Buddha Along Side the Road
hey Buddha
as i was going to work
i saw you sittin along the road
so i had to run you over
but the strangest thing happened
on my way back
you were still there
so i did it again
but the next morning
you were still there
so i smiled and drove on by
and then you were gone
I’ve been reading several Buddhism and meditation books recently. I’ve noticed though, that I’ve been put off by book from/about Tibetan Buddhism. Unfortunately, this comprises a large section of my local libraries section, including those by HH Dali Lama. The books read very dogmatically, and mystically for that matter. When I’m reading the books they talk about such things as rebirth very “matter of factly”. For a skeptical westerner as myself, it really breaks the flow of the book, and in a way makes me question the credibility/sanity of the author.
I know this sounds like a pretty harsh thing to say, but I’m just being aloud and honest with my thoughts here. I have the utmost respect and admiration for Tibetan Buddhists, especially involving thier plight with the Chinese Govt. But from a philosophical standpoint, it seems to do me no good to check these books out.
You may notice something very interesting when you slow down. As you experience more space in you mind, there is more distance between you and your emotional reactions. You may still react out of habit, but these reactions don’t really have their hooks in you. You may react out of attachment, for example, wihout feeling very attached, or you may say something aggressive without really feeling the emotion of aggression. Seeing this is the beginning of being able to separate you true nature from your habits.
It’s important to know that these emotional reactions are not who we really are. They come from learned social conventions, from what we’ve been taught to value and how we’ve been taught to react. For instance, someone cuts you off on the highway and you find yourself reacting aggressively, the way you’ve seen others do. You might even be surprised by the intensity of your reaction. In moments like this, try to slow down and reflect on your reactions. You may find them to be at odds with the way you would naturally respond.
Many habitual tendencies spring from seeds of a past we can’t even trace. They lie dormant in the alaya consciousness until they’re activated by particular causes and conditions – at which point we find ourselves reacting with attachment, jualousy, insecurity, or aggression. Regardless of where they come from, we must learn to disassociate ourselves from neurotic habitual tendencies. This doesn’t mean nnot responding to things; it means bringing awareness to our reactions. Seeing that they are neither permanent nor solid, we can relate to them in a way that is intelligent and beneficial.
Emotions can only overtake us when we are unaware of them……..But labeling our emotions as terrible or wrong has a puritanical slant. It implies that they should never occur, that we should be as pure and enlightened as a buddha…. Thy instead to work wihg your mind in a way that is more mature and in accord with practice….. The difference between not reacting and suppressing reactions lies in awarness. The key is to maintain awareness of the nature of the reaction, as well as its expression.
Just as real seeds need particular conditions in which to germinate and ripen… so does karma: The results of our actions depend on certain conditions for fruition, and we cannot foresee when these conditions will take place. Sometimes the results are immediate. For example, if we share our lunch with a friend, we might experience appreciation.
The three refuges involve strengthening our intentions to let go of suffering and to cultivate happiness. Spend a few moments considering your intentions, and then take the refuges formally using the phrases:
The key to walking and movement meditation is to focus on the movement of your body as you are performing the act. For walking this would be to focus thought on the action of walking (lifting foot, shifting weight, moving leg….). In addition, this could include walking by counting steps to 10 and then resetting. One of the keys of this and other forms of meditation is to be aware and cultivate mindfulness, if you begin to focus on seeing something, label it as seeing or hearing or thoughts, then focus your attention back to walking.
Begin to notice your thoughts, and for one week keep a journal of the kinds of thoughts that predominate. Notice the qualities associated with your thoughts. Do they bring a sense of well being? Of tension, anger, doubt, desire, contraction, or opening? Do they bring you into connection with life, or do they separate you further in the little box you are already struggling to free yourself?
Notice any physical qualities associated with your thoughts. Can you feel contraction, tension, and pressure? See if you would like to let go of unskillful thoughts and cultivate skillful ones in one particular area of your life. Write down the kinds of thoughts you would like to cultivate and the ones you would like to let go of. Keep reminding yourself of the intention.
Begin to notice the patterns of when you make an effort in your life and when you do not. What are the results? Practice one particular of the four efforts (guarding, abandoning, nourishing, and maintaining – each week for four weeks.
Take two weeks to practice each foundation of mindfulness. Start with the first foundation – the body. Focus on specific practices such as bending and stretching, eating, or bathing. Each night write down when you remembered that foundation and how it felt to you. Also, begin to notice if any patterns arise as you work through the foundations. Take a foundation and think about it before you meditate.
For increasing concentration, when you notice your mind wandering while you are in the middle of an activity, try making an effort to come back to what is happening and to remain focused on the activity as long as you are doing it. See if you can make a determination to remember more each day.
You can strengthen your capacity to be mindful in your daily life by choosing some specific prompts. Pick one simple everyday action, and use this one action in particular eto try to train yourself to remember what you are doing. It might be walking upstairs, which can bring you back to yourself through feeling the effort of thigh muscles lifting the body. It might be turning the knob to the bedroom door. It might be opening the car door. Write yourself a note in your diary, and give yourself cues that you can easily see. Write a cue on your cubicle wall. When you feel that, you have become very mindful of that action (opening a door for instance), expand that practice to one more action (closing the door or starting the car for instance), and continue adding to the exercise.
The purpose of this challenge is to immerse yourself in a psedo-buddhist lifestyle. To learn more about buddhist philosophy, and to see how I could adopt common Buddhist practices into your life. You don’t have to desire to become a monk or anything like that, but desire to achieve a higher level of inner-peace and mindfulness in your life.
There is no “key” to success in a challenge aside from perserverance. Making it for the 30 days is a success in its own, in that you get to learn about yourself and have a chance to make peace and say “I really gave it a chance”.
OK, so to the parameters. I’m going to use the Eightfold path as a general guide. The Eightfold path is meant as a means to an end of suffering.
1. Right View
Right view is the beginning and the end of the path, it simply means to see and to understand things as they really are and to realize the Four Noble Truth. I don’t see any parameters involved here.
2. Right Intention
the intention of renunciation, which means resistance to the pull of desire,. the intention of good will, meaning resistance to feelings of anger and aversion, and the intention of harmlessness, meaning not to think or act cruelly, violently, or aggressively, and to develop compassion. I need to constantly make good intent of pure thoughts and peacefulness.
3. Right Speech
mental purification can only be achieved through the cultivation of ethical conduct. Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary. Be kind, maintain calm, curb anger, speak positive, don’t put down others. This is one that I don’t think is hard for me, but I know I stray from this path daily, especially at work. I will need to keep something at work to remind me of this.
4. Right Action
right action means to act kindly and compassionately, to be honest, to respect the belongings of others, and to keep sexual relationships harmless to others. I constantly monitor my actions, and I’m pretty geniune and honest. However, I’m not very compassionate. I will need to make an effort to go out of my way to be more compassionate.
5. Right Livelihood
Right livelihood means that one should earn one’s living in a righteous way and that wealth should be gained legally and peacefully. In general, no parameters here. I’m not changing jobs or anything like that.
6. Right Effort
Mental energy is the force behind right effort; it can occur in either wholesome or unwholesome states. The same type of energy that fuels desire, envy, aggression, and violence can on the other side fuel self-discipline, honesty, benevolence, and kindness. Doing the 30 day challenge, in some ways is right effort. This can encompass many parameters, but I will not likely realize them until my effort reaches that level. A genuine way of showing right effort will be through the following of paramaters of Right Inention, Right Speech, and Right Action. Antoher parameter here could be my effort toward studying Buddhist Practices.
7. Right Mindfulness
Right mindfulness is the controlled and perfected faculty of cognition. It is the mental ability to see things as they are, with clear consciousness. Right mindfulness is anchored in clear perception and it penetrates impressions without getting carried away. Pure thoughts. A defined paramter for this would be to keep something with me at all times, perhaps in my pocket, to remind me of pure thoughts. Unfortunately, I don’t know, except through conscience, what defines a pure thought. What I mean is that we are constantly told what is pure and impure which clouds are ability to judge. Purity is a relative term and is best classified by the individual. There is no such thing as defined pure thought, so how could one know what constitutes such a thing as a pure thought?
8. Right Concentration
Right concentration, refers to the development of a mental force that occurs in natural consciousness, although at a relatively low level of intensity, namely concentration The Buddhist method of choice to develop right concentration is through the practice of meditation. A definite parameter here is the practise of meditation.
Below are the Five Mindfulness Trainings from Thich Nath Hanh. They are modern day adaptions of ancient Buddhist Principles used to achieve Nirvana. I’ve made notes on the sections representing my thoughts.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings
(according to Thich Nath Hanh, www.plumvillage.org)
-First Training-
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.
TT Comments: I definitely think that this promotes a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle. I’ve tried that and I guess I just don’t feel any guilt over eating meat. While I don’t promote factory farming, I’ve worked in several of them and I can say that many steps are taken to make sure that the animals are not stressed prior to death. The exception being chicken farming. The violence of it all doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the chemicals and growth hormones that are injected into the animals which by way of the food-chain make thier way into our bodies.
-Second Training-
Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing, and oppression, I am committed to cultivate loving kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am committed to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
TT Comments: WHile the weel being of animals, plants, and minerals doesn’t phase me, the second part is good.
-Third Training-
Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivate responsibility and learn ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society. I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without love and a long-term commitment. To preserve the happiness of myself and others, I am determined to respect my commitments and the commitments of others. I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.
-Fourth Training-
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering. Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to learn to speak truthfully, with words that inspire self-confidence, joy, and hope. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to criticize or condemn things of which I am not sure. I will refrain from uttering words that can cause division or discord, or that can cause the family or the community to break. I will make all efforts to reconcile and resolve all conflicts, however small.
-Fifth Training-
Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I am committed to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. I am aware that to damage my body or my consciousness with these poisons is to betray my ancestors, my parents, my society, and future generations. I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society. I understand that a proper diet is crucial for self-transformation and for the transformation of society.
