I have just now finished up my first week here in Yangon, Myanmar. After we arrived, we went straight to a nonprofit humanitarian organization called the TaBarWa Center. The center includes many Buddhist yogis, elderly, sick, homeless, disabled, mentally ill, and helpless people. It is a center focused on having a community of volunteers doing good together. The center is also highly focused on the Buddhist practice of meditation and caring with a mindful understanding.
We stayed for 4 days and served in many ways. I especially loved helping with physiotherapy in the Rainbow Hospital right by the center. At the hospital, we also helped to bathe the patients, and sometimes we brought in music and encouraged them to move around, always bringing a smile to their faces! One of the coolest things we did was help the Buddhist monks collect their alms (or giving donations) in the morning by walking around neighborhoods for about two hours barefoot. The monks were all lined up and we followed them carrying their donations. I was in charge of the chicken bucket! (see below)
My time at the center was incredible and one of my favorite places to serve on the trip so far! I absolutely loved learning more about the culture and religion in the area. I loved getting to know the international volunteers, getting to learn more about Buddhism, and try out meditation!
The reason why I titled this blog grasp is because this is something I grew to learn and really admire as part of the Buddhist faith. The word Upadana is the Buddhist concept of grasping or attaching. The Buddhist religion has “four noble truths” to the faith and their second noble truth is pretty remarkable. It states that suffering is caused by desire, attachment and grasping onto things.
I took a few meditation classes and during them I was reminded of Christ’s loving words to let go and stop grasping. I was reminded of the importance to just be with God. Just receive His love. Just be me and stop striving. And just be with pain. To not seek attachment or solution but just live with God.
During one meditation, I felt pain in my foot. I kept thinking about the pain but tried to stay still and quiet my mind. At the end, I shared that it was difficult to resist fixing my body position to be released from the pain. This clicked in my head. I think sometimes it is important to be with God and be with the pain. Let go of grasping a solution or a fix and surrender it to Him. Sometimes God is showing His love through pain. I have been rediscovering how God loves us. I have never seen pain as a form of love before, but now I wonder if perhaps it is. Christ went through an immense amount of suffering and I believe He has been showing me a different way to relate to His heart through not just joy but also pain. This meditation felt healthy. I was able to connect and learn from God. I was reminded to let go of things I cannot control and bring God into the pain in my life. I was reminded to stop grasping onto fleeting things of the world like pain, future plans, the pressure I put on myself and just be with God.
Psalm 144:3-4
Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow.
Untitled from genna dalence on Vimeo.
