Cutting Off The Head Of The Snake

I used to think if I sat on my meditation cushion, did some yoga, and generally paid attention, I was doing my part. That still feels important. But now, for me anyway, it also feels like it's not enough. The ancient texts say we should practice as if our hair is on fire or there's a snake in our lap. And I guess that's what feels important for me these days: to remember my hair is on fire - or at least the planet is on fire, and that there really is a snake in my lap - the snake of hatred.

Transcript

Good morning,

My friends.

I have this whole talk prepared today.

This is the wake-up call and it's wake-up call 340.

And the talk is called The Eightfold Path and Cutting Off the Head of the Snake.

But before I start,

I just want to acknowledge our siblings in Ukraine and just wish them safety in this moment.

And also the soldiers on all sides and wishing them safety as well.

So when I was practicing law,

We used to say,

If it walks like a duck or talks like a duck,

It's probably a duck.

And last week,

Looking at chapter 19 of the Dhammapada,

The just,

I sort of realized afterwards,

Yes and yes,

And.

So yes,

If it walks and talks like a duck,

It's probably a duck if it's an issue,

If it's a claim,

But no,

It's a duck.

But no,

To the point of last week's chapter,

Just because I walk like a lawyer and talk like a lawyer,

Which I do talk like Larry,

You know,

Doesn't mean I've earned the stripes because there's also the practice and it's the same with mindfulness.

Just because I've read about mindfulness practice,

Some,

It doesn't,

It doesn't mean I'm awake or very awake.

So,

So the practice is what's so important and the humility is what's so important to me.

And as the old texts say,

And I mentioned last week that we need to practice with our hair as if our hair is on fire or as if there's a snake in our lap.

And I think that's especially true,

Just given the world.

So chapter 20 of the Dhammapada,

Which is almost the end of this,

This real treasure,

I've found it to be such a treasure,

Is sort of the,

The how or the beginning of the how.

And so it's how to practice with our hair on fire,

How to practice with the snake.

And another way to say it is that it's about the path,

Which is what the chapter is called the path.

And the chapter starts out by saying,

The best of paths is the ancient path.

The best of paths is the eightfold path.

So I thought today,

Just to look briefly at that eightfold path.

And there are three segments to the path and each has a few elements.

So there's a total of eight elements of the path,

Hence the name.

And so the first segment of those elements,

The one that I think of as the first segment is training the mind.

And training the mind includes the elements of mindfulness,

Effort,

And concentration.

So mindfulness,

Walking the path of mindfulness really means beginning with this formal practice we do here that you do on your own cushion.

And each morning or evening we sit down,

We stand or we begin walking and we bring our attention to the present moment.

We choose our object of awareness,

Our anchor,

Classically the breath in the body or the body in the form of a body scan or can be the sounds in the environment.

And then we relax into,

We become mindful of and relax into the present moment.

And first,

Maybe we tune into what's happening in the body.

We don't bring story into this tuning in.

We just attend simply to what's happening.

We might notice our posture.

I'm sitting or I'm walking,

Or we could even flip the words and say,

Sitting is what's happening or walking is what's happening.

We might investigate sensations.

We might get more granular and scan the body and see what's tight,

What's loose,

If hunger is present or pain.

We might attend to the body simply as skin,

Bones,

And flesh as Biku and Alio suggests.

We might feel into the temperature of the body,

The fluids in the body,

The body,

The air in the body.

And as we're doing that,

You know,

We can attend not to the body as something that we own,

Like not as my body,

But Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us to say,

This is something we inhabit temporarily and that we care for,

That our bodies are precious and to be treasured.

And then we can move to mindfulness of our mood,

The vedna of the moment.

Is it pleasant?

Is it unpleasant?

Is it neither?

And again,

Without story,

You know,

It's not unpleasant because she,

He,

They did said that thing,

Just unpleasant or pleasant.

And this might take us to the body again,

Because if mood is unpleasant,

Then maybe we turn to our experience of that,

Which could be tight or hot or sweating you or distracted or restless.

And then just returning to the mood of each moment,

Being pleasant,

Unpleasant,

Or neither.

And then after,

Or maybe not after,

But also,

Because at least in my experience,

Mindfulness isn't really a progression,

It's more of a spiral,

Right?

We can notice what's happening in the mind.

So maybe thinking is happening or the mind is quiet and there's not so much thinking.

Or maybe emotion is happening,

You know,

Anger,

Sorrow,

Fear,

Joy.

For me right now,

Sorrow and fear,

Just watching what's happening in Ukraine.

But it could be that there isn't much emotion,

Just noticing.

And then there's also mindfulness of experience,

Seeing if desire or ill will are running in the moment or restlessness or fogginess or skepticism.

You know,

Remembering that everything is skewed by our perception,

But even though we're seeing or hearing or tasting,

Everything is filtered through our experience,

Our history.

And at the same time,

Noticing when ease is present,

When freedom is present and we can breathe.

And then bringing those qualities into our relationships,

Into our home,

Into the conference room,

Into the courtroom,

The virtual one,

The live one,

Into all of the ways that we interact with the world.

And all of that requires effort,

Which is the second element of the training the mind segment of the path.

And for me,

Effort is about,

I'm constantly asking myself,

Am I putting in the time,

The dedication to study and practice mindfulness?

You know,

Not as a to-do item,

But as something that I'm really inspired by.

I'm asking myself,

Like,

What is the Goldilocks amount of effort?

Not too little,

Not too much.

The middle path is the way that the historical Buddha named it.

When my mindfulness is strong,

My concentration is good.

Concentration is the third element of training the mind.

You know,

When I can follow one full breath during a sit or two or ten or follow my breath for the whole sit,

Whatever the practice edge is.

For me,

My practice is about half an hour of yoga in the morning,

Another half an hour of sitting,

And then all the times I get to sit with folks like you in different sagas and communities.

So whatever your practice is,

Is it the right amount of practice?

Is it the right amount of effort?

And asking yourself that question.

So that's training the mind,

But then training the mind isn't going to get any of us too far in the law if we're not also cultivating ethics,

Right,

Which is the middle segment or what I like to think of as the middle segment of the eightfold path.

And ethics,

Which is these three elements of wise communication and action and work.

For me,

The exploration includes again asking myself all day long,

All day long,

Am I speaking?

Am I writing?

Am I emailing?

Am I texting?

Am I posting with kindness?

Is what I'm saying helpful?

Am I hurting anyone?

Is this good for the planet?

Yeah,

And not to get too obsessive,

But for myself,

I don't feel like I can be too vigilant.

And at the same time,

For my actions,

Wise action,

Are my actions helpful and kind and non-harming and the same for my work?

I ask myself all that time that I was practicing law,

Really ask myself a lot because I did corporate work.

Is my work helpful?

Usually,

Yes.

Is it kind?

Usually,

Not always.

Yeah,

That was a hard one for me.

Is it non-harming?

Again,

Usually,

But yeah,

I still have to take a deep breath on these after all those years.

And I love what the great writer Annie Dillard says,

You know,

She says,

The way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives.

And so in this ethics segment of the path,

We can ask ourselves,

Am I spending my days and my life in ways that are helpful and kind to myself,

To others,

And to the planet?

And then the third segment of the path,

Wisdom,

You know,

Asking ourselves whether we're keeping in mind that everything we say and do has consequences because we're completely,

Irrevocably interconnected.

Especially in the law where our words and conduct and the choices we make about where to put our professional energy impacts so many people and their organizations on the planet.

And also,

Are we bringing the very best of intentions to everything?

The last step on the path,

The very best of intentions,

Meaning the intentions to do no harm,

To be kind and compassionate to all the humans and all the other beings and the earth.

To be of service,

To speak truth to power,

To undo the deeply embedded,

Seemingly intractable systems of oppression that cause harm to so many beings and to the planet.

The best of paths is the eightfold path,

According to the beginning chapter,

According to the beginning of chapter 20 of the Dhammapada.

And I used to think the path was about making sure that I sat down on my cushion each day and didn't do anything terrible once I got up.

And now I think I really do need to remember,

And maybe you feel this way,

Too,

That that's not enough anymore,

If it ever was.

You know,

Now I'm just trying to remember every day that my hair is on fire,

Just like the world,

And that there really is a snake in my lab,

This snake of hatred and disconnection and devastation.

And that it's up to me,

It's up to each of us,

Especially because of our status and our privilege as members of this hallowed.

And I also wrote in my notes,

Hallowed and hallowed profession.

I don't know,

To tame that snake with an enormous dose of kindness and failing that to cut off its head.

So we can sit together.

Letting the words drop away.

Bringing mindfulness to the moment.

So finding the breath,

The body,

The sounds and the environment.

And just settling.

And if settling is not what's happening,

Then just knowing what is happening.

Observing,

Investigating,

With kindness,

With compassion.

Letting the words drop away.

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