Wanted: Urban Monks.

"All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."-Buddha

I really like this striking image--the pagoda speaks of the timelessness of the Dharma while the buildings project the essential, utilitarian-nature of day-to-day modern life. Perhaps some might try and crop out the buildings from this picture believing they take away from the pagoda. But nothing in this world exists in a vacuum--everything exists in relation to everything else. If the world were full of nothing but serene, Buddhist, pagodas full of chanting monks, who would provide the upkeep of this world that must get done regardless of the Dharma? We need "urban monks," as well; lay people who bring the serenity of the pagodas to office buildings, prisons, schools, apartments and every nook of this world. We can touch places and lives that a lot the ordained monks can't ever reach.

I use to want to be a "traditional monk" because I believed it would provide a haven from a world that I perceived of as pure disaster. I didn't realize then how foolish and naive I was being. I was only seeing the disastrous suffering in the the world because I was filtering out the positive stuff. Through meditating upon the pitfalls of perceptions, I became aware that I was projecting the disaster that I was ignoring inside my mind, out onto the world. So, of course, all I was seeing was a chaotic world!! It is a delusional trick that we perform, so that we can blame the world for all our troubles, and not accept our responsibility.

It doesn't mean we're bad people for making these mistakes. You don't blame the baby for shitting in it's pants, do you? It's simply being a baby--and so are we. We are simply being a typical but loveable infant who is trying his/her best to grow. It's natural for a baby to make a mess of things--that's how they learn. How are you going to know that some things are less helpful in your life until you make a mistake?

So, it's o.k. to shit your pants from time to time--spiritually speaking, of course. Shit, itself, isn't bad either. To paraphrase my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, without shit, we wouldn't have roses!! Our mistakes, fertilize the seeds of our good intentions to grow roses of happiness and peace. The key is to not blame yourself for doing something that human's can't help but do--make mistakes. This world itself is imperfect and flawed, so how could we not make mistakes? You are trying, and trying is a pro-active action. A lot of people are too afraid to try, so go easy on yourself.

PHOTO CREDIT: "Hong Kong Pagoda, and buildings" by Stuart Miles for Free Digital Photos.

~may all beings know peace~

Don't Obsess About Enlightenment.

"Rather than worry or obsess about enlightenment, why not be honest and accept that we will have our good days and our bad? We will have some enlightened moments of loving-kindness, as well as some dull ones. This encourages all of us to stay real and experience the moment as it is—not how we want it to be."

–Donald Altman, from Living Kindness.

James: I think this is a very important point to remember along our path because I know that I have a tendency sometimes to obsess over moments where I don't feel so "enlightened." I start getting down on myself for having repeated the same mistakes over and over again but then I remember that we can't progress without making "mistakes!!" None of us here in this life is perfect, which is why we are are here in samsara the first place!! So that should give us hope and give us cause to relax and just do our best within each moment that we experience.

I see "mistakes" as rough drafts in the process of bringing forth the sacred text within us all that is our enlightenment.

PHOTO CREDIT: Beautiful photo by Laurent G.

~Peace to all beings~

We all Make Mistakes.

We all make mistakes from time to time. Life is about learning to make our mistakes less often. To realize this goal, we have a policy in our monastery that monks are allowed to make mistakes. When the monks are not afraid to make mistakes, they don’t make so many.

–Ajahn Brahm, from Opening the Door of Your Heart (Lothian Books)

James: (I am not a teacher and the following are my thoughts and mine alone). I have often found that perfectionism is a common obstacle to many people. Striving for perfection is in my view another form of desire because we refuse to accept that we are already perfect as all has Buddha nature. Perfectionism asserts that mistakes are negative and signs of failure.

In reality we can not make progress without making mistakes. If we adjust our lives so that we won't make many mistakes then we greatly hinder our chances and opportunities to peel away the layers of karma to reveal the perfect jewel of enlightenment. Not to mention loosing out on a lot of the joys of life out of a fear of making mistakes. But guess what?--everyone makes mistakes and suffers pain.

Even Buddha suffered aches and pains after his enlightenment. He understand that, "Enlightened people do not cease to experience the pain of existence. They only stop creating illusions that amplify that pain and cause new suffering." However, If we compare ourselves say to advanced students or the great teachers then we will come up feeling inadequate and get discouraged to where it would be easy to give up the Dharma thinking we will never become who they are.

The key I think is to set modest goals and realize that the middle-path isn't a short-cut or express lane but rather a journey that will most likely take many, many, many lives to fulfill. There is no reason to be discouraged by this, however, because instead it takes the pressure off of feeling like we have to realize enlightenment in this life, which often brings frustration, low self-esteem and discouragement. Of course we should strive to do our best and live the Dharma as best we can but mistakes will happen and that is simply apart of the journey. Step by step, moment by moment, enlightenment unveils itself.

When we refuse to accept imperfection then we set ourselves up for disappointment and suffering. On the contrary when we accept that things don't have to be perfect to be good or beneficial then we can stop worrying so much and enjoy being perfect in our imperfections!! I think that is one of the reasons why the teaching on the present moment is so important because it is keeping goals realistic. Thus the teaching of "before enlightenment I chopped wood and carried water and after enlightenment I chopped wood and carried water."

Before enlightenment perhaps we chopped wood and carried water with a constant thought stream of self-judgments such as: "I should be chopping wood faster," or "Look at how much water is splashing over the side of the bucket, I must be worthless at this job." Little perhaps do we realize that like a famous story goes--the water splashing over the side of the bucket could be watering flowers down below, flowers that we did not notice because our focus was on trying to be perfect.

After enlightenment chopping wood and carrying water is perfection already expressed because the focus is no longer on doing the task perfectly but on simply doing and fully experiencing the task itself as it unfolds.

~Peace to all beings~