Do you remember the day you mastered the art of riding a bicycle? Of course you do. For me, it was the culmination of a rather lengthy, and very frustrating process, and but for the perseverance of my father, I might never have learned at all.
I just couldn’t seem to get it. It looked so simple, but the harder I tried, the worse I got. Then suddenly it clicked, I had it nailed, and from that day on I have been able to ride a bike.
Ok, so it’s no huge revelation, but I think learning about Buddhism is a bit like learning to ride a bike.
As you learn, about The Oneness of Self and the Universe, about Karma, about Life-Energy or The Ten Worlds, you also learn to see yourself, life and the Universe in a different way. And just in the way that having learned to ride a bicycle, you never unlearn the skill, once you learn to see the world through different eyes, you never unlearn that either.
Deep in my heart, I know that I am different for having Buddhism at the centre of my life. Some people have noticed that change, others ask what has changed and how I know that it’s a real change, not just a fad, or ‘a phase I’m going through’.
Well as I say, once you see the world differently, you just can’t un-see it that way. It’s a wonderful change, and I’m very confident, not to say delighted, that it’s a permanent change.
The Search For Enlightenment 
Jan 26, 2014 @ 09:30:50
My experience of learning to ride a bike is an illustration of having gratitude even for the negative in my life. My father taught me on the empty roads of a cemetery, holding the saddle and running alongside, as I pumped the pedals for all I was worth. I was so afraid of failing and feeling the blast of his bellowing or even worse, the back of his hand, that I rode. The bike became my escape vehicle from a dysfunctional environment, the source of my good health and the root cause of my travelling in life. It has also contributed to my Buddhist practice in showing me the value of gratitude for even the darkness and what I perceive sometimes as rubbish…the rubbish is manure