Authors: Joan Gattuso

The Lotus Still Blooms (9 page)

BOOK: The Lotus Still Blooms

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Right Livelihood Exercise

If you are examining your life and feel you are not living in accord with Right Livelihood, you have pinpointed the first of six steps helpful in correcting the situation:

1. Recognition.

2. Open yourself to new possibilities. Release any belief that what your work is now is all of which you are capable. Most folks think and live their lives in very narrow channels.

The partner of Elizabeth, a lifelong friend of mine, had a back injury at work (a job that required a great deal of physical labor) that laid him up for nearly a year. One evening on the phone

Elizabeth was very stressed over the situation, telling me Leo had just returned from yet another medical evaluation and was told he had to remain off for another five to six months. He was also told he could never do work again involving any physical labor.

When I called back a few days later to check on them, Leo answered the phone. I did something quite uncustomary for me and said to him, “If I were your therapist, which I am not, or your minister, which I am not, I would say, ‘Leo, the Universe is banging on your hood trying to get your attention. Find another non-physical occupation.’”

Leo was somewhat open to explore new possibilities, because his body simply could not support him returning to his former work as a housepainter. He is bright, artistic and talented, and he had been stuck in the idea that house painting was the only job he could do. He had to open to new possibilities.

3. Pray to be guided to your true career path, to be inspired. Quickly follow up on any inspiration that comes to you.

4. Lift your consciousness and vibrations to be a match for your new line of work.

5. Network with everyone you know. Let them know you are looking for a change.

6. Keep praying, meditating and visualizing and walk through the doors that are open. Recognize when the doors are closed, and walk through the new ones that open.

When we are committed to living in Right Livelihood, our very commitment will draw to us the manifestation of our pure intention.

All the effort must be made by you;
Buddha only shows the way.

—
THE DHAMMAPADA,
VERSE 276

RIGHT EFFORT

RIGHT EFFORT, SIMPLY STATED, is not dissipating your energy on the meaningless. Although all Buddhists (and I) believe in reincarnation, which they usually call “rebirth,” we do not believe in wasting our energy in frivolous pursuits and mindless activity.

Once, a young acquaintance of mine complained bitterly how her live-in partner would spend endless hours at the computer playing games. They really had no relationship to speak of and did nothing together but split the rent and feed the cats. There was no glue to connect them physically or spiritually. Their relationship was shallow, and no amount of fussing with it was going to be beneficial.

Right Effort is thought of as Right Discipline or Right Diligence. There are four practices associated with Right Effort:

1.
Preventing unwholesome seeds to arise in us
. This is when we become so mentally aware that we can prevent unwholesome seeds in us to arise. They no longer have any place to live in our consciousness. This means we use our effort wisely, and we do not give our attention to that which is nonbeneficial, meaningless or the nonsense of life. We are actively engaging in the basic spiritual law: “What we focus on expands.” We are wise enough to guide our focus away from anything that would be unwholesome and no longer water seeds of ignorance, realizing that when we do, we are creating an ocean of suffering.

Think of your consciousness as a vast field into which many seeds have been sown. Good and wholesome seeds are already present in your field from the beginning of time. Unwholesome seeds have been scattered by two factors—your past and your present attachments. With every thought you think, with every breath you take, with every feeling you have, you are watering these seeds. You must learn to be mindful of what seeds you are watering. Ask: Are these the seeds that I want to grow? Do I want more feelings of hurt in my life? If no, then you have the power to stop watering seeds of hurt. Ask: Do I want more supportive friendships in my life? If yes, then be sure to water those seeds of loving and supportive friendship.

2.
Helping unwholesome seeds that have arisen to return to store consciousness
. We work with any of these seeds that are in our lives and stop watering them by withdrawing all our attention through our thoughts about them. We release the unwholesome seeds to the Holy Spirit, to Buddha or to bodhisattvas and consciously choose not to nurture them. This takes an enormous amount of effort and diligence. We must learn to say, “I will not give this my energy, my time or any of my attention.” When done successfully, we can certainly call it “noble effort.”

3.
Finding ways to water wholesome seeds in our store consciousness
. These are the seeds that have not yet borne fruit but that have been there since the beginning of time. We do this by knowing these good seeds are within us. We focus on what we do want, and it expands. We consciously water these seeds that are loaded with potential, and in time they begin to sprout and bloom. Even when you don’t see the sprouting of the seeds, when they are still “underground,” it is important to continue to nurture and water them, just as you would a garden after planting seeds that produce beautiful flowers or succulent vegetables. When the tiny green growth of a tomato plant begins to sprout, you would not stomp on it, exclaiming, “This isn’t what I expected! That’s not a tomato!” Rather, you would know it was an early stage that was absolutely necessary for the full expression of the fruit of the tomato to come forth. So, too, we must continue to water those seeds of our spiritual potential until they are sufficiently matured to rise into full expression.

4.
Water wholesome seeds that have already arisen, so that they may continue to develop further
. In this Right Effort practice we focus on the manifest good, whereas in step 3 we were focusing on the potential good. Here we witness the sprout or even the full bloom, and we continue its nourishment through our thoughts, conversations, meditations, prayers and attention. We are clear in our focus. We hold the manifest good in our hearts and prayers. Our efforts are very good, and our diligence can be called “noble.” These seeds are ready to bloom into even fuller expression.

Unwholesome seeds are seeds of grievance, greed, lack, ignorance, judgment, attack thoughts, fear, anger, revenge, criticism, hurt, etc. We must train ourselves to refrain from watering them. In our watering of seeds we do not ignore or deny the unpleasantness of life. But we do learn to properly deal with what needs to be dealt with in our lives and then to cease. We must let go of the negatives in our lives rather than attempting to hold onto them by continuing to water their negative seeds.

Wholesome seeds are seeds of love, peace, joy, loving-kindness, compassion, happiness, generosity, etc. These we must consciously water.

Right Effort is asking: Where are you putting your energy? Then you put it only in areas you want to grow. Remember, what we focus on expands.What we give our mental and emotional attention to we attract more of in life. Right Effort says expand only the good.

Where are you putting your attention in life? Put it only on that which you want more of in your life.

I cannot begin to count the number of people I have known who want to realize higher states of mind but do not want to do the work. They have wanted me or other spiritual teachers of theirs to do the work for them, and it just doesn’t occur that way. As the Buddha said, “All the effort must be made by you.” No one but you can have your breakthroughs, your “ahas.” You cannot hire someone to do it for you. You must expend your time, effort and money.

Once during a question-and-answer session with the Dalai Lama, the question was asked, “What is the quickest, cheapest and best way to learn these teachings?”

Most of us in attendance were stunned at the question. The Dalai Lama put his sweet and gentle face in his hands and began to weep softly. The poignancy of the moment led my friend Linda and me to begin to fill with tears.

After several long moments, His Holiness once again sat up straight, took out his handkerchief, patted his eyes and wiped his glasses. When he finally spoke, you could have heard a pin drop. His response was, “This is not the question of a practitioner, for a practitioner would be willing to put all his effort, time and money into the pursuit of his spiritual path.”

Then he told the story from his boyhood when he was not putting the proper amount of time and effort into his own meditative practice and was complaining a bit to his teacher. The teacher turned around, lifted his robe and exposed his bare bottom that bore two large calluses. How did the calluses get on his bottom? They got there from spending countless hours through the years sitting in meditation. It was quite a gripping story.
All of the effort must be made by you.

So what is the quickest, cheapest and best way? There is no quickest, cheapest and best way!

Most Westerners fear the word or the concept of discipline. I have found it to be invaluable on the spiritual path—to be embraced rather than feared. Right Effort is allowing the truth to correct all errors in your mind. We cannot fail when we seek to reach the truth within us. So we embrace the idea of spiritual discipline, becoming like the wise disciples of the Buddha or Jesus. We do not run from the demands of our spiritual work. Rather we maturely embrace it and incorporate it into the moment-by-moment living of our lives.

Remember that the Buddha said that all the effort must be made by you. The power of diligence is yours alone. Right Effort is always remembering purpose, goal, mission, self. When Right Effort is engaged, how can our illusions satisfy us? Right Effort is knowing that the only sacrifice is to give up what has no reality. We can learn to be free of suffering, as the Four Noble Truths promise, and Right Effort is vital to attaining that end.

Living a life above the mundane, common human condition does take effort. It takes effort to choose the disciplined path. It takes effort to engage in one’s spiritual practice daily, hourly. It takes effort to forgive. It takes effort to meditate several hours—or even twenty minutes—each day. It takes effort to not water the unwholesome seeds of grievances, lack, ignorance, victimhood, criticism, judgment, defensiveness and selfishness. And it takes effort to only water the wholesome seeds of love, caring, compassion, generosity, happiness and kindness.

Wise use of effort, diligence and care makes one aware of the basic nature of mind. Watering the wholesome seeds will always advance us on our spiritual path and lead us to living the noble life and revealing to us the true nature of mind.

Right Effort constitutes our systematic progress toward our goal of liberation. Before we extend any effort, it is good to ask: Is this to my or another’s benefit? Is it a step leading to liberation, or is it going to lead to heartache, loss and suffering? Is it setting the course for nirvana or for samsara?

This is a great cosmic weather vane to use to decide if you are putting your energy toward leading to your ultimate happiness or to your ultimate suffering. Many a well-intended soul has gotten lost in samsara, that all-pervasive yet sometimes alluring state of the illusion, the dream.

I actually like the concept of samsara (the endless cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth) because it explains so much. And often it is quite helpful in making sense (at times) of just what the heck is going on. The advertisements of the world are constantly attempting to sell us on the splendor of samsara. Oh, how lovely this or that is, and how your life will be so much happier with the jewel of the moment. But, alas, it, too, will pass away. All the stuff of life could be called the samsara of life, for it does not lead to true joy but only future suffering.

An example of samsara would be any of the myriad addictions folks cling to and are consumed by. The addictive substance initially holds out the promise of pleasure and happiness, a promise that can never be kept for long.

All the allures of the world hold out a similar promise, but they, too, come up short. The tragic part is that we can sleepwalk through this life using all our effort, always seeking the elusive pot of gold and never finding it. And all the while the true treasure of gold lies within us, awaiting our realization and attention.

Please put your Right Effort into that which will lead to your watering the seeds of awakening and liberation and not getting caught in samsara.

I think of mindfulness as the most effective form of therapy and self-healing.

—SOGYAL RINPOCHE

RIGHT MINDFULNESS