Meditation Helps Us See the Beauty in Everyday Life

In May, I was asked to be the weekly guided meditation instructor for Lion’s Roar magazine for its online program. 

It was a wonderful experience, conducting a short, 30-minute guided meditation every Wednesday morning. It has inspired me to continue it for our BCA community and I recently began meditation sessions on Wednesdays in June.

For the Lion’s Roar weekly guided meditation, there were people from not only in various parts of the country, some were even joining in from outside of the United States. That is another reason why I would like to start this through the BCA, so that we can reach new people via a live, online event every week. Hopefully, it might introduce someone to a BCA church or temple close to them, or if there isn’t one, that maybe they might become a BCA individual member someday.  

At the weekly guided meditation, I intend to do various things besides sitting meditation. I will introduce sutra chanting, Nembutsu recitation and maybe even basic yoga that people could do just sitting in a chair. At every session, there will be a short message.  

First of all, we are not meditating to try to attain enlightenment like in other Buddhist traditions. We are simply sitting quietly to settle ourselves to listen to the Dharma. Because of our “monkey minds” in our modern, hectic lifestyle, it is hard to simply sit and listen. 

In a lecture by Professor Shigaraki, my Sensei in Japan, I heard this wonderful story that I often tell to explain the meaning of meditation in our daily lives. 

Once, the emperor of Japan petitioned two of the finest artists to create some kind of artwork in a special room of his palace. He assigned one wall to one artist, and the other adjoining wall to the second artist. He gave them months to do the work and he said that on a specific date and time at the end of those months, that their artwork would be unveiled to him.  

The first artist immediately began to sketch a nature scene that he intended to create on his wall. The second artist thought for a while and then began to sand his adjoining wall.  

Weeks passed and the first artist was proceeding well with the nature scene he was painting on his wall. The second artist was still sanding his wall.  

More time passed and the artists were at the halfway point toward the designated unveiling date. The first artist was right on schedule and was about halfway done with his beautiful nature scene. The second artist was still sanding. What is the emperor going to say if he sees an incomplete wall, others began to think. In those days, if you disappointed the emperor, that was it. You were toast.  

More time passed and the unveiling was just days away. The first artist was putting the finishing touches on his nature scene. The second artist was still sanding.  

The day arrived for the unveiling and at a specific time of the day, the emperor was brought to the room and they opened the doors. When they opened the doors, when the light entered the room, the beautiful nature scene by the artist on the first wall was brilliantly reflected onto the blank wall that the second artist had sanded. It was a breathtaking scene.  

Everyone was aghast at the beauty of the two walls together as a work of art. That was the second artist’s creation, to sand the wall to reflect the nature scene of the first wall.  

To me, meditation is like the “blank wall.” It reflects and brings out the beauty of our everyday life. Without meditation, our everyday life is just activity after activity. Fight traffic, rush to work, work hectically, drive again, fix dinner, take care of the kids, and then do it all over again the next day. Meditation gives us a little pause, a moment of reflection, that enables us to see the beauty in our everyday life. 

I hope that the weekly guided meditation will help bring out the beauty of our everyday activities through meditation.