Making Good Causes

[Photo by Aaron Rutledge]

"It's a matter of making causes. If the causes are good, the result is bound to be good, because all things are born of causes." (Being Dharma, Ajahn Chah)

1-Minute Contemplation: Look back over the last day. What happened to you? Seek to find the causes operative in your life over the past day. Rest assured that you won't find them all--life is too complex to pull that off. But to see even one when we saw none before is a step down the right path.

A Practice for the New Year

[Photo by savinca]

In Being Dharma, Ajahn Chah gives us a wonderful practice that can truly set us on the right path as we begin the new year. He says,

When you put your head on the pillow [each night], contemplate the in and out breath. Think to yourself, How about that--tonight I am still breathing! Tell yourself this every day. You needn't do a lot of chanting and recitation. "Am I still breathing?" You wake up in the morning and think, Hey, I'm still alive! The day passes, the night comes again, and you ask yourself once more. Ask yourself, "If I lie down, will I get up again?" ... Day after day, you have to do this. If you keep at it, things will come together and you will see. You will see the truth of what is taken to be self and others. You will see what is convention and supposition. You will understand what all these things really are.

I read this practice on my way in to work on the train, and it immediately hit me--how often do I really show appreciation for life? The Buddha uses the simile of a sea turtle who lives in the ocean and comes up for air once every couple years. Floating in the ocean is a life preserver. It just floats on the water's surface, being pulled this way and that by the currents. It is said that the likelihood of a human birth is the same as the probability that our friend the sea turtle will come up for air and just happen to poke his head directly through the opening in the life preserver. It is a great blessing to have this human life. As we start the new year, each new morning, notice that you're still breathing and give thanks for the opportunity to continue practicing this day. Each evening, notice that your breath is still flowing in and out, and acknowledge your blessing. Allow sleep to come as you mindfully follow your breath. Such a simple practice, but it has such profound effects.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

Heedlessness is Just Holding Things as Certain

[Photo by Andy Smith]

From Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha's Teachings, by Ajahn Chah:

In practice, some come to see easily, some with difficulty. But whatever the case, never mind. Difficult or easy, the Buddha said not to be heedless. Just that--don't be heedless. Why? Because life is not certain. Wherever we start to think that things are certain, uncertainty is lurking right there. Heedlessness is just holding things as certain. It is grasping at certainty where there is no certainty and looking for truth in things that are not true. Be careful! They are likely to bite you sometime in the future!

What is heedlessness? Not only is it not paying attention, but it's not caring to pay attention. When we're heedless, we do out of habit, not out of conscious deliberation and choice. But it goes deeper than just doing out of habit. It strikes right at the heart of your inner mind. When we're heedless, we don't CARE enough to pay attention. If we did, we'd be paying attention and choosing our actions consciously.

When a loved one asks, "Did you pick up the detergent from the market?" And you answer, "No, I forgot." Did you? Sometimes you really did, and in that case, there is no problem. But often you remembered, but really didn't feel like going. Maybe you made a conscious choice not to go; or maybe you "allowed" something to distract you so that you were sure to forget.

But then you get home and answer, "I forgot." That's an easier answer, isn't it? But it's heedless. Usually such an answer just flows from your lips. That's habitforce, and it's proof that you just don't care enough--that you truly don't comprehend the benefit of--paying full attention and seeing the negative effects of your lack of mindfulness in allowing yourself to lie. Maybe you did consciously choose to fib in your answer; maybe that took some careful deliberation to decide. But it's still heedless because you chose to ignore the negative effects of such a lie.

1-Minute Meditation: Where have you been heedless today? Where have you allowed yourself to act under force of habit, as though all things were certain and not requiring of consideration, including potentially un-thought-of effects? Now look deeper. Why don't you think it's important enough to be heedful? [Ego might answer, "I *do* care!" But be honest. If you really did care, you would have been heedful in that moment, wouldn't you?]

Technorati Tags: Buddhism, heedlessness, mindfulness, Ajahn Chah, Dharma, attention