Don’t try to be the fastest.

Photo by Jonathan Monro

The bowerbird (a species endemic to Australia and New Guinea) has a fascinating ritual when mating season arrives. As part of their courtship, the males build a bower; some structures resemble a maypole built around a small sapling while others are made of vertical sticks with a ‘walk-through.’ These constructions alone would not be enough to get noticed by the females, so the males show off their exterior decorating skills. Found items are arranged in their ‘courtyard’- natural things like shells, feathers and flowers or human-made things such as bottle caps, straws, toys and clothes pins. Each bird will spend hours arranging their collection, sometimes putting items in groups of things that are alike or at times sticking to a certain color choice. They often use optical illusion to hold the female’s attention by arranging objects from smallest to largest. Anything moved out of its place will be put back in its original place. The intention of all this effort is to outshine the other males in hopes of attracting a female. Humans have the same habit of trying to eclipse others, attempting to outperform or outsmart everyone else. But we lose sight of our purpose when this habit is used in our spiritual practice. There’s no need to squander our energy trying to be the best; our practice is not meant to be a race but an effort that will last a lifetime.

We only obsess over winning because of the elation we experience when we have gained superiority over others and see someone else losing. This is only an illusory victory, fabricated by the samsaric mind, and we’ll experience many obstacles if we continue to see things this way. ~ Traleg Kyabgon

For more information on the thirty-fifth slogan, go here.