To start with I am talking about the canine variety of boxers and not the pugilist sort. Java, that is my boxers name, is typical for the breed. He is active and intelligent. He can jump straight up in the air and look me in the eye. I'm only five eight but it still impresses me every time. He barks and acts vicious when strangers come to the door but when we welcome the new folks in he quickly changes his attitude and then the worst they have to fear is being beaten to death with his tail. In short he is exuberant and funny and I love him, big L.
I knew when I found Java that he was going to be a wonderful companion. A friend of a friend found him living in a park and getting skinnier and skinnier as the days went by. I remember seeing him for the first time and I was struck by the color of his coat and it reminded me of a cup of coffee from Starbucks, thus the name, I called him and he came to me and there was a sort of bond right then and there. My son loved him immediately and my wife who was on record as saying, "I will have nothing to do with the dog, you will feed the dog, you will clean up after the dog, I will not do anything for the dog," well it took Java all of a week to win her over. I caught her giving him a hug one day and the next day she bought him a bed and a Harley Davidson shirt. He is a member of the family and is really the perfect dog for us.
For all of this he has given me a gift that I never expected. He has been a great teacher for meditation. Let me explain. If Java has an accident and pees on the kitchen floor I scold him and he goes to the back door head hanging. After I clean up after him not even 10 minutes later, if I go to the back door and grab his leash he immediately starts dancing the boxer dance. The scolding of 10 minutes ago no longer exists for him. He is in the present and he knows we are going for a walk and he really loves his walks. If I sit on the floor and watch TV and pet him he is totally immersed in the feel of my hand stroking his fur and scratching his neck. He is totally absorbed. When he eats he eats, when he sleeps he sleeps, when he acts the fool at the front door with the repairman there is nothing half hearted about it. He is totally and utterly absorbed with getting through the glass and tearing into the poor man. If I let the man and and Java knows that he is OK he introduces himself and sniffs the man and is very happy to make a new friend and is equally immersed in the task at hand even though seconds ago he would have been happy to draw the man's blood.
In meditation, especially Zen meditation the goal is to be in the moment. The Zen meditator sits with his eyes half closed and stares at a usually blank wall. The idea is to get used to having nothing but the wall and to start to listen to the thoughts go through your head. Maybe your mind is saying, this is boring. It is a freaking wall for heavens sake. Maybe your remembering an altercation you had earlier with a friend or perhaps the person who cut you off on the freeway. The point is you are not really there with the wall your mind is doing a million other things so afraid it is to stop. You would be surprised how hard it is to sit and actually be there. Some people are out and out afraid of doing this because it is only an overly active mind that keeps past injuries and injustices at bay. But little by little you learn to slow your thoughts and just BE and aside from not being that bad you realize that your actual reality once you stop the over active mind is one of beauty and joy. Even if you just achieve this sort of clarity for a second it is noticeable and worthwhile. It is sort of like running a marathon, you do that one step at a time. You live a life of meditative clarity one second at a time. After you get so you can do it at the wall you get up and walk in clarity, eat in clarity, sleep in clarity, make love in clarity and so on and so forth and many years from now die with a clear and unafraid mind.
In short Java achieves in his Javaness what I strive for as a goal in life and that is to be totally in the moment, whatever that moment may entail.
By the By we didn't get Java from the following organization but if you think you might like a Boxer these people do very good work.
http://savetheboxers.com/
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