Skillful Thinking (aka Right Intention)
Part I
Steven Armstrong, a teacher some of you may know, recounts the story of the Zen master who was approached by one of his students
with this question: "Master, what is the purpose of this practice?" In other words, what are we training for, what do we get
out of it? The Master's reply: "Learning to respond skillfully."
If we are caught in unhealthy thought patterns (patterns we may be unaware of), we cannot respond skillfully to whatever life
presents us with day by day. As we gradually identify unhealthy thought patterns, the antidote is to intentionally acknowledge
them and replace or redirect them in one of three ways.
The first of these is non-clinging, or letting go. Note the distinction between rejecting family, friends, material possessions
and letting go of "our mistaken sense that these are our possessions." The Buddha realized that giving up all his possessions
and becoming an ascetic did not bring the enlightenment (end of suffering) that he sought. His great realization was that
it is attachment and clinging that cause dissatisfaction/suffering (the Second Noble Truth), not the objects of attachment
which have no inherent existence.
Desire, attachment, clinging are all aspects of mind and it is there, in meditation, that we become intimately familiar with
them. The light of awareness and honest acknowledgment gives us choices for acting more skillfully in relationship to them.
Skillful action may take the form of letting go of unhealthy relationships (to people, things, ideas, etc.) or we may simply
find that our locus has changed:
"All human perplexities are no more than exercises in spiritual geometry." (P. D. James)
Letting go is embodied in the concept of dana, the Pali word for "gift, alms, donation, generosity." Dana is a voluntary
giving of that which we can freely give. In the West, we have generally interpreted dana as money or material gifts, but it
is also energy, time, wisdom or teaching that we give others or ourself. We can give dana to ourself when we make time to
meditate or study the dhamma, when we are gentle and patient with ourself in practice, when we give our body what it needs
to be healthy, and so on. Dana is the first and most important of the six perfections (paramitas) and is considered an essential
practice leading to the cessation of dissatisfaction (suffering).
So I invite you to investigate letting go in your own life in the areas where Bhante Gunaratana suggests we look: material
possessions, ideas and beliefs, mental states. Investigate from the perspective of asking where am I attached? (where there
is discomfort, dis-ease, dissatisfaction there is attachment). If you can, see if you can connect working with letting go
with the concept of kamma/karma which we discussed earlier.
May you be well and at peace.
Deb
People must realize that even with all these comforts, all this money and a GNP that increases every year, they are still not happy. They need to understand that the real culprits are our unceasing desires. Our wants have no end.
-His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Imagine All the People"
When there is grasping, the grasper Comes into existence. If he did not grasp, Then being freed, he would not come into existence.
-Nagarjuna, "Mulamadhyamaka-Karika"
Part II
The second practice (the first being letting go, relinquishing) that we can work with as part of skillful thinking is loving-friendliness
(aka loving-kindness or metta). “When fully matured, your net of loving-friendliness embraces everything in the
universe without exception” (p. 67). The two keys here are the phrase, “when fully matured,” and “without
exception.” The goal is without exception to “behave kindly to all beings at all times and to speak gently in
their presence and in their absence.” Fortunately, this is a maturation process; as we purify our intentions and grow
in our practice, our capability for loving-friendliness grows. As we exercise it, our loving-friendliness “muscle”
becomes stronger. Or you might say that the more we practice, the more habitual loving-friendliness becomes as a response
to whatever life offers us in this moment.
As a practical manifestation of this skillful means, Bhante G discusses loving your enemies. Enemy is used in most Buddhist
literature in its broadest sense as anyone who provides the conditions that might habitually provoke one of the hindrances,
principally anger, impatience or hatred. You might reflect on your own practice with those people or relationships you find
difficult. Notice what triggers an angry or impatient response (e.g., getting into the “wrong” line at the supermarket
and having to wait when you are in a hurry). As our awareness grows, we see how many times each day this actually happens.
Bhante Gunaratana states: “As we have learned, our past intentional actions are the only thing we really own. Our future
life is determined by our intentional actions today, just as our present life is heir to our previous intentional behavior.
Intentional actions committed under the influence of anger cannot lead to a happy future” (p. 71). (Remember the link
between intention and karma?)
“Intention is the core of all conscious life. It is our intentions that create karma, our intentions that help others, our intentions that lead us away from the delusions of individuality toward the immutable verities of enlightened awareness. Conscious intention colors and moves everything.”
Master Hsing Yun, "Describing the Indescribable"
I like the story of the Buddha’s response to the angry Brahmin (p.72). A transaction is a spiral, something initiated
or given and something received, which then continues to proliferate results. It is always our choice whether we will take
what is being offered or whether we will decide that it is not good for us and break the spiral. In not accepting the Brahmin’s
insults, the Buddha demonstrated the highest form of metta: loving-kindness for himself (by not accepting what was harmful),
for the Brahmin (his arrows were deflected and he was able to learn from his error), and for all sentient beings (because
the results of the Brahmin’s negative actions were not proliferated).
Note that the elimination of anger arising is not the aim of the practice. Anger and other unwholesome mind states (greed,
hatred, delusion) arise just as wholesome ones (generosity, love, wisdom) do. We have no control over what “comes up”
because we have no control over the conditions which cause these states to arise. However, with sufficient awareness, we do
have a choice in how we respond.
For a more detailed discussion of metta, visit the Access to Insight website.
May you all be happy and at ease…..
May you all be healthy and well…..
May you be free of fear, anger and all negative states!
Deb
