A reflection on the Dharma of Liberty.
It's been 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. When I was a teacher 20 to 30 years ago, I would celebrate this holy day alone. I would backpack deep into the Allegheny National Forest, far from any humans, at my secret spot I named Dharma Point. There, I would mourn the failing of America's libertarian promise as citizens allowed government to become obscenely powerful, and I would read Jefferson's Declaration.
It is even worse now, with both major political parties worshipping Power and ignoring the sanctity of Individual Rights to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". As a student of history, I shouldn't be surprised. Independence must be earned.
I think of those annual retreats to Dharma Point and it gives me some serenity. The spot was off the trails and hidden. On a high ridge, it has a big rock upon which I built a fire circle, and there is a nearby spring with a perennial flow of cool water coming out from under a bolder. I could meditate there in sublime quiet.
The concept of "Independence" is close to that of Liberation or Emancipation, which reminds me the core lessons of Gotama the Wanderer.
Gotama (aka, the Buddha) was troubled in his youth by 3 Questions: 1. "What is the Delight of life?" 2. "What is the Tragedy of life?" And, 3. "What is the Emancipation of life?"
His hard-won answers:
"The happiness and joy arising from the conditions of life, that is the Delight of life."
"That life is impermanent, difficult (dukkha), and changing, that is the Tragedy of life."
"The removal and abandonment of Grasping for life, that is the Emancipation of life."
So, today, the Fourth of July, is a great time to declare independence from futile grasping to avoid life's difficulties. Embrace life and all that goes with it. I can't always get to such peaceful spots as Dharma Point, but I can try to find mental spaces that approximate it wherever I happen to be.
-Zenwind.
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