HONORING OUR ANCESTORS

     I have been thinking about ways to balance the need to "be in the present moment," as yoga teachers so often remind us, with the need to honor our ancestors. In a society consumed by speed, it is easy to lose touch with the past. We watch as our natural environment is relentlessly and quickly altered. We flatten old buildings and replace them rapidly with modern ones, losing tactile reminders of the past. Computers get faster every year, and we throw away the old ones. It can be hard to remember that our existence and our sophistication are founded on the efforts of countless generations of ancestors.

      As Westerners, we tend to view time as a line that extends from the past through the present and on to the future. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is the concept of the "fourth time," that contains the past, present, and future all at once. We could bring this idea of the fourth time into our meditation. We might imagine the present moment extending backwards and containing the past. As well, we could imagine the present moment flowering into future life. Contrary to distracting the present moment, this concept of time might deepen our meditation and our relationship with time. Perhaps greater awareness of the present could arise from engaging this sort of memory and imagination.

     Extending this idea to the need to honor the ancestors, we can remember the past as being filled by ancestors whose lives propelled and supported our arrival in the present. Likewise, the present moment extends into the future with the generations yet to come, reminding us that we share the responsibility of being an ancestor in this very life.

     To honor the ancestors is to have gratitude for this existence, in this moment. It is to recognize and appreciate the efforts that have been made to share and extend knowledge and practice. In a tradition such as yoga, we know that there have been ancestors who were great innovators, while the tradition as a whole has been developed by slow, disciplined, and deliberate practice and teaching. Many of these ancestors cannot be recognized by name, but only by the fruits of the current practice. A further way of honoring our ancestors is to realize that we have been gifted by their generous efforts and that we are in debt. We could repay the ancestors for their generosity by developing a deeper sense of care for the present and future.

     The Iroquois people of this continent had a tribal agreement to take care of the "seventh generation" in the future, which they used to make important decisions. We could extend this concept by going seven generations into the past as well. Would the ancestors approve of the changes we are making in their tradition? Are we using their foundation wisely and contributing to it? Are we honoring them by the appropriate study and discipline? Are we caring well for the world they left us?

     To remember the gifts of the ancestors can be empowering, when we realize that tremendous struggles have been endured to get us here across the sweep of time. Many generations ago, the great mathematician Sir Isaac Newton honored the ancestors when he said, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Our ancestors were inspired to provide for us and nourish us, and they must have wanted to leave us, their children and grandchildren, a better world. Are we doing the same for the future?

     By Douglas Dupler