On Andre Roberson's Disastrous Trip to the Foul Line, and Balance

On Monday night in Oklahoma City, Thunder guard Andre Roberson was fouled by the Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson. Roberson stepped to the line and took a pair of free throws that taught us a lot about how to live in this temporary world. The first try bounced off the backboard, hit the back of the rim, and went careening into the lane. Too strong, too much power. Trying to force it. A more relaxed hand would be needed.

Roberson took a few deep breaths to center his mind and let go of the past. He just tried to relax and not force anything.

But his mind released too deeply, and he missed the rim entirely. The ball plopped sadly near the baseline and the gathered rebounders returned to the other side of the court.

In this pair of free throws, we see the whole of man's relationship with himself as laid out by Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha, all those years ago. Roberson's craving—our craving—to make that free throw sends blood coursing through his arms, sweat into his palms, anger into his heart, and the ball flying off the back of the rim. But his course correction, a weak, Diop–style soft toss, is driven instead by AVERSION, fear, and mortification, a turning away from the horrors of the world, which doesn't do us any favors, either.

It is only through the Middle Path, the denial of craving and also aversion, will the ball find its way through the hoop. To sit and observe the breath, going in and out, in and out, is to teach the mind about the essential quality of balance in the universe, to make oneself a PART of that balance, and to dismiss the noise and garbage of the world—to sink ALL your free throws, be they transcending your human form to reach a higher plane of existence, or literal free throws.

To truly learn this lesson, pay attention to the rising and falling of your breath while you watch this video of a master in practice.

Truly, a centering experience. May all beings be happy.

Back in Oklahoma City on Monday, however, that center was still missing from the game, and happiness from its participants. Conflict returned almost exactly one quarter later, in the form of Steph Curry—himself a man recently in search of his own center—and Semaj Christon muscling for position on a jump ball. Each man battling himself and the other for a place to stand until the rest were forced to intervene, including the universe's agent for chaos, Russell Westbrook.

Sometimes balance is born of conflict. Once the outburst was contained, Golden State won the jump ball, and Curry buried a deep three at the halftime buzzer. For the fourth and final time this regular season, the Warriors beat the Thunder, 111-95.