Buddhist Principles for the Modern Age: Mindfulness, Vigilance, & Carefulness

A core practice of Buddhism is to take up good actions and to reject negative ones. On a spiritual level, this purifies karma and improves the chance of a prosperous rebirth. On a more practical level, taking up good actions and rejecting negative ones improves our relationships, our mood, and health.

But how does one apply this practice in real time? The answer is mindfulness, vigilance, and carefulness.

This practice or skillful means is introduced in Patrul Rinpoche’s Words of My Perfect Teacher text. They are defined as follows:

Mindfulness is awareness of one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. As an action it is not forgetting what to do and what not to do. Without mindfulness, our minds will be prone to irrational, emotional reactions. Here, our ability to name our mental states and emotions in real time becomes important. By naming our emotions, we gain power over them and can change them. In neuroscience, this represents top-down control over our more primitive emotional brains.

Vigilance is to make oneself examine one’s actions, words, and thoughts. It is the invisible action that follows from mindful awareness. Vigilance allows us to examine the past and present, and change our future actions. Vigilance helps us be more mindful, and reinforces what to do and what not to do. In a practical sense, it is restraint and action with purpose.

Carefulness is to exercise the utmost prudence in doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. Carefulness and mindfulness walk together. As an inward action, it is to avoid negative emotions and self-defeating thoughts. As an outward action it is speaking and acting kindly.

Practical Example:

Jamie is the team leader for a team of presentation planners who work for a local health and welfare office. Each team member has been assigned an important piece of a shared presentation that is due today for review. When Jamie arrives at work on the morning of the deadline, they find that one team member’s portion has not been completed. Jamie experiences anger because she reminded this employee several times of the deadline and to reach out if for any reason they would not be able to finish. Jamie begins to write an email when they recognize their anger and negative thoughts (mindfulness). They pause, suddenly aware of how these feelings are being reflected in the email. Jamie remembers how writing an email while angry in the past led to negative effects (vigilance), and decides that an email might not be the best way to address this problem. Jamie deletes the draft email and decides to have a face to face meeting with the team member. While they meet, they are careful to speak kindly while addressing their concerns. They are also careful how they respond during the discussion, mindful and vigilant of the shifting landscape of their thoughts, emotions, and feelings.

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The Eight Rights of the Eightfold Path: Right Livelihood

In this blog series, we will discuss the practical application of the Eight Rights of the Eightfold path. Practicing the Eight Rights is said to create the conditions for enlightenment and a prosperous rebirth. On a practical level, the Eight Rights represent an ideal way of communicating, thinking, behaving, and relating to others to create positive conditions for oneself, for society, and for future generations. Today, we will consider right livelihood.

The Buddha called Buddhism the Middle Way. Middle meaning a path somewhere between asceticism and materialism. This was the kind of path a layperson or householder could follow without adorning monastic robes or taking refuge in a mountain cave.

The teachings of right livelihood were meant as a guide for those on the Buddhist path engaged with the world. At its most basic level, right livelihood helps us differentiate what is a virtuous vs. non-virtuous profession, but at a deeper level it means having a conscious and ongoing awareness of the impact of our actions.

All of us should take healthy pride in what we do so long as it does not cause harm to others. If we hold a title, we should wear it with humility. Each of us should aim to be the best at whatever thing we are doing, and aim to elevate others in the process. This is the essence of right livelihood: service.

In the Buddha’s time, non-virtuous professions included those trading in weapons, human beings, meat, intoxicants, and poison. This is still relevant today; however, I think it is safe to add professions that misinform, cultivate negative actions and emotions in others, and/or diminish natural resources or opportunities necessary for future generations.

Therefore, whatever you do, whether you’re a sanitation worker, artist, or physician, work with purpose and pride. Right livelihood is the hammer that builds a better world.

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The Eight Rights of the Eightfold Path: Right Action

In this blog series, we will discuss the practical application of the Eight Rights of the Eightfold path. Practicing the Eight Rights is said to create the conditions for enlightenment and a prosperous rebirth. On a practical level, the Eight Rights represent an ideal way of communicating, thinking, behaving, and relating to others to create positive conditions for oneself, for society, and for future generations. Today, we will consider right action.

In Buddhism, right action is not killing, not stealing, and not engaging in sexual misconduct. The sutras also talk about abstaining from substances that decrease mindfulness.

Similar to right speech, right action not only defines actions to avoid but also actions to cultivate. Here, we are talking about virtuous actions, which are those done with the intent of benefiting others. Right action requires right view: i.e. the reasons not to commit non-virtuous actions. For example, someone who does not kill out of fear of being put in jail has a different view than someone who abstains from killing because they value life. The latter is based on virtue and the former is not.

When we start on the path of right action, we must also cultivate right mindfulness and effort, which is the awareness and energy behind our positive actions. For example, let’s say we find a trapped animal. Instead of simply leaving the animal to suffer, we are mindful of its suffering and wish to do something about it. Using this mindful effort, we free the animal (right action).

In a practical sense, the key point of right action is to act in a way that is thoughtful and compassionate of others. So many times we act without a significant regard of how our actions impact the world around us. Instead of being driven by virtue, we are driven by non-virtue such as greed, anger, or lust. None of us are free of these vices, but all of us have a choice whether to follow them to their ends.

Choose virtue.

Ordinary Greatness

It is often thought that happiness is attained through high achievement. We assume that greatness exists outside of the ordinary–in celebrity, in perfect loves, and in extravagant possessions. We seek one shiny object or goal after another and tell ourselves, “After I get this… I will be content.”

But we are never content. In fact, our yearning and attachment often bring us only greater suffering. That’s why wealthy people can be more miserable than the poor, and why success is no guarantee of happiness.

So where can we find contentment? Contentment is found through ordinary greatness: the careful, thoughtful execution of daily activities. Being extraordinary in the ordinary is something all of us can achieve. All it takes is presence and the aspiration to perform each action with intention and care. Listed below are a few ways you may access ordinary greatness in all that you do.

Methods of Achieving Ordinary Greatness:

1. Acceptance. All things begin with accepting conditions for what they are unconditionally. Acceptance takes our mind away from the past and future and places it in the present. Tell yourself, “I can’t change what is, I can only change my response to it.”
2. Gratitude. Start each day with gratitude rather than gripes. Reflect on the good things this life has given. Strive to hold that gratitude throughout the day. Tell yourself, “I am truly blessed for what life has given me.”
3. Openness. Being open and mindful allows us to access the full potential of the present moment. It is the skillful means by which we achieve ordinary greatness. To be open is to make a conscious effort not to bring our biases and past judgements into new situations. Tell yourself, “I want to view this with fresh eyes.”
4. Expectations. There is nothing more sorrowful than unmet expectations. Abandon them! Expectations are perhaps the greatest enemy of contentment. It’s hard to be disappointed if you don’t have any expectations. Tell yourself, “Come what may.”
5. Selflessness: Being “other” focused is a powerful practice to reduce greed, anger, and discontent. For some of us this may mean serving our families, and for others, our communities. Tell yourself, “Let there be no self in what I am doing.”
6. Why. What you do is not as important as why you do it. There is the potential for altruism in even the most mundane activities of human existence. Even the laundry can take on new meaning if you view it in support of some greater purpose. Tell yourself, “This is my why.”

If you follow these simple methods, you will find that every action, however small, has the potential for profound meaning. As the Buddhist Master, Suzuki Roshi, once said, “Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.” When you aspire to ordinary greatness, you open yourself up to forms of success and achievement that also create lasting fulfillment one moment at a time.

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Touching the Rocky Road

When I attended my first meditation retreat as a teenager, I had many funny ideas and expectations. I’d read several books on Tibetan Buddhist practices including the novel, The Third Eye by T. Lobsang Rampa. In the lead up to the retreat, I imagined peaceful sitting sessions on meditation cushions, and fantasized about achieving heightened states of consciousness and spiritual powers.

Anyone who picks up meditation remembers the first time they sat cross-legged for an hour. You quickly discover all the small muscles in the body that decide to hurt, go numb, or simple spasm for no apparent reason if only to distract you. Sitting, for the beginner, is like spiritual purgatory, but it is also probably the most important lesson ever given on the spiritual path. Let us hold that thought for a moment.

After the evening meditation sessions, the Lama (Tibetan Meditation Teacher) would take a walk around the retreat center and answer students’ questions. The paths and roads around the retreat center were covered with granite gravel, which the Lama always walked on barefoot.

I remember thinking, ‘that has to hurt,’ and I asked the Lama why he left his shoes behind during his walks.

The Lama smiled and said, “Feeling the earth reminds me to be present. Without some discomfort, the mind strays and we lose sight of what’s important. That is is the nature of the ego; it distracts us.”

As I have grown in my meditation and spiritual practices, the Lama’s words and my meditation aches and pains have taken on a special meaning. The spiritual path is not meant to be easy or painless. If it was, all of us would already be enlightened. Our pain and discomfort reminds us of the difficulty of real spiritual work. That doesn’t mean it is all pain and suffering. There are glimpses of awareness and realization, but they are mostly found on the frontiers of experiences, past the warmth and comfort of the ordinary.

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Why All of Us Should Aspire to be Saints

At first glance, the thought of aspiring to be saint-like sounds a little egotistical. In fact, it is the opposite.

Most of us think of saints in the same way we think of highly accomplished musicians, artists, or visionaries. We believe, falsely, that their abilities are somehow innate rather than a product of hard work and discipline. In this way, we elevate them in our minds to protect our own fragile egos. To say they are special absolves us of our own need to act differently.

I believe there is a saint in each of us and we should aspire to saintly qualities each day of our lives. The Dalai Lama has famously said that he is only a simple monk; and Mother Teresa described herself as a simple nun. Perhaps we should take them at their word. Perhaps the otherness we ascribe to them is our greatest failing.

Today, the world needs more people who aspire to be saints–those courageous individuals who seek to give more than they receive, to love more than they hate, and to build more than they destroy. It begins with cultivating a heart of kindness and compassion, and the aspiration to lead with wisdom and love in all activities.

For it is the thread of love we weave in this short life that endures the impermanence of time.

The Five Basic Inner “Perfections” That Can Change the World

It is believed that outward actions change the world. However, the power of those actions comes from within. Even the greatest change agents of our time like Dr. Martin Luther King and Gandhi, first conquered themselves before attempting to change the world. Their inner greatness transcended their noble actions. Therefore, for those of us who wish to create positive change in the world, the place to start in within our minds and hearts.

In Buddhism, a Pāramitā or “Perfection,” is a noble character quality generally associated with enlightened beings. The six Buddhist Pāramitās are generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, wisdom. In the context of secular leadership, this list may be condensed into five basic inner perfections that, if perfected, will create the conditions necessary for significant and lasting change.

Listed below are the Five Basic Perfections. As a practice of meditation or reflection, spend 5-10 minutes sitting quietly and consider how you might improve these perfections in yourself. If you begin the day with this practice, your mind will be more attuned and tamed to opportunities to practice the five perfections.

The Five Perfections:

Honesty: A product of morality and wisdom, honesty is the cornerstone of integrity. It begins with truthfulness with oneself and extends to everyone we encounter. Honesty is naturally perceived by others through our actions and behavior. It creates an environment of confidence and certainty and nurtures the innate goodness in each of us. Leaders who are perceived as honest will be the first turned to for advice.

Generosity: Generous people are attractive. Unconditional generosity warms the heart and counteracts negative emotions like greed, jealousy, and envy. Being Generous doesn’t require wealth. One can be generous with time or expertise. The simple act of listening can be generous. Leaders who are perceived as generous will attract followers to them to accomplish their goals.

Compassion: True compassion is experiencing another’s suffering as one’s own and wishing it to be removed. Compassion is a product of meditation and wisdom. It is through compassion that we may begin to appreciate the basic goodness in ourselves and in others. A compassionate leader is supportive and attuned to the unique strengths of his followers.

Selflessness: Selflessness is like trading a cloud for the sky. It allows us to be fully aware in the present. Selflessness directs our actions for the benefit of others and decreases our attachment and desire, which are the source of suffering and negative emotions. A selfless leader is perceived as virtuous and inspires virtuous behaviors in their followers.

Diligence: Failure is something all of us experience. Successful people fail over and over again. What sets them apart is the diligence to keep trying. They persist; they change their approach; they try again. Diligent people go farther because “failure” is not perceived as a failure at all, but rather an opportunity to do better. The diligent leader inspires his followers never to lose hope.

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Tonglen: A Meditation For Troubling Times

It’s hard to turn on the news and not feel overwhelmed. The cycle of suffering is playing out right before our eyes. Our inclination is to close our hearts, to protect that soft spot within us all, from what appears an insurmountable task.

Tonglen is the Tibetan meditation practice of “receiving and sending.” The practice is simple, yet powerful, and can be performed in almost any setting. It involves breathing in (receiving) the suffering of others and breathing out (sending) what others need.

Taking in the suffering of others and even the world may sound overwhelming. Through this practice, it is possible to cultivate an open heart to meet the task and gain greater acceptance of our conditions and those of other beings.

To initiate this practice, begin with a moment of clear intention. Open the mind wide and say, “Through this practice of Tonglen, may the suffering of others be removed.”

Next, find a comfortable position. On the in-breath, breathe in whatever suffering a particular person, group, or collection of beings may be experiencing. Visualize it, and inhale it in the form of a heavy, dark smoke or vapor. As you do so, wish for the suffering those beings are experiencing to be removed.

Now, as you exhale, imagine that the hot, heavy vapor you took in is transformed into something pure and healing. As you send this out, just relax. Imagine your out-breath as something cool and light and softly colored. Feel it reach out to those suffering beings and grant your wish that their suffering is removed.

Sometimes, it is best to start your practice with one person, and slowly expand it out to encompass more and more people. This meditation will not only help you face the troubles of the world, but it will also help transform you into a ripple of peace in uncertain times.

At the close of your practice, say, “Whatever merit I may have generated through this practice, I dedicate it to all beings. May they find the root of happiness and remove the roots of suffering.”

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