The cold rain just rains.
The hot sun just shines.
The unwise just complain.— Shilashanti
The cabbie pointed out that we just drove out of stormy weather. He enthusiastically asked me to look behind, at the dark skies, in contrast with the totally clear skies ahead. He chuckled, saying that the weather is ‘crazy’, for being so rainy at one end of the highway and so sunny at the other end.
But of course! Of course there is a limit, to all things worldly, the weather included. There is an end to the darkness of ‘despair’. If you keep moving, you will eventually exit darkened lands. Then again, for worldly matters, there is an end to the light of hope too. If you keep moving, you will eventually enter darkened lands. Thus is there need to transcend the worldly, to strive for liberation from the existentially cyclical.
What truly crazy would be a rain cloud so big that it has no ending edge. What truly ridiculous would be rainy weather everywhere and all the time. What truly bizarre would be weather that does not change. In the worldly sense, because the world changes, there is worldly hope. In the spiritual sense, because we have unchanging Buddha-nature, the pure potential for Buddhahood, there is always spiritual hope.
Of course, the weather is also somewhat ‘crazy’, out of season due to the climate crisis. But this is not the weather’s fault, but us humans, who neglected care for the environment. We can no longer simply blame the weather for being ‘crazy’, without taking any responsibility. If we continue doing so, we are the truly crazy ones.
In the mean time, be it rain or shine, we do need both. Rain does not just drench, it cools and nourishes too. Sunshine does not just scorch, it warms and recharges too. We need rain and shine for life on earth. When it gets too hot, we need more rain. When it gets too wet, we need more sun. Why detest one and pine for the other? We just need to make them more timely by becoming more ecologically conscious.
Make the best of the day (and night). A rainy day is not always a bad day by default, just as a sunny day is not always a good day by default. The day is only fruitful when you make it so. (I wished I thought of all these, to share with the cabbie in time.)
The cold rain just rains.
The hot sun just shines.
The wise just make peace.— Shilashanti
