A Tree in the Dark

Psalm 1
by
Stephen Mitchell

Blessed are the man and woman 
who have grown beyond their greed
and have put an end to their hatred
and no longer nourish illusions.
But they delight in the way things are
and keep their hearts open, day and night.
They!
They!
are like trees planted near flowing rivers,
which bear fruit when they are ready.
Their leaves will not fall or wither.
Everything they do will succeed.  
 (my emphasis and repetition)

Happy Christmas to all and to all a good, sweet night.

Inflation in the Dark

When we "look away" from what is right in
front of us we risk blowing up into some
sort of BIG balloon. You know, a hot air
balloon. But in this case, it's when we let our
thoughts of craving blow us up and we get
carried away with them. It starts by "looking
away" through a sense door. We sense something
we want and start to blow up.

Perhaps for a nanosecond we feel some
sense of pleasure but these thoughts soon get
unsightly and we land in some voracious mind
state. It can happen anywhere and at anytime.

We might be cooking, cleaning, getting ready
for bed, getting ready to leave for work, sitting
down at our desk, talking on the phone...you name
it and we are vulnerable to a hot air lifting us off
into some craving angst over something
we imagine will satisfy us.

Urges come in any shape or size. And before we know
it we expand and distend our wishes up over what
we are doing and where we are. We all know this sense
as being "full of it!" This blown up situation often ends
in, you got it, deflation. Everything around us seems
decreased, puny and inferior to the BIG balloon mind.

The deflation leads to restlessness and anger. The work
for us is to see this inflation as soon as the mind begins to
drift upward in the hot thoughts. Come
back to where you are without being strung high on a
string of hot air.

A spiritual term for this is "mindfulness." There are remedies.
"Just enough" is one remedy. It's a guardian in the mind.
This, whatever it is, is "just enough."

"Just enough, thank you." An easy to remember mantra.

The Body in the Dark

Eventually the body falls apart and returns to the
elements. The body is ultimately incurable. Aging,
sickness and death are body snatchers unless
an accident or a tragic circumstance takes the body
before the snatchers do.

When we investigate the body we often take a
box load of prejudice to measure and compare
the body. Our experience of the body is influenced
by the ideas that attempt to persuade us into
some improvement program.This type of investigation
is conditioned and superficial. We simply have bought
in to the trend of the day.

When we investigate the body we may tumble
headfirst into a gorge. We are in a narrow
spot between the media and the mandates
of our culture.

It might be prudent to begin with a study of the
breath and the six sense doors. But even these are
harnessed with social injunctions of how to breathe
properly and normal vision. It might be a
little helpful to expand our view to a universal
experience of human bodies and then add the bodies
of other sentient beings.

What is the body?

This investigation is not scientific, with orders and
classifications or categories but a personal look
at your breath and your six senses without blame or
shame. It might be easiest to start with one and
begin to consider the elements in regards to one
sense door, i.e., water, air or wind, fire, earth and
space.

Is there a universal human body experience? Buddha
allegedly commented that the body does not get
cancer, it is cancer. Don't believe that, see for yourself.

Like all spiritual practice, we reflect and contemplate
the body.

Gifts in the Dark

Even though we may not yet be awake we still
express and give gifts. Giving gifts expresses the
self, expresses the Eternal benefaction. Sometimes
it is wrapped only in duty and obligation which is
often a part of giving. And sometimes it expresses
a task completed, a tick on a list, "That's Done!"
And sometimes it expresses intimacy with the Eternal.

Thoughts surrounding the gift seem to effect the gift
giving. That's when we recognize a "thoughtful" gift.
"Thought filled" gifts express the giver. The giver
is revealed in the gift. It has nothing to do with
the investment of money, it has to do with the expression
of the self. And sadly, sometimes gifts only express the
need of the giver.

String-less gifts are not thoughtless. They are thoughts
relinquished as the gift is given. Anonymous gifts
discharge the giver. It's a contemplation to consider
giving "anonymous" gifts. It brings up the self and
we get to see our need for praise, recognition and
gratitude among other things. It helps us see the dislocated,
disturbing side of giving. Relinquishment is medicine
for these put out of place expressions. We tend to get
put of joint when someone does not say, "thank you."

No matter what the gift is the giver is expressed. And the
expression is a gift to the giver when the giver contemplates
one's own thoughts that return to the giver when the gift
is given. There is always a backwash, but we might ignore
it or just grumble about it. Sometimes we reclaim it as our
vanity sometimes gets the better of us.

Gift giving is a practice.


  

Good Works in the Dark

It's a spiritual practice to contemplate the consciousness linked to
action, especially our consciousness linked to works. Most works are mixed
works. They are mixed because most of us are spun by the Wheel of Birth
and Death. This Wheel is easier to comprehend when we see it as the Wheel
of suffering or samsara; to spin in perpetual wandering. The more we spin
the Wheel the less we are afflicted by perpetual wandering.

Mixed work is mixed with wanting to help the other
and to benefit ourselves. This type of mixed work is similar to a point crossing
a longitude and latitude line; it is a spiritual location. Over time and with
spiritual effort and practice there is less concern about what we get out of
the work because the ego-self is restrained and relinquished.

There's no hard and fast formula or rule which helps us with work. The Precepts
provide moral fence posts that help us stay upright. Work is a bit more messy and
hands on than a rule or formula. It's actually more difficult than a formulaic
approach. Inner contemplation which spots the grasping ego helps us, but we
need to continuously reflect on the effects of our actions.

When we do something, let's say something we deem work it often leaves
an imprint on our mind after the action is done. This imprint might be similar to the
movements on a barometer. The action leaves either a mark or moves the barometric
needle in one direction or another. The work may be labeled 'good' or 'bad.'

Often this mark or movement in the mind accumulates into a sense of "pressure."
There is some force left in the mind which accompanies action. The degree of the
force is related to the action. We often call it a predisposition,
mood, or a sense of potential. Each relates to the force we experience.
The force from the action leaves a mark or moves the needle and this mark
or movement effects the mind in the next action.

Actions, whether deemed 'good' or 'bad' cause the mind to be marked or moved. This
simple way of looking at what happens is part of what is called "karma." Action effects us.

All action effects us. The needle moves, the mark is left. We respond to the next moment
with the influence of the previous needle movement or mark. This force or mark is a force
to be reckoned with. Fortunately, it is a force we may effect and influence with practice.
Attention to the effect is mindful attention since the effect influences the next action.

When someone yells at you, you feel the effect and are predisposed to respond.
The same is true when your action is to yell at someone else, your mind is predisposed
by the influence of the yelling you just did. When we spin on the Wheel we tend to rotate
from heaven to hell pretty quickly, from the god realm to the hell realm through our actions.

Actions and the accumulation of actions effect the path; but in no way is the Eternal
effected by our actions. We are effected. The Beloved remains the Beloved no matter what we do.

Welcoming in the Dark

When things first began we can imagine there were no rules.

No regulations or propositions to abide by or strangle on.
The novice in spiritual practice of any kind tends to gravitate
towards the rules. There is such a desire to be "right" when we first
begin to get a whiff of spiritual truth. We want it be to "right" and
singular making us right and singular. It's how we act, sometimes
for a long time and perhaps even still after so many years.

We exclude all kinds of things and all kinds of sentient beings.
We exclude out of ignorance, we just don't know to set out an extra plate,
offer what what we have to offer.

We may be stingy or avoid. We may do it in silence. It still is a cause
that has an effect, even if it is done in silence.

Prohibition leaks out in a gesture, in not making room for someone 
or holding concrete ideas. We roll our eyes, maybe behind someone's back,
yet it is still felt.

Our actions out of ignorance are effecting everything we do. We make lots of blunders.
It's a strong medicine. Blunders compel us to wake up and set out another chair and greet
what and who knocks on the door. Don't be squeamish. Don't put up signs in
the mind like, 'NOT in MY backyard!!!!!' These signs often look
like "I CAN'T STAND IT." Followed by rational, logical statements that support
the separation and exclusion.

Set out another chair. Welcome, be curious about everything and everyone that comes to the door.
Offer what you have to offer. This is the action that purifies the mind of ignorance.

Finding Buddha in the Dark

We stumble upon the Eternal world in our backyard.
It's the place where we feel comfortable and things are routine
and habitual. We know the place. It may be we are looking far away
for the Eternal, in some far away land or when we die. But we might
be too BIG in our looking because we have an idea that the Eternal is
BIG or worse, we think is somewhere else.

What when we do it leads us to find the Eternal?

If I left this blank, would you know from your own work
with your self what you do that leads to finding the Eternal?

Perhaps this finding the Eternal is something that we need to contemplate.
Be prepared for some cost. It takes effort and time.
It takes knowing when and where to look.

But don't worry, you haven't missed the boat. This boat is the human
condition.

Right in the middle of what we are doing at anytime we can
begin to look for the Eternal. Your own mind is your backyard.

It might be a backyard that is habitual but the familiarity and comfort
may lull us into a blind ignorance of the self. But that's OK. Ignorance,
not knowing, is the first step on finding the Eternal.

If we find ignorance, not knowing much about the self, that is where
we start. It does not require any condemnation or criticism or heaven forbid,
"name calling." It requires being honest and straightforward in realizing what
you find when you look for the Eternal. It's fessing up.

So, go ahead, go ahead and look for the Eternal. Then fess up.