Like the Silversmith….

In the Jewish tradition, the last of the minor prophets to appear in the Hebrew Bible is attributed to the prophet Malachi. There is some academic debate regarding the actual author of the text, but the name of the book is believed to be an abbreviation of the Hebrew, “Mál’akhîyah“, which means “the Messenger of YHVH”.

It is a text, written in Jerusalem, that dates almost 450 years before the Common Era, and is largely focused on religious abuses in the Temple system. And although it is obviously written from a theistic perspective, which I do not embrace, I find one particular passage to be beautifully crafted imagery and metaphor, that I wanted to share.

The passage, which can be found in the third chapter, says that the Divine Essence “will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver”. (cf: Malachi 3.3)

When I read that, it seemed a perfect metaphor for what our true nature, which we refer to as the “Buddha nature” or “Christ consciousness”, but which is Pure Love & Light.

Imagine that this indwelling Essence, which is the core of your being, sitting as a silversmith, as you practice the dharma.

When a silversmith refines a piece of raw silver, he or she will hold that piece of silver over a fire — right in the centre of that fire, where it is hottest — so that it heats up. This purifies the silver.

Now there is an old story about a silversmith, who explained the process of refining silver to a woman, who was trying to learn what that process in Malachi meant. She saw that he sat there for a long time, never taking his eye off the silver in that fire. He explained that if he left the silver even a moment longer than necessary, the silver would be destroyed.

As the woman watched, she asked, “Well, how then do you know when the silver has been fully refined?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he told her, “when I see my image in it.”

There will be times in our lives when we feel like that piece of silver, held over the flames of suffering. But the practice of mindfulness enables us to remove ourselves from that place of suffering, and become the silversmith, watching the causes and conditions to which we have been attached, burn away.

And when we can see our reflection — the reflection of the Buddha, the reflection of the Christ, the reflection of the Goddess or the Great Spirit… we know it is time to pull that silver from the fire, allow it to cool in the waters of meditation, and begin to be polished with the salve of compassion and the cloth of service.

Barbara Ann Kipfer once said, “Happy endings are never reliable… happy nows are.” My challenge for each of us today is to consciously try to stay in the moment, gently aware that every abrasive, hot or painful moment is refining us. Only by trying to avoid the fire of karmic resolution will we continue to suffer. When we embrace each experience as it arises, and move through the pain, we emerge on the other side of that pain bright and shining, the seed of Enlightenment having taken root in the fertile soil of our hearts.

Be gentle with yourselves, and know that you are appreciated and loved.

- khenpo gurudas sunyatananda

_____________________________________________

Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Khenpo Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at:http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2011, Khenpo Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.”