Waiting for the Salmon to Return

What a relief it is when you finally figure out how to live in abhyasa and vairagya! Vairagya is equanimity and abhyasa (to remember the ideal of pure consciousness) is why you bother with it at all.

I just love the zen teaching story of the guy whose horse ran away. His neighbors commiserated saying “too bad!” But he only said “maybe”. The next day his horse returned with 4 wild horses in tow. The neighbors all said it was a stroke of luck but the man only responded with “maybe”. His son, when trying to ride one of the wild horses, broke a leg and, you guessed it, everyone said “aww, too bad, you have some bad luck today”. And the response? “Maybe” Well the story ends with the military coming around for the draft and passing over the son with the broken leg. Everybody says “what luck!” and the man replies “maybe”. And so it goes.

Here on the Ayakulik River, Kodiak Island, Alaska, the rain has been relentless and the enormous numbers of pink salmon expected this year have yet to arrive. That may have seemed like some bad luck because we only had 12 days to film and about 10 of them were rainy. But as it turns out, we were “awarded” an extra three weeks because of the weather and the late salmon run. Good luck? We’ll see… maybe. I’ve also been watching the commercial fishing boats out on the water, with their huge nets and again, I realize it may not be such a bad thing, that the salmon are late. I guess it depends on whether or not you rely on commercial fishing for a living or for that salmon on your plate tonight.

Salmon, by the way, is one of the best foods for lowering inflammation in the body. I found that out when my neurologist suggested an anti-inflammation cookbook to me. Hopefully it will keep the grizzlies from getting inflamed too! New bears enter the area daily. Apparently they’ve been through this routine before. Somehow they know it’s time, and they sniff the air and wade through the river, watching, waiting for the salmon to return.