Buddhist priest Myoyu Tamaoki describes the world in terms hard to argue with. “Calm,” she says, “is elusive.” Disaster, ruin and upheaval, if not hitting you personally at any given moment, may strike the next, as a glance at news of them hyperactive elsewhere cannot fail to remind you. “Everyone,” Tamaoki says, “is on edge.”
The priesthood and her other profession — nursing — put her in the thick of things. She nursed her son, who suffers from acute allergies. She nursed her dying husband. Seeking spiritual enlightenment, she underwent religious training. Maybe we all should, in search of that elusive calm. For those not so inclined, Tamaoki, writing in this month’s edition of PHP magazine, suggests an easier path — a threefold path: “body, mouth, will.”
Supposing, she says by way of example, you want to lose weight. You put it into words: “I want to lose weight.” That’s easy. Willing it is more difficult: “I’ll go on a diet. I’ll exercise.” The body balks: “I don’t want to diet and exercise. I want to eat and loaf.”