Smoke Offering for Urban Dharma

Every smoke offering connects me to every place I have ever done a smoke offering, and consequently to every place I have ever practiced the Dharma. And so it's like a community of places, which for their diversity and strength put me in mind of what I strive for being apart of Urban Dharma. I am now reminded of Cabin Hill Dr., in the next second reminded of Ladakh, and then to the woods in PA--all these places and more, whether already saturated with the Dharma or almost completely bare of it, were important places to perform the ritual of smoke offering. It provides a connectivity that I have felt blessed to have.

Now after a late night, thinking about the newest e-mails from Urban Dharma and unable to sleep, I stood on my balcony (more like a ledge) in the already brilliant morning sun to do this offering, in this little part of Taiwan. Burning stuff for invisible beings is certainly not a foreign concept here; you will see most businesses on auspicious days burning paper spirit money in buckets, so that the entire atmosphere is filled with the smell of burning. But my little smoke offering feels quite different--perhaps for the reason I mentioned. I'm all in Asheville, Ladakh, Felton, Chiayi at the same time--how could it be comparable?

But last night I lay in doubt: was October too soon for me to help? How will I get my family to Asheville--and continue to support them? What if I can't do what is being called upon me to do? And so on. ("Veiling forces like mists that envelope mountain peaks and woodbine that overcomes treetops..." I kept hearing from different places and times.) How was I shocked that Urban Dharma was finally happening? Or had I become so comfortable with the idea of it all, being so far away?

In the end, it helped me to think about, again, how Urban Dharma was not something "out there." And it wouldn't be anything more or less than all of our individual parts put together. We have dreamed the final product so many times that it might be hard or confusing to imagine the first steps or to realize that there isn't some plan that someone has mapped out for us to follow. Only that we are being given an opportunity under this name that we all feel apart of, but don't know yet what it can really be. Well we are what it is, and if we do nothing then it will be nothing. I feel slightly embarrassed that I have to reveal my thought process in working out something so obvious.

But evolving from that thought process was something else I wanted to share--an idea, I guess. In this stage where everyone will be doing different parts to get Urban Dharma on its feet, its probably more important than ever to make a concerted effort to support the work that others are doing and to share the work that you are doing yourself--especially if you are needing help. It might feel like, as we're working on different parts, that we are singly responsible for Urban Dharma's success. But the more support we share to others, the more strength I think we'll have ourselves.

So in this attitude, I am tremendously proud and happy to hear of both Hun's good news from Malaysia with Shifu and Brian's work that has already begun--moving to Asheville, visiting TMC for teachings, and all the coordinating he will be doing as Urban Dharma's first full-time staff. From all my work with him, he is the one to do it. For me, today, I can only say I performed a smoke offering, but specifically for Urban Dharma's (that means OUR) coming together and seeing what we can make happen with this amazing opportunity.