Repetition
My prayer beads are strung on my life span. am not allowed to skip a single bead: Sometimes the bead is a seed. Or a bone. Or jade. Or dry blood. Or semen. Or crystal. Or rotted wood. Or a sage’s relic. Or gold. Or glass. Or a prism. Or iron. Or clay. Or an eye. Or an egg. Or dung. Or a ball. Or a stone. Or a peach. Or a bullet. Or a bubble. Or lead. Or pure light. No matter what the next bead must is, I count it, Perform my daily austerities. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Until repetition becomes endurance.
People seldom understand the power of repetition. What is re- peated over and over again can become enduring; what is done m a moment is seldom lasting. If farmers do not tend to their fields even’ day, they cannot expect a harvest. The same is true of spiritual practice. It is not the grand declaration or the colorful initiation that means anything. It is the ongoing, daily living of a spiritual life that has meaning. Our progress may range from dull to spectacular, but we must accept both. Each and even’ day should be linked together, strung into a long line of prayer beads.
In life, you don’t know how many beads you’ve counted already, and you don’t know how many are yet to come. All that matters is fingering the one that comes to you now and taking the spiritual significance of that moment to heart.