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 41st 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.”
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