Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World, by Pema Chodron. New Book Group (virtual and in-person) begins Monday, January 9, 2023, from 10:00-11:30 am. Contact The Mindfulness Path at info at themindfulnesspath.com for more info.

Mindful Resolutions for 2023

As I sit here this morning on the coldest day of the year so far in Tucson, I am reminded of the Winter Solstice and the darkening of the light. Many of the shades are closed in my home this morning and the door to the back room of our house is closed to keep the house warmer and reduce the cold air. In many ways this is a ritual that we do this time of year, acknowledging the deepest, darkest season of the year. We make sure we wear many layers of clothing and eat warming foods to maintain a regulated body temperature, strengthen our defenses, and stay well.

I am aware of the fact that this is the third winter of Covid-19. In addition, rising numbers of people are contracting the flu and are hospitalized with RSV. So many people want to forget that these illnesses are still with us. They want to be free of thinking about disease, and many act as if it did not exist. We can see this in the decline in wearing masks and the fewer numbers of persons receiving Covid-19 boosters. Ironically this trio of illnesses accompanies this time of hibernation and among humans, the holiday season. Cold weather and indoor close quarters with people nearby are conditions we have to live with.

Mindful awareness invites us to approach this living situation with acceptance. We can be overcome with Aversion, also known as hatred, and one of the Three Poisons the Buddha spoke about (which also include Greed and Delusion), that entangle our emotions and incline us toward dislike and pushing away life’s conditions. The interesting thing about these “Poisons” is that we get entangled in irritation, frustration, and anger. 

Wabi-Sabi

There is a famous Japanese tea story of a monk, who after he spent several hours preparing the tearoom and tea garden for the newly expected guests with meticulous cleansing, purifying, and refining, went out into the garden. Here he swept and made the stone paths free of debris. Then he stood still and surveyed his wondrous garden space. After he took it all in, he took hold of one tree and shook it until the leaves scattered on the ground. Then he took a deep breath and said “Now it is ready”. This perfect imperfection is the essence of wabi-sabi and of the practice of letting go.

Today wabi-sabi is known in the West as a contemporary tool and it has even become a trendy style for interior design. But originally, it drew on Chinese Taoism and Confucianism and was a radical response to the materialism of the elites.

The Japanese war lords and wealthy merchants of the 15th and 16th centuries loved ornate Chinese inspired tea ceremonies. Fancy designed pottery was sought after for the prestige of its Chinese originators. This changed when Murata Shuko, a Zen monk, intentionally opposed the materialism of the ornate tea ceremony by choosing to use local, understated, and worn or cracked utensils in his ceremonies. 

Awareness, Thankfulness and the Monsoon

We have had a long, dry and drought-like winter, spring, and early summer. It is only recently that the temperature, humidity, and dew point have been rising as we have begun our yearly summer rains, the summer monsoon. Have you felt a sense of appreciation during this time?

This season, when we usually get our most plentiful rainfall, is a gift of nature that provides and transforms a normally dry and hot desert climate into a wet, green, cloud-show panorama, second only to the East Indian monsoon. The grandeur of this phenomena and its ability to bring tremendous winds, flooding, and hail is unprecedented.

Finding Spiritual Direction

“… As far as Buddha Nature is concerned, there is no difference between sinner and sage… One enlightened thought and one is a Buddha, one foolish thought and one is an ordinary person.”  – Zen Patriarch Hui Neng

Finding and developing a spiritual practice including meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhism is not an easy, effortless, simple path. Each one of these three aspects asks us to pay attention on purpose to the instructions given, who is transmitting them, and committing to follow them while discerning their effect upon us.

The first and most essential thing we need to be aware of is, if we are attracted to this spiritual direction, if it offers well-being, ethical honesty, kindness to ourselves and others, and clarity of mind and heart. 

Making Friends with the Earth

When I was 26 years old I took my first backpacking trip into the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains to a place called Kings Canyon National Park. Everything about this trip was prophetic, in terms of the direction my life would take.

Learning to put 45 pounds on my back and walk on rugged rocky trails up steep mountain paths literally took my breath away as I felt I might pass out with each elevation gain. Needing to stop and regulate my breathing about every 15-20 minutes took away any tendency towards rushing to get where we were going. Symbolically, as I scaled each vista “my breath was taken away’ by the snow filled passes and awe inspiring panoramas I met as we crossed over and dropped into “Dusy Meadows”. This landscape was filled with rocky outcroppings and blanketed by beds of colorful wildflowers. I could not believe my eyes as the high vibrational air, crystalline running stream beds, and wondrous gothic-like spires and towers appeared before me. My thoughts were filled with dream like fantasies and the closest to real life fairy tales.

In this wonderland of sorts I had my first experience meditating. Each morning when we awoke we got some tea together, water, a small propane stove and ambled up the boulders backgrounding our encampment and sat next to towering trees and cascading water and falls. It was here that I learned to be still, like an animal, be alert to all my senses, not speak for several hours and close my eyes to listen to the sounds of flying birds, rushing waters and the fragrance of plants, woodlands and wind. This was my introduction and initiation into the power and forces of nature and meditation.

Mindfully Being in the Body

“There is one thing that, when cultivated and regularly practiced,

leads to deep spiritual intention, to peace, to mindfulness and clear 

comprehension, to vision and knowledge, to a happy life here and 

now, and to the culmination of wisdom and awakening. And what is 

that one thing? It is mindfulness centered on the body”.

                    The Buddha from the Satipatthana Sutta

Embodied presence is the word that most captures the state of awareness that brings us into our bodies in a conscious way. The Buddha said that the foundational level of mindfulness is being in tune and in touch with the myriad of sensations that occur in our body, moment by moment. When these sensations are coupled with an experience of making contact with the weight, the force of gravity, and the experience of grounding in the body, it brings awakening alive within us.

Recognizing the touch of the body, making contact with the ground beneath us, or one body part touching another is a way to stabilize our attention and mind in the body. Bringing openness and curiosity to pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feeling tones in the body helps us discern if the body language is calling for softening and ease, or if the body is maintaining a relaxed and peaceful feel, or if we are residing in a place of balance and evenness. This information provides the choice of how to be with different sensations, and reveals the way we are connected to all parts of body and being.

Bringing Harmlessness to Ukraine

When Siddhartha Gotama Buddha was seventy-two and Ananda (his confidant and attendant) was forty-two, the unification of the sangha was threatened in a province called Rajagaha. Ananda’s older brother, Devadata, was the primary instigator in this. He is a Judas figure in Buddha legend. In the Pali Canon, he is viewed as a weak, self-serving villain. Although he had been a part of the Buddha’s entourage for thirty-seven years, and knew that in the Gotama’s demise there was no one chosen to succeed him, he tried to overtake the Buddha’s rulership.

At a public teaching Devadata stands, comes forward, bows respectfully, and says to Gotama, “Sir, you are old now. May you now be content to dwell in ease here and now. Hand over the community of mendicants to me.” The Buddha’s response is swift and hard, denouncing Devadata as one “whose nature has changed and that whatever he says or does should no longer be regarded as having the sanction of himself, the dharma, or the community, he is no longer trustworthy.

Self-Compassion

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete”. – Jack Kornfield

When we feel vulnerable, troubled, when there are any kind of difficulties, pain and sorrow, fear or anger, compassion is the natural arising of our aware heart and mind. It is a natural response. When we see another in pain or anguish, we naturally want to help in some way. We feel ourselves in them and there is an empathetic connection. In Buddhism, the response to suffering is called “the trembling or quivering of the heart in the face of suffering”. This is a universal experience. It was compassion for others that caused the Buddha to teach.

“To learn to live with sympathy for others without hesitation” – The Buddha

The first step in developing true compassion is to recognize, acknowledge and be open to the fact that pain and sorrow exist –  that suffering is present. Then one must have the courage to feel what they feel and the tenderness to be open and to be vulnerable rather than hide from suffering, avoid it, run away, and bury ourselves in distractions.