A proper cup of tea

Artist Pam Shaw, who has designed three of my book covers, sent me these wise words from Chogyam Trungpa:

Hold the sadness and pain of samsara and at the same time the power and vision of the Great Eastern Sun.  Then the warrior can make a proper cup of tea.

I looked up samsara and found this explanation by Jeff Wilson:

Saṃsāra in Buddhism is the "suffering-laden cycle of life, death, and rebirth, without beginning or end."

When I was in college, and fighting the unjust war in Vietnam, its horrors filled my days.  I read a poem once that asked how was it possible to enjoy a daisy with the war going on?  

In these times, I read of children snatched from their parents, the obscene concentration of wealth, the housing famine sweeping the world, and I ask how can I enjoy the 6" sunflowers I found at Whole Foods, which are now in my yard?

I have come to believe that this is my life quest, to let the joy of the sunflower be present for me, as much as I let the suffering of the world motivate me to fight for justice.  I don't know how to do this yet.  So every morning I practice.  While my tea is brewing, I go outside to get the newspaper.  I scan the headlines for the latest madness.  Then I look at the jolly 6" sunflowers, which make me laugh.  Today my tea was a little bitter.  I'll try again tomorrow.  

It's all good, as Bob Fullilove likes to say.  It's all good.