Nati Garcia wrote on Cultural Survival, “On this day in the northern hemisphere, the shortest period of sunlight occurs. It is a moment to settle into the bedding of the Earth, tucked beneath the layers of the cold darkness, and to draw in the warmth of the breath to share stories. Storytelling is most prominent during this dark period as it sparks the imagination, generates laughter and truth, and warms the heart, mind, and spirit.”

For me, finding the practice was like coming home. And when I began to study the Dharma, it was like I already knew those truths. They were already in my body! I just had to be reminded of them. One of the things I love is all the great stories of the Buddha and Ananda and so many other great Bodhisattvas and other beings.

One of my favorite stories from the Pali Canon is Rohitassa Sutta. Rohitassa was this beloved deva–a spirit being. He said he had a special power… he was a fast walker. Wherever he wanted to go, all he had to do was think of it and he would be there. He said, “My speed was as fast as that of a strong archer, well trained, a practiced hand, a practiced sharp shooter shooting a light arrow across the land. My stride stretched as far as the east sea is from the West. And to me endowed with such speed, such a stride, there came the desire, “I will go traveling to the end of the world.” I spent 100 years traveling but without reaching the end of the world!

He got so frustrated! He kept running an running around the world and never got where he wanted to go! So, finally, he went to the Buddha, and said, “World Honored One, is it possible, through travelling, to reach the end of the world?”

And the Buddha replied, “I say Rohittasa, it is not possible, through travelling, to reach the end of the world, because, I also say Rohittasa, the world… the beginning of the world… the end of the world… the whole of the world… is in this fathom-long body, with its sensations, perceptions, and cognition. The whole world is in here.”

What a relief?! It’s all here in the body. The practice is here in the body! The freedom we’re looking for … is already here NOW in this body. The beginning of the path… the end of the path… enlightenment itself.