Eliminate or Adapt?

Though we may not realise it most of us are faced with this question on a daily basis, or perhaps several times a day. Things happen or are said that give us unpleasant feelings. Sometimes it is about things that have not happened yet - fear, confusion or struggle about the future. Do we try to get rid of those painful thoughts and feelings or do we accept them? No one wants unhappy thoughts or negative feelings. So, we most often do what comes natural to each of us – we either try to fight off the thinking (“I must think positive thoughts!” “I have to stop thinking about this!” “God, damn it! It’s his fault I’m like this!”) or we run in the opposite direction, called avoidance – have a few glasses of wine, have another cigarette, get into another relationship, go on a holiday. While some of these things are not so “bad” in themselves, in the long term are they helpful?

Most of us have tried all types of things to deal with painful thoughts and feelings only to find that eventually they keep coming back. Many years ago I found myself reading over my daily journaling. I had kept a journal for several years since someone told me that writing down your thoughts – getting them out on paper – was the way to deal with painful or negative emotions. Well, when I do something I usually do it to the max! I had kept a trunk full of old journal books. I chanced to gaze on the 5th of April 1997. The theme of the entry was my usual struggle with relationships. I looked back one year. 5th April 1996. I was shocked. It was the same stuff. I looked back on the 5th of April 1994. Still the same stuff! Nothing had changed. I immediately felt defeated. Struggle with my thinking was a daily routine. Sounds familiar? Many of us spend a huge amount of energy, time and money in the struggle trying to eradicate or eliminate the pain.

It was not until several years later I chanced to be in Shanghai, China and was introduced to a man who changed my life by changing my thinking. He has been the subject of a previous blog, the Venerable Xinming, an elderly monk from Hangzhou. He related to me how during the Cultural Revolution many monks left China for Taiwan or Hong Kong. Some stayed to resist the cultural change and paid a heavy price. Xinming told his story:

“I left the monastery, discarded my robes and went to Shanghai. Resistance is violence. The Precept tells us that we must not kill or be the cause of killing. If I resisted then I would have caused the guards to kill me and thus place them in a terrible hell. Robes do not make a monk. Temples and books do not make a monk. My life is not dependant on things but my state of mind. I was still a monk at heart. . .in my heart. I did not cease to recite the sutras silently or to “nienfo” (Buddha Name Recitation). I simply adapted. I had a purpose. This unfolded the way for me. My purpose was to live my vows no matter what and be true to myself. I was like a Chameleon. This lizard does not change being a lizard in his new environment. He simply adapts and changes his external appearance. This is the way. We must adapt.” Xinming concluded with a full heart laugh.

It took me some time to fully integrate the venerable monk’s words into my life but eventually they took root.

What does this mean to those of us who struggle with our thoughts and feelings?

Firstly acknowledge the feelings and thoughts. Realize that they are normal. They are part of what the human mind produces.

Secondly realize that you can observe them rather than getting caught up in them like watching cars pass by while standing on the side of the road instead of standing in the middle of the traffic.

Thirdly give them space. Breathe into them. Expand. Here our aim is flexibility – psychological flexibility. Breathing is very important and being present to the feelings the thoughts produce in your body. Allow them to simply be while all the time breathing into them.

Fourthly find what gives you purpose in life. What are you here for? What gives you vitality? Are you being true to your deep inner self? Continue to move in this direction as this will provide the energy.

Remember; do not get caught in the trap of trying to eradicate them. They will drag you down. The man caught in the quicksand can either struggle and sink or stop kicking about and float on the top, adapting, and perhaps having a far better chance of surviving.

This is the way of Mindfulness.

Kitchen Spirituality

We sat in the pre-dawn darkness lit only by the flicker of small candles gently illuminating a statue of Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy. The autumn air was brisk. The silence of our meditation was punctuated by the occasional “hiss” of steam droplets falling from the lid of the old pot on the charcoal stove cooking the morning rice porridge. The scent of incense and charcoal wafted past. The silent mind floated on the edge of our breath.

Suddnely I sensed Jin Jin stir and softly but quickly get up from the lotus position. I brought my mind back to the meditation. Then a whisper of frustration as an ”Oh No!” came from the kitchen area of the small Chinese rural retreat hut.
The aroma of burnt porridge told the story.

Burnt porridge and meditation - two phenomena from seemingly two different worlds. Yet we are faced with this on a daily basis. While we want the peace and tranquility of our meditation to stretch throughout the day the reality is our day is so often full of the ordinary tasks: cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, ironing, eating, meetings, agendas etc. The peace seems so often bustled.

However, Meditation is like sitting. You can sit in a meditation hall, a dining room, a bus, yes- the loo!! You can sit almost anywhere. The space where you sit does not alter the “sitting”. “Sitting” is “sitting” no matter where you sit. This goes for meditation as well. Meditation is mindfulness – being in the present moment with buddha (awakened) mind. The problem is that for most of us for most of the day we are far from being in the present moment. Meditation becomes that grasped moment in the morning before going to work or sending the kids off to school.

I once asked my Master where is the best place for meditation. His answer was far from my expectation. “In the kitchen” was his reply. The kitchen? “Yes, the kitchen can teach you all about life.”

Meditation is about being connected to the fullness of life – the Buddha moment. Use all of your five senses to connect. Instead of going about your tasks like a robot while your mind is chatting away in the background about the struggles that life brings us, try getting out of your mind and connect fully to the present moment. Look at the colours of the food you are preparing, the shapes, texture. Listen to the sound as you peel the vegetables or the sound of the hissing of the pot steaming away, the knife hitting the chopping board. Feel the implements in your hand, the pressure, the smoothness of the vegetables etc Smell the aromas of the spices, taste the flavours. Do this for about twenty minutes. Fully connect with what you are doing.

In Buddhism we have a Zen saying: “Before enlightenment, chop wood. After enlightenment, chop wood.” The secret of life is in doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. It is also about community. The Sangha is the community and is one of the Three Jewels. It is in the kitchen that we have the opportunity to create community in preparing the meal for others to enjoy.

That Autumn morning in the retreat hut as we looked out across the Chinese countryside we came together after meditation and laughed about the burnt porridge. Jin Jin added some soy milk, stirred the pot, added something else and served us a wonderful breakfast. Even that small action told us about how to deal with life that suddenly goes off the rails. All of life is both drama and dharma! The kitchen is a wonderful spiritual teacher.

Buddhist Meditation - Relaxation or Mindfulness?

Many people come seeking Buddhism as a way of coping with stress and the undercurrent of quiet discontent that infects many of us in the West. Many more are drawn to Buddhist meditation as a means of finding relaxation.

There are many forms of Buddhist meditation. The seeker needs to find one style that suits their life-style and personality.

I write in this article about Pure Land (Jing Tu) Buddhist meditation. In Pure Land practise the reciting of the name of Amida Buddha is central. Amida Buddha is the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life. Through the constant recitation of his name we gradually become one with his quality of light and life. There is nothing extraordinary about this. It is common psychology. Repeat a concept or thought often enough and one becomes cognitively fused with that thought especially if there are strong emotions attached.

The practise of reciting the name of Amida Buddha is called "nien-fo" in Chinese. The Chinese character "nien" conveys the meaning of bringing our heart/mind into the present moment and of being "mindful" of this present moment. In Chinese Buddhism we chant : "Namo Amitofuo" meaning "homage to Amida Buddha" or simply "amitofuo".

For new comers to Pure Land Buddhism this is a rather curious practice as it seems at first to be quite boring and repetitive. Do not be deceived. This is a precious gem. Firstly it is a big mistake that many make that meditation is about relaxation. This is not the point of Buddhist meditation and it is not the goal of Pure Land meditation. A sense of relaxation is very often a by-product of meditating but we must not make it our aim as we can be very disappointed. There will be many times when our meditations are quite irritating as we struggle with the mind. The aim of Pure Land meditation or "nien-fo" is to attain single pointedness and purity of mind.

Nien-fo is done either aloud, silently, whispering or within one's mind (often called Diamond Meditation). In nien-fo we accept our transient thoughts like cars passing by our window without becoming attached to them while all the time holding on or reverting our attention to the name "amitofuo". In terms of psychology this is the essence of mindfulness practice.

In Buddhism we understand the mind to be the source of much suffering as we become fused with our thinking. A simple example is anxiety. If while meditating we have an anxious thought the tendency is often to struggle with that thought and thus become anxious about being anxious! In Pure Land nien-fo, we accept the thought of anxiety even perhaps naming it: "My mind is having an anxious thought". Then we move on ever repeating "amitofuo". The thirteenth Patriarch of Pure Land the Venerable Yin Kuang tells us that it does not matter if we have all types of thoughts. "Amitofuo goes before them and Amitofuo goes after them. That is all that matters."

With much practise the "monkey thoughts" become less and less. As I have said, meditation is not about relaxing. It is about mindfulness. Of course we will have many times when we will feel relaxed and peaceful after a meditation but this is NOT to be the goal.

Over many life times we have built up an accumulation of evil karma (and good karma as well). The evil karma is like a giant glass of muddy water. We could try to tip the water out and refill the glass with fresh, clean water but the glass is so huge we are unable to lift it or move it. The only way is through the law of displacement. Each time we recite the name of Amida Buddha it is like a small droplet of pure water released from a dropper into the muddy water. Eventually the water will overflow from the glass and gradually the muddy water will be replaced by fresh crystal clear water. Let the glass of water on your altar be a reminder of that as you single mindedly hold the thought "amitofuo". With regular practice a sense of deep contentment will gradually replace the discontent.

Amitofuo

What is T'ai Shen Do?

Many people are curious about these three Chinese words. Is T'ai Shen Do some sort of martial art? Is it a new religion? Is it some previously unknown Buddhist or Taoist sect? None of these!

From a young age I was exposed to Chinese culture and Buddhism and it was with much intrigue and often amusement that I watched the "New Age" philosophies and medicines being introduced into Australian culture - Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, Taoism and Buddhism. Of course, there is nothing "new" in terms of age about these phenomena. They have been around for millenniums. The things that amused me was the West took these little snippets of Chinese medicine and philosophy, isolated them and separated them and pretended that they had the whole truth! Wrong! One cannot separate an integrated system and expect sound results.

Similarly there has been an increased interest in Chinese Buddhism in the West. The danger here again lies in the desire to separate it from the rest of Chinese culture. Much Western spirituality is compartmentalized and segregated from the rest of daily life - something done on one day of the week with little relevance or reference to other aspects of daily life. On the other hand, Chinese life is dependent upon the complex web of interconnection and interdependence. As a practitioner of traditional Chinese Pure Land Buddhism I was challenged with this fragmentation. The Masters and Patriarchs of Pure Land were all steeped from birth in a complete Chinese cultural tradition. Their relationship to their physical and mental health, environment and social ethics was fairly and squarely based upon an interconnected Chinese way of life.

As a Pure Land practitioner and mental health educator I have serious reservations about compartmentalizing Buddhism and isolating it from its cultural environment. In the natural order we know that if an organism is taken from its natural environment an web of interconnections it will die. Just try to take a fish out of water and see if it will live! Chanting, meditating and prostrating without living in harmony with our physical, mental, social, moral and environmental domains will have little effect on the practitioner and may even be harmful in the long term. Likewise to deal with a mental health issue in isolation from the physical and spiritual self is setting up for failure.

As a result I coined the phrase "T'ai Shen Do" to express a practise of Pure Land Buddhism that remains faithful to its tradition steeped in a Chinese philosophical way of life. The T'ai Shen Do methodology is about balancing the Five Pillars of life (Right Spirituality, Right Mindfulness, Right Relationship, Right Consumption and Right Movement) in a similar way to the classic Five Phases of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The words 'T'ai Shen Do' 泰神道 mean the Peaceful Spirit Way. The Chinese character 泰 'T'ai' has particular interest. It has several meanings which are like colours on an artist's palette which when combine paint a word picture. 'T'ai' means peace, safety/security, and 'extreme height' as being on top of a mountain. In ancient times there was safety and security in being on top of a mountain as one could see the enemy coming from a great distance and be prepared. In a state of T'ai Shen we are able through practice to have a broad view of life and an awareness of the enemy within. The method (Tao/Do) of T'ai Shen is to bring all aspects of life into harmony and gentle peace.

T'ai Shen Do is not a new Buddhism. It is an awareness of Buddhism lived out in harmony with all of life and not in isolation from life. Buddhism embraces life but does not become attached to it. Further, it embraces ALL of life as a way of life. This is T'ai Shen Do.

Mind the traffic in Shanghai

It was mid afternoon and I was running late for an appointment. I was stuck right in the middle of four lanes of Shanghai traffic trying to cross the road. I still had another two lanes to negotiate. If only the traffic stayed in their lanes in orderly fashion. However, this was Shanghai where buses did war with motor 'scooterists', bicycles did war with barrow pushers, cars did war with cyclists and the whole lot did war with the pedestrian! I was starting to panic a little as I was nearly side wiped by a bus towering beside me. At last I made it to the other side, took a deep breath as the adrenalin took its last rush along the highways of my veins then picked up the pace darting amongst the mass of bodies as I rushed to the appointment.




Later in the evening I was to meet a friend in Xujiahui who was inviting me to meet his "master". I had never met a "master" before and wondered what to expect. Yan had told me that his master was a Buddhist monk who was in Shanghai for a few days from the tranquil Buddhist island of Mt Putuo off the coast of China.





Earlier in the day over breakfast Yan eagerly shared with me his story of how he came to discover Buddhism. Living the life in the fast lane as a Manager of a large hotel chain Yan described how his life had sunk to flirting with wine and women and how during a 'morning-after' walk full of remorse and 'never-agains' he chanced to walk into the grounds of a temple in Hangzhou. There he met his "master". "Your mind looks like a traffic jam" were the first words of his "master" almost clairvoyantly uttered. Yan told me his words could not have been more accurate. Yan went on to tell me how after about two hours' conversation with this elderly monk he felt he could start life all over again. Yan's face was a smiling shining disc. I was intrigued.





He looked right out of place. So much so I felt a little embarrassed. As we walked inside the ritzy Shanghai restaurant there in front of us with a gentle, almost cheeky grin, was Yan's "master" dressed in yellow Buddhist robes. Two worlds had collided. The world of the rich and opulent and the world of the humble and spiritual. Perhaps I could say: "Three worlds collided." The third world was mine, trying to make sense of all of this. Yan introduced me: "This is Master Xin Ming". I bowed and awkward bow and stumbled with my Chinese. We were ushered to a table by a seeming equally embarrassed waitress.





There ensued some conversation about Putuo Shan, or Mt Putuo as it is referred to in English, then Yan said: "Malcolm wishes to speak with you." I could have aimed a gentle kick under the table at Yan. At this point in my journey my life had been in turmoil dramatically breaking up a relationship with a lady I had been going out with after learning she was in fact married to a government official who if he had found out cold have easily made me disappear into the remotest part of Siberia never to be seen again. Thoughts were spinning around in my head. No, more than that, the thoughts and feelings dominated my head! I really did not want to speak to this holy man as I had nothing to say except to wallow in my own suffering. I was keen to know how old he was using an old avoidance tactic, so hoping to get an answer an indirect way I asked: "When did you first become a monk?" "I am eighty-four. I have been a monk since I was eighteen." I was shocked. Could this gentle man have known my intended question? Xin Ming immediately put me at ease by telling me about his life as a monk especially during the Cultural Revolution. I sat transfixed at his story. Then he stopped suddenly and changed his tone while looking almost as if straight though me. "You need to get out of the middle of the traffic or you will get run over. You can't stop the traffic in Shanghai and you can't stop it in Malcolm. Get to the other side. There on the other side of the road you are safe. From there you can watch the traffic." I was stunned. My mind swept back to my pirouetting in the middle of the traffic in the morning on my way to my appointment and then suddenly walked slap bang into the wall of my own illusion.





The evening conversation continued lightly but the seed was sown in my brain. The lesson was clear. My first lesson in Mindfulness. . .and my first shaky steps in Buddhism.