MOMS: What's Byron Katie's religion? (cartoon)

Byron Katie, Stephen Mitchell, Loving What Is; Ellie Askew, Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly

If you like picking them up so much, pick them up yourself, Mom (cartoonstock.com)

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She's as much a Buddhist as Eckhart Tolle.

Zen*? Byron Katie says, “People often ask me if I had a religion before 1986, and I say yes. It was 'My children should pick up their socks.' This was my religion. And I was totally devoted to it, even though it never worked.”

Then one day, after “The Work" was alive in me, I realized that it simply wasn’t true. The reality was that day after day, they left their socks on the floor, after all [and in spite of all] my years of preaching and nagging and punishing them.

I saw that I was the one who should pick up the socks if I wanted them picked up. My children were perfectly happy with their socks on the floor. Who had the problem? It was me.

It was my thoughts about the socks on the floor that had made my life difficult, not the socks themselves. And who had the solution? Again, [I had it].

*(Great Vow Zen Monastery) Byron Katie and Zen: Heart of Wisdom Temple

I could be right or I could be free.

I realized that I could be right or I could be free. It took just a few moments for me to pick up the socks, without any thought of my children. And an amazing thing began to happen. I realized that I loved picking up their socks. It was for me, not for them.

It stopped being a chore in that moment, and it became a pleasure to pick them up and see the uncluttered floor.

Are moms really ever satisfied?

Eventually, they noticed my pleasure and began to pick up their socks on their own, without my having to say a thing.

Our parents, our children, our spouses, and our friends will continue to press every button we have -- until we realize what it is that we don’t want to know about ourselves, yet. They will point us to our freedom every time.

• Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life

Byron Katie and Zen Buddhism

(Great Vow Zen Monastery) Last fall the Zen Community of Oregon hosted Byron Katie at its temple, Heart of Wisdom, in Northeast Portland.

Zen is best done in a garden? Not necessarily.

Sensei Jogen says, "We are a modern, American monastery, responding to where people are at and simultaneously stewarding forward an ancient, powerful lineage of awakening [satori] technology that, in essence, is timeless. Ordained and lay people, men and women are full-time residents, and this includes couples. The Bodhisattva Vow, the sacred aspiration and practice of opening and clarifying oneself in order to be of unhindered service to others, is the zeitgeist we cultivate and celebrate here."

• zendust.org
• facebook.com/greatvow
• facebook.com/heartofwisdomzentemple