Listening Without Judgment

It is because we can listen without judgment, that we are all special.

While I was taking my daily walk one morning, a thought occurred to me. All of us humans have a special capability that no other entity on Earth possesses. We have the ability to listen without judgment. How wonderful!

When someone expresses suffering, they are free to express this suffering to inanimate objects. These objects will listen to the best of their abilities. The rock listens as a rock. The wall listens as a wall. Etc. However, as far as I know, one of these entities is capable of judgment. However, we humans are able to judge. This makes us special. What a great gift it is to have the ability to judge, but not use it, when listening to someone’s suffering!

Judgment is what casts us into hell. Here’s a story. I’ve heard multiple versions of it. A samurai comes to a Zen master asking whether heaven and hell are real. The Zen master insults the samurai. The samurai draws his sword, ready to kill the Zen master. The master says, “this is hell.” The samurai has a realization and sheathes his sword back. The master says, “this is heaven.” The samurai wasn’t listening without judgment, and thus he created hell.

“Very clever. So you are beyond judgment, then?”

Haha, as if. I know hell very well, for I dwell in it, just like Jijang Bosal.

“Who?”

Jijang Bosal is the Bodhisattva who helps the deceased who are in hell, but more broadly he is the Bodhisattva of transitions. He is the Bodhisattva with whom I have the greatest affinity. In Japan, he is known as Jizo Bosatsu, and in India, as Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva.

I’ve experienced a whole slew of transitions in my life. Between life and death. Between passing as straight, and expressing my pansexuality, and polyamorous nature. Between passing as neurotypical, and being autistic. Between being a man, but discovering that I’m nonbinary. Being single, then married, then divorced. It is no accident that Jijang is the Bodhisattva who I feel guides my steps through life.

And now he guides me as I abide in hell, and listen to those who confide in me without judgment. I can do this even when the person talking to me is someone I adore, but is telling me hurtful things. This is both surprising, and amazing! I did not know I could do this, but my ex-partners have revealed this aspect of my being.

And thus now, Jijang Bosal asks me to use my personal suffering to help all those I encounter. I help them not with big flashy acts, but with small acts of kindness, and listening, without judgment.

I’m not a saint, but I try.

#AutisticWriters #Bodhisattva #heaven #hell #JijangBosal #listening #ListeningWithoutJudgment #suffering #transitions #YourAutisticLife

https://www.yourautisticlife.com/2024/07/09/listening-without-judgment/

Ngl, the Bodhisattva with whom I identify the most is Jijang Bosal. (Jizo Bosatsu in Japanese. Kshitigarbha in Sanskrit.)

You thought I was going to say Kwan Um (Kannon, Guan Yin, Avalokiteshvara), didn't ya? She gets all the press, but no, not her.

Jijang is the Bodhisattva of transitions and the underworld. How many times have I transitioned?

From straight to queer?

From monogamous to polyamorous?

From neurotypical to neurodivergent?

From man to nonbinary?

From alive to almost dead to alive again?

In every moment, a transition.

How many times am I called into hell to help someone?

#JijangBosal #transition #underworld #hell #life #death

I've just seen the episode of Extraordinary Attorney Woo that involves a visit to a temple. (I think the temple is still featured in the next episode, but I haven't seen this one yet.)

The Zen lineage I'm in actually comes from Korea. As I recall, the subtitles were talking about making homage to Kshitigarbha, but that's the Sanskrit name of the Bodhisattva called Jijang in Korean. He is the Bodhisattva of the underworld, death, and transitions.

I do feel an affinity for Jijang. Maybe because of my propensity to walk through hell for the benefit of my partners.  

Oh, Attorney Woo used the proper form for bowing during the ceremony.

#ExtraordinaryAttorneyWoo #Zen #Korea #JijangBosal

Willow

A daddy’s girl Buddhist funeral.

A lynx-point female Siamese cat
Willow was her assigned name
Truly, she was a daddy’s girl
She never learned claw control
When this girl showed her love
She’d put her paw on your arm
And immediately drew blood
Still, I let her do it. No fuss from me
Because she was my sweet girl

When I went to bed at night
She’d come and sit on my chest
I’d use both hands to caress her
And she would be in bliss, smiling
When she had enough, she settled down
And slept against me in the darkness
During the day, she’d groom me
Using her extremely rough tongue
It was difficult to bear at times
Still, I let her do it. No fuss from me
Because she was my sweet girl

Then one day she did not feel well
After many vet visits, a diagnosis
It was feline leukemia, a cancer
We tried one treatment, then the next
She was not improving, resisted her care
The fateful decision came one day
Enough was enough, for our furry girl
Our little girl purred for us no more
Except when she managed to drag herself
Into the shower of our master bathroom
To sit in the water there after we used it

We set an appointment for euthanasia
I scrambled to create a ceremony for her
To be performed at the appointed time
When the time was upon us, we cried
I opened the altar, recited the Metta Sutta
This sutta partially reads like this:
“As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.”

The veterinary euthanized our baby Willow
Fighting back the tears, I started chanting
My voice, booming in the room, invoked them
Kwan Se Um Bosal to shower compassion on her
“Namu Kwan Se Um Bosal”
Jijang Bosal to guide her in the hereafter
“Namu Jijang Bosal”
Sogamuni Bul to lead her to enlightenment
“Namu Sogamuni Bul”

I promise to carry you, dear baby Willow
Deep in my heart for as long as I can

Willow died a few years back. I no longer spend my days crying over her, like I did just after she died. However, this poem brought back emotions and I did cry while writing it. I do miss my girl.

The quote from the Metta Sutta is from:

“Karaniya Metta Sutta: Good Will” (Sn 1.8), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/snp.1.08.than.html .

#AutisticWriters #Buddhism #cats #funeral #JijangBosal #KwanSeUmBosal #MettaSutta #poem #SiameseCats #SogamuniBul #Willow #YourAutisticLife

https://www.yourautisticlife.com/2024/02/05/willow/