“But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind.”
— Bodhidharma
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I love Bodhidharma. He taught the Shaolin monks how to defend themselves, creating a legend. He apparently invented tea. And pictures of him show a huge hairy dude with giant eyeballs to signify how awake to every single moment he was.
When he has something to say, I pay attention.
Up top are a few lines, taken out of context, but a lovely piece of direction for a better life ... for anyone and everyone.
So –
How do you become so deeply understanding, you can be a Buddha?
You get a clear mind.
And how do you gain a clear mind?
Distracted by nothing, you look past the mind, within.
And how do you know where to look when you look within?
Find a true teaching – such as Ascension meditation – a vehicle that will align you to the place you want to be.
And how do you get good at being distracted by nothing?
Practice.
As always, in all of life, once you know what to practice, practice is the answer to every question.
Focus and understanding are skills, and they come easy and smooth when you repeat the right practice consistently.
Frivolities of a much slower, less demanding time?
I'd say they are well worth investing time in – critical even.
Having even just a fraction of the focus, freedom from distraction and understanding of a Buddha or a Christ isn’t just a nice spiritual attainment, it’s extremely practically useful.
The fact is –
You can’t be efficient or effective in life, or enjoy anything, with a mind that’s all over the place, constantly bringing you random hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties, frustrations, grudges and hurts.
You can’t really direct your life in confusion, doubt, fear and uncertainty. Understanding, wisdom, clarity … these things are innate to all of us – but when we stop and tune in; when we nurture them.
I’m more and more convinced that effortless focus and deep understanding aren’t just ‘nice to have’s’ in the world. They really are essentials. And the more you use these tools, the more you rely on them to live well.
The state of deep mindfulness – being the captain of your own ship; truly able to marshal and direct all of your attention and energies, making the most of each moment and never missing a single moment – becomes more and more contrasting to any kind of mindlessness.
You want to be awake because here is where life is. Hence the first purpose of Ascension meditation or any effective meditation practice — it’s not to get good at meditation. It’s so you can get good at life.
But the next practical point of Bodhidharma's words are this:
To achieve a better and better life, you don’t need to stop the mind. You want to go BEYOND the mind, and you do start doing that by simply paying attention to one thing, and one thing only.
This is where all meditation should begin. The return to one thing; and it’s one of the most popular exercises I give to anyone:
Simply do one thing. One thing at a time.
Focus your heart, mind, body and soul into the thing that you are involved in.
This requires no effort; just a fullness of interest and curiosity, an unconditional involvement in life as it is presented to you. Here, now. This – not that.
So if you’re walking, just walk. If you’re talking, just talk. If you’re listening, just listen. If you’re watching TV, just watch. If you’re eating, just eat. If you’re writing an email, just email.
Just do the one thing that you’re doing. Nothing else.
Keep life this simple.
Why?
Well … The best times of your life?
You were so absorbed in the task and moment in front of you, the mind with its past/future and elsewhere scatter vanished. What was left was pure existence, pure flow, pure joy, pure immersed action and understanding. You were truly alive; and this aliveness is truly memorable.
Freed from the mind and its over-controlling and overthinking, skills and intuition become awakened, sharp, almost preternatural.
Some of us are awarded gold medals or break world records, create beautiful works of art and truth that speak for millennia, or articulate insights and discoveries that propel humanity forward on a grand scale.
But all of us can bask in the sun of pure Quality and feeling of absorption, regardless of the task. All of us can be totally at ease in our own skin, free from the mind and its constant self-criticism and self-management. All of us can learn to live wisely, with deep understanding.
Whether it’s making love or making dinner, doing dishes or dodging traffic, climbing hills or changing nappies, the stuff of life becomes – even just momentarily, like the parting of the clouds – warmed with an inner glow of Good, of Now.
Too poetic maybe, but there’s truth there.
Life shines when you’re totally present to it. And returning to the start of this now long ramble – the more you practice going within and effortless attention and focus, the brighter life – and you – shine.
So go well.
Talk more soon,
Arjuna