The Dhammapada

Buddha was born Siddhartha Guatama in the 6th century BCE, the son of a royal family in Nepal. He walked away from his riches and life of comfort at the age of 30, seeking spiritual fulfillment through a path of contemplation and asceticism before achieving enlightenment while sitting beneath the Bodhi tree.

The Buddha’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths form the core of Buddhism, a religion practiced by hundreds of millions of people around the world while the word Buddha is derived from a Sanskrit word that means “to wake up”; thus, the Buddha is one who is awake and truly alive moment to moment.

[Note: Did you know that Buddha taught in India at roughly the same time (6th century BCE) that Confucius and Lao-tzu (Taoism) taught in China? (I always think that’s cool. :)]

“Life is suffering”? What does that mean?

Buddha established the fact that life will always involve a certain amount of suffering. We will all get old, get sick and die. Our possessions will break and so will some of our relationships. According to Buddha, that’s just how it is.

The fact that these things happen does not account for why we are unhappy, however.

We are unhappy because we fight against it. We cling to our sense of how things should be, or how we want them to be. It is this attachment to expectations that presents the problem. Only by dealing with the fact that life is unpredictable—and will often bring pain and undesirable events—can we become “non-attached” and avoid the suffering that plagues most people.

(Check out the Notes on Genpo Roshi’s Big Mind Big Heart for more on dukkha!)

The literal Sanskrit root of the word nirvana means “a blowing out” or “extinction.”

In Buddhism, nirvana represents the highest state of consciousness in which all selfish desires and attachments are no longer present.

The point beyond nirvana that I always thought was cool: the idea of a “Bodhisattva”—one who reaches his or her own enlightenment and chooses to return to the world in service to all sentient beings, committed to resting when all beings are happy and free.

According to Buddhism, the key to ending suffering and achieving nirvana is to follow the “eightfold path”: right views, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

That was quick. For more on Buddhism, Google it. :)

For now, let’s jump in to some Big Ideas!

Begs the question: What are you thinking? Is it what you want your life shaped by? :)

Pay attention because the Buddha spoke those words quite literally. Your life is shaped by your thoughts. In fact, the book is basically *all* about purifying our thoughts and training our mind to live without cravings, attachment, and hatred so we can open ourselves to love, courage and service. Fun!

How true is that?!?

How’s your internal dialogue?

Are you even aware of just how much you can criticize yourself at times? It’s pretty crazy when we really start to notice what’s going on up there in our minds!!

Of course, as you know if you’ve spent any time trying, training our minds is an incredible challenge.

Gandhi once remarked that this training requires the patience of someone trying to empty the sea with a teacup.

I say it’s time to get to work. And, I raise my teacup in a toast to our training. :)

(My top practice for this, BY FAR: meditation. You meditating? My life took a quantum leap for the better when I started meditating an hour (I started with a half an hour) every morning first thing. Check out the Notes on Thresholds of the Mind for more.)

“If you forget the joy of life and get caught in the pleasures of the world, you will come to envy those who put meditation first.”

I LOVE that.

Are you like a beautiful flower that you approach to smell and discover… it’s all looks and no scent?

D’oh!

We’re all like that at times, eh?

But let’s listen to the Big B and LIVE our truths, eh?!?

It’s always cool to smell nice. :)

More Buddha mojo on the subject of smelling good: “Dharma is not upheld by talking about it. Dharma is upheld by living in harmony with it.”

And: “Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.”

This is another theme echoed (again and again and again) by all the greats.

Some of my favorites:

Rumi (see Notes): “Stay with friends who support you in these. Talk with them about sacred texts, and how you are doing, and how they are doing, and keep your practices together.”

Seneca (see Notes on Letters from a Stoic): “Retire into yourself as much as possible. Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those whom you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one. People learn as they teach.”

Perhaps my favorite thought comes from Jim Rohn (Tony Robbins’ mentor back in the day): “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

You might want to re-read that and then do the math on who you’re hanging out with.

If they’re more dialed in, inspiring, etc. than you: sweet. You’re averaging up. If they’re LESS inspiring/turned on to life/etc. than you: eek. You’re averaging down. If it’s a mix, you’re not going anywhere.

Tip: Average up.

(This is a big practice for me and I like to say that one of my best friends is God. I like having her help my average. :)

And you?

How’s the irrigation in your life?

You shaping your mind?!? :)

I love this one.

Reminds of Deepak and Don Miguel Ruiz and Emptiness and Rorschach blobs.

First, Deepak (see Notes on The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire). One of the coolest mantras I’ve ever learned: “I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others.” I’ve said that thousands and thousands of times. Totally transformed my consciousness. Try it if you find yourself too easily swayed by the compliments or criticisms of those in your life.

Next, Don Miguel Ruiz. Check out the Notes on his brilliant Four Agreements (see Notes). His 2nd Agreement: “Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.”

And, finally, Emptiness and Blobs.

Just know this: someone’s opinion of you says a LOT more about THEM than about you. Another concept in Buddhism (check out the Notes on The Diamond Cutter) is the idea of “emptiness.” The world is empty of meaning except that which we give it.

It’s kinda like a Rorschach test—you know, those psychology tests where you look at an ink blob and tell the therapist what you see. With those tests, what you see has NOTHING to do with the blob and EVERYTHING to do with you. :)

Same here.

How someone sees you has to do with THEM. Not you.

(Same goes for how anyone sees ANYTHING. Rain can make some people dance naked with joy and others curse the terrible weather. It. Is. All. Empty. You get to pick your meaning. :)

So, the next time someone gets pissy with you or critical of you or whateva’, just remember they’re telling you more about their issues than yours. And, be like a rock—not shaken by EITHER praise OR blame.

And, remember: “It is easy to see the faults of others… it is hard to see our own.”

Jesus: “He who rules his spirit has won a greater victory than the taking of a city.”

Rumi: “The lion who breaks the enemy’s ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.”

Leonardo da Vinci: “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”

OK. So self-mastery is important.

How do we achieve it?

I hart that. Seriously. We all want everything soooo fast. Including self-mastery. Which is kinda funny when you really look at it. :)

Any time I find myself wanting/expecting something to happen on *my* time line (which is usually about 10x faster than God’s time line :), I re-read this brilliant line from Epictetus (the Stoic Philosopher, see Notes on his Enchiridion): “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

I can also hear the voice of my Vipassana meditation teacher, S.N. Goenka in my head.

During my 10-day silent meditation (10 hours a day for 10 days. Pure silence. No phones, no computer, no journal, no books, no talking, no eye contact, no nothing. You, your meditation cushion(s) and silence—well, other than Goenka’s rhythmic Burmese voice. :) Goenka said this dozens and dozens of times:

“Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you’re bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.”

About the 78th time I heard that I GOT it. And it’s become a defining mantra in my life. I KNOW that if I work diligently, patiently and persistently, I can do *anything.* Fun.

And one more little bit here cuz I think this is so important. Have you heard the story of the stonecutter?

Goes like this: A stonecutter hits a rock with his hammer. The stone splits. The casual observer sees this and thinks: “Wow. That guy is really strong. I can’t believe he broke that huge rock with a single blow!”

The reality (obviously) is that the stonecutter didn’t break it in a single blow—he’d been hammering away at that rock for a long time. Many, many blows went into the rock before it finally split. Most people see someone who has achieved some level of success—whether it’s enlightenment or celebrity status or financial wealth—and think, “Wow, they sure must be lucky.”

Obviously, the stonecutter isn’t strong enough to break a rock in one blow and no one is “lucky” enough to reach any level of excellence without an equally diligent and consistent effort.

So, hit the rock.

Again. And again. And again.

Eventually, it’ll break.

(Oh, and btw, quick FYI: once you’re done with that rock get ready to start swinging at the next one. :)

“Make your mind pure as a silversmith blows away the impurities of silver, little by little, instant by instant.”