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Faith and Mind Not Separate

9/30/2015

There’s a line in an ancient Chinese poem, “Affirming Faith in Mind,” that says, “When faith and mind are not separate, and not separate are mind and faith, this is beyond all words, all thought. For here there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.” In other words, there is only the present moment, which is the only reality; all else is thought.

Given the strength of the ego, this is not an easy state to reach. It’s always trying to intervene. But I realized during a recent meditation that actually I was often in that state and I was aware why.

First, I am always very clear that all I want in life is to be at peace and experience happiness in the moment.

Second, I know that all I need to be happy is to offer others joy, be in the company of loved ones and friends, respect my mind, respect my body, be in touch with nature, and live within my means.

Third, I know that my natural state is peace, harmony, love, beauty, faith, trust, and happiness.

Fourth, I know that all I need to be at peace, in my natural state, is to be aware of the emptiness of all five skandhas, that they are all a product of the mind, that they cause suffering and so are not my true self, and choose to not engage them and return instead to my unborn Buddha mind.

Fifth, I have faith that regardless what life throws my way, I will always go deep inside myself and return home to my true Buddha nature and so be at peace and experience happiness in the moment.

As I have often written, faith is the beginning and end of one’s practice. Faith in the Buddha dharma and faith in oneself, in one’s unborn Buddha mind. It is that faith that allows us to face the challenges of life and yet maintain a state of peace and happiness, rather than suffer and experience samsara.

We are never home free. Our ego is always waiting for a weak moment, a chance to assert itself. But as I become stronger, as the seeds of my true Buddha nature are watered and the roots grow deeper, there is less opportunity for the ego to assert itself, and when it does arise it is more likely that I will be aware and not engage it, allowing it instead to subside. And so over time, without me nourishing it, it will become weaker and weaker.

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Imagining in Meditation

9/28/2015

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Recently during a dharma discussion at the local Shambhala center, part of the reading mentioned using imagination as part of the meditation process … imagine something specific happening that would normally upset you and “see” how you could react to the situation differently in a spiritual way. The idea is to prepare yourself for the eventuality.

When I first heard this, it seemed a bit odd as it was the opposite of being present. But during a meditation several days later, I decided to incorporate this with regard to a situation that was coming up and which might be somewhat upsetting if I wasn’t aware.

I imagined various scenarios and saw how I would habitually respond and how I could instead respond spiritually by understanding that the action that was upsetting was an expression of the other person’s suffering. Also, I saw myself entering the group more joyously, with a heart-felt wish that everyone experience happiness. As a result, in this imagining I felt no slight and felt one with the group.

When the event actually happened, I followed through with my meditation’s imagining. I purposefully approached the group joyously, my interactions with people were thus different, and people responded. When I saw people who I felt had slighted me in the past, I saw that their action was an expression of their suffering and felt no more slight and only wanted happiness for them. There was one person towards whom I initially had a somewhat critical judgmental reaction, but I caught myself and turned that around to compassion.

So the imagining process definitely altered my actual experience of the event. This past weekend held the potential for several stressors so I thought this was another opportunity to imagine. And again, when I imagined experiencing things that would upset me, raising negative emotions, I said no, my natural state is harmony and peace and I let the emotions go that disturbed that harmony and peace, knowing these were all a product of my mind and that things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is. And it worked in reality.

I know it must sound strange or even troubling that someone who is as seriously into their practice as I am, who has been doing it for more than 20 years, and who has made much meaningful progress on the path still is beset with the types of challenges which I openly relate in my posts.

But that is a fact of living in this world. It is a constant challenge no matter how far along the path one is. It’s a reflection of how deeply rooted our ego-mind is. One can only do the best one can. And as the years go by, one is rewarded with ever-more moments, hours, and days of peace and happiness.

This is a meditation practice I will continue when appropriate.

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A Path to Compassion and Loving Kindness

9/24/2015

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Many people have a very hard time feeling compassion and loving kindness towards those who have hurt or offended them in some way or for people who are demonstrably evil. I have written in the past that understanding both the truth of universal suffering … that we all suffer, whether rich or poor, powerful or powerless … and that we don’t really have free will because we are programmed by our learned experiences to act and think within a rather narrow range of options is key towards opening up the door to having compassion for all.

Recently I received several teachings, one of which, while making the same point, uses different words, different phrasing, making the teaching more accessible and thus easier to implement. The other builds on that by again, while not making a different point than I’ve often made about the primacy of offering others joy, putting it in different words.. If you’ve been reading my posts, you know how important I think semantics can be in improving accessibility and understanding.

The first is that the things we experience that tend to upset us, whether it’s the actions of individuals or society, are an expression of someone’s or our collective suffering. If something is an expression of someone’s suffering, than how could one possibly be upset with the person as a result of the experience. There is no free will involved here.

The second teaching is that love is the greatest protector from suffering, with love being defined as a heartfelt desire for others to experience happiness. How can one not desire that everyone in the world experience happiness?

The obvious answer would be, “If you hate someone, it’s easy not to wish that they experience happiness.” Ah, but if you believe in the first teaching I shared above, then how can you hate someone? You may be upset with their actions, but how can you hate them?

Even regarding someone who has done evil, how can you not wish that their suffering end and they thus experience happiness (which would also mean that their evil ways would end to the benefit of everyone)?

If your ego-mind responds that people who do evil things shouldn’t get away with it, that that wouldn’t be justice, that misses the point. First they aren’t getting away with it, both because they suffer and because if it’s serious enough that they’ve broken a law society will exact some form of penance. But more importantly, if what someone does is an expression of their suffering and not their free will, if they've been programmed by their mind's reaction to their life experiences to do what they do, then they are responsible but not to blame.

Our justice system is based on responsibility.
And so this doesn’t mean abandoning our justice system, throwing our hands up, and accepting anarchy. There is in general nothing wrong with our laws. In a civilized, ordered society, people cannot go around harming others regardless what their definition of right and wrong is, regardless their life experience.

Compassion is about compassion. It does not imply letting people harm others in violation of the law. However, it does or should impact how those who are convicted are treated; rehabilitation should be the goal, not retribution. (See my post, "Prisons as Monasteries not Dungeons," at PreservingAmericanValues.blogspot.com)

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Discipline - It’s Essential

9/17/2015

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To make real progress on the spiritual path, it often comes down to discipline. You can believe in the Buddha dharma, you can have received powerful teaching and read meaningful books, but if you do not apply discipline to your spiritual practice, your progress will be limited because the challenges we face in walking the path are so great.

Discipline is necessary in several ways. The first is discipline in your meditation practice. For the last 20+ years, I have meditated every morning after I get up. I have not missed a single day regardless where I was, whether I was traveling, whether I was sick, or whether I overslept. My meditation might be shortened if not as much time is available, but never skipped. Pick a time of day that will work for you regardless what is going on in your life. That’s why I picked first thing in the morning.

Discipline is necessary in the content of your meditation. If you include mantras or affirmations as part of your meditation, they should be chanted every day … not in a way that becomes rote and meaningless but in a way that keeps them fresh, which requires that you be present. Yes, even when meditating, it is totally possible for one not to be present!

Remember that you are trying to change a paradigm, your view of yourself and the world around you, that has been in place for most of your lifetime. Changing that will not happen overnight, or even over the course of several months or a year. You will start seeing a change soon after you start practice, but the path is never ending and will continue for the rest of your life.

Without discipline, you will not be able to ward off the tendency of the mind to say, “I’ve done that. It’s old. There’s no need to keep doing it.” Buddhist practice is most often about focusing on the most basic elements. Even after you’ve been practicing for decades, it’s always necessary to remind oneself to go back to basics … posture, breath, concentration on a point on the floor 4-6 feet in front of you. Don’t forget that even enlightened ones meditate for hours every day. The struggle is that great.

But discipline is not just about meditation. Actually, that’s the easiest part of discipline. The real struggle is implementing your practice throughout the day, It is one thing to be present, at peace, knowing that things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is when you’re sitting on your cushion in a quiet, serene space. It is another when you come face to face with all the challenges in life, all the things that push your buttons, and all the distractions.

There are two ways to meet this challenge. The one is to go ever deeper into your self, into your spirituality, reaching an abiding with your faith in your true Buddha nature. The other is the discipline to bring yourself back to the present as often as possible during the course of the day. Because even if you go deeper into your spirituality, every moment that your mind pulls you from being present is a moment where you lose access to your spirituality.

It’s very easy to allow oneself to be pulled into the mind’s grasp or to be distracted. That’a our default way of life; it’s being lazy. It’s a lot of work to constantly be on guard and pull ourselves back to the present.

There is no easy answer regarding how to do this. One answer is to meditate on the positive things that are your self, your true Buddha nature … harmony, love, faith, trust, patience, compassion, forgiveness. When you focus on these as the truth and see as your task reflecting back anything that would disturb this harmony, to imprint itself on you, it is more likely that when such things happen, you will be aware of it arising, stop and say, “no,” and allow the temptation to subside.

The other technique is more mechanical and deals more with the problem of distraction. At one point in my practice years ago, I decided that every hour on the hour I would stop, focus on my breathing, and bring myself back to the present. And it worked. Not only for those moments, but since I was thinking about bringing myself back to the present on the next hour, I tended to be more aware throughout the intervening hours.

But I am human and at some point after a few days I grew tired of this “work.” Purely out of laziness and a lack of discipline I stopped doing this practice.

Recently during a meditation, I again was made aware, as I so often am, how I stray from the spiritual path mostly on “minor” matters, do not react to myself or the world around me in a spiritual way, because I am not present. It’s not that I don’t love myself unconditionally or that I haven’t placed my will and my life in the hands of my true Buddha nature or know that I am secure, etc. It’s that I am not present, and when I’m not present that awareness of self is not available. And that is primarily a function of my being lazy and, in this one regard, lacking the necessary discipline.

All because something is not a matter of sufficient import to raise a red flag or because one just becomes distracted. But as I’ve learned, even small things that pull you away, that pull you back into your habit-energy of thinking about yourself or through your perspective, impact your inner harmony and disturb your peace. Every single thing, no matter how trivial, that disturbs your harmony should raise a red flag.

I do not beat myself up not should you. We are all human beings struggling to find our way back to peace and happiness after a lifetime of samsara caused by our learned experience. All we can do is the best we can. Be as disciplined as you can, and know when you aren’t that one can always commit oneself to be more disciplined. One can always go deeper.

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Seeking Guidance from Buddha Mind Not Ego Mind

9/2/2015

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We have gone through our lives depending on our ego-mind for advice and guidance on every action we take, whether personal or professional. Since we have regarded ourselves as one with our ego mind, this was totally natural.

Even after we become aware that our true self is not our ego-mind, and that our ego-mind causes us much suffering, and even after turning our will and our lives over to the care of our Buddha mind, very much of our habit-energy is still taken up with listening to the chatter of our ego-mind.

If it enters into an area which is a red flag for us, we hopefully catch it, stop, and go deep within ourselves and return to our unborn Buddha mind. But for all the countless instances where the subject matter or our reaction does not raise a red flag, I at least have blindly continued to listen my ego-mind.

This divide in my awareness of the activity of my ego-mind was brought home to me recently when a friend was relating that after the universe told him to let go of his ego, he decided to seek guidance solely from the universe and not from his ego-mind because he knows that the ego-mind’s judgement is not to be trusted, his ego-mind causes suffering, and so he cannot put his well-being in the hands of his ego-mind.

When I heard that, a light bulb went on in my head. Although I had surrendered my ego to my true Buddha nature years ago and turned my will and my life over to the care of my true Buddha nature, since the implementation of this is all dependent on awareness, I was so focused on the red flag areas of my thought, the things that clearly caused suffering, that all the others areas of my ego-mind’s activity continued unaffected, which I have often noted in posts with some chagrin.

But what my friend related to me reminded me that ANY activity of my ego-mind was to be dismissed … bad judgment is just as harmful as mental suffering. (It’s not that I didn’t know this before, I just didn’t act on it; it wasn’t a priority.) Now when I am aware of its chatter, I stop and say, “Thank you very much, but I’m seeking guidance now from my unborn Buddha mind.” As the poem “Affirming Faith in Mind” says, “when all is seen with equal mind … true faith pervades our life. All’s self-revealing, void and clear without exerting power of mind.”

I recently applied this new teaching. My mind was chattering on about what I should do when the time comes to leave where I’m living now. It all seemed harmless and was not causing me anxiety, although obviously I wasn’t present. But when I stopped and went deep inside and asked my unborn Buddha mind what to do, it said immediately that the question was irrelevant. I’m here now and I should make the most of where I am, be open to all the present moment offers and find happiness here. When the time comes to move on, my unborn Buddha mind will know and will provide an answer. Not my ego-mind. A very practical exercise.

In a similar vein, the other night, my friend shared a spiritual reading with me that said that if you felt fear, or any other mind-emotion, that was an indication that you were doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, at least not at that moment. The reading didn’t say, “accept the fear,” or “know that the fear is not you and let it go,” it said discontinue the activity.

This is another way of receiving guidance. When we have a question to ask, ask it of your unborn Buddha mind, not your ego-mind. But when you are engaged in activity and you are feeling a mind-emotion, whether it’s love or anger or whatever, stop because you know that the fact that you are feeling this emotion means that the activity is coming from your ego-mind not your unborn Buddha mind. If it were the latter you would not feel a mind-emotion.

Now this can happen for one of two reasons. The one is that the activity is unskillful, inherently harmful. Period. The other is that while the activity is in and of itself skillful, that is it’s in keeping with the Five Precepts, it’s application in this instance is unskillful because it is coming from a place which lacks equanimity. For example, you help someone but you do it not because you want to offer joy, but you want to be seen helping others or thought of as someone who helps others. And so the activity is not arising from our unborn Buddha mind. it is tainted. The reader may ask, “If you’re helping someone, why should you stop just because of the impure intention?” The reason is that because the intention is impure, there’s a strong possibility that you are not really helping the person.

In either case, this recent teaching says that if fear or some other mind-emotion arises, stop the activity. Do not proceed with it because you realize that fear or other emotion is just a product of the mind and is not you and you let it go. The fact that you feel a mind-emotion tells you that the activity is coming from your ego-mind and you must stop. If it is an otherwise skillful activity, as in the previous example, stop until you experience equanimity so that it arises from your unborn Buddha mind, not your ego-mind. Then you can proceed.

Please note, this post is about how we approach things that we choose to do. When things are done to us, when we experience things, we have no option but to experience what happens. We can’t stop them typically. We do, however, have a choice how we react to those experiences. That is the situation in which we apply the teaching that fear, for example, is just a product of the mind, it is not ourself, and so we choose to let it go, not engage it, and instead return home to our unborn Buddha mind and experience things directly, with dispassion, knowing that things are the way they are because it’s just the way it is. And so we are able to experience the world around us free from anger and agitation.

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