Beliefnet
Mindfulness Matters

newyearseve.jpgI celebrated the New Year Zen style at a small Zen temple in a rural corner of Vermont. The evening consisted of meditation (zazen) starting at 5 PM. It’s always a good idea to start with meditation to settle into the form and intention of being awake (or at least aspiring in that direction). 

Following zazen, we were asked to reflect on the previous year, month-by-month, writing down events that stood out in memory. And as we wrote these events down we were also asked to look for patterns — things that reflected events, feelings, and behaviors that were skillful; that led to good outcomes for ourselves and others. Likewise, we looked at events, feelings, and behaviors that represented patterns that were not so skillful — that led to poor outcomes for ourselves and others. For the New Year, we make an intention to maximize the former and minimize the latter. Once completed we purified the folded slips of paper in incense and then took them out to the fire pit and one by one placed these papers in the fire, burning them in the flames of intention.
A little party followed. After the social gather, more zazen. At 10:13, 108 minutes before midnight, a bell-ringing ceremony began. Each participant had a bell to ring and at the dawn of minute each of the bells would be rung in sequences (this took about 30 seconds). The purpose is to mark time and to reveal the subjective nature of time. The entire evening is a meditation on time and our relationship to it. The sounds emanating into the dark night were ethereal and dynamic, like a minimalist composition. At midnight all the bells were rung at once. 
Then out to the fire pit once again where the Heart Sutra was chanted with great vigor, joy, and volume. The sounds of Heart Sutra mingled in the air with more conventional revelers shooting of fireworks and hopping and and hollering. 
Then another party! This time, traditional noodles with tempura. It’s hard to believe how such a simple bowl of noodles with shitakes, seaweed, and some fritters could taste so good, but it did!
To add to the excitement, it started to rain on this balmy night and iced the roads. So driving home was a continuation of zazen practice — being awake, being fearless, being safe.
While New Year’s Eve may be an auspicious time to reflect on the past year, you can do the exercise described any time. Do it today and place your written down reflections in the fire of becoming and dissolving.
Enjoy this first day of the New Year. 

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Buddhism is a relatively new term, coined in the 19th century by Western “Orientalists” studying the cultures and traditions. Mu Soeng points out that, “Buddhism is not a unitary phenomenon.” It might be more accurate to say there are many Buddhist traditions that trace their origin back to the Buddha — Siddhartha Gotama — some 2500 years ago. 

The Buddha was not a Buddhist; he was not founding a religion and did not see himself as the leader of a religious movement. What was he doing then? Teaching the dharma to any and all interested parties (including members of any caste and later women). He viewed himself more as a physician offering medicine to cure the sickness that besets us.

In common parlance these two phenomena get mixed up — Buddha and Buddhism. I teach and practice Buddha rather than Buddhism. Buddha, recall, is a metaphor. When Siddhartha did what he did under the Bodhi tree that fateful night when he was 35 years old he became “Buddho” — awake. He had awoken from the delusion of existence and the constant gravity pull of craving to see things as they were. 

To refer to this as enlightenment is to use yet another metaphor and one that carries a different meaning. So he woke up that long night and after an agonizing struggle decided to help others to wake up too. He did so at first by teaching the Four Noble Truths. That’s Buddha and it is also an integral component of any Buddhist tradition.

Buddhism carries many connotations, appealing to some and off-putting to others. Buddha and the Four Noble Truths are, perhaps, universal, applying to everyone regardless of religious persuasion. It’s just that it’s hard to separate the term Buddha from the Asian images of a seated, half-smiling, androgynous figure. 

Certainly we are all situated in a personal context that is situated in a cultural context that is situated in an historical context. The cross-legged Asian Buddha comes with its own contexts. And while we are all shaped by these various contexts we all are born with the same neurological hardware and all succumb to one degree or another to the pull of desire. The case for universality of desire is strong, and this is why we all have the opportunity to awaken to a life that enjoys more freedom from the dictates of desire.

Meditation also seems exotic. Yet what is exotic about closing your eyes (or keeping them open) and paying attention to your breathing? What could be more prosaic? There is nothing mystical about this practice and nothing to bar access to any interested party. 

Indeed, we have all had our moments of Buddha whether we were aware of them or not. To practice mindfulness meditation is to make these moments more frequent and more accessible. We can go there at any moment, especially during the difficult moments of our lives. 

So, we are all Buddha. We all have the potential to awaken
(or we are already awakened and just cut off from that realization). Good morning!

Stuart Brown’s fascinating TED talk was the most popular video of 2010. As we move into the new year, we can take his talk under consideration. 2011 can be a year of play no matter what we are doing if we can tap into our natural way of being. We tend to live from this place when we drop the story lines and exchange imagination for a close appreciation of the reality of now. 

We tend to think of play as something kids do and as frivolous for adults in our work-ethic driven culture. But as Stuart Brown demonstrates in this TED talk, play is anything but frivolous and not just for kids. Since animals play, play is part of our genetic inheritance and serves important developmental biological functions. It’s too bad that as a culture we don’t nurture play into adulthood. I view play as integral to exquisite self-care and something that we should do often and with others. Play often provides a spontaneous form of mindfulness. We naturally fall into mindfulness when we are engaged in play. Having fun holds great power to move us into the present moment. So have some fun today!

It snowed 30 inches in parts of New Jersey yesterday and I’m enjoying being stranded. An unexpected and welcome extension of the holiday weekend. I’ll be back in Vermont tomorrow and we’ll resume our regular meditation schedule at the Exquisite Mind Psychotherapy and Meditation Studio.

As I’m reading through the Mindfulness Matters posts this post on Mindful Politics was well “liked” at least by Facebook standards. 

As the year draws to a close the lame-duck congress was busy passing legislation on taxes, nuclear arms treaties, and repealing “don’t ask; don’t tell.” Lauding congress for doing its job is a bit like NFL football players (especially on the defense) celebrating after making routine plays. “Isn’t that what you get paid for?” Likewise, it’s a sad state of affairs when what should be routine work in congress stands in such contrast to what is actually business-as-usual.

Here is the post from 2 October 2010

As the mid-term elections approach, political rhetoric is ramping up and along with it the usual fervor, apathy, distortion, and promulgation of hope (mostly false hope, I’m afraid). Here is a mindful perspective on politics from renown  Buddhist author and editor, Melvin McLeod.

Melvin McLeod edits the volume Mindful Politics (Wisdom, 2006). “Politics is really about how we live together as human beings, and all spiritual practices point to one simple but profound truth about human life–that only love leads to peace, hatred never does. This is as true for nations as it is for individuals.”

His proposed political platform: (if The Buddha was a politician and the Brahma Viharas)

  • May all being enjoy happiness and the root of happiness
  • May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering.
  • May the not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering
  • May they dwell in the great equanimity free of passion, aggression, and ignorance.

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Universal in application — all. Politics is emotions gone awry — vengeance, war, intolerance of difference, and so forth. 

As Buddhism (particularly through mindfulness) promotes emotional and social intelligences it might have something to offer the world as an antidote to hostility, inequity, and damage. The dualistic and false sense of “us” versus “them” underlies much of the conflict. 

If we are not in this all together than we are divided one against another. According to McLeod the keys to change are: forgiveness, awareness, kindness, and selflessness. Politics is ultimately about relationships and all relationships brook in power and conflict. 

How will these conflicts be resolved? With mindful awareness or through the perpetuation of the Three Poisons (which seem to be an apt laundry for the world’s problems).

Individual transformation is the prerequisite for societal transformation. The first step is not to save the world, but to save your self. If each individual works to limit or even eliminate hatred, greed, and ignorance the world will be a better place through the aggregation of this absence.

From Buddhist Monk and Vietnam veteran, Claude Anshin

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 Thomas in his book At Hell’s Gate: A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace.

Peace is not an idea. Peace is not a political movement, not a theory or a dogma. Peace is a way of life: living mindfully in the present moment … It is not a question of politics, but of actions. It is not a matter of improving a political system or even taking care of homeless people alone. These are valuable but will not alone end war and suffering. We must simply stop the endless wars that rage within… Imagine, if everyone stopped the war in themselves –there would be no seeds from which war could grow.” (Quoted in Mindful Politics).