My favourite memory of my grandmother was of her standing over a tub and washboard, cleaning her clothes outside on a warm summer day. The light was warm, slanting between the tall trees, and smelled of cedar.
After she died, I inherited stack after stack of neatly folded queen size fitted sheet sets, cottons in white and blue tones, worn thin on the edges.
I think my mother still has her laundry spoon. Unsatisfied with the quality of the job being done by the new washing machine, she would open the lid periodically and give the contents a good poke. Many of her blankets now warm my home, as do a variety of useful kitchen things.
If anyone needs to borrow Russian for the Scientist, let me know.
But more than a collection of things-left-behind, her energy joins me often in meditation, as a source of quiet strength. She is my condor, with the compassion that comes from knowing that there is an appropriate end to life for everyone. She went out with style on November 1, Day of the Dead. She would have been 100 years old today.
Her precision of thought and fearlessness of mind came through strongly to me in my meditations after she passed. As did an intelligent compassionate awareness, ever present in the now.
And those who are able to rest in that compassionate care in the moment, often find themselves doing laundry, cooking, blessing the world around them as needed.
So in order to purify ancestral karma, several chants can be recommended. First the medicine buddha, then Akshobya, both blue buddhas of incredible depth. A long conversation with Akshobya is like sitting by a frozen lake on top of a mountain, a pool of shimmering ice. His longer mantra combined with having three baths in one day is pretty good for repairing ancestral karma.
But Ushnaya Vjaya, there is a hard working and handy three-faced lady. Mother of all five buddhas, she is symbolized by the crystal vase of the body containing the flame of compassionate bodhichitta. The primal, peaceful loving awareness that rests between our thoughts. Another door, leading of course to the same place they all lead…
At least it seems easier to do the laundry when you have eight arms!
So I’m reading Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion: “The yang … is known as “the servant of yin.” The yin … is called the “guard of yang.””
When we apply the yin/yang theory to the questions of biophysics, it could be re-interpreted as genetics is in service to the biofield, and the biofield is the guard of the genetics.
A particularly clear idea of who we are, or bio-electric signature, like Michael Levin's planarian flatworms show, can compensate for a messy genetic situation. But alter the field, and the genetics faithfully implement the physical expression of the energy.
Caring for our genetic health means to me keeping a clear connection to serve a sense of highest self, while being continually ready to reinterpret the memories of existence with compassion.
When we are ready to receive the assistance of our grandparents, we live to transmute their lessons into our strengths.
May we all be grateful for the benefit of our ancestor’s experience.
Nadya
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