Think of Them as Distractions

I just did a search for the phrase “wandering thoughts” and found that I have written about them twenty-five times on this blog. Actually, that is a small percentage compared to how often my teacher, Venerable Master Chin Kung, mentions wandering thoughts in his talks. Perhaps one of the reasons I mention them less is that “wandering thoughts” is difficult to understand. (Or maybe it works better in Chinese.)

What is a wandering thought?

If it's getting close to meal time and I intentionally think of a veggie burger for lunch, is that a wandering thought? What if I think I’d like to do something nice for someone, is that one? Or how about when I'm working on one project and think of something I need to do for another? Is that a wandering thought? Or simply multi-tasking?

In a recent discussion about thoughts and feelings and wandering thoughts, the question arose as to whether feelings fit into this category. Then the suggestion was made that perhaps “distractions” would be easier to understand.

It was a very good suggestion because we all understand what distractions are.

When we’re at work and concentrating on a project that is due at the end of the day and notice that it's getting close to lunchtime and that we’re hungry and we start thinking of a veggie burger and onion rings, the feeling of hunger and the resultant thoughts are distractions because they broke our concentration. (And yes, we ate a good breakfast so we're in no danger of starvation. ;-))

If we're doing our practice of chanting "Amituofo" and remember we wanted to stop by the store on the way home and get a birthday present for a friend, yes that's a distraction because we were supposed to practicing. And in this situation, the feeling that we wanted to something nice was also a distraction.

And one we all do. If we're working on one project and think of something for another, then our train of thought was broken and we were distracted. It will take effort to get back into what we were previously doing. So no matter how brilliant the distracting idea was, it was still a distraction.

So try thinking of wandering thoughts as distractions, whether they are feelings or the thought that immediately follows the feeling.

Who Will Foot the Bill?

Opening shot: Restaurant kitchen

WAITER in a tuxedo is filling a huge tray with plates of lobster, steak, chicken, and fish dishes. We follow WAITER out the kitchen double doors into the noisy chaos of the dining room.

Shot: Table

MAN and WOMAN are drinking their third bottle of champagne. MAN is smoking cigar as WAITER brings tray to table and other WAITERS appear to light something on fire. Flambé!

Shot: Close up of mouths

Graphic shots of chewing, gulping, juice running down chins.

Pan to: Two children sit at the table quietly watching their parents eat and drink and smoke. BOY, 6, and GIRL, 4, have a glass of water set in front of them.

Shot: Table

WAITER appears with another huge tray, this time filled with desserts, while other WAITERS take away the plates of half-eaten dinner. WAITER presents the tab to MAN with a flourish. MAN waves off tab and nods towards BOY. WAITER sets tab in front of BOY. BOY stares down at bill.

Shot: Parking lot

MAN and WOMAN stagger towards large tank-like vehicle, opening with a remote beeper. MAN loosens tie. WOMAN kicks off high heels and carries them. WOMAN turns to blow kiss to CHILDREN standing at door. WAITER holds his hands on CHILDREN's shoulders. Tank peels out, as WAITER turns CHILDREN to go back in the kitchen. Fade to black screen.

Text:

It's wrong to ask our kids to pay our bills.

Picture of planet EARTH appears, spinning. Montage of ice crashing into the oceans, deserts cracking open the earth, burning forests, oil spilling into the ocean, fish gasping for breath, faster and faster. Black again.

Text:

Global warming is changing the planet.

What are you doing to stop it?

http://www.350.org/

Last shot: Restaurant kitchen

(From behind) A row of children, including BOY and GIRL, are standing on chairs in front of the many restaurant sinks as they start washing the mountain of dishes left behind by their parents.

Many thanks to Peak Oil Hausfrau for writing what could be the year's best commercial.

Resting on One’s Laurels is Hazardous to One’s Happiness

Once after giving a talk on Buddhism, my hostess said she had not previously heard a monastic talk so much about cause and effect. Thinking back on that, I realized that she had probably not heard many, if any at all, monastics from the schools in Chinese Buddhism. Her background lay primarily with Tibetan Buddhism and Zen.

After Buddhism came to China in 67 AD, the Mahayana teachings were gradually incorporated into the foundation of Confucianism and Taoism. Confucianism emphasizes filial piety and the individual's relationships to other people. Taoism emphasizes cause and effect. So Chinese Buddhism often emphasize the Buddha's teachings of cause and effect. Since my teacher, Ven. Master Chin Kung is from China, he speaks often of causality, and thus so do I.

When I was a teenager and read about cause and effect, it answered the "Big" questions for me. So it was only reasonable that when my conditions matured and I was ready for serious study and practice of Buddhism—three decades after my initial encounter—that I should be drawn to a teacher who spoke so often of cause and effect, and conditions.

Also, I write and talk a lot about causality because I believe it is so important for us to realize how it totally permeates our lives. And since it is so dominant, we need to be constantly vigilant and not rest on our laurels, thinking we've done everything necessary to insure our happiness.

We cannot think that just because something we worked at happened that it will last forever and then stop working at it.

We cannot think that we can stop doing the things we did that won the heart of the person who loves us deeply or of the person who cares about us a great deal and assume they will always love or care about us.

We cannot take anything for granted, thinking it was long meant to be and will thus continue for a long time.

We cannot forget about conditions.

Just as we worked hard in past lifetimes to be able to receive something today, we need to continue working hard to ensure we will still have it tomorrow. If we fail to continue to create good conditions, what we have will be gone. We cannot fall into the trap of thinking something is our due or that we have done everything we were required to do.

We cannot stop thinking the good thoughts, saying the good words, and doing the good things that brought to us the good things we now enjoy, and would be wise to appreciate.

Simple Wisdom

Hear what is said.

Retain what is important.

Speak what is worthy.

Attach to nothing.

The Illusory Mind or the Enlightened Mind

Ordinary beings have an illusory mind, the mind that arises and ceases. In other words, ordinary beings have wandering thoughts. Enlightened beings have true minds that constantly dwell on truth. They do not have wandering thoughts, only deep concentration. Deep concentration is the state without discriminatory wandering thoughts or attachments.

However, this does not mean that we are idle all the time; we continue to do our job with a pure and completely aware mind. When the external environment no longer hinders or affects us, we have attained deep concentration.

Understanding this principle, we will know how to correct our improper behavior. When our six senses encounter the external environment, our thoughts, words, and deeds are improper because our senses follow the external conditions and we allow afflictions to take hold. We have been wrong for countless eons and this is the root of our improper behavior. We have buried our true nature and have allowed afflictions, especially those of views and thoughts, to be dominant. Thus, we have transformed the One True Dharma Realm into the Six Realms of Reincarnation. How are the Six Realms formed? They are formed by our attachments.

The first mistake from the view or thought affliction is our attachment to our bodies as we think that this body is “I”. This is why the Buddha told us there is no self and therefore our attachment to self is wrong. With the initial attachment to self, we have a mistake that is hard to undo. This body is not “I”. This body is something that we possess just like the clothes that we own.

If we understand this, we will realize that humans do not have births or deaths. Death is just like taking off our soiled clothes and birth is like putting on a new set of clothing. In the cycle of reincarnation, our birth and death is like changing clothes.

What then is “self”? In India, some religions believe that the spiritual self is I. In China, we call it the soul. In Buddhism, we call it the spirit. This state of believing that the spiritual self is “I” is higher than that which views the body as “I.” Why is it such an improvement? Because when one believes that when revolving in the cycle of reincarnation the spiritual self takes on a body just like someone takes on a piece of clothing, there is no fear of death. Rather, death is regarded as something quite normal.

If we have accumulated only good karma in this lifetime, then we will be reborn into the Three Good Realms—changing from a human into a heavenly being and having a much more beautiful and dignified appearance, a longer lifespan and greater good fortune. This is to “sow a good cause and reap a good result.” However, if we were to do bad deeds, then our body will change for the worse.

~ Ven. Master Chin Kung