Pre-Election Day Dharma

Given our current political climate, it's hard for me to let these words sink in:

The Buddha said, "To be attached to a certain view and to look down upon other views as inferior--this the wise call a fetter."

from the Sutta Nipata

Hopefully one day we'll all learn how to debate the issues without having to diminish other people and their views.

Behavior vs Insight

An ancient worthy once said, "I do not concern myself so much with your behavior. My sole concern is that you attain correct insight."

Commentary

A long time ago, replying to a question posed by his teacher, Zen Master Wei-shan, Venerable Yang-shan said, "The forty volumes of the Nirvana Sutra are all pure demon speech." Such was Venerable Yang-shan's keen eye. When Yang-shan proceeded to ask his teacher about the importance of behavior, or deportment, in his practice, Master Wei-shan replied, "I do not concern myself so much with your behavior. My sole concern is that you attain correct insight."

-The Mirror of Zen: The Classic Guide to Buddhist Practice by Zen Master So Sahn

Interestingly I opened this book up today for the first time in a few months and came across this passage. Very timely since I just wrote yesterday about my feelings on people's erroneous ideas about what it means to be a "good buddhist."

Being a Good Buddhist

Sometimes people are surprised by certain things I say or do, and react with something like "I didn't think you were allowed to say something like that!", " That was very un-Buddhist of you" or "I thought Buddhists weren't supposed to act that way!"

I tell people in these instances that I'm a Buddhist, not an actor.

One major point of practice for me is to be fully aware of what my mind is doing at any given moment. When I do that, while my actions might be far from perfect, I'm at least infusing them with enough awareness so that I can respond in a more appropriate way the next time similar conditions present themselves.

I'm not saying that we should be able to do whatever the hell we want without exercising good judgment and a high degree of regard for other people, but once in a while we all have a very human moment where we react from a place of conditioned habit rather than wisdom. Very often we feel pissed off or jealous or angry or sad and there’s no use in pretending we’re above those basic human emotions. We don't have to be whipped by our passing feelings and use them as excuses for bad behavior, but it's important to fully acknowledge whatever we're experiencing at any given moment without feeling like there's something wrong with us.

And sometimes the most appropriate response in a given situation looks very different than our idea of what “being spiritual” means. I want to puke when someone has a perpetually plastered grin on their face even when they’re clearly annoyed or upset about something. There’s a difference between denial and equanimity.


There is no clear way to be a “good buddhist” other than practicing regularly and having compassion for one’s self and others. When we keep doing this, the rest falls into place naturally and we can respond to life without any hindrance or contrived behaviors that answer to some narrow view of what “being a Buddhist” is supposed to mean.

Bloodstream Sermon

Trying to find a Buddha or enlightenment is like trying to grab space. Space has a name but no form. It’s not something you can pick up or put down. And you certainly can’t grab if. Beyond mind you’ll never see a Buddha. The Buddha is a product of the mind. Why look for a Buddha beyond this mind? 

-Bloodstream Sermon

We are socialized to believe that in order to feel whole and complete, we need to look outside of ourselves. If we just read this book, take that class or find a spouse, somehow the persistent void that permeates much of our daily experience will be filled and we can finally be Happy.  All of our problems will be solved and finally we can magically morph into the perfect version of ourselves. 

 

Most people spend a good deal of their lives operating like this and few if any ever step off of the hamster wheel long enough to realize how futile it is to view life in this way.

 

It’s as if a change in material wealth, relationship status, weight, or physical attractiveness is that one thing standing between us and our Happiness. However the only thing standing between ourselves and our happiness is our mind and what it creates.

 

It’s the awareness of the process that ultimately frees us from it. Simply recognizing the particular stories, emotions, and thought patterns we engage in allows for some space in which all of this can be transformed. So instead of reacting in our usual, habitual way the next time we’re confronted with those familiar thoughts, we have more options. We can respond appropriately rather than impulsively. We don’t have to get carried away with anger, fear, jealousy, anxiety, or rage. When we experience those emotions we can just hang out with them and watch how they eventually subside without being their slave.

 

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May all beings be happy and know the true causes of happiness. 

Practicing with Noise

I'm very touchy about a lot of things, and noise is definitely high on my list of pet peeves. I realize this may sound strange coming from someone who lives in New York City and can't imagine ever living anywhere else, but we all have our contradictions.

Earlier today I could hear the revolving drum of a huge cement mixing truck churning on just outside my window, presumably mixing some industrial type flooring for a new shi-shi Marc Jacobs store opening up across the street (since 17 Marc Jacob stores in the West Village isn't enough).

In the past I've used any chronic and loud street sounds as an excuse not to meditate but lately I've been practicing by sitting with noise objectively instead of letting myself be repelled or pissed off by it. So I let the noise just be and sit there, not judging it as bad or good, not even thinking about the truck that’s generating it, nor the implications and thoughts and assessments about how the construction of another high-end boutique may be impacting my neighborhood. I co-exist with it rather than pit myself against it. I just notice the clamor in a neutral kind of way, and even make it a focal point of sorts.

Some say that if a noise outside your head is bothering you so much it means there is too much noise going on inside your head. I don’t remember exactly where I’ve heard this which means I’ve probably heard some version of that from more than one source. But there’s something to that, I think.

We all want conditions to be perfect and our requirements that things always be a certain way is what causes us to feel uneasy and unsettled so much of the time. It’s simply not the nature of things that our surroundings always be to our liking.

I'm going to keep practicing with noise and see where it goes. Who knows, maybe one day I'll be able to sit through the loud and drunken weekend street revellers.

The Trouble with Me

Early on Saturday as I was walking to Judson Memorial Church to do my talk for Meditate NYC, I had some major jitters.

Speaking publicly is something I'm still adjusting to. Even though I've done a fair amount of public talks since I was a very young man, it hasn't happened with enough regularity to have instilled within me all that much comfort and confidence.

As I sat there waiting to be called up to the stage, I wondered how I could possibly speak with such a dry throat and worried that my voice would crack or that I would blank out and look like an idiot.

I mentally compared myself to the other speakers that were going to follow and wondered if they would somehow come off "better" than I would.

It finally dawned on me that I could choose to make the talk about the people that were there to listen instead of about myself. After all, this event was created to familiarize the public with the multitude of Buddhist centers that exist in New York City. It wasn't created to pump up my ego but you wouldn’t know that based on the thoughts and feelings I was harboring.

Instead of spending a lot of energy on worrying about me and my performance as a speaker, I shifted my focus to the people in the audience. I stopped indulging the self-absorbed chatter in my head and just followed my breathing for a few minutes. When I did that, my concerns changed to making sure people there could be inspired or at least intrigued enough to start a regular practice.

That simple shift in perspective alleviated my anxiety and was a good reminder about motivation.

Our motivation and intention dictates the quality of energy underlying our actions and determines the results of those actions.

Speaking at Meditate NYC today

I'll be speaking shortly after 12 noon today at Meditate NYC







As per their WEBSITE:

With instruction by speakers from a range of schools, Meditate NYC is an accessible way to find out what various approaches to meditation involve and what the benefits are. Anyone who is interested in meditation is encouraged to attend.

It is happening at

Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

Saturday October 16, 2010

12:00 - 4:00 pm

It Gets Better Project - Impermanence & LGBT Youth

The It Gets Better Project is a video project started by author and sex/relationship advice columnist Dan Savage. Given the recent string of gay teenagers killing themselves as a result of bullying from their peers, people from all over the world are offering support and encouragement to any young people who feel so hopeless about their situations that they're considering hurting themselves.

Sometimes we perceive the dharma through dire-colored glasses, especially when it comes to a teaching like impermanence, one of the three marks of existence. We understand this means that we all eventually die, everything changes, all things eventually end, blah blah blah.

On the positive side it's important to remind people who are suffering intensely that their suffering can and will also change. Impermanence also applies to things and feelings and situations that suck.

It's especially hard to realize this as a teenager when a year seems like forever and the thought of getting through a few more years of harassment at school is unbearable, but things really do have a way of changing.

May everyone suffering right now know that.

De-Bitching Karma

“Karma's a bitch.”

This sums up the way most people seem to understand and talk about karma.

For starters I find it kind of funny because based on this definition of karma, the potential bad karma incurred by making such a statement is completely lost on the person saying it.

Karma is not some divine form of reward and punishment that gives us an excuse to judge the behavior of others based on their current circumstances. We shouldn't go around with the idea that we know what's "good karma" or "bad karma". One man could be a paraplegic living on public assistance without a friend or family member around him. Another man could also be a paraplegic but also a millionaire with a nice supportive family around him. Yet both of them are still paraplegics.

The Buddha essentially described karma as action and result, or cause and effect. We have intentions and thoughts that evolve into behavioral patterns and actions. We are then left with a particular kind of experience that is the result of our previous intentions, behavior patterns, and actions. That’s all.

He even said that not everything we experience can be explained by karma, that there are other factors involved that are more physical/chemical/situational in nature. So it's pointless to attribute every single little thing that happens on a given day to how “good” or “bad” we were in some past moment.

So often we think that if someone does something we find hurtful or offensive, we can take comfort in the fact that “they’ll get there's.” Inherent in that kind of thinking is an underlying desire to see someone else suffer because we felt hurt by them in some way. Cultivating within ourselves a desire to see others suffer causes ourselves to suffer more, and by extension we cause more suffering for others.

Everything that happens around us is a reflection of our mind at that moment. So if we feel upset or angered or joyful or bored or content or offended, that experience is the result of whatever we’d been cultivating other consciously or not, starting with our mind. And those thoughts we harbor that generate feelings are like seeds we are planting for future outcomes, whether we realize this or not. The things that go on around us aren’t to blame or thank for our current experience: we are.

How we keep our mind at all times is crucial. We need to be aware of what kinds of thoughts we nurture with our time and attention. Noticing what kinds of thoughts we tend to entertain is the best way to gauge what our karma will or won’t be at some future date.

From the Dhammapada:

1. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

2. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.