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It’s All About Intention
Enlightenment is not reserved for nuns and monks sitting alone caves in the Himalayas or practicing in isolated kutis in the tropical, evergreen forests of Thailand. On the contrary, enlightenment, the end of suffering, is available to us all. It is possible to live a life without stress, without dukkha, in every moment of every day, right where we live now. It’s the same for a Buddha as it is for Layman Pang and for any of us. It is this universality that makes Buddhism a spiritual system, and not just a transformative or behavioral psychology.
But, what exactly do we have to do to free ourselves from dukkha, from suffering?
To end our struggle, to terminate our lease in samsara, we must reset our intention. We must go from selfish to selfless, from impure to pure. Purity means our intention must be unmitigatingly for the welfare of all beings. This is the wisdom that arises from our practice. This is how we end our struggle.
Where intention is fixed, attention is focused. If our intention is fixed on the Bodhisattva ideal, bodhicitta, and we are committed to living a life for the benefit of others, our attention will necessarily be selfless and focused in the present moment. The meaning of this is simple but the ramifications are profound. When we are without fear or perturbability, we are able to see conditions clearly. When we can see conditions clearly, we can respond appropriately, which means, we are of benefit.
That is the meaning of abiding in conditions. Chapter one of the Diamond Sutra, which describes the daily activities of the Buddha, is a lesson in just this “abiding in conditions”. For a Buddha, the rhythm of being present in each moment is as natural as breathing:
One day before noon, the Bhagavan [the Buddha] put on his sanghati robe and picked up his bowl and entered the Sravasti to seek offerings. After begging for food, moving from house to house in the prescribed manner, and eating his meal of rice, he returned from his daily round in the afternoon, put his robe and bowl away, washing his feet, and sat down on the appointed seat. After crossing his legs and adjusting his body, he turned his awareness to what was before him.
As we see in this passage, it is our wise intention and consequent attention to our everyday activities that makes us bodhisattvas.
On another level––
What we don’t need to do is suggested by Master Yin Shun in this passage:
Ever since the propagation of materialism—where human existence is seen as a phenomenon of material composition and decomposition that ends with death—and theories of evolution by natural selection and survival of the fittest—most often represented today by Darwin, the human mind has undergone a dangerous degeneration. On the one hand, since death brings an end to everything, humans don’t have to be responsible for their behavior during their lifetime. On the other hand, they must constantly fight and compete with other people in order to survive. Such materialistic and competitive thinking has brought humanity to the brink of calamity.
The intentions which arise from materialism and social Darwinism are the antithesis of our practice. Such destructive thinking must not become the source of our intentions or the fuel for our actions.
What we do need to do is suggested by Master Yin Shun in the next paragraph of this excerpt:
There are two aspects to address in order to rectify [our] perverted thinking: First, [we must realize that] life is not just a physical existence; it does not end at death. We must be responsible for our actions in life. Second, the purpose of life is not to constantly fight and compete with each other. Instead, we should develop an attitude of mutual respect, care and co-operation. The alleviation of human suffering lies in our willingness to assume responsibility [for the well-being of all beings] and to make peace with each other.
How we approach this challenge, whether in our everyday moment-by-moment activities, as described in the story of Layman Pang and in the Diamond Sutra, or in the broader perspective described in the passages from Master Yin Shun, depends on our karma, on who we are right now in this moment.
Resetting Our Intentions
While there is no easy fix for our misguided minds, there is a simple chant that can, in my experience, be of considerable benefit in moving us toward bodhicitta. Recited every morning and evening, this metta [lovingkindness] chant goes a long way toward undermining one’s current afflicted intentions and resetting the mind to bodhicitta:
Metta Chant for Intention Setting
May I be free from anger and hatred.
May I be free from greed and selfishness.
May I be free from fears and anxiety.
May I be free from all pain and suffering.
May I be free from ignorance and delusion.
May I be free from all negative states of mind.
May I be happy and peaceful.
May I be liberated from bondages.
May I experience peace and tranquility within.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from anger and hatred.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from greed and selfishness.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from fears and anxiety.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from all pain and suffering.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from ignorance and delusion.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be free from all negative states of mind.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be happy and peaceful.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me be liberated from bondages.
May those whom I love, those whom I like, those who have angered or done harm to me experience peace and tranquility within.
May all beings be free from anger and hatred.
May all beings be free from greed and selfishness.
May all beings be free from fears and anxiety.
May all beings be free from all pain and suffering.
May all beings be free from ignorance and delusion.
May all beings be free from all negative states of mind.
May all beings be happy and peaceful.
May all beings be liberated from bondages.
May all beings experience peace and tranquility within.
Tonglen
Another way of establishing and maintaining right intention is the practice of Tonglen, which is a Tibetan meditation in which you visualize the suffering of another person, then breathe that suffering into yourself, transform it into radiant light, and finally send it back out again.
Tonglen trains the mind to be in a steady state of bodhicitta. I was introduced to tonglen by James Hicklin, who is serving a life-without-parole sentence at a maximum-security prison in Missouri. James has written several articles for Rightview Quarterly (Shame and Unhitching the Cart ). His use of tonglen inspired me to start my own practice. If it worked in the face of the bitterness, anguish and anger of a maximum-security prison, I thought, it should certainly work for me. My own tonglen practice, though still young, has been of enormous benefit and I wholeheartedly suggest tonglen to you. Find a qualified Lama to teach it to you and, for the sake of all beings, maintain tonglen as a daily practice.
