Living Beautifully – 6 – Embracing the world as is

(For Podcast, TBD.  For ITunes version, click here) 

We are continuing a series of talks on the book, Living Beautifully, with Uncertainty and Grace.  So far, we have talked about the very first vow taken in Buddhism, the Refuge Vow, when to practice these teachings by taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.  Then, a few weeks ago, I talked about the second commitment, The Bodhisattva Vow, where we vow to not worry about solely our own awakening, but to help all others become awakened as well.

Today, we come to the third commitment which can sometimes seem like stepping off into the abyss. We go one step further than the first two commitments, and step into a new way of seeing ourselves, seeing others and seeing the world and seeing whatever it is that arises.  The abyss is the groundlessness of not looking for the safe way out, not always choosing the easy option, the old way of coping.  It might at first feel like an abyss, but then we realize that this groundlessness can be our place of peace and calm, the uncertainty can become our reminder to stay curious and open. 

The Third Vow is called the Samaya Vow, which is described as accepting the world just where it is—it doesn’t mean we don’t take action, but it does mean that we respond from a place of being fully present in the moment.  Samaya is the Tibetan word for binding vow or sacred vow.  This vow builds upon the other two.  First, we practice mindfulness, and being present, taking refuge in the teachings, in our sangha, in ourselves.  Then, we can expand out to include all others in our practice, until we include it all, everything and everyone is part of our reality.  It’s interesting to me that I was watching a documentary on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that is being used with people who have severe phobias or who are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Instead of doing the old-style therapy of getting at the cause of the suffering by reviewing one’s childhood, etc, this therapy is about facing the suffering head-on.  To not look away.  To see the suffering in and of itself. 

It struck me that this direct seeing is what the Samaya Vow is all about—it is a commitment to not look away from those things that scare us.   We practice getting comfortable with a racing heart and sweaty palms, and ruminating thoughts.  I’m not a therapist, so I am not advocating that you all go out and try CBT on yourself!  There is clearly a need for help and assistance to going through this formidable process. However, there are some day-to-day issues that arise in each of our lives that we can begin to stay present with, to not run away from, and perhaps, starting with smaller circumstances or fears is a great place to begin this deeper practice.

I find it interesting to note that the Buddha’s self-assessment about sitting with whatever arises—they wrote that he is what he committed to under the Bodhi Tree—sounds a lot like CBT and now another type of therapy called Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). In fact, the founder of DBT, Marsha Linehan, uses mindfulness as one of the core processes for helping her patients with a variety of debilitating mental illnesses.

This powerful process of staying present enables us to use whatever arises as a tool for awakening.  We may be annoyed at the sound of a loud motorcycle driving by, OR we can simply use that sound and vibration to wake us up, to see that whatever is happening in this moment is a catalyst for us walking through the doorway of enlightenment.  Pema Chodron’s teacher, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, saw:

·         each moment as a portal to the timeless time, the enlightened time,

·         when we can know what needs to be known, and

·         we can respond with skill and grace,

·         in ways that ease the most suffering and create the greatest good.

It’s important to emphasize that this commitment to be present is not to stand idly by while harm and hazard is done to others or to oneself.  But rather, it is standing tall in this moment, with the presence of a spiritual warrior to face squarely whatever arises, and practice responding from a place of interconnectedness and interdependence. 

This third commitment is not about the future.  It’s about being so fully present that you will hear and see and know what needs to be known, so that you can respond in the most skillful way, so that the future will take care of itself.  We practice not being so sure about our opinions, not so sure about our perception of ourselves or of the world.  We practice not believing everything we think! We practice having a sense of curiosity about whatever it is that arises.  Pema Chodron even emphasizes that we lean into it, like a scientist exploring the details of their experiment without a hypothesis, without a pre-formed conclusion….hmmmm….what is this?

And lastly, we make friends with whatever arises.  We see ourselves in all our glory and our not-so-glory, and practice a sense of caring and calm that embraces the reality of the moment, in order to response in the most skillful way. 

Zen master Dogen said, “To know the self is to forget the self.  To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things.”

So, let’s just imagine that we can take this samaya vow and practice seeing all things and all people and all circumstances, all thoughts and all emotions and feelings as opportunities for enlightenment.  This is not to say that we must put ourselves in harm’s way to practice enlightenment.  What is being said is that we can use whatever arises as a tool for awakening.  We can practice little by little, opening up a bit more each day or each week or each month or each year—whatever pace seems right for you.  Little by little, a whole lot gets done!