Getting dirty in the fields.

Your boots will get muddy.  Your socks wet.  You are going to stain your jeans.  There will be dirt underneath your finger nails and you might suffer some scratches.  

Working in the fields means getting dirty. 

Your work will be the same. 

The bodhisattva knows that their time on this earth is very short.  They know that the road ahead will be long.  Knowing the truth of suffering they plunge into the fields.  Knowing liberation upon arising, they do not fear getting covered in mud.  At the end of the day, they dedicate their work for the benefit of others.  Tomorrow, they rise again. 

That is how you practice on the path. 

Overwhelm challenges.

Usually we try to meet challenges with aggression.  We get ourselves worked up, we really fight and give it our all.  We meet intense situations with more intensity. 

Aggression is the bold face.  What lies beneath all of that aggression is aversion.  We fear losing, or losing control.  We don't back down because we would then feel vulnerable.  We keep pushing, because at least we can say we kept pushing. 

Our culture loves the aggressive model of meeting challenges.  It is celebrated and often bears the intended fruit.  But aggression is also exhausting and it doesn't always leave us feeling satisfied inside.

Is aggression the only way? 

Imagine instead of pushing back against challenges, we let them in, were patient with them, and then shared generously.
Imagine instead of getting worked up and fighting, we witnessed the situation and then acted with kindness.
Imagine instead of intensifying our activity, we moved with deliberate gentleness. 

The ability to witness, understand and listen is the hallmark of accepting situations as they arise.  The ability to then stand up, speak and act is the hallmark of sharing your gifts.

Overwhelm challenges with love.

Unless.

Unless someone like you

cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better.

It's not.  

Dr. Seuss | THE LORAX

You show up because you care, but caring is not enough.  What you are fighting for isn't going to happen right now.  What you are protecting is going to continue to be attacked and broken apart.  What you stand for isn't going to be accepted. 

That thing you are doing, it's not going to work this time. 

Or the next.

And probably not the next time either.

But caring means you keep showing up.  You continue to stand your ground.  You continue to fall, then get back up.  You continue to fail, and fail, and fail.  Birth and death playing themselves out for eons. 

Unless someone like you cares a whole lot and relentlessly shows up, nothing is going to get better.  It's not. 

Not there yet.

Your practice will have certain goals and endpoints.  There are going to be practices that you accomplish.  You will finish some things.

But the defining characteristic of an authentic practice is that you are never done.

Never a time to hang up your shoes.
Never a time to retire for good.
Never a time to say that's it.
You will never arrive at the destination.  

Your practice will always require you to find a delicate balance between being overwhelmed by conditions or withdrawing your presence.  The more our minds grasp to situations the more we get sucked in and eventually overwhelmed.  On the other hand, without compassion and the intention to benefit others, we will often find ourselves being stagnant and withdrawn.

The balance is difficult to find. It is enjoying peace and fulfillment, but always standing up and moving forward.  It is being open and responsive, yet calm and stable.

Open and responsive.  Calm and stable.  Those you can identify in your meditation.  Those you can carry forward into the world.   

The world is deceitful.

Not the world actually, just our perception of it.

We think things are going to work out.
We believe things are going to go our way.
We hope that our lot will continue to grow.
We trust that things will get better. 

All the while we neglect the truth of suffering.  Dissatisfaction runs deep, it is all-pervasive.  We know that things are impermanent.  We know that all conditioned things are going to let us down.  We know that we never get anywhere when we are caught up in praise or blame, gain or loss. 

We know things things to be true, yet we continue to hope things are somehow going to work out in the end. 

Contemplate the truth of suffering.  Really, honestly think about it.  The only way out is to eliminate our own ignorance, bias and confusion.  No one is going to do this for us.  It is we who deceive ourselves.

That doesn't mean give up.  Not at all.  It means that we shouldn't be surprised when we encounter the truth of suffering.  It means that this fight is not over, it will never be over.  

It will never be over.  And we vow to continue to take rebirth here until all beings are liberated from the cycle of suffering. 

That is the promise.  That is what we are doing here. 

I am not surprised.  Now it is time to get back to work.