HONORING THE FEMININE

VP Kamala Harris as a baby with her great-grandmother, Iris Finegan | Brown’s Town, Jamaica (via the Harris campaign)

Dear all,

So here we are—ending the last big day before an even bigger day tomorrow. Not as much to do now (vote!) but sit and wait. Sitting is such a big part of the Buddhist path and yet it’s surprising how difficult it can actually be! To sit with our anxiety. To sit with our worry. To sit with our fear. To sit with our hope.

And here is this precious image of baby Kamala Harris sitting on the lap of her great-grandmother, Iris Finegan. I love everything about this picture. The sense of the sturdy seat on which the great-granddaughter is held. The stability that supports the animation in the baby. The simplicity of the elder woman’s gaze. The wisdom of her years. It’s said that when she first met her great-granddaughter, who had traveled to Jamaica from California, she traced her fingers on her tiny forehead, blessing her into a future she would not see.

We don’t ever truly know what lies ahead. But this photograph reminded me of the strength of a woman’s love. And the power of lineage to carry us and hold us.

Tonight, I am going to bring my hands to my heart and raise bodhicitta. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition considers bodhicitta to be our innermost being, our essence love. It’s the part of us that extends through time and connects us to every living being in the vast web of inter-being. When I take time to connect to bodhicitta, I feel the softening, the openness, the sense of possibility that is its promise. From this place, I imagine a future with this at the center. Let’s do this together in the days ahead—and when we meet again in practice.

With love,

Jenny