Do we listen?
Did you know that shingles were roof tiles?
Did you also know that shingles is a viral, very painful blistering skin and nerve rash?
A man went to the doctor.
The nurse asked him what he had.
Shingles, he said.
She asked him to sit and wait for the doctor.
After twenty minutes another nurse put him in the examination room, took his blood pressure and a sample of blood.
After another twenty minutes another nurse told him to take his clothes off, put on a gown and wait for the doctor.
Shingles is serious, she said.
After a short wait the doctor came in, lifted the mans gown and asked where are the shingles?
In the truck outside and where do you want them, he said.
Maybe we just don't listen!
Maybe we don't care!
Of course it's the way we express ourselves that others understand, or not, what we meant or want.
When it comes to our family, our children, our friends,
we mostly don't listen.
We are only interested in what we are going to say next.
We don't hear the suffering,
the real cause of the suffering.
The Buddha was very specific when he wanted to be heard and understood.
The Buddha said "what comes from the mouth is what it is."
The Buddha's teaching was about suffering and how to get rid of suffering.
We know we cause our own suffering and pass this on to all in our circle.
This Xmas let us give our family, our children, our friends a special present.
The present of listening.
Listening to their suffering and maybe, just maybe, we can help them to choose not to suffer.
With Metta
Nathan
Sent from my iPhone and
http://www.dharmamaster.com
With love
