High Altitude Meditation
Chapters on line: Description and Table of Contents / Introductory Notes / 1: Evolving Motives / 8: Ordinary
My wife was in genuine labor on and off for over six days with our first child. I had been in her birthing class, so I was her first line of support.
When our son actually came out, he had trouble breathing and was quickly sent off to a hospital forty-five minutes away that had an infant intensive care unit. I stayed behind to support my wife until we were sure she was okay. Her mother was on scene to care for her. Then I went off to meet my son.
When I first picked him up in my arms, I looked into his eyes for a moment that probably lasted an hour. I was quietly and gently blown away.
Later on that evening while going to bed, I sat down with my journal and tried to remember what went through my mind when he and I first looked into each other’s eyes. And I wrote down what I remembered:
Welcome, little friend, little being entrusted to our care. I just keep thinking, Welcome little friend.
Where did you come from, you with the stars in your hair and the
Wherever you came from, you are here now. This is the earth, and I’ll be your daddy this time. In the years ahead, we will laugh and cry and no doubt quarrel together. We will watch our lives unfold.
But somehow, at this moment, when your body is so soft and new to the world, we seem closer to who we truly are together. And the love in it nearly overwhelms me.
Do you understand this? Do you know what I’m thinking? Have we met before? This feels more like a reunion than a meeting of strangers.
How can such a little being affect me so unless the essence is not what the doctors and nurses weigh and measure.
There is mystery here –– something much bigger than I can capture. And I’m truly grateful for that.
Welcome, little friend.
There are moments when we touch life in ways that are deep and real but hard to put into language because words are so ordinary. They are what I hope this book is about. So I’ll include them under the heading “Moment.” They don’t fit into the flow of the book because they are not part of a flow of topics. So I have just inserted them in between some chapters.
Some of them come from the Therigatha, a collection of writings of the very first Buddhist nuns. Matty Weingast did some wonderful renderings of these in his The First Free Women. Others are from various poets, writers, and teachers.
I hope you enjoy them.
________Copyright 2025 by Doug Kraft
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How to cite this document
(a suggested style): "High Altitude Meditation: A Practical Guide to Advanced Buddhist Practice
Introduction by Doug Kraft, www.easingawake.com/?p=HighAltitudeIntro."