How to Change a Flat Tire

 

When we are learning Buddhism, we gradually begin to have brief glimmers of understanding. With these glimmers, we understand we need to let go of our old egoistic ways of doing things. But we need to go further. If we only drop the old without taking up the wiser way, we won’t go far.

It’s like a flat tire. If we take off the flat and then drive off we’re in trouble. We need to put on the good tire before we proceed.

Getting angry is the flat tire. Patience is the good tire.

Selfishness is the flat tire. Generosity is the good tire.

Becoming depressed because we’re not doing everything right is the flat tire. Knowing that we’re now trying to do as the Buddhas taught but it will take time for us to completely reform is the good tire.

We need to complete the process and put on that new tire before we can effectively continue our journey.

Maintaining the Calm, Clear Mind

One time when the Buddha was staying in Sravasti, an incident came to his attention. Close to where he was visiting resided a number of monks and nuns. It happened that when some nuns were spoken ill of, one of the monks would become angry. When that monk was spoken ill of, the nuns would become angry. After confirming with the monk that this was accurate, the Buddha advised the monk that he should discipline himself and hold the thoughts: “My mind will not change [be swayed], I will not utter evil words, I will abide with compassion and loving kindness without an angry thought.” [1]

The Buddha then told the monastics to always remember that even ordinarily calm minds can be disturbed in difficult times. So the monastics needed to train themselves to remain calm, regardless of the situation. The Buddha recounted how there was once a woman who lived in the same city where he and the monastics currently were. Everyone regarded the woman as gentle and quiet. She had a slave named Kali who was clever and hardworking. Kali wondered whether her mistress was as mild-tempered as she seemed. Might her mistress actually be hiding a bad temper? Perhaps Kali was so effi­cient that her mistress had not had cause to reveal her true temper!

Kali decided to test her mistress by getting up later than usual one morning. When the mistress saw Kali and asked her why she got up late, Kali responded that she did not have a reason. The mistress became angry. The next morning Kali got up even later. Once more, her mistress questioned her. And once more, Kali replied that she did not have a reason. When this happened yet again on the third morning, the infuriated mistress struck Kali. Bleed­ing, Kali ran out of the house crying out that her mistress had hit her because she had gotten up late! Word of what had happened spread and with it the report that the mistress was actually violent and bad-tempered.

The Buddha pointed out to the monastics that as long as they did not hear anything disagreeable or unpleasant, most of them were quiet and well behaved. But when they heard something objectionable, such words became a test as to whether they were truly calm and polite. The Buddha gave an example: Monks may be gentle and kind because they have everything they need. But if they become upset when their needs go unfulfilled, then they are not truly gentle.

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[1] Sister Upalavanna, translator, Kakacupama Sutta, MN 21, (http://www.saigon.com/~anson/ebud/majjhima/021-kakacupama-sutta-e1.htm)

Wish Flowers

 

One day
a field of blazing yellow.
Later, one week,
a sea of bobbing white
fluffy spheres.
Tiny living parachutes
floating off to nearby valley
carefully, with seed.

Next year
the field mowed flat.
No joyful splash of gold,
no ragged grasses
poking up around the edge.
Not one wish left
to fly along with breezes
uninhibited and free.

~ Cameo 2008 ~

 

Simile of the Saw

The Buddha once explained to the monks that there are five aspects of speech by which others may speak to them: “timely or untimely, true or false, affectionate or harsh, beneficial or unbeneficial, with a mind of good-will or with inner hate.” [i] In these circumstances, they should train themselves by thinking: “Our minds will be unaffected and we will say no evil words. We will remain sympathetic to that person's welfare, with a mind of good will and with no inner hate. We will keep pervading him with an awareness imbued with good will and, beginning with him, we will keep pervading the all-encompassing world with an awareness imbued with good will—abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility, free from ill will.” [ii]

The Buddha continued that even if robbers were to carve the monks up limb by limb, with a two-handled saw, the monk who became angry even at that would not be doing the Buddha’s bidding. He instructed the monastics that even under such circumstances, they needed to train themselves to maintain an unaffected mind and to continuously pervade the universe with thoughts of goodwill, by eliminating hatred and not speaking evil words.

The Buddha asked if there would be any speech they could not endure were they to follow this guid­ance. They responded that there was none. He then told them that they should call to mind often the Simile of the Saw, for doing so would bring them happiness and great benefit.

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[i] Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Kalama Sutta, AN III.65 (1994) (http://accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/anguttara/an03-065.html)
[ii] Ibid.

Our Test of Courage

It is easy to be lulled into a warm, fuzzy idea that Buddhism is just about sitting in meditation and being aware that we are supposed to be kinder people.

But Buddhism is more—much more—than that.

It is taking your fair share, but no more.

It is using what you need, not all that you want.

It is realizing that you are merely one of the almost seven billion people living in a closed world-system.

It is comprehending that you are now using the water, the air, the soil, the fuel that belongs to your children and grandchildren. We used up what belonged to us long ago. 

It is coming to terms with the fact that since you have money, and money is power, you are able to help drive the capitalist system. In this system, those with little money must raise the food and mine the resources to make the products that those with money want. Those with little money have no voice; they cannot be heard because the credit card terminals serving the wealthy drown them out.

To truly and wholly practice Buddhism means we understand that even innocent ignorance causes terrible suffering. But still worse is stepping out of ignorance and then deciding that we really don’t want to know the truth because it’s too uncomfortable, too difficult.

With wealth, and to a man in a third-world country working the land as his ancestors did anyone with a computer and internet connection is wealthy, goes a moral obligation.

Do we really want to cling to our lifestyle despite the knowledge that our indulgence has a terrible cost? People are starving because their land is taken by governments and multinationals who want to supply our desires. People are drowning because we are dumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, causing sea levels to rise and climate disturbances to intensify.

We are at the peak of vital resources: oil and natural gas, water, topsoil. Demand is increasing while supplies are declining. Going up the petroleum production curve took over a century. Falling down the other side could take a few decades.

But regardless of the speed of the fall, we have reached the end of cheap oil, cheap natural gas, and cheap water. As I write this, people in countries around the world are facing a terrible decision.  Do they spend their money on heating or on food? They usually opt for heat. It takes longer to starve than it does to freeze to death.

For those who have no voice, for your children and grandchildren, please learn to want less, to take less. If this is not done now by choice, in the future there will no longer be a choice. And our children and grandchildren, struggling to survive in a world terribly different from the one we now enjoy, will wonder what in G-d's name we were thinking.