Shunryu Suzuki

A favorite excerpt from Meditations from the Mat, Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga written by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison:

“When my master and I were walking in the rain, he would say, ‘Do not walk so fast, the rain is everywhere.’ “
- Shunryu Suzuki, Page 241

Pain and grace are everywhere. When we come to recognize this and accept it, it is a shining day in understanding the universe. Yes, it is raining, but the moment we are in only lasts for a moment. The rain is neither good nor bad. It is wet. I hope that my understanding of this quote will permeate my spirit and enable me to be more accepting and less emotionally attached to upsets.
Hurrying or running from something does not make it go away. Sitting with our pain, we can examine it, experience it, allow it to be integrated and only then we can move forward. Running from pain is essentially running from growth.
I made a reference in my Touching Enlightenment post about riding on the back of a motorcycle through the rain and a monk that didn't speak English. Indeed it was raining that day and we had no other transportation for the four hour commute, other than that motorcycle. For that visit the monk spoke only Vietnamese and had I not been ready to accept the gifts of the present moment, I could have stomped through the mud and missed out on the beauty of the trees, the community, the rain, and especially the peace that was present in every breath.