My Motivation to study TSK

An old friend of mine was recently written up in the Albuquerque Journal because he has been a  pie baking judge at the State Fair for many years.  The journalist asked him why he always took such a large bite from every pie, considering that there are so many entries he has to sample.  He responded that he sees all these mothers and grandmothers sitting in the front rows, who have been up in the dark, all around the state, and then driven to the Fair Grounds with their pie on their lap.  There they are watching him and waiting patiently to hear whether they will be awarded a ribbon.    So he  wants them all to know that their pie has been appreciated, even if they don’t win a ribbon.

That’s my sense of TSK.  It encourages me to take a big bite of experience, appreciate it, and to notice all those other beings who have contributed to making my world a place where there are fresh baked pies falling from the shelves like manna from heaven.

The opportunity to share TSK, whether or not I actually ever formally teach, brings to mind these women and how they must appreciate a look of delight when a large forkful of their pie enters the judge’s mouth.  I would love to help share the TSK vision with others who are waiting for their efforts to be valued, because TSK has a way of replacing the judge’s delight with our own joy in mixing whatever ingredients arise in our own lives.

About Michael Gray

I first started studying TSK in the mid 1980's and have since attended a number of retreats and workshops at the Nyingma Institute, in both TSK and Buddhist themes. I participated in the life-changing Human Development Training Program in 1991, and upon returning to Albuquerque co-founded an organization, Friends in Time (with a friend who has Lou Gehrig's Disease), which continues to serve people with similiar disabilities. I contributed an essay to "A New Way of Being"--the last one in the book--in which I describe how learning to honor who I have been has broadened and deepened my openness to present experience. I live in New Mexico with my wife and two sons.
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1 Response to My Motivation to study TSK

  1. Christopher says:

    I love this ‘big bite of experience’ image, Michael – like Jack’s question about experiencing experiencing. We rarely take a big bite of experiencing, to get the flavour of our own consciousness, heh?

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