metonymy4u

One of the most important moves that the Buddha introduced to human politics was to put suffering first. What this means is that many things are passed over. Accumulations, alliances, accountings, plots and positionings — all of these are placed lower on the priority list, below the effort to decrease suffering and increase safety and compassion. We learn to let go of the non-essential, the evanescent, the fleeting, and start to pay attention to the nature of the way things are through dis-stress and contentment. This may in time lead to actions that many find perplexing and confusing: we may let go of things, of needings, peoples, pleasures, and places. We may even learn to see life as something we got on loan, which is ultimately returned to the universe. You knew that I needed this life for a time, to give it my all and to decrease what suffering I could. But then you need it too at times, and I surrender it with love and hope for all your infinite blessings. For all the children that will be born today, for all the lovers who meet and start their journeys together, for all the peace treaties signed today, for all the songs sung and poems written, for all the dances danced and bells rung. For all the days that we orbit the universe and connect to the endless, the deathless, the birthless, the breathless and the one. For that, and more.