Surrender

As he gave us a tour of his beautiful home, he picked up a book from a desk with an image of a Buddhist monk on the cover. “This is my teacher,” he explained. Oh wow! “You have a Buddhist teacher.” Always humbled when someone introduces another as his spiritual teacher. A sleuth of questions came out, “how did you determine he was your teacher?” The mind eagerly tried to understand. “Oh, I’ve never met him. He passed away many years ago unfortunately. His current reincarnation is around twenty.”  “I’ve never met him either. Perhaps someday.”  My inquiring mind interrupts again, “But how did you KNOW he was your teacher?” He smiled with a twinkle in his eyes and said one word that ended my barrage of questions: “surrender”.

"Surrender -- Of course," I thought to myself. The heart understood. Although I didn’t need an explanation after that, I learned that he had read a book many years ago which shifted everything for him -- and he just knew. He studied a lot of paths and teachers but this Rinpoche in the maroon robes IS his teacher - all because he surrendered. He was able to whole-heartedly put aside his ego and trust someone else's words to guide him, someone he had never even met in person.

Surrender is such a beautiful word that ceases all the activity, stops the mind in its tracks, and gently places it in its right place.