Bodhi-Kombi

I went to visit my first Guru the other day.
He was still doing well. As usual he said very little, but spoke volumes in his silence. He always had a way of making me find the answers to my lofty questions on my own. I remember wanting to take a long trip. I packed and saved my money, and planned my route and imagined all that I would experience. My Guru had other plans. Just far enough from home that I couldn’t easily get back, he stopped my trip, made me give away all my money, taught me how to enjoy making friends, the value of getting lost, the wonder of sleeping in the middle of nowhere. And most of all he taught me that when I think I need to explore the world the best place to start is close to home.
Within that same year I learned what home is. I had a roof, I had a stove, and I had a place to sleep that was out of the weather. Home was where I was comfortable, and comfort too became very different when he challenged what I knew about it. I loved the lessons my Guru taught on me about love. I remember him just sitting there, the sun baking down beside the busy interstate. His heart had given out, he was leaking. And though I had very little money, I begged and borrowed to get him somewhere safe where he and I could live together until I learned to heal his damaged body. Love, he taught me, IS a state of being. Many of us choose to live with love as though it is a passing feeling like fright and joy. No. I learned that living in love means that you love everything; the good, the bad, the healthy and the harmful because it is all interwoven in how we measure this life.
SO I love that I was homeless, because I found friends. I love that I was crippled and in pain because I found I was strong. I love that I was broke, because I learned a to be self sufficient. And I love that my old friend was so unreliable, because it taught me to enjoy life’s surprises.
My Guru lives with a young family now. He is well cared for in his old age, they have rewarded his service to his past students with a refurbished body and interior. He looks great.
When I mentioned how glad I was to see him so well cared for. My young friends said, “Ya, we fixed him up so that we could take a trip.”
“It’ll be awesome” I said.

All praise Bodi-kombi, svaha Bodi-kambi svaha