mandala with complete patience and equanimity. He reminds me of what it means to sit in equipoise, and I join him.

This is spider news, but it also informs me. Yes, I feel a need to watch the news on the internet, to at least try to make out what is going on in the world. At the same time, there is news goin’ on all the time and just being with it can reveal to us what we need to know.

A Prayer for All Fragile Things
Elizabeth Mattis Namgyel

May all fragile things be protected.

May delicate insects and plants find refuge from destructive forces and be nourished with supportive elements.

May living beings on the edge of extinction thrive and find safe and hospitable refuges.

May the wisdom-holders of indigenous cultures be protected and may their wisdom lineages flourish.

May all children, the elderly, and the physically infirm, find loving and respectful caretakers.

When I look at anyone—regardless of their race, gender, color, religion, or belief systems—may I regard them with kindness and respect.

May I be the keeper of my sibling living beings and cherish and protect them in any way I can!