All Comments on 'Washing Dishes with the Dali Lama'

on the first day of a new year. the nursery rhyme lilt to your piece very effectively underscores the "apparent" simplicity of the teaching.. but

there's more to it, than meets the I

Dali but is tgere an allusion to Salvador Dali here? Am puzzled : 5-ed .

That's an embarrassing typo, Ash. I know it's "Dalai" and should have noticed it before posting. Thanks for keeping me honest.

I really enjoyed this piece. Your rhyme & rhythm worked well to convey the message. Thanks for posting!

get perspective. water matters. fived, of course.

but a couple of lines jumped out, particularly "Don't posit/ theories that you can not answer." Surely, theories are a certain kind of question: if such-and-such is true, might not such-and-such be possible? If one knew the answer, why would one need to posit a theory?

If I understand your comment correctly, friday, that's precisely the point the Dalai Lama is making: there are some things one doesn't know the answer to. Why then be concerned about the question? Be mindful of the moment, whether work or play.

the Dalai Lama might just be talking out of his ass if he thinks one shouldn't question things one doesn't know: is the whole history of scientific and philosophic enquiry (the asking of questions about what was not understood) to be thrown away? I agree with Wittgenstein (up to a point) on the subject of metaphysics "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", but not of any other sphere of human enquiry. Forgive me for persisting, but it strikes me as pertinant.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this, friday. I stand by "don't posit theories you can not answer" as an effective way to suggest there are unknowns in the universe. Was I suggesting through his voice not to question anything? I don't think so. The message, if any, of the poem was finding meaning in mindfulness. Other readers, of course, if interested, will judge for themselves.

I like this part: "Wonder if you must, how the monkey mind is wasted.", I think it is central to explain what I think is the meaning of your poem. That is, that one should keep one's mind on what is at hand, rather than letting it wander wildly.

However, as a sentence it feels a bit strange; one could almost have read: "wonder, if you must, (about) how the monkey mind is wasted", which isn't really your intention with it (I think).