Body, Speech and Mind in Perfect Oneness

I’m continuing the series of talks about the Lojong or Mind Training teachings.  This group of 59 pithy slogans is a great place to start your practice or to deepen your practice, wherever you are at.  In fact, a good reference book is Pema Chodron’s entitled, Start Where You Are.  These teachings are about opening our heart, getting comfortable with the power we have to transform the way we relate to ourselves and others.  

This week, we’ll talk about the slogans in the Sixth Point, about how we relate to others.

Point Seven: The Guidelines for Mind Training

47.  Keep the three inseparable.

What are these three?  Body Speech and Mind

Thich Nhat Hanh translation of Buddhist poem:

With body speech and mind in perfect oneness
I send my heart along with the sound of the bell
May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness
And transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow

This slogan is reminding us that we can use our body, speech and mind as tools for awakening, for transformation.  No special equipment needed.  We all have a body, we all speak and we all have a mind.  It might seem too simple, but how often are we not in sync with ourselves?  We read a lot of spiritual books, but we think or speak with anger, resentment, fear or judgment.  Or maybe we speak well but we continue to treat our bodies with disrespect.  How can we leverage the integrated power of these three tools to relieve the suffering in our lives and the lives of others?

Since it’s Easter today, I thought I’d take this opportunity to tie in the Unity perspective as well.  One of the five basic principles of Unity’s take on Christianity is the Law of Mind Action.  There’s an easy phrase to remember the concept, which is “Thoughts held in mind produce after their own kind.”  So what does that mean?

Some would say that we are what we think, but more importantly, this principle reminds us what we think determines what we experience.  If your thoughts are constantly on doom and gloom, you will see doom and gloom all around you.  This isn’t about being Pollyana and having no awareness of the realities of the moment, but rather it’s about seeing what’s happening and looking for the good, giving others and yourself the benefit of the doubt.  There’s a cute little story about when you see a pile of poop, you can imagine that there must be a pony in there somewhere.

The most fundamental Buddhist practice is mindfulness and meditation.  It is the foundation of the entire teachings.  Why?  I would offer that it’s so important because the law of mind action.  If we are to harness this principle, we must start by being aware of what we are currently thinking.  Reflect back on the meditation that we just had.  What were the top three thoughts that kept coming back up for you?  Was it situation you’re dealing with, a person you were thinking about?  Thoughts arise, and we need to be aware of what is arising, in order to train our minds to be more skillful.    We start by recognizing our thoughts, loosening their grip, then replacing the random thoughts with consciously directed thoughts on loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity/wisdom.  Our minds are our most powerful instruments.

Everything began as a thought.  Everything in this room started out as someone imagining what it might be.  In fact, everyone in this room started out as a thought.  Isn’t that true?  Wow! That’s how powerful thoughts are.  So, in Buddhism and in Unity, we are learning to train our thoughts to create more positive outcomes. 

Next is speech.  The thoughts alone aren’t enough to make something happen.  We have to speak them as well.  Skillful speech is one of the steps on the eightfold path.  How can speaking relieve suffering in our lives?   Pick a memorable conversation you had with someone in this last week.  As you reflect on that conversation, how would you categorize your speech?  What impact did it make?  When we stop to reflect, we all know how powerful words are, and what an great opportunity they provide to relieve suffering.  I was finally watching the movie, the King’s Speech last night, and it brought home the power of words.  Think of the power of Hitler’s words…and the power of Mother Theresa’s words. 

I also want to take time to reflect on the written word.  Anybody ever sent an email to one person commenting about another person?  And then, oops, somehow the person you were writing about sees the email or it gets forwarded to them?  I was wondering if, in addition to spell check, we could have a Buddhist tool for emails, called skillful speech check, that would read over our emails, and ask us questions about whether we were writing to relieve suffering or increase suffering?

Lastly, we put into action our thoughts and speech through our deeds.  Ask yourself the question. How in sync are you with your intentions and your actions?  We might want to just read a bunch of Buddhist books and spout a bunch of Buddhist phrases, then go home and overeat and smoke and overdrink and underexercise.  We could and sometimes we do, but if we wake up to the way this spiritual path actually works, we will realize that the greatest way to reduce the suffering in our own lives and the lives of others is to take care of our bodies, along with our speech and our thoughts. 

This principle of mind action is more universal than just a Buddhist or Unity or Christian thought.  In Judaism, particularly in Kabbalah, the law of attraction is a key teaching, that our words and our deeds, have the power to draw us closer to, or farther away, from God.  The power in this teaching is the recognition of the power in ourselves to change our experience of the world. 

"You want a better, more just world? Well then, start building it. Who is stopping you? Build it inside yourself and around you.  Build it with those who want it. Build it small, and it will grow."

-- Lanza del Vasto,  Italian follower of Mahatma Gandhi 

Spiritual Courage and fearlessness

I’m continuing the series of talks about the Lojong or Mind Training teachings.  This group of 59 pithy slogans is a great place to start your practice or to deepen your practice, wherever you are at.  In fact, a good reference book is Pema Chodron’s entitled,  Start Where You Are.  A reminder that these teachings are about opening our heart, getting comfortable with the power we have to transform the way we relate to  ourselves and others. 

This week, we’ll talk about a slogan in the Seventh Point, about how we relate to others.

44.  Learn the Three difficult points

Last week, we talked about hindrances, and this week difficulties!?  Hang in there with me!  There’s some joy coming at the end of this talk. 

Jamgon Kontrul is one of the commentators on these original teachings by Atisha, and he said,

"At first, it is difficult to recognize disturbing emotions. Second, it is difficult to overcome them. Third, it is difficult to keep up the practice. Therefore, you should train in these three points. First, recognize disturbing emotions for what they are as soon as they arise. Then, stop them by taking corrective measures. Finally, be decisive in your attitude that we will continue to get beyond these disturbing emotions, until they lose all power and fade away."

It’s about recognizing that we are stepping on our own feet, and figuring out a way to stop it.  We often get irritated at what others do to us, but my belief is that there’s plenty to work on what we do to ourselves.

So what are these disturbing emotions?  What emotions do you experience that get you all wrapped around the axle, get your panties in a wad, push your buttons, make you go off the deep end, set you off.   It's amazing how many slang terms there are for getting hooked by disturbing emotions.  This is an opportunity to recognize that we are all in the same boat.  We may feel like we’re the only person that has this level of resentment or anger, or depression or sadness, or whatever the disturbing emotion might be.

I want to suggest that all disturbing emotions have one foundation, and that is fear.  We are afraid of something, afraid of something hurting us, afraid of something changing, afraid of something NOT changing, afraid of the unknown. 

Let’s put this to the test.  Bring to mind some of your disturbing emotions.  What wakes you up in the middle of the night?  What hangs you up? What makes you uncomfortable?  What causes you to act unskillfully?  It might help to think back in the last few weeks, and remember a specific time that you felt disturbing emotions. ………….  Now ask yourself, what is the basis of this emotion?  What is the cause of this reaction?

This teaching is about how to create more joy in our lives.  An underlying sense of fear in our lives can make everything a whole lot less joyful.   Fear can hang over us, subtly define us, like, in that anti-depression pill commercial, where a dark cloud follows the person around in every activity of their day, sucking the joy out of the moment. This slogan is encouraging us to look at that dark cloud, encouraging us that when we face, go through and beyond our difficult emotions, life becomes more joyful.

I come from a family of worriers.  So, I have a tendency to worry about a multitude of things.  I’m hoping some of you can relate.  There was always a tacit belief that worrying is doing something productive.  I often felt that if I couldn’t do anything else, I could at least worry!  Okay maybe pray a little as well, but in my family, worry was often seen as a viable response to a fearful situation. 

A friend of mine was helping his son start a commercial building business, and the son was at the point where he had his own company and his own crew and his own deals.  One day, the son found out that his demolition crew had started to demolish the wrong building, and at first it was unclear how to fix the problem or how much money it would cost.  He found this out at around 5 pm on a Thursday and wouldn’t have additional answers that he would need until the next day.  He called his father and they brainstormed some possible solutions, but clearly did not have enough information to make any decisions at that time.  At 8 pm, his dad told his son that for the next 12 hours, that he would worry for his son, that his son could get a good night’s sleep, let go of any worry about the situation, and in the morning at 8 am, the son could call him, and the dad would return the responsibility for worrying back over to him.  It might sound silly, but what good did the worry really do?  And, when we have a difficult situation, isn’t it often the case that we need to set the problem down for awhile, then come back to it to find a better answer?

So, you might wonder--aren’t some fears helpful?  Let’s see.  I think it’s important to separate out the emotion of fear from being prudent and having proper planning.  We can know not to run into the street without looking, without fearing cars.  We can manage our money properly, without constantly fearing financial ruin.  

So, this is not just about dealing with so-called irrational fears, though many of us have those as well.  This is about dealing with all fears, including the ones about things that actually might happen.  We may be afraid of getting sick,  yep—that most likely will happen.  And our loved ones very likely will get sick as well.  We might lose all our money—now I hope that wouldn’t happen, and we should all be good money managers, but what if it did happened?  We may be afraid of dying—yep, I can pretty much guarantee that everyone is this room is going to die some day. 

So, how can we confront and overcome these difficult emotions?  I would suggest that it’s about finding that innate wisdom within ourselves, and allowing that to create courage.

Courage is defined as the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.  Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death, while spiritual courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, the ability to overcome shame, scandal, or discouragement.  That is spiritual courage.

As we practice together, we are building our spiritual courage, just like building up a muscle in our body.  We start to run towards the fear instead of away from it.  In the Buddhist teachings, it is taught that everyone has within them Buddha Nature, innate wisdom, innate strength and courage.  No one is left out.  Not one.  No matter how fearful you might feel at this moment or some moment in the future, you still have within you Buddha Nature, Christ Consciousness, to face those fears, those disturbing emotions, and get beyond them.  Everyone has courage within them, waiting to be tapped.  

Jennifer Baltz writes a spiritual blog entitled Creative Spirit, and in it she wrote, "I believe that spiritual courage is the art of remembering.  Remembering that we are never truly alone…we are all in the same boat.  that we are part of All That Is.  Even when we forget and close our ears and eyes to that connection, we are still part of the Whole.  And this awareness can give wings to our spiritual courage, intuition and ideas, because it allows  each of us to be unique and special, and still be part of the Whole.”

So, it is difficult to recognize disturbing emotions, and it is difficult to overcome them and to keep up the practice. Therefore, you should train in these three points. First, recognize disturbing emotions for what they are as soon as they arise. Second, stop them by taking corrective measures by applying our innate courage to see the fear and make friends with it. Third, we can make it a priority in our life to get beyond the fear, until it loses all power and fades away. Through this simple process, we will all find a whole lot more joy than we ever thought possible.   

One Intention and Two Activities

I’m continuing the series of talks about the Lojong or Mind Training teachings.  This group of 59 pithy slogans is a great place to start your practice or to deepen your practice, wherever you are at.  In fact, a good reference book is Pema Chodron’s entitled,  Start Where You Are.  A reminder that these teachings are about opening our heart, getting comfortable with the power we have to transform the way we relate to  ourselves and others.  This week, we’ll talk about a couple of the slogans in the Seventh Point which focuses on mind training guidelines.

39.  All Activities Should Be Done With One Intention

Pema Chodron’s teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, said it well.  "The one intention is to have a sense of gentleness toward others and a willingness to be helpful to others - always. That seems to be the essence of the Bodhisattva vow. In whatever you do - sitting, walking, eating, drinking, even sleeping - you should always take the attitude of being of benefit to all beings."

Buddhism has been around for 2500 years, and millions of people have practiced these teachings, and found them to work, and have become deeply happy from using them.  Also, these teachings have now been scientifically studied through MRI and Brain scans, and we can confirm that the practices have positive impact on our ability to be deeply happy.  So, if all this is true, why doesn’t everyone just practice these teachings?  Why don’t we all have as our only intention, a sense of gentleness toward others and a willingness to be helpful to others - always.

What are earth is stopping us from doing all activities with this one intention?  What’s stopping me? What’s stopping you? 

This slogan provides a great opportunity to discuss the five hindrances, because, as all those millions of people who have practiced these teachings can validate, most of them were just like you and me, and most of them had the same obstacles and issues that we have trying to do this practice.  For example, the Pali Canon is the earliest surviving original teachings of the Buddha to be written down and preserved, and the five hindrances are discussed frequently. SO, these hindrances have been obstacles for over 2500 years!  

(From Wikipedia)

*Sensual desire (kāmacchanda): Craving for pleasure to the senses.

*Aversion (byāpāda, vyāpāda): Pushing things and people away

*Laziness or boredom (thīna-middha): We do things Half-heartedly action with little or no concentration.

*Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): An inability to calm the mind.

*Doubt (vicikicchā): When we question for no other reason than to avoid change.

Desire: Not all bad.  We desire to be enlightened, We desire to help others, we desire to be a good person.  But isn’t much of our desire is just to please our senses.  Buddhists aren’t against pleasure, but often we aren’t even present when we’re seeking pleasure we think we so desperately need.  After the fourth hour sitting in front of the TV, are you still getting that same zing of pleasure you got when you first sat down.  After the fourth drink, or fourth cigarette or tenth cookie or whatever your particular vice might be.  Is it really bringing you all that much pleasure or is it standing in the way of being fully present?

And Aversion:  Not all bad.  We push away unskilled behavior.  We push away things and people that hurt us.  But when we look closely, we might find a lot of aversion in our life that is more about trying to get to this completely comfortable external world, so we don’t have to deal with some unpleasantness in life.  We avoid tough conversations that we know we need to have.  We avoid seeing our actions and the results that they cause.  What are you avoiding that needs to be looked at? 

Lama Surya Das says that we need to pay attention to our intention. When we truly pay attention to our intention, we can be more aware of what our true intention is. 

Third and fourth are opposites:  Restlessness (worry) and boredom:  Often when I sit down to meditate, I’m so restless that it feels uncomfortable to sit still, my mind is racing, I’m physically uncomfortable, I start to worry about all sorts of stuff.  Our minds have been trained to be constantly entertained, and when we take away that entertainment, the mind continues to try and busy itself.  Or the opposite happens, I sit down to meditate, and immediately feel like I want to take a nap.  Now, I might be actually tired and need more sleep, but often it feels like just boredom.  My mind has been trained that if it’s not busy doing something, it just wants to go to sleep.   Recognizing these two games that our mind play with us to avoid be fully present, recognizing them helps us overcome them. 

These teachings help us recognize when our minds our goading us to shut down or to be distracted.  If my intention is to wake up, because I know that is where deep happiness lies, I use my attention to be aware when my mind is getting me off-track.

We can make a game of seeing these hindrances arise.  "Oh, here comes restlessness again."  "Here comes aversion." Recognize the games that your mind plays with you being questions.  "What's really going on with me?  Examine the obstacles, and even being willing to sit with not knowing and see what comes up.

The last hindrance, and often the most challenging, is doubt.  The Buddha taught that we are not supposed to take these teachings at face value.  We are not supposed to blindly believe them.  We’re supposed to have a healthy dose of skepticism.  But doubt can also be a way that we avoid changing.

When we question things just to keep from changing, then doubt itself becomes an obstacle, a hindrance to happiness.

When you are having doubt, I can’t tell you whether it’s healthy skepticism or change avoidance.  ONLY YOU KNOW which kind of doubt it is, and you will only know if you’re willing to examine your doubt more closely. 

So, how do we overcome these five hindrances of Desire, Aversion, Restlessness, Laziness and Doubt?

 

The 41^st slogan gives some good advice, about examining them

41.  Two Activities: One at the Beginning, One at the End

Pema Chodron encourages us to begin each morning, saying, “May I see what I do. When things happen, may I act with an awakened heart and may that be a way of life for me.”

Then during the day,   If good things are happening to you, you wish that all beings would have this happiness.  If bad things are happening, we recognize that all beings suffer in this same way.  We seek to broaden our perspective.

And at the end of the night, you reflect on your day.  How did I do?  Here is an important caveat:  Not in some punishing way, like I was bad, but we must examine our life, in order to change.  What could I do differently tomorrow?

In all the commentaries on these two slogans, there is wonderful advice to use whatever is happening in your life as fuel for waking up.

Watch for and examine desire, aversion, restlessness, boredom and doubt….and pay attention to your intention

“May I see what I do. When things happen, may I act with an awakened heart, and may that be a way of life for me.”

Abandon any hope of fruition

As we continue discussing the Lojong (mind training) teachings by Atisha, we come to Slogan #28:  Abandon any hope of fruition

What? Give up Hope?

This is actually a fundamental Buddhist teaching.  I gave a similar talk back in January of 2009, and I remember it was the month when President Obama was inaugurated.  Most of you may know that he had written a book called, the Audacity of Hope.   I felt a little un-American promoting such a strange concept of giving up hope! 

But let’s talk about what hope implies.  Hope by its very definition includes that there is some reason that we want things to be different.  That there is something that is not good enough in this present moment, that we are not good enough in this present moment. If you’re hoping for anything, you’re wishing things were different than how they actually are. 

Pema Chodron calls this one of the most powerful teachings of the Buddhist tradition, and she says that as long as you are wishing for things to change, they never will. As long as you're wanting yourself to get better, you won't. As long as you have an orientation toward the future, you can never just relax into what you already have or already are.  The very definition of hope is future focused.

We are all trying to make our pain go away, but with hope we are trying to make it go away by not accepting what is truly happening in this moment right now.  Buddhism teaches that everything we need is available to us in this moment, ALL we have to do is to  continually practice being fully present.  In this moment, you might be feeling sad or happy, depressed or aggravated, or irritated or sleepy.  In this moment, ask yourself the question, “What am I feeling and thinking in this exact moment?”  We have to be in touch with what is really going on to have a place to start.  Not to wallow in any misery, but to acknowledge it as fact. To start where we are.

I also found it interesting that Pema said that she realized that she was holding onto hope for herself as well.   She admitted that she had been unconsciously thinking for decades that she was going to come to a place in the future when she was really enlightened, that there was something going to happen sometime in the future.  After decades of practice, she realized that the enlightenment had been happening all along the way, inch by inch, step by step, in each moment, and she let go of hoping for some big bang in the future. Letting go of hope for the future enabled her to cherish the gifts in each moment. 

In Buddhism, we are learning to full accept this present moment, with all the messiness that may imply.   Not in some esoteric, conceptual way, but right now, right here, as you read this, in this moment, accepting yourself just the way you are.  That’s the first and most important step to finding happiness in life.  It doesn’t mean that you will never change, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t things you can do differently, but you can begin each moment by living from the truth.

I have a dear friend who is a recovering alcoholic.  Ten years ago, he had pretty much destroyed his entire life with drinking—job gone, family gone, friends that remained were just drinking buddies.  He hit bottom and began going to AA meetings. Around him swirled money issues, bankruptcies, pain, anxiety, fear, the realization of the havoc he had wreaked on his own life and the lives of others.  It wasn’t enough to hope that the future was going to get better, he was in an intense pain in the here and now.  He told me that one way he got through it was to find some moments of peace, by letting go of the past and forgetting about the future, JUST for the hour that he spent in the AA meetings. He told himself that in that hour, he could set aside all his troubles, and just be there, and recognize in that hour, there was no pain except the pain in his mind. He was able to find enough peace to carry on, to make the changes needed, by just being fully present.  That was ten years ago.  It worked.

There’s a new I-Phone app called, “Last night didn’t happen” and it erases all twitters, facebook updates and pictures from the last 12 hours.  Of course, we know we can’t erase what actually happened, and this is not encouragement to act irresponsible, but the past is done.  Jack Kornfield says that wisdom is giving up hope for a better past.  

There was a t-shirt that a comedian was wearing on Comedy Central.  It said, “You are here”.  You are here.  That is it.  You are not in the past, You are not in the future.  You are here.  Reading this, in this moment.  We need to remind ourselves of that on a regular basis. 

So, now that I’ve destroyed everyone’s hopes, let’s see what we can replace that with. 

Inspiration: The exact definition is Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.  Inspiration is incorporated in the the first two steps of the eightfold path:  Right View and Right Intention.  We can begin each moment with a passion for practicing presence.  The very word, Inspiration is also the word for breathing in. As we breathe in, we can be reminded, of the innate wisdom within us.  We can be inspired in each moment to make skillful decisions.  Each present moment, we are creating the future.  Not by passively hoping, but by actively being inspired to greatness.  Even if greatness is just about not responding in the old ways.  

This week, allow yourself to be inspired with each breath.  Try letting go of hope.  Just be present with each inbreath and outbreath.   Abandon any hope of fruition.  There will never be a special moment in the future when you will be fully enlightened.  You are being enlightened little by little in every moment of every day, and giving up hope actually helps.