Years ago, I visited a Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Woodstock, New York. It was my first visit to a Buddhist temple, and it was glorious \u2014 the designs and decoration on the temple itself, the many essentials in its construction (it must face a specific direction; it must have an unobstructed view; there must be running water nearby; etc.), the massive golden Buddha at the far end of the worship space, the multiple full offering bowls across the altars, the hangings, every detail was memorable. But through it all, there was one bit that stood out. My husband and I were among a small group of visitors being guided around the site by a friendly, somewhat distant Buddhist nun. Among the visitors was a Buddhist monk from another temple in another city. I don\u2019t remember his name; I do remember that he was dressed in the saffron and burgundy robes I have always associated with that faith\u2019s clergy. I also remember that he held a string of beads, running them smoothly through his fingers throughout the entire tour. He never spoke, nor asked any question, but simply listened to the nun with a peaceful half-smile on his face the entire time. Finally, at the end of the tour, our guide asked if there were any questions. I raised my hand, and when she called on me, I turned and addressed my question to the quiet monk: \u201cDo you use those beads to pray?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d he smiled, fingering another bead.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you praying now?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am always praying,\u201d he responded, moving to the next bead without hesitation.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when you sleep?\u201d I queried, astounded.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I sleep.\u201d Next bead. He must have heard this question before.<\/p>\n
As a child, I knew prayer was an important part of my relationship with God. But as an adult, when I converted to Wicca, I began to question that perception. If the Gods are greater than I, surely they knew my thoughts, even before I did, I reasoned. And I stopped praying.<\/p>\n
Years later, I found myself in the midst of a period of doubt and longing in my faith. (What serious seeker has not<\/em> experienced such a time, at least once?) In my frustration, I found myself spontaneously talking to the Divine as if She were a close friend and not a parental figure.<\/p>\n \u201cLook,\u201d I began. \u201cI\u2019m really stuck here, and I could use your help. Where the hell have you been?\u201d And it was as if She was truly there. I felt some of the answers I sought coming, slowly but definitely; and I knew that the rest would follow when it was time. That moment of unplanned prayer brought me a great sense of peace, one I desperately needed at the time. Thinking back on that moment, I was reminded of the poem about the seeker who asked God to speak to her, and a lark began to sing, but she did not hear; she complained that she could not see God in her daily life, and a flower opened at her feet, but she turned away; she cried because she could not feel God\u2019s presence, and a soft breeze caressed her cheek, but went unnoticed.<\/p>\n To this day, I still talk to the Divine in everyday conversational tones as if She is an old friend. I figure She knows me best, so why put on airs? She doesn\u2019t always answer in ways I expect, nor in ways I want. And even silence, or a lack of obvious response is a reply, is it not? Some things we have to learn on our own; the lessons cannot be handed to us any more than we can ride a bicycle simply by watching someone else do it. And for some life circumstances, the only way out is through. In those times, I speak to God as if I am speaking to myself, working out my problems aloud to an \u201cempty\u201d room or van, and knowing She hears. It always helps.<\/p>\n Talking to God, whether aloud or silently, is indeed one way to feel a closer connection to that divine energy. But it is my firm belief that this is only one form of prayer. My mother always taught me that our actions speak louder than our words. With that in mind, I try to live my life as if it were a prayer. After all, what better form of gratitude can we possibly show the Divine than to walk our talk and demonstrate our growth? There seems to me no better way to inspire ourselves to continue along what can be a difficult path than to see for ourselves that we can be taught and, in seeing this, realize that the difficult times have meaning and purpose.<\/p>\n \u2014 Drema De\u00f2raich (from April 2008) \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Years ago, I visited a Tibetan Buddhist monastery near Woodstock, New York. It was my first visit to a Buddhist temple, and it was glorious \u2014 the designs and decoration on the temple itself, the many essentials in its construction (it must face a specific direction; it must have an unobstructed view; there must be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-writings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s8n0kX-prayer","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":592,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/12\/godseed\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":0},"title":"GodSeed","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"February 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I gave a presentation on the Pagan\/Wiccan holiday of Imbolg to a small interfaith group whose members are mostly Christian and Jewish. It wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019ve shared aspects of my faith with this loving group of people. My views are always accepted with open hearts and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":239,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/03\/fueling-the-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":1},"title":"Fueling the Fire","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"July 3, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My friend William recently asked me to explain what I meant by \u201cGod\u201d in five minutes or less. After I finished laughing, I said I was pretty sure no one in this reality could explain or describe God at all, much less in five minutes. 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The Role of Ecstasy in Spiritual Practice","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There\u2019s an old joke about a Taoist who, when ordering food at a hot dog stand, asks the vendor to make him one with everything. Even as we laugh at this play on words, we know exactly what is being implied in the punch line: reunion with the All-That-Is \u2014\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archived Writings"","block_context":{"text":"Archived Writings","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/archived-writings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":826,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2018\/05\/28\/wanted-murderers\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":4},"title":"Wanted: Murderers","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Go ahead. Murder my draft. Slash its prose to ribbons. Get stabby with a red pen and make it bleed. No, seriously. I know you think I\u2019m flexing my sarcasm muscle, but I\u2019m not. If there are weaknesses in my work-in-progress, I want\u2014need\u2014to know what they are. That\u2019s why critique\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/category\/blog-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1383,"url":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/20\/remember-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":157,"position":5},"title":"Remember Me?","author":"DremaDeoraich","date":"May 20, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m back! Didja miss me? After four weeks of a flash fiction class where we had homework every week, another week of preparing to teach a class for a friend, and three weeks of non-stop editing\/re-reading\/re-editing, I\u2019ve finally sent off my latest draft to the next round of readers. 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\n<\/em><\/p>\n