Excerpt from Modern Society and Buddhist Spirituality
by Ven. Dr. Belligalle Dhammajoti

No Time For Dharma?

The Buddha tells us, "Hasten to do good, restrain your mind from evil. He who is slow in doing good, his mind delights in evil." He instructs us to purify our mind, remove the impurities. How in our busy schedules can we do this? Many of us find a little time to come to the temple, but find it difficult to find the time to meditate or study Buddha’s teachings. So how can we put more Dharma practice into our busy lives? Mindfulness (Samma Sati) and Right Effort (Samma Vayama) can be practiced just about anytime and anywhere, as part of our daily lives.

Samma Vayama involves four parts. One part is preventing the arising of unwholesome thoughts, which lead to unwholesome words and deeds. This is done by guarding the senses from things that disturb or overly excite the mind: turning away from negative influences, such as violent movies, magazines and shops which encourage greed or could tempt one to splurge money impulsively, and people who engage in unwholesome words and actions. We can practice walking meditation while walking to work, just by focusing our mind on the sensation of the foot rising, moving forward, and touching the ground. We can practice mindfulness of breathing while waiting in line or while on hold on the telephone, or in a few moments between projects at work. Otherwise during those times our minds may be occupied by unwholesome thoughts and distractions.

The second part is to abandon unwholesome thoughts that have arisen, to avoid retaining or dwelling on unwholesome thoughts. This can be done by replacing it with a wholesome thought. For example, if we have an angry thought because someone has done something offensive, we can replace it with a compassionate thought of the pain or hardship that person must have suffered to cause him to act in that way. If we have a thought of jealousy or revenge, we can replace it with the thought of the karmic effect of that jealousy or revenge: the suffering to ourselves that the habit of jealous or revengeful thoughts produces. If we have a judgmental thought, we can replace it with a thought of our own related weakness. For example, if we judge a person as overweight, we can replace that thought with the thought of our own greed; if we think of a person is hostile, we can think of our own anger; if we think that a person is undisciplined, we can remember our own indiscipline.

In the alternative, we can try to analyze the origin of the unwholesome thought: what attraction or fear caused the thought to arise? What frailty or negative thought patterns do I have that causes those kinds of thoughts to arise?

The third part is to encourage wholesome thoughts. This can be done by reading Buddha’s teachings, association with virtuous people, engaging in meritorious acts, and helping others, even in small ways. We can bring Dharma articles or a small Dharma book to read while traveling on airplanes, subways, or trains or in a hotel. We can listen to Buddhist songs, chanting or lectures while driving a car or cooking. We can carry a few small snacks to distribute to homeless people we pass by when walking downtown. We can practice Metta (loving-kindness) at any moment by simply wishing peace and happiness to any person we see or think of. This is especially useful to do when a person upsets us in some way.

The fourth part is to develop, maintain and perfect wholesome states. This requires determination and vigilance, watching or being mindful of one’s thoughts, words and acts, and developing and maintaining good habits. We can become increasingly sensitive to and aware of negative or unwholesome thoughts that arise, and we can act quickly to abandon them, overcoming our defenses and excuses for allowing them to continue.

These efforts don’t require large blocks of time from our schedules, but only require our remembrance of who we are: Buddhists, that is, people who practice Dharma, who are trying to purify our minds by our own effort. Once we start developing good habits in practicing right effort, we notice the happy feeling we get knowing that we are improving ourselves, and this motivates us to practice more. As the Buddha has told us, "Wake up! Be diligent. Lead a righteous life. He who dwells in Dharma lives happily in this world and the next."

STRESS RELIEF AND PURIFYING THE MIND

Most of us suffer with some degree of stress, or at least occasional stress, which results in our irritability, short temper, overeating, difficulty sleeping, fast driving, arguments, health problems and other unpleasantness. Here in modern America we don’t have the type of stresses of past ages and some other places in the world, such as lack of good medical treatment, elder care, education, food, and transportation. We have so many comforts and modern conveniences, yet we’re a country of high stress -- ironically, the stress of trying to have things our way – competing for better jobs, working hard to make more money, driving in heavy traffic, worrying about delays, sometimes being disappointed with what we get, and fixing, maintaining and trying to protect what we have. And we are never thrilled with one thing for long – we need something else, something more, something bigger, newer, or better. We are looking for relief from the stress, dissatisfaction, irritation, dukkha. So, many of us get caught up in health clubs, golf clubs; parties, movies; workaholism, alcoholism; new houses, new blouses; plastic gadgets and plastic surgery. But these things don’t relieve the stress for long; they don’t end our dukkha.

Lord Buddha has provided us with a detailed powerful prescription to eradicate our stress and dukkha. The Dharma is not only for the ultimate quenching of desire, the total end of suffering, Nibbana, but also the gradual decreasing of suffering, dissatisfaction and stress (dukkha), and the enjoyment of peace. As the Buddha has said:

How do we "absorb deeply" the Dharma? We may think of having compassion for those who are less fortunate, speaking with loving-kindness to others, bringing food to the monks and the needy, chanting, offering merits to relatives passed away, listening to Dharma talks. Is this enough? Is it giving us enough relief from stress that we "live happily with a tranquil mind"?

Or do these actions bring us only superficial happiness, temporary tranquility, as long as things are basically going our way? We may be fortunate now, using up merit we have earned by enjoying mundane rewards, coasting through this life on our past merit. But are we generating enough merits to keep the good fortune going? What happens when these merits are exhausted, when we begin to receive the results of our accumulated demerits – real grief, loss, illness, pain, failure, worry, loneliness? Are we prepared to cope with them – will we be able to maintain serenity?

If we really have a tranquil mind, then many people would be drawn to us just by our peacefulness and inner joy, like Venerables Moggallana and Sariputta, before they met the Buddha, were first drawn to the Arahat Assaji; or like people are drawn to a happy baby who has not yet developed greed, anger and ill will. If we don’t find many people drawn to us like this, then we are not really living "happily with a tranquil mind." Maybe we’re just coasting on our past merits, enjoying the fruits of our past good deeds. But we all have demerits, akusala karma, or we wouldn’t be born on the Earth, and we will have to cope with the results of them sooner or later.

So the solution to help us cope with the results of demerits, and to live a happy life with a tranquil mind, is to absorb deeply the Dharma: learn it and practice it continuously, to purify the mind:

To cleanse our mind, first we have to recognize our impurities, and learn how to remove them. Then we carefully watch our actions, words, and thoughts -- and avoid, remove, and abandon the impure ones.

"One by one, little by little, moment by moment, a wise man should remove his own impurities, as a smith removes the dross from silver." Dhammapada 18:5

"He who delights in subduing evil thoughts, who meditates on the impurities and is ever mindful – it is he who will make an end of craving and rend asunder Mara’s fetter." Dhammapada 24:17.

If we don’t watch our thoughts, then impure thoughts arise, and often result in impure words and actions, which lead to habitual negative thoughts, words and actions. The Buddha has cautioned us:

Similarly, he encourages us to gradually develop more good actions, words, thoughts and thus good habits:

However, recognizing our impurities is challenging, even as the Buddha acknowledged:

We are often unaware of our faults, thinking that our smiles, friendliness, helpfulness, gifts, donations, and pleasant conversations are proof of our inner goodness, and that, together with our health, wealth and success, this is proof of our past merits and our present purity. Analyzing further, however, we find that so many words we say and actions we do are almost "automatic," programmed into us by social norms and traditions. Behind them may lurk some unwholesome thoughts. For example, we may say "good morning" or "how are you" with an angry or judgmental thought toward the person, remembering something about the person did that we do not like, rather than really wishing him or her a good morning with metta (loving-kindness) toward the person. Or we may be friendly, helpful or charitable to a person, hoping for recognition, social acceptance, gratitude, or even gossip, and not be feeling much genuine metta and concern for the person’s welfare and happiness.

It is very difficult to notice any impurities in our thoughts because our thoughts are so fast and fleeting, and in our busy lives we are usually planning the future, worrying about the past, and being carried along by our thought streams. So, we are not observing or analyzing our thoughts. And of course we don’t like to find that we have impurities in ourselves, so we don’t look for them.

However, if we are not completely tranquil and feeling metta, then we must face the fact that impurities are indeed in our mind, so we need to closely observe our actions, words, and thoughts. One way we can do this is by communicating by e-mail, when possible, rather than by speaking. As we type the message, we have time to think about our motives for the message, the thoughts associated with it, and what we might expect from the recipient before we send it. Another way is with meditation, when we slow our thoughts down and watch them without getting carried away by them. The more we practice watching our thoughts, the more easily we notice the impurities even without consciously trying to observe the thoughts. Noticing our subtle levels of anger, pride, envy, desire, greed, ill will, judgmentalism, selfishness, aversion, arrogance, vanity, etc. becomes a very good habit.

The next step is to try to avoid, eliminate or at least decrease the impure thoughts. This is also very challenging. We often justify or make excuses for our impure thoughts, words and deeds, such as "everyone else does," "we have to fit in with others, " "she upset me," "he was unfair," "this is America," "he needs to learn a lesson," or "I don’t want to be inferior." However, these excuses do not really excuse our behavior – they do not undo the demerit. Rather, they are delusions that encourage us to continue to harbor impure thoughts and express them with impure words and deeds. The Buddha cautions us not to use the behaviors of others as a standard for our behavior, but to work on eliminating our impurities regardless of the behavior of others:

"Others will be resentful, we shall not be resentful, effacement should be practiced.

Others will gossip, we shall not gossip, effacement should be practiced.

Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 8.

These practices give us relief from stress. By avoiding resentment, we think peaceful thoughts toward others. By avoiding gossip, we enjoy and encourage uplifting conversation. By avoiding contemptuousness, we gain metta and karuna, lovingkindness and compassion, for others. By avoiding envy, we gain contentment. By avoiding deceitfulness and lies, we do not become burdened by having to remember our lies and keep a consistent story to avoid getting caught. By avoiding breaking promises, we avoid others’ blame and our guilt. By avoiding arrogance, we gain humility and earn genuine respect. Therefore with these practices, we become more confident about our future, secure in the Dharma. When suffering does arise, we recover from it faster.

But it is not so easy to maintain these practices, because we have developed habits of negative thoughts. The Buddha provided specific guidance to the monks to practice effacement, or removal, of impure thoughts in Majjhima Nikaya Sutta 20, "Removal of Distracting Thoughts." The monks were thus trained to teach laypersons how to do so, and therefore it is perfectly appropriate for laypersons to follow the same guidance. In summary, the Buddha provided the following five techniques:

We should replace unwholesome thoughts with wholesome ones. For example if we have a greedy thought, we should replace it with a thought of impermanence. If we have a thought of ill will, anger, revenge or contempt, we should replace it with kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna) . If we have a thought of envy, we should replace it with a thought of sympathetic joy (mudita), gladness for the other person’s happiness. If we have a thought of disgust, we should replace it with a thought of the elements (earth, water, fire, air). But our mind may not be so obedient! Our mind tends to keep dwelling on negative thoughts because it is stubborn, having developed strong habits of thought, attachments, aversions and emotions. For example, we are often in the habit of remembering and analyzing the wrongdoing or weaknesses of others, and planning what we could say "to teach a lesson" to someone who hurt or disappointed us. Instead, we should "attend to another subject connected with what is wholesome" to encourage the mind to substitute wholesome thoughts for unwholesome ones. We may need to change our activity to one that does not remind us of something unwholesome. If we are talking, then change the subject of conversation to a positive one. Whether or not we are talking, it helps to move to a different location, even just a few steps away, or a different room. If we are doing some type of work, then do a different chore, walk mindfully, look outside at the beauty of nature, or concentrate on breathing or practice mindfulness for a few moments. If possible, read a few pages of a Dharma book. Then we check to make sure that we are having wholesome thoughts.

If this technique doesn’t work to eliminate the impure thoughts, then try the second technique:

Instead of justifying our negative thoughts, we should identify them as wrong and adding to our stress. We should see the thoughts as shameful and disgusting, but not punish or denigrate ourselves. We can remind ourselves that these thoughts will result in stress because if we continue these thoughts, they will become strengthened and habitual, and we may speak and act in accordance with those thoughts. On a more positive note, we can remind ourselves that if we discontinue the unwholesome thought, we are weakening that defilement, destroying the bad habit, successfully controlling our thoughts, and purifying our minds as the Buddha taught us.

Certainly it is unpleasant to have habitual thoughts of envy, anger or ill will, and similarly it is unpleasant to have habitual thoughts of desire, vanity, conceit, possessiveness and other negativities because when they are frustrated or unfulfilled, they lead to anger, envy and ill will. We know that there are karmic results of acts, words and thoughts, so considering our unwholesome thoughts as shameful and fearing if they continue are helpful guardians in our minds. The Buddha’s example of a dead snake, dog or human hanging from our neck is a way to visualize the shamefulness of the unwholesome thought. Visualization is a powerful tool for controlling the mind.

Sometimes when an unwholesome thought recurs, we feel disappointed that it has recurred, and this can lead to discouragement and more stress. In this situation, it is helpful to use visualization with humor - as often said, "laughter is the best medicine." We can imagine ourselves as actors on a comedy stage, acting out the particular defilement with great exaggeration. Or we can imagine a greatly exaggerated cartoon of ourselves showing that defilement with a hilarious facial expression. Then we laugh at ourselves. Our laughter breaks up the stress and eradicates the negative thoughts.

The Buddha continues with a third technique:

How to just "pay no attention to them"? We can close our eyes to the thoughts, or look away from our thoughts, by drawing our attention to something that is inconsistent with the thoughts. An extremely effective method is to do some act of service to help someone. If that is not possible at the moment, we can remember our meritorious actions. We can chant or listen to a Buddhist chant. We can sing or listen to uplifting calming music. We can do exercise, such as yoga. We can read a wholesome book. We can attend to some chores that require concentration.

People often try to distract themselves by watching TV, reading a popular book, newspaper or magazine, reading email, surfing the Internet, listening to popular music, or chatting with a friend or relative. Such distraction may temporarily occupy the mind to displace the unwholesome thoughts. If the distraction happens to be wholesome, it may be effective. Very often, however, media, email, Internet sites, and conversations are somewhat unpredictable and include unwholesome elements, given the popular interest in violence, lust, morbid subjects, gossip and wealth. These unwholesome elements then add to our mental burdens, agitating the mind.

If the third technique is not possible in the circumstances, or is not effective, here is a fourth technique:

This technique illustrates a step-by-step approach to calming the thoughts. We can begin this technique by asking ourselves questions such as "Why am I feeling upset? Is it fear of loss? Worry about the future? Regret about the past? Anger from unfair treatment? What is the name of this emotion - revenge, hurt pride, frustrated desire, envy, ...?" Recognizing the type of emotion that motivated the unwholesome thoughts, we can ask ourselves, "Will these emotions help me? What am I trying to accomplish with these thoughts? Is this something I really need to take action on? Would the action be wholesome? " Recognizing that no action, or a wholesome action, should be taken, we can try to find the desire, aversion or ignorance that caused the emotions, by asking ourselves, "Why am I still having these unwholesome thoughts? What desire is being frustrated? What attachment is being threatened? What is it that I want to avoid? What do I feel confused by?" Upon pondering our frailties which caused the unwholesome thoughts, we can remember and apply the antidote for each negative feeling: "Why am I feeling possessiveness, why not feel impermanence of everything? Why am I feeling desire, why not feel gratitude and contentment with the wonderful blessings I have? Why am I feeling envy, why not feel happy that the other person has something he or she likes? Why am I feeling ill will, why not feel compassion for the person’s pain and/or fear that caused him to act in a way that displeased me? Why am I feeling fear, why not trust that the Dharma will protect me?"

The final technique is as follows:

5. If unwholesome thoughts still arise when stilling the thoughts, then with teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the roof of mouth, beat down, constrain, crush thoughts with awareness. Just as a strong man grabs a weaker man by the throat and beats him, crushes him. Then thoughts are abandoned, the mind is steadied, settled.

The mouth reflects our mind. It becomes loose when we sleep, our lips tighten when we become irritated, our mouth moves in various ways when we have persistent bad thoughts, and our teeth clench when we make efforts to control our emotion. Thus, clenched teeth indicate mental effort. Curling the tongue back against the roof of the mouth is an ancient yoga technique

to concentrate the mind. The Buddha tells us to "crush our thoughts with awareness." Awareness results from practice of mindfulness. If we practice mindfulness, we can use this technique to control our thoughts.

Making use of these techniques to purify the mind, together with a steady effort to decrease our unwholesome words and actions and increase our wholesome ones, we decrease our stress and dukkha and learn to live happily with a tranquil mind.

May all beings be well, happy & peaceful!