Mindful in the Burning House
Spring Weekend Retreat 2026 - A talk by Tim Burnett

Good morning, thank you again for being here. It’s a big thing to set everything aside and sit with ourselves, sit with our world – to put ourselves in a situation of where we open to feeling the state of things. Maybe on our way out here yesterday there was some thought like, “okay I’m unplugging this weekend, time for a real break, this is good.” And that’s true enough. But also as we settle in what can also happen is that the protective screen of our busy-ness and the many things we’re preoccupied with in life thin and we get more tender and we feel more. And that can for sure lead to some challenging moments so I hope you’re doing ok.

There’s a Buddhist teaching story in a famous text called the Lotus Sutra about a father and his children. They live in a huge dilapidated mansion. The place is quite run down and full of interesting little curios – old cupboards that open to secret passages into other parts of the house, really cool dolls, the best blocks and construction kits and puzzles and things. And the kids are always involved and happy at home. It’s also dusty and a little moldy with everything a bit neglected and falling apart, but the kinds are quite content to explore and play and do their thing. And that father is content too: he just has to keep the kids fed but otherwise he’s free to sit in his study and do his thing. (oddly no mother is mentioned…)

But one day a fire breaks out – not surprising in such a place – maybe there’s the old knob and tube wiring and one of the kids playing the attic knocks some furniture into it and it shorts out. Or maybe there was playing with matches and candles going on, but a fire breaks out.

The father smells smoke right away and freaks out. He starts running through the house yelling “fire, fire! come out kids we have to go outside right now!” And to be honest he’s not actually quite sure where in the house his kids like to hang out. But now he suddenly realizes maybe he should have been paying more attention and that freaks him out even further.

And to his horror the kids don’t answer him, they don’t come out, maybe he sees one down a long hallway totally entranced with some toys and he can’t get the kids’ attention no matter how he tries. They’re all lost in their usual routines, they don’t hear the alarm or maybe they think it’s some new game called “fire, fire” and maybe after I finish this puzzle I’ll go find out what that’s about but….just a minute. And anyway what’s this “outside” he’s talking about anyway? We have everything we need here in the house.

So that’s us, right? In the modern version we know what the toys look like. Devices, schedules, deadlines, obligations, projects – the many important things in all of our routines. And meanwhile the world is burning. To be fair the reality is more subtle than this story because we kind of know the world is burning but we really don’t quite know what to do about that and there are important things do to – and they are important. I guess a more accurate metaphor might have the kids hear the father and say, “yeah, a fire? okay… I think we can get to doing something about that tomorrow maybe, kind of busy today, Dad”

In the story the father lures the kids out of the house by promising them even better toys outside. In this cultural milieu it’s wonderful carriages – like offering a 16 year old a sports car I guess – which does the trick. They finally set down their toys and tromp out through the smoke – maybe sort of waving their hands and choking on the smoke as they go – why is there all this smoke?! – and when they emerge he reveals well actually I don’t have any fancy carriages for you really but – this being a Buddhist story – I have something even better: the practice, the Dharma – the best carriage of all, the carriage that will take you to freedom, clarity, and awakening.

Or maybe another way of saying it would be after living all of their lives in the dim, dusty, moldy house coming out in to the fresh air and sunshine was overwhelmingly wonderful and all thoughts of better toys fell away as they opened to the real beautiful world outside the house of distractions. Imagine a world like these grounds here.

It’s hard to say anything without sounding too simplistic but isn’t this a model for what happens when we practice mindfulness intensively? Some sense of coming back to our senses. Remembering more fully who we really are and what really matters. That mindfulness turns out to be is a much greater enterprise than just calming down and taking a break from our devices – it’s also an opening to this wondrous and burning life in this wondrous and burning world.

And this is no small thing.

Part of why I bring all of this up is because I was thinking about today’s No Kings protests happening all across the country as American bombs keep falling in Iran and all of the rest of it.

Going to protests and pushing back and all of that is one possible response to what’s going on.

And sitting here plumbing the depths of our lives a little is absolutely another.

I feel deeply that what we’re doing here is also important for the world. Is also a step in the direction of a kinder and more just world. And that part of the work is for us to make space to feel – to really feel – whatever it is we’re deeply feeling.

Sometimes we’ll feel more deeply and clearly our peacefulness and spaciousness and the incredible potential of human beings to be generous, forgiving, patient and kind – that vast openness of the mind of contentment and openness.

Sometimes we’ll experience how the mind of distraction and busy-ness can so easily dominate the scene – and no wonder if there’s a sense of having been moving at high speed and then coming here is a sudden kind of slamming on the brakes. We’ll be tumbling around a little some – bouncing our way down the river to use the metaphor from the early morning meditation.

That we’re simultaneously all of the different roles in the burning house story: we’re the aware but distracted father at the beginning of the story, we’re the children lost in our preoccupations. We’re also the wise father who sees a bigger vision and supports the children in coming to their senses with skill. And we’re the children awakening from the fog of distraction and avoidance into the clear light of day.

And as part of our “work” this weekend might be to feel into the seeds of our impatience, our pain, our difficult emotions of all kinds. We all have this within us and our willingness to recognize that is a powerful thing.

And that we as we take a step back from it all – as we feel the touch points more and are less often tumbled down the river of self – we can also be quite amazed and impressed by the huge range of a human being by getting to know this one human being we have the best chance to know well more deeply. The huge range of how this one heart and mind can be vast and open, accepting and forgiving, kind and generous. And this same heart and mind can be judgy and petty and small minded and from there it’s not hard to imagine vindictive and oppressive towards others is it? We have all of this within us.

And maybe seeing that in ourselves helps with a little bit of understanding and compassion for the small mindedness writ large that we’re seeing on the national and international stage.

What I’m suggesting is that this practice isn’t just to help us feel better – although I sure hope it does – but that it’s also a core part of the process of making peace – of being peace makers. I’m not at all well versed in the Bible but I did dip into the wonderful Sermon on the Mount before a recent walk for peace our Buddhist group organized and was struck anew by the oft quoted line where Jesus says, “blessed are the peace makers.” I read that the Greek word being translated really does suggest the active word “maker” – that it’s not peace lovers or even peace keepers but peace makers.

this incredible heart & mind can also express in petty and small minded ways. We’re in a pretty protected space here but it’s worth noticing, and kind of marveling really, when you notice judgy thoughts about whatever’s going on around us or inside us.

So I just wanted to try to say something about the bigger world we’re in the middle of It’s a little risky veering anywhere near the sticky aspects of our world that we call “politics” and I hope I’m not upsetting anyone or assuming anything about how you think about any of this. And I hope I’m not seeding anxious spirals into worrying about our troubled world.

My intention is to suggest we’re doing something good here. Something important so let’s keep on with full heart and deep intention – that being and feeling and breathing can also be a deep and important response to suffering. It’s hard to know when to act and when to withdraw. So we just do our best. And it seems that 28 people did make a choice for this weekend at least so let’s indeed do our best to be here fully and practice deeply.

I actually do find the Story of the Burning House helpful when I allow myself to look at it more deeply than as just a funny fable from long ago – when I feel into the ways I do inhabit all of those different roles in different ways and at different times.

So there’s a bit of theory and philosophy and, I guess, coaching about the relevance of what we’re up to here – I hope you don’t mind. If you find anything I say troublesome I hope you will just it slide right down the river and be gone again.

Let’s also explore the practical a little. The Buddha faced with the political turmoil if his time made the following recommendation to us.

The meditator, having gone to the forest, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down with legs folded crosswise, body held erect, and sets mindfulness to the fore. Always mindful, the meditator breathes in; mindful, the meditator breathes out.

This is the opening of a famous short teaching called the Sutra on Awareness of Breathing. There is a small selection of Buddhist teachings that most clearly inform the modern mindfulness movement and this is definitely one of them.

After setting the scene for us around going somewhere good to practice, just like we’ve done here, he makes a series of suggestions for us which might be helpful today.

First as it says to simply be aware of the breath and the qualities of the breath. Is the breath even or a little rough? That’s fine, just notice it. Is the breath shallow and more up in the chest or deeper and slower and more in the belly. Also fine, just notice it.

Can you feel the breath in the whole body – almost like it’s the body breathing? Sometimes probably you can, other times that’s not accessible. Also fine, just notice.

And it might be the breath body is calming sometimes. Okay, fine. Other times the body is agitated. Okay, how it is.

And he suggests working with our minds. Staying gently aware of the breathing throughout in this particular teaching he invites us to notice joy and sorrow. As we breathe in and out, emotions like these come and go. Sometimes strong, sometimes barely noticeable. Other times of course we’re lost in something and don’t have the perspective needed to observe our minds in this kind of way.

As we’ve been saying, not a big deal: reset. Come home again. Appreciate that and if you are in a mood an can’t appreciate any of this well…you guessed it, that’s okay too.

But the basic idea is startling simple. Be present and notice. Sometimes it’s this, sometimes it’s that. And here the breath is the steady touchstone at the bottom of the river of our live. A dynamic and interesting touch stone too. Getting curious about the details and feelings and flow of the breath is a great support. This touchstone is alive and dynamic and so present. Exquisitely present.

And after a while the Buddha says in this teaching we can start to see the bigger stage in which all of this mind-body experiencing plays out. He says we start to see what way everything, absolutely everything, comes and goes. Nothing sticks around forever. Nothing is actually as rigid or strictly “itself” as we thought. All experience, we start to see, if more of a flow on interpenetrating and mixed together everything. The language in the traditional teaching is around experiencing impermanence more fully – seeing the arising of experiences, mental formations in this language, how they come, and how they go. And how with practice it feels more and more natural to leave them be. Not to grab on – the translation I was looking at has the word “relinquishment” there which isn’t a word I see every day.

Oh, says you’re friend, I’m really upset about such-and-so. I guess it would be rude to tell them, oh the Buddha says you should see it as impermanent and relinquish it. That wouldn’t feel very sympathetic or kind would it.

So that better not to treat yourself that way either. It’s okay that we get rigid and tight about things. The impulse to grasp and problem solve and reject and all of that goes deep. We come by it honestly.

But retreat is such a great opportunity to practice all of this. Breathing in and out. Watching things come and go. Watching how we sometimes get caught up in ourselves like the children in the burning how. And watching how sometimes we fully here – wide eyed with wonder at the beauty of everything – and boy, again, I do love this place for helping me. When I’m watching across the grounds with the support of knowing I’m in a mindfulness retreat I am so much more likely to open my heart and all of my senses. The birds are calling, the weather is doing it’s rich dance, the tide is going in and out. What was I worried about again?

So a few suggestions which boil down to a pretty simple idea. Just be with it. Breathe with it all. Watch it and watch yourself being able to watch sometimes and losing yourself in it other times. Trust the process and hang in there. And maybe bring a little more love into the whole equation too. The Buddha didn’t talk so much about that but I think it’s in there – a warm loving relationship to all of this: the wisdom and the craziness.

So I promised a song, here’s one I’m finding really powerful. It’s not the easiest to sing and I don’t know how many of us have heard it. This is the singer songwriter Mary Gauthier who I’m just starting to get to know. Her songs are really unflinching around the suffering of the world and it turns that’s largely from her own experience growing up in a world of neglect and addiction herself. Somehow she survived all that and is able to share with us some of her own wisdom through her music.

This song, Mercy Now, is I think one of her better known songs. The part that’s sing along-able is are two similar phrases. At the end of the first line of every verse, “could use a little mercy now” and at the end of the last line of every verse, “could use some mercy now.” Maybe I’ll sing the main verses through twice so there’s some chance of folks joining in as it’s very beautiful and it’d be nice to sign together.

We can all use a little mercy now, no? Anyway I’ll do my best. I wish my guitar playing was strong enough to where I could play the accompaniment too – maybe someday. It’s a beautiful finger picking arrangement with just a few chords.

My father could use a little mercy now  
The fruits of his labor                                                      
Fall and rot slowly on the ground  
His work is almost over  
It won’t be long and he won’t be around  
I love my father, and he could use some mercy now

My brother could use a little mercy now  
He’s a stranger to freedom  
He’s shackled to his fears and (his) doubts  
The pain that he lives in is  
Almost more than living will allow  
I love my brother, and he could use some mercy now

My Church and my Country could use a little mercy now  
As they sink into a poisoned pit  
That’s going to take forever to climb out  
They carry the weight of the faithful  
Who (all) follow ‘em down  
I love my Church and Country and they could use some mercy now

Every living thing could use a little mercy now  
Only the hand of grace can end the race  
Towards another mushroom cloud  
People in power, well  
They’ll do anything to keep their crown  
I love life, and life itself could use some mercy now

Yea, we all could use a little mercy now  
I know we don’t deserve it  
But we need it anyhow  
We hang in the balance  
Dangle ‘tween hell and hallowed ground  
Every single one of us could use some mercy now  
Every single one of us could use some mercy now  
Every single one of us could use some mercy now