Buddha-ful

I know that @paperbackwriter thinks I go overboard on the Taoism/Buddhism stuff, and probably sometimes rightly so. Regardless, it occurred to me this morning that most Buddha-like scene I ever observed involved a Lutheran minister. It went like this: because my daughter befriended the son of the minister at preschool, our family became social friends of theirs. The boy's father, Mike, was the minister at an old inner-city Lutheran church; in it's heyday it had been a well-attended, well-established, well-sustained smaller church, but the 1960's came and so did the exodus to the suburbs. What remained was a nice old brick building, with a shrinking congregation made up of older people who had grown up in the city and continued attending the church despite having moved away, and some members of the local population, some of whom had mental issues and all of whom had money issues. And there were a couple others, like my family, who came because, well, just because. I even became a member of the church board.

Anyway, as time went on I drifted away from that church, from Mike, and from Christianity in general. Later I ran into some serious interpersonal issues, and felt the need to talk with someone who I could trust and who I thought would have something meaningful to say. I thought of Mike, but I was reluctant to go to him, because I had in essence abandoned him and his mission.

One summer morning I drove over to the church, and noticed they had planted a few small trees outside. As I sat in my car, trying to decide whether to go in, the door opened and Mike came out. He didn't see me, but went around watering the trees. As he did so, totally absorbed in his task, he wore the most beatific smile, and moved with such grace and ease that I could only think of the image of Buddha in which he radiates peace and tranquility. In that moment, so was Mike, and somehow that comforted me.

I still wasn't ready to make the visit, so once he went inside I drove off. But I have never forgotten that moment and sometimes, when I try to meditate or even out of the blue, I see that totally content image and it gives me encouragement. I did go back a few days later and we did talk; it was of value, and I think he forgave me for leaving without saying goodbye, if he ever had resented it. But I never saw him again after that.

As the years have gone by I learned more of Mike's backstory (he died a couple years ago). He was adopted and had hard childhood, and later developed a problem with alcohol, so serious that he spent some time drying out in Hazelton. In other words, he was, like all of us, a flawed person, but he was someone with a good heart

I suppose a Christian might say that the image he presented was Christlike (after all he was a minister at his church), but somehow the Buddha seems more appropriate to me -- there was none of the saviour involved in what I saw, only that image of contentment. I didn't feel saved, only comforted without words. Then and now.