A dose of sanity

A friend Whatsapped me today:

Can you please write an article about how to get our mind in the right state for a potential nuclear apocalypse?

The woman sitting opposite me in this café, who is on oxygen, was reading to her husband what is going on in today’s protests, military parades, and assassinations. She was starting to become visibly upset, so her husband, also elderly, wagged his finger at her and said:

No politics!

She is now playing a card game on her phone, breathing easier. So, does this mean that the choice is either to get upset or to ignore what’s going on? No. Dharma is not escaping from reality but escaping to reality. We need to be able to face up to what’s going on, but with clear eyes and an open heart. For how else are we to develop renunciation or compassion, the motivations needed to develop the wisdom that will bring our own and others’ suffering to an end?

I was thinking about Advice from Atisha’s Heart when I got my friend’s request. When stuff goes wrong in my life, big or small, and I feel my mind becoming disturbed, I will often contemplate Atisha’s Advice to solve the inner problems. Then I find I’m peaceful and far better placed to stand up to the tyranny of everyone’s delusions. My energy levels remain high. I can practice more fearlessness, compassion, and hopefulness with the outer problems. And in case you’re wondering how this is going to help anyone but myself, one thing Atisha says is: 

Since you cannot tame the minds of others until you have tamed your own, begin by taming your own mind.

If I’m scared and angry, I’m not helping anyone. Taking strong and remedial action does not have to be motivated by anger or fear, of course. It can and often is motivated by compassion and wisdom. And as Venerable Geshe Kelsang says in his commentary to Shantideva’s verse 41 on the patience of not retaliating:

No suggestion is being made that we should passively let ourself be beaten up or harmed merely for the sake of practicing patience. If there is a way open for us to prevent this man from hurting both us and himself, then certainly we should stop him. The question here, however, is: ‘What should we do with our mind once the harm has been received?’ The entire practice of patience, and indeed of Dharma as a whole, is to provide protection for the mind because ultimately it is our mind that determines whether we are happy or miserable.

So in response to my friend I thought I could at least draw people’s attention to this sublime and inspiring Advice, available for $3.99 in this beautiful booklet (which also contains Je Tsongkhapa’s The Three Principal Aspects of the Path): The Kadampa Way of Life.

I had also been thinking how Atisha’s Advice is pretty much the direct opposite of the aggressive “boys with toys” mentality that is writ large in the world’s playground. We are no better than animals vying for survival and supremacy in a jungle. Or, indeed, chickens (see Conflict in the chicken coop). Humans have the potential to do extraordinarily good things, but not with a jungle or chicken mentality. That includes me.

It is in many ways true that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Therefore, if the current mentality, aka bunch of out of control delusions, is not working for us, or anyone really, we can always do the opposite. We can follow Dharma.

Atisha’s Advice covers all the main aspects of Buddha’s teachings – renunciation, bodhichitta, and wisdom – in practical straight-talking nuggets that go to the heart of both our current and existential situations. I don’t really have favorites because I like contemplating the whole lot in one sitting when the need arises, but here are some that jump to mind for the current climate:

Avoid places that disturb your mind, and always remain where your virtues increase.

That might be easier said than done as I could literally press one button right now to be somewhere disturbing. A disturbing world is always right at our fingertips these days, but we can seek out places and people – online and off – who encourage us to be kind and wise. That nugget goes along with this one:

Avoid friends who cause you to increase your delusions, and rely upon those who increase your virtue. This you should take to heart.

It is worth remembering that attachment to our own selfish desires is one principal reason we are at each other’s throats, but:

Friends, the things you desire give no more satisfaction than drinking sea water, therefore practice contentment.

And this one:

Since you will definitely have to depart without the wealth you have accumulated, do not accumulate negativity for the sake of wealth.

Doped up on the eight worldly concerns – attached to gain, pleasure, reputation, & praise and averse to their opposite – we will never know a day of peace, either now or in the future.

Words of praise and fame serve only to beguile us, therefore blow them away as you would blow your nose.

At the time of our death, which can always come at a moment’s notice, even when the world is not in crisis, everything we are so invested in will absorb into our clear light mind and disappear forever.

Since the happiness, pleasure and friends you gather in this life last only for a moment, put them all behind you.

Whatever outer problems we thought we had, regardless of whether we solved them or not, will no longer even be memories. We will arise in a new dream, in a new world, with new problems. If we are born as a kitten, for example, we will no longer have any human political problems. Though we will have plenty of other things to deal with, such as having to eat gross food and lick our butts. (Blatant excuse to share some of my current kitten photos).

Since future lives last for a very long time, gather up riches to provide for the future.

All the world’s problems would seem to arise from a lack of wisdom and compassion in the minds of living beings, as wrote a guest author in this wonderful article: A vison of hope in troubled times. If we don’t want to humiliate this kitten, then we shouldn’t want to humiliate anyone. As Atisha said:

Generate compassion for lowly beings, and especially avoid despising or humiliating them.

We have to overcome our obsessive self-concern if we are to have any hope of solving our problems not only now but once and for all, and Atisha had some great advice on how, such as:

Do not contemplate your own good qualities, but contemplate the good qualities of others, and respect everyone as a servant would.

We also seem to be a million miles away from this next one, but it’s never too late to start:

Always keep a smiling face and a loving mind, and speak truthfully without malice.

Talking of emptying swamps, eventually we will have to empty out the entire ocean of samsara if we don’t like what’s going on because samsaric sufferings follow one upon the other like waves. (As explained in this article: Staying centered in the solution.)

Friends, there is no happiness in this swamp of samsara, so move to the firm ground of liberation.

A really meaningful life is one in which we’re trying to get us all out of here. From this point of view:

It is completely meaningless to put effort into activities that have no essence.

The inhabitant of Seat 11A was the sole survivor on the recent Air India plane crash, and much ink is being spilt trying to speculate why – he was in the emergency row, the door happened to open, he miraculously managed to escape. But why was it him sitting there and not the other poor souls? The main reason is because his karma to die did not ripen at this time. Karma exists, and we need to observe it. I always appreciate this helpful reminder:

If the things you desire do not come, it is due to karma created long ago, therefore keep a happy and relaxed mind.

Anger and hatred are on the rise, but we should never fall into the trap of believing that these are actually going to solve anything. There is no safety in numbers. We will get far more done with patience, which is a catch all mind as I explain here: How to deal with difficult situations.

Since hatred is rife in these impure times, don the armor of patience, free from anger.

Finally, if we put effort into developing our wisdom, we will come to see that the things we normally see do not exist. That all these problems are not really there. This realization takes time, but of all Dharma medicine it is supreme.

Being under the influence of wrong views, you do not realize the ultimate nature of things, therefore investigate correct meanings.

With compassion we want everyone to realize this so that they can find the happiness we all long for, which can only come from wisdom and inner peace. If in dependence on that we develop the wish to attain enlightenment for their sake, and we hold that wish firmly in our heart for a bit, we will feel totally different about what is going on in the world. Try it and see.

The infinite power of enlightenment  

Just something else I have been thinking about … If we understand the nature of enlightenment, how it is reality, we will understand how even one Buddha is infinitely more powerful than all the world’s most powerful human beings combined. With one slice of Buddha Vajrayogini’s curved knife, for example, this troubled yet illusory world of mistaken appearance is demolished. So if you’re feeling in need of support, please remember that all the enlightened beings are always around, as I explain here: Life through Buddha’s eyes. They are watching us childish folk duke it out in samsara’s playground, as they have for millennia, indeed since beginningless time. And they sometimes succeed in getting through to us, one such attempt being Venerable Geshe Kelsang, a modern-day Spiritual Guide. As Atisha said:

Meditate according to the advice of your Spiritual Guide and dry up the river of samsaric suffering.

Don’t forget to pray

Last but certainly not least, to prepare our own minds per the original question, as well as to bring direct benefit to our world, we also need to pray. There is a lot about prayer here. Venerable Geshe Kelsang said at the Spring Festival in 2001:

World peace is very important; we cannot ignore this now. Once something happens, it will be too late. This world is now, as you know, very delicate, very fragile, and very sensitive. It is almost as delicate as the life of a single person; the world situation is so delicate.

 This is because there are so many disagreements. Political leaders are ready to fight; everybody is preparing weapons ready to fight, and are challenging each other. So we religious practitioners need to offer prayers because prayers are very powerful.

This is because of our pure motivation, the powerful words of the prayers themselves, and especially at such times enlightened beings will bestow their blessings upon us, our environment, and other living beings. So we should pray for world peace. We have had two world wars. If there is a third world war this will almost destroy the world because every country has very powerful weapons, and it is very easy to destroy the world.

So I would like to suggest that every center organizes prayers for world peace at any time when local people can gather and pray for world peace.

PS, check out one powerful prayer by Shantideva iin the Comments below.

Thank you for reading this. May our virtue from contemplating and practicing Dharma swiftly ripen on others. May everyone be happy and our world be peaceful.