Dilemma of the Dharma (2): Time on my Side
Buddhism and dragon boating are old paddling partners, together on many championship teams. In fact, Buddhism introduced me to dragon boating. An intriguing welcome when, during a slide show of our Tibetan journey, the coach of Sinai Lightning invited me to try out.
At first I thought theirs to be a simple relationship. But years of paddling and meditating later, they've been the like 'odd couple,' their continuing discourse in my head. Their dialogues spill out at most inopportune moments, almost always during a race, with stage-sets fabricated from elaborate imagery dug out of my memory.
In that front-page Victoria newspaper photo of Sinai's finish you saw …while I appeared intent on paddling, at that moment the two compatriots conspired to slip me into trance, seating me cross-legged on a Tibetan carpet in a cave above Lake Manasarovar in Western Tibet. I knew this place, sat here years before. Instead of Sinai's drummer screaming, a Tibetan Buddhist monk, shaved head, maroon robes, questioning me: “Are you sure dragon boating isn't a hindrance to your practice?”
“What, again? How could a Tibetan monk know dragon boating? Hadn't I settled that dilemma in the DRAGONBOAT WORLD Summer 2003 issue?”
Claiming to be a Chinese dragonboater in a previous life, he exclaimed: “What about all that time dragon boating takes from your life? Figure the math - one-hour practice plus getting ready, half-hour bike rides each way, changing and unchanging, shower, dinner with the team. That's four hours, three times a week, plus weekend races, plus international flights to world competitions. All that time you could be meditating!”
“Excuse me, Venerable Teacher,” I replied in shock, “Dragon boating didn't take me away from meditating. I wasn't a monk. I didn't meditate all those hours before dragon boating. Besides, my teachers didn't recommend all that cushion-time for us.”
Paddling, meditating, how to resolve this. I sat and watched myself breathe. Inhale … exhale … wondering how watching the breath was any different from paddling … twist … reach … square in the air … pull that water.
“Who said it was different,” he replied, reading my mind, pointing with raised hand for more air time. “Paddling is really no different from breathing. There are different degrees of subtlety. What you watch is different - mind, breath, paddle - though the procedure is very much the same. In mindfulness of breathing meditation you focus and concentrate on the breath flowing in and out of your body, each part of your body responding, completely present and fully aware of movement and sound … stillness and quiet. The same for mindfulness of paddling meditation. No different. Completely focused, synchronized with the boat, with the water, with your team mates, your time in the boat is indeed well-spent.”
“Like preparing for meditation, look at time before practice as preparation for profound paddling; and time after as a reward with your team. Let go of everything else. Paddle to paddle, prepare to prepare, and take reward to take reward. Dragonboat time then becomes support, not hindrance, to your practice.”
Finishing their dialogue, they returned me to Victoria. We won that race, paddling to the Stones, singing: “Time…is on my side, yes it is...”
Perspective 2:2004 originally appeared in Dragon Boat World Magazine Spring 2004.
2:2004