A second is a long time.

All the real work in our practice takes place within a second.

Within a moment, we have the opportunity to be patient. To not get caught up in our own feelings or anxiety. To maintain our composure.

We have the opportunity available to us to respond, rather than react. To make a choice, rather than be propelled. To listen and understand, rather than retort.

A second lasts a long time, and it is within those brief moments that we get to decide who we are and who we want to be in the world.

Of course we are going to fail. Fail a lot. That is why it is called a practice. We have to keep practicing. What other choice do we have?

Can you rest in open presence when all the conditions are right?

You aspire to be more generous, more patient and kind. You value kindness and compassion. You put effort into cultivating right view and understanding.

What holds you back from practicing those all the time?

Negative emotions. Stressful situations. Difficult relationships and interactions. Our own self judgement, hope and fear. Our thoughts and ideas about how things should be or could be.

There are lots of reasons why we start to close down. It is easy to slip into narrow and confined states of mind.

Our daily practice of meditation gives us an opportunity to rest in open presence, to familiarize ourselves with our values and inner qualities. If we can learn to rest in open presence, even for a moment, then we will have more opportunity to recognize those qualities in our daily life.

It's a simple question, with profound impact.

A mind divided.

Man is often divided unto himself. 

He seeks out leisure, but must act on his responsibilities.  He pursues his passion, but must be held accountable.  He follows his curiosity, but must produce results. 

There is tension between these two, leisure and responsibility.  Constant opposition and internal struggle.  Struggle to find your place in the world, the enduring battle between what you want to do versus what we have to do. 

The one requires space, silence, idleness, even solitude.

The other demands interaction, checklists, deadlines and diligence.

How do we dissolve the barrier between these two?  Can we cross the chasm over this great divide?  How do we reconcile this internal struggle? 

Lend your leisure to virtue.  Rely on virtue for your responsibilities. 

Virtuous is the pursuit of knowledge, patience and kindness.  The virtues of generosity and wisdom bear fruit in both leisure and responsibility.  Silence, mindfulness, and fortitude, these too are fertile ground for both leisure and responsibility. 

Virtue removes the struggle from our lives.  It allows us to find our balance, to find reconciliation.  Reconciliation is a gift we can give ourselves, and a gift we can carry into the world. 

Sitting with uncertainty.

Uncertainty, doubt, hesitation.  

How often are we plagued by these maladies?  How often to they influence our path or lead us astray?  

How often do we find ourselves waiting?  Waiting for the right time, the right conditions.  Waiting to get picked or promoted, or told what to do.    

Uncertainty hides in the shadows of our intention.  When we encounter it, we often step out of our posture, or move for the small reprieve it gives us.  We may try to stay busy, reach for distraction, or entertain the discomfort away just so we can feel normal again.  

In uncertain times we yearn for control.  We wonder about our future, the future of our family and loved ones, the future of our community and world.  We spend sleepless nights caught up in the cycle of hope and fear, playing out dramas of gain and loss, praise and shame.  

But uncertainty really prevents us from moving forward.  Our intention may be strong, but we lack the focus to carry it through.  Our intention may be clear, but we don't feel we have the power to carry it out. 

Sitting with uncertainty may be the most powerful thing you can do. 

Face the resistance.
Don't avert your eyes.
Don't turn from it.
Don't waver.
Just sit. 

Donning the armor of patience,
With the sharp sword of mindfulness,
and all the grit you can muster,
breakthrough to openness, clarity and insight.
Then step forward with generosity, kindness and love.  

What do you need to do?

What do you need to do to be of benefit to others?

Learn more?
Master a craft?
A better position?

Those are all things you can do.  Get started.

What about being less busy, less distracted?
Dealing with your own hesitation or fear?
Being more available or attentive?
Being present?
More understanding?

All things you can work on.  Get started.

What if you are feeling inadequate?
What if you are not good enough?

Then you need to learn to sit with yourself.  Be patient and listen.

Once you can do that for yourself, you can do it for others.  

A perfect day.

Each morning I wake up knowing today I have the opportuntity to be generous.
Generous with my time, my energy.  Generous in thought, word and deed.
I will have the opportunity to be receptive, available and present for those around me.
I will have the opportunity to make today meaningful, but I will face a lot of challenges.

I know I will have to rely on discipline today, 
Without a mindful awareness I will quickly succumb to distraction and idleness.
It will take discipline to hold me back from firing off a smart rebuke.
It will take discipline to remain in equipoise when it is much easier to turn my back and walk away.
Discipline will keep me aligned with my intention, but it's not going to be enough by itself.

I know I will need patience today.
Patience to sit with irritation and discomfort.
Patience so that I don't get caught up in purposeless arguments.
Patience so that I can remain open enough to continue, when it is easier to shut down.
Patience will allow me to continue to hold that space and to dance with resistance I am facing.
Patience will be a dear friend, supporting me in my efforts.

Diligence will allow me to carry through in my efforts.
Without it I will certainly succumb to laziness and distraction.
With it I will joyously persevere in my work, adversity and problems only fueling my fire.
Diligence is like a great steed, carrying me to my destination regardless of temporary circumstances.

All of this will rely on a singular focus-
To eliminate my own negativity and cultivate virtue so that I can fully bring benefit to the world around me.
With this single intention, meditation will allow me to work with resistance directly, loosening its shackles and the power of its influence.
Meditation will bring me clarity, stability and an appreciation of the illusory nature of all experience.
Meditation will give me freedom- freedom to move, freedom to act, freedom to decide.

All of this shall be accompanied by wisdom.
Wisdom that knows that this ground I stand on is not my own, that I am not its sole creator.
Wisdom that knows that this opportunity is a dance based on connection, a vast web in which our own neurosis will gladly play itself out if we let it.
I could dance and consume and have flashes of every emotional and mental state throughout my day, that could be my experience, and likely will.
I can see that, experience that, even live that.
But that is not my intention.

My intention is to use this day to bring benefit to myself and others, and so I practice carrying everything else onto the path.

Whatever I experience today will be the perfect opportunity to bring that practice to completion.

Compassionate activity.

Compassionate activity doesn't mean that you need to be emotional. 
You don't need to shed a tear to show you care.

Compassionate activity means being open, receptive and present.
It means be generous with your presence,
disciplined enough to not react with carelessness,
patient enough to sit with the resistance,
and that you persist in doing the emotional hard work of caring.
Without wavering in the face of problems and obstacles,
and with the insight to see the connections between the agent, action and patient,
you can engage in perfect compassionate activity.    

Time to care.

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you are just too busy to care.  Maybe you are dealing with a different problem and it is not convenient right now.  Maybe this is something that you should care about, but right now it is too hard.  Screw it, toss in the towel, ruin it, who gives a damn.  Right?

Do you only care when it fits your schedule, when you've had time to prepare, when it is on your terms?  Is that really caring at all?

What about when people aren't part of your tribe, your group, your religion or party?

Caring means you put aside your trip and your agenda for this person in front of you.  Caring means you are here, when you could easily be somewhere else.  Caring means you showed up.  Caring means you put in the effort, you gave something, you actually listened.

Caring is never easy, it is emotional heavy labor.  You need to muster patience, fortitude, perseverance and grit.  You need to know how to work with your own anger and aversion.  You need to be comfortable being open and receptive.

If you are looking for signs of accomplishment in your practice, look at what happens the next time you are in a situation where it is too intense to care. 

Tinder for the flames.

What are your attachments?  They are tinder for the flames of anger.

Worry about what others think of you?  The smallest slight to your name and anger boils.
Worry about winning the next project?  Any gains by your competitors put you in a frenzy.
Have to control your environment?  Any wrinkle or slip and your are caught up in a fit.
Your welfare more important than others?  Everyone presents a battle to be fought.

What are you holding, what are you guarding, what are you demanding and expecting?

It's all tinder, waiting to be set to flame by the smallest of sparks.

#DoNoHarm

I had a bad day.

But it was a good day for practice.

A good day to practice patience.
A good day to relax my fixation and attachment for what I wanted.
A good day to fight my own resistance and stubbornness.
A good day to not get swept away by negative thoughts and emotions.
A good day to train my mind.

Looking back at it, I actually had a pretty good day.

Transforming poison.

It is easy to focus on all the poison in our lives and the world around us.  To see all of the anger and injustice in the world.  To witness unfairness and outright manipulation by those in power.  It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of our days, the pointlessness of what we are doing.  At times we all feel helpless and lost, that we have no control over all of the problems in our life.

The practitioner doesn't get caught up in the highs and lows of their day.  The don't get caught up in what is right or wrong, what to accept and what to reject.  Everything is applied to their practice.  Everything is an opportunity to practice.

Anger is poison, use it to practice patience.
Attachment is poison, use it to practice impermanence.
Fear is poison, use it to look deeper and examine your fixation.
Anxiety is poison, use it as a catalyst to train your mind.
Resistance is poison, use it to persevere.
Jealousy is poison, use it to rejoice in the happiness and success of others.
Looking outside yourself is poison, recognize and look within and to your own practice.
Death is the ultimate poison, use it to express gratitude and a profound appreciation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

We get to do this.

We get to transform suffering into the path of realization.
We get to transform our problems and obstacles into growth and accomplishment.
We get to dig deeper and experience everything as the path of liberation.

Knowledge isn't enough.  It is not enough to simply know this.
Practice is important.  The lived experience is what counts.

Where do I start?

Integrating your practice can be hard. 

You try to be generous, patient and kind.
You try to sit with resistance and discomfort.
You try to dance with anger, attachment and ignorance, to not get swept away by their momentum.
You try to look deeply, to make connections and draw out implications.

You try to do those things, but where do you start?

We start with our family and loved ones.  We start with our friends, our sangha and our community.  We start in our workplace and in our home.

Then, as we cut through our own confusion, we stop fighting with our families.
Then, as we cut through our own negative emotions, we stop struggling at work.
Then, as we loosen our attachment  to me and mine, our community expands and is more peaceful.
Then, as we realize how much wealth we really have- a wealth of confidence, joy and a good heart-
then we can truly share our generosity, love and kindness.

And we continue our practice.

"I don't know what to do".

Which is why you practice.

To sit with uncertainty, fear and frustration.
To not get overwhelmed by waves of anger and fatigue.
To maintain openness, even a possibility of openness.
To practice patience when it no longer seems possible.
To push on when you feel like giving up.

You might not know what to do, and that is okay. 

You don't need to know the right answer for what you are up against.  Persevering in your practice might be the only answer available. 

Inconceivable virtue.

Practice patience in such a way that you never give up the practice of helping others.

This is not easy.

You will be tired.  You will hit a wall.  You will be frustrated and drawn out.  You will be skinned and quartered.  You will give your eyes and ears, your blood and tears.  You will give your heart.  

And you will persist.  Your practice will carry you forward free from harm.  Such a practice is inconceivable.

And it is possible. 

The way of the bodhisattva.

Alert.
Attentive.
Calm and composed.
Generous.
Insightful.
Responsive.
Patient.
Undaunted, persisting amidst fatigue.
Empathetic and compassionate, they think about the needs of others and strive diligently to bring them happiness and joy.  

Free from the attachment of holding some close and others distant, they wholeheartedly wish to establish all beings in health, happiness and well being.

They are like a father and mother for the world. 

How do you sit with irritation?

Irritation follows us like a shadow throughout the day.  Often we do not even know it is there, but it finds its way into our work, our relationships, our commute, our responsibilities and even our free time.  

A critical component of meditation is learning how to relate to irritation. 

Do you try to get away?
Switch your posture?
Shift your focus?
Reach for your phone?
Check your email?
Turn on the television?
Turn on some music?  Change the station?
Do you recognize it as being impermanent?
Do you take the opportunity to practice patience?
Or do you let it fester, growing into agitation and anger?
When you experience irritation, does it overwhelm you?

Irritation is a subtle level of aversion.  We don't really like what is playing out in our experience, it could be coming from outside of us or it could be in our own heads.  The result is a state of discontentment that we wish to avoid.

And this is a universal human experience.

It is why we like to be entertained, why we like to eat good food and why we like to build things and do things. 

We all want to avoid the suffering and discontentment of irritation.  We all long for an inner peace and fullness, contentment and happiness.

So how we relate to irritation is important, because we can either run away, let it grow into a monster, or we can use that irritation for growth and spiritual development.  We can learn to hijack our adversity and our problems, to use them as catalysts for change.

And we can start right now, right on our meditation seat.

Inflammation.

Inflammation is a natural response to harmful stimuli.

What happens when the body is attacked?  You break your ankle, cut yourself, burn your hand; what happens?  The body releases inflammatory markers and initiates a whole cascade of events to try to heal and restore balance to the area.  Inflammation serves as a method for the body to see clearly what is going on, and to implement the right tools to correct the situation.

The intended effect of inflammation is to restore the body to its natural state.  To health and balance.

What happens when we are attacked?  By our clients, co-workers, unruly drivers and just plain old rude people- we get inflammed!  We get angry.  Anger is actually a natural response to things that are out of order, things that are unjust and out of harmony (for the moment we will assume that it is not our perceptions and biases that are out of order). 

But what is anger for?

Inflammation is for seeing clearly and allowing the body to dispatch the tools it needs to restore balance and health.  Anger is also for seeing clearly and allowing us to dispatch the tools and resources needed to restore balance and harmony.

But let's face it, that is not the way anger goes down.

Inflammation makes no value judgements about the source of the stimulus, how or why it happened.  Anger loves to say exactly whose fault it is, 'Yours'.  When we get angry, we really aren't concerned with dispatching tools and resources to restore the situation, we are looking for validation, for revenge and for retribution.  If anything, we don't want to heal the situation, we want to make it infected.  We tell others about our injustice, we tweet about it and file complaints and work ourselves up into a real tizzy.

All in the hopes of being right.

Isn't it strange the extremes to which we will go to prove we are right.  We will destroy ourselves, our relationships, our well being, our day.  How many hours, days, weeks and years have we held onto anger?  Are we healed yet?  Are we right?

You will get angry, but use anger skillfully.  Allow its intensity to let you see clearly, then dispatch tools to remedy the situation.  What tools?  Patience, kindness, compassion, generosity, honesty, vulnerability and patience.  Patience rules the day when dealing with anger and injury.

And sometimes there will be scars.

The body doesn't try to fix or hide scars, it doesn't keep mulling over them and they no longer are perceived as needing to be healed.  Once the healing process has occurred and a scar remains, it ornaments the body as a constant reminder of how much pain there is in the world.  This reminder should encourage us to practice, so that when the time comes we have the tools and resources available to approach anger effectively and reduce the chances of developing another scar in the near or distant future.    

Practice ain't easy.

It's easy to practice when everything is going right.  Hard to practice when everything is falling apart.  And that's why they call it practice. 

Take patience for example.

It is easy to be patient when you have time to spare and plenty of space.  Easy to be patient, relaxed and easygoing when it is a nice day, your to do list is finished and you have a patio seat with a view. 

Much harder to practice patience when you haven't eaten, have to go to the bathroom and things just aren't going your way.  When reality and people seem to be intentionally scheming against you, when the conditions aren't right and you wish you had just a little more time...that is when you practice patience. 

That is when you are really practicing. 

Your practice is to meet adversity and dance with it.  It is to make friends with your enemies and to participate when you feel like giving up.  Real practice doesn't come with a timetable and a map, it is raw, emotional and difficult. 

And when we see you practicing despite all of the chaos, we are impressed.  Then we don't hesitate in calling you a practitioner. 

Keep practicing. 

How does a raccoon satisfy its thirst?

I love this video.  It's hilarious.

This raccoon is confused.

Not knowing the nature of water, he hopes to grab onto it, hold it in his hands.  Of course that water keeps slipping through his fingers, and the cute little thing is in a frenzy to keep trying.

What he doesn't know is that if you want to hold water in your hands you need to be skillful.  Then you can drink the water, feel its refreshing nature, enjoy it and quench your thirst.

How often do we feel like life is slipping through our fingers?  Like we lost an opportunity and now it is gone?  How often do we find ourselves in a frenzy, trying to accomplish our aims and hoping that this is the time we are finally satisfied?

In order to take hold of our life we need to be skillful.  We need to create a container that can accommodate something that always keeps rushing past us.

We need attentive mindfulness.
Authentic presence.
Clarity and understanding.
Empathy and compassion.
Patience.  Patience is a must.
An open mind and unbiased attitude.

Most of all we need to stop the impulse to grab onto things.  That is where so much of our confusion springs from, from grasping and fixation.  When we understand the nature of our own mind and the nature of reality, we can skillfully work with that in order to quench our thirst, find satisfaction.

Being awake doesn't mean that we become awake to some kind of better reality, or our life becomes the fairy tale and everything goes our way.  Being awake means to see genuinely.  Truly.  You awaken to the truth.  You see your mind and reality as it is, and knowing that there is nothing to hold onto, you can use skillful methods to accomplish your aims and the aims of others.

Stop the confusion. 

Link to the video is here.

The Plague of Indifference.

We are suffering from one of the worst epidemics in recent human history.  It has the potential to spread to every corner of the land and to infect every person.  It leaves its victims lifeless, like wandering zombies.

It is the plague of indifference.

It strikes those who care.  Those that are trying to make a difference, to bring benefit to others.  It has a slow onset, germinating in those who time and time again go the extra mile.  It reproduces and gains its strength as kindness and generosity are taken advantage of, exploited and disrespected.

The infection starts to display signs and symptoms as the victim gets worn out, angry at themselves for trying so hard and for caring so much.  They may feel guilty for wanting to help others, for repeating this cycle again and again only to end up in states of loss.

The infection has reached its full measure when the victim no longer cares, when they just go through the motions and do what they are told.

One remedy for this infection is to show appreciation and respect to those who aren't infected.  To rejoice in their efforts.  This remedy can delay or offset the progression of the disease, but it is not necessarily a cure.

The only cure is to protect your own mind, and the only way to do that is to cultivate bodhicitta, the awakened mind.  It is only by cultivating bodhicitta that you can bear the burden of unpleasant and painful circumstances.  It is only by cultivating bodhicitta that you can abandon your own susceptibility to 'woe is me'.

One who cultivates bodhicitta is a bodhisattva, a courageous awakened warrior.

They don't fight others, they fight to establish them in peaceful, happy states.
They fight to bring them benefit.

They fight for those who care, and to help those who don't to regain their purpose.

It is a battle worth fighting for.

As it states in the Heart Sutra:

There is no attainment, and even no non-attainment.  Therefore, Shariputra, since bodhisattvas have no attainments, they rely on this perfection of wisdom and abide in it.  Having no obscurations in their minds, they have no fear, and by going utterly beyond error, they will reach the end of nirvana.