Dayenu

April 8 marked the start of the week-long holiday of Passover, celebrated world-wide by Jews and their friends, who perform the rituals of the holiday during the telling of the Exodus and the meal that follows, known as the Seder.

The Seder, during which blessings are made and questions are asked, includes singing the upbeat song, Dayenu. Loosely translated dayenu means, “it would have been enough.”

Noting all the miracles that allowed the Jews to escape slavery, the refrain of dayenu evokes a feeling of gratitude. The sentiment of the song conveys that just one miracle would have been enough, but the presence of many miracles is really something to celebrate.

Enoughness

Buddhism has its own spin on the notion of enough. Let it be enough is a mantra that suggests that wanting or craving more leads to suffering. Whether we experience one miracle or one cookie, letting it be enough will enhance our gratitude and peace of mind.

The attitude that enough is enough doesn’t always jibe with our American way. Capitalism thrives on people wanting more. In addition to more money, most Americans want more stuff. During these pandemic days, we want more food in our pantries and more toilet paper. We also want more reassurance, more answers and more certainty.

The concept of enoughness puts all our striving, our wanting, our craving on its head.  Enoughness means wherever you are is good enough and, beyond meeting your basic needs, whatever you have is sufficient.

Certainly, this is a time when some people do not have enough food, enough money, enough love. For many of us, however, we have more than the minimum. Although we can’t physically be close to our friends and family, they will be there when the fog lifts. This is enough. We may not be able to resume our typical routines right now, but we have pleasurable routines to which we’ll return some day and in some fashion. This is enough.

Focusing on the enoughness, rather than the scarcity is a decent activity whether in the midst of crisis or not. Perhaps, even more challenging than accepting the enoughness in our external reality is accepting the enoughness in ourselves, our internal reality. A Buddha in his own right, Mr. Rogers reminded us to accept our own enoughness with his song, I Like You as You Are.

I like you as you are
Exactly and precisely
I think you turned out nicely
And I like you as you are

---Fred Rogers

Take a look inside your heart, your head and your home. Do you have enough courage, enough fortitude, enough perseverance?  Do you have enough perspective and enough material goods to get you through this day, this week, this month?

If you care to share, please post your “enoughness” in the comments section below.