NOT DWELLING ON THE NONCONDITIONED
I am writing this from my flat in Vedado in La Habana, Cuba.
The life here seems almost ideal.
I woke up from a blissful sleep, to be greeted by warm messages on WhatsApp from friends.
I can listen to songs from Iran, most of them sounding nostalgic even though I do not understand the lyrics but I enjoy the music very much. It sets the stage for the day to come.
I have the book by Thich Nhat Hanh open on Mindfulness.
What does it mean, “not dwelling on the Nonconditioned”? (translated from the Chinese by Nhat Hanh)
He begins
The Bodhisattva contemplates the reality of Emptiness but does not take Emptiness as an object of attainment.
The mind wandered back in time. When we were Doctors in training, I used to discuss about the revolutionary movements around the world, wondering how as Doctors we could contribute to the welfare of the world.
With his normal Australian wit, one colleague quipped:
I am sure, when you become a revolutionary, you will demand your Cappuccino to be served?
When I became interested in International Medicine, everyone including professors used to say: it is for Christian missionaries!
You can practice something noble in reality but you do not have to make that your life’s objective or the peak of attainment.
The first country I truly got involved in International Medicine was Jamaica and the people I served were very poor and who lived in huts and house with corrugated iron roofs.. The idea of the international Medicine among my colleagues was such that they thought I lived with my patients in their homes. Wrong and romantic sort of an idea. In Jamaica I was feted and feasted and lived extremely well during my stays and got to know the island very well and enjoyed the stay.
At that time, I was also doing a certificate course in International Relations and I had some good teachers from whom I learned the intricacies of International Help, one of which was Elite to Elite to transfer. If you go to a poor country to work to volunteer, whether it is Jamaica or Namibia, the poor in those countries cannot help you, but the Elites of the country are glad to help and facilitate. In Jamaica, my clinic at a 250-year-old plantation was facilitated by the owners of the plantation who did it as a favour to workers past and present of the plantation. I was picked up and taken back to Kingston and a lovely lunch was provided and got to know the intricacies of life in a plantation. The drive there away from the main roads and through rugged and winding roads were of sheer beauty.
So, to enjoy non attachment or detachment in reality, one does not have to give up the realization of good things in life.
