Episode 54 – Good Dharmic Bread

My own teacher liked to use the analogy of making bread when talking about living traditions versus traditions that have become dead or static • watching a great master making bread could be so inspiring that you decide to take one of those loaves of bread, cast it in bronze, and put it in a place of honor in your house; but that would not have any real transformative value • you only enter a living tradition when you yourself are making the bread; that is when the spark or transmission from one generation to the next really happens • but you can’t just do it once; in order to have fresh bread, you need to bake it over and over again • bread is made from just a few simple ingredients; in terms of our meditation practice, we also require just a few simple ingredients: our body, emotions, heart, and mind • our dharmic bread may be a little strange at first; it may not rise properly, it may be burnt on the bottom, it may just look kind of odd • but by practicing over and over, we create something that is fresh and delicious and nourishing for ourselves and others.