Hey everybody,
It's Judy and this is Wake Up Call 535.
Today,
Let's look at the second part of chapter four of the Dhammapada.
That chapter again is called Flowers.
Here are the verses of that second part,
And this is the translation from the mother commentaries on the Dhammapada.
This is a little bit of a synopsis,
Not much.
Just as a beautiful flower which is radiant yet lacks fragrance.
So are the beautiful words of one who does not act accordingly.
Just as many garlands can be made from a heap of flowers,
So a person can accumulate much merit by good deeds.
The fragrance of flowers,
Even that of sandalwood or of incense,
Even that of jasmine cannot go against the wind,
But the sweet fragrance of intelligence goes against the wind.
All around the person of intelligence spreads the fragrance of their virtue.
No fragrance,
Not even that of sandalwood or incense,
Nor of the lotus,
Nor of jasmine,
Can be compared with the fragrance of intelligence.
Weak is the fragrance of incense or sandalwood compared to that of a virtuous person who reaches up to the highest of divinities.
Mara,
That's the tempter,
Cannot discover the way that those beings follow,
Who lead a life of perfect purity and who are liberated by their total knowledge.
As the beautifully scented lily rises by the wayside,
Even so,
Such a person,
Radiant with intelligence,
Rises from the blind and ignorant multitude.
So the verses are so poetic,
But they're also straightforward.
Something I love about the Dhammapada.
And they're basically saying we can sit,
We can study,
We can reflect on our practice,
On the meaning of mindfulness,
The Dharma,
The teachings,
We can fill ourselves up with knowledge.
But what matters is what happens when the rubber hits the road,
Right?
When it's our turn to speak or to submit a pleading or a memo or a brief or to handle a deal or to advise a client or,
You know,
Stand in a courtroom and the person at the other council table is someone we just can't understand.
You know,
Or that person we just can't understand is at our dinner table.
And so in other words,
We can be really proud of our practice,
The practice of cultivating mindfulness,
Of developing awareness so that we can see clearly at least some of the time.
I feel like I can do that occasionally,
And it's pretty wonderful when it happens.
I'm sure you know how that feels.
And this set of verses is saying that's just the beginning.
There's a whole path that comes next.
There's a whole path that opens up and that we want to walk or to live into if we're committed to putting mindfulness into action.
Committed to putting mindfulness into the law.
Into the world committed to being the change.
So I voted on Tuesday and I didn't use the machines.
I only dropped off my ballot,
But I did that in person.
And as I walked out of the polling place,
I got a little choked up.
I got a little teary.
Which is kind of funny,
But it always happens when I vote.
So 38 years ago when I first voted,
I'm pretty sure I didn't have any idea why,
But I have a sense of why now.
I think it's.
Because of how moving it feels to be taking part in a huge collective endeavor.
And I know my candidates might not win,
But on the first Tuesday of June 2026,
I got to participate in something that felt on a kind of a visceral level,
Collective.
You know,
I had that sense of knowing in the bones.
That we're all in this together.
And I mean,
Of course,
In the larger political context.
In the U.
S.
,
In the world,
We're seeing this.
We're seeing how we're all in this together.
We're seeing how the fate of our democracy and maybe the fate of our species is so connected,
Although we're deeply divided,
Right?
So there are always these multiple truths.
And that's why there's not just the cultivation of awareness,
Right?
There's also the path.
So we have the reality that this being human is a bumpy ride.
We know what makes it worse,
Which is desire and grasping and clinging,
That mistaken belief that if we can finally get what we want or become who we want to become,
Then we'll have lasting happiness.
And we have the solution,
Which is letting go of that mistaken belief.
So those are the first three noble truths,
Right?
But then we have the Noble Eightfold Path,
Which is the fourth Noble Truth,
Which is the How,
Which reminds us that it's essential to cultivate awareness,
But it's not enough.
We also have to act accordingly,
As the verse says.
And we don't have to do everything all at once.
It's not about perfectionism,
Right?
We just have to keep course correcting.
So just as many garlands can be made from a heap of flowers,
So a person can accumulate much merit by good deeds.
Did you ever string daisies?
So this part of chapter four is saying,
You know,
Walk the path daisy by daisy.
Use wise speech as often as we possibly can.
Engage in wise action and wise livelihood whenever possible.
And I always hear His Holiness's voice.
He always says this about kindness.
It's always possible,
But it could be about this too,
Right?
It's always possible.
Practice every moment of every day,
Always remembering sati,
Recollecting.
That we belong to one another.
And let that knowing deepen into knowing that we're not alone.
That our tendency to default to,
I mean mine,
Can cause real harm.
You know,
That we're here to take care not only of ourselves,
But not forgetting ourselves.
But also one another,
You know,
Knowing the invitation is to be the light in the courtroom,
In the conference room,
In the family room.
And not in some distant time in the future when we finally get this right,
But right now.
Right now.
This is that famous Hillel the Elder quote,
If I'm not for myself,
Who will be for me?
But if I'm only for myself,
Who am I?
And if not now,
When?
So this is our true intelligence.
This is our true intelligence.
And the verse says,
All around,
The person of intelligence spreads the fragrance of their virtue.
No fragrance,
Not even that of sandalwood or incense,
Nor of the lotus,
Nor of jasmine,
Can be compared with the fragrance of intelligence.
So we here,
We have so much knowledge and practice.
But our intelligence is in how we show up.
How we notice and then create connected moments,
Even in difficult situations.
So you could ask,
How did you feel when you voted if you took that collective opportunity?
Or what about.
.
.
Something even more banal,
Like the last time you chopped a vegetable or poured a glass of water from the tap.
And remembered how it got there.
Or stepped into a conference room or stepped into a courtroom or stepped out onto the street and remembered we're all in this together.
Could you feel on that visceral level how we belong to one another?
This is the question,
Did that intelligence arise?
Can we?
Cultivate that intelligence.
Can we help it to arise?
Sati,
Can we help ourselves to recollect?
And then whenever that intelligence arises,
Then this chapter is inviting us to ask,
What does it mean to act accordingly?
We recollect.
And then what does it mean to act accordingly?
So this is what Rumi says.
Today,
Like every other day,
We wake up empty and frightened.
Don't open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways.
To kneel and kiss the ground.
So let's sit.
So finding your posture.
But that's it.
And whatever that posture is,
Paying attention to the way that your body is just right in this moment.
Just simple,
Is it sitting,
Standing,
Lying down,
Walking?
And then bring the attention to the body and just check in.
How is this body in this moment?
Then bringing the attention to the breath in the body.
Just stabilizing the attention.
And then beginning to explore this question of acting accordingly in this microcosm of our practice.
So when the mind wanders,
What's the attitude?
Can we cultivate a loving?
Attitude toward the wandering mind.
And can we remember that?
All minds wander,
We're in this together.
Right here in our practice.
Those two pieces were in this together and can we be kind.
Whenever the mind wanders and anything other than kindness arises.
Can we be kind towards whatever arises as well?
At every level.
Noticing.
Remembering it's the same for all of us.
And then being kind.
And this intelligence of knowing.
How to act accordingly.
This is what Rumi says.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
