Is Mindfulness For Everyone?

I have a sense of good fortune to know a little about mindfulness. I feel like if everyone knew a little, the world would be a better place. So maybe “Is Mindfulness for Everyone?” is a sneaky question because to me, the obvious answer is yes.

But does everyone agree? No. For sure there are people who feel that paying attention, cultivating kindness, patience, compassion, and generosity, loving everyone, is either not possible or not appropriate. Or maybe not even useful. Are they missing something? To me it feels like, yes, but to them? Again, no.

The thing is, mindfulness includes seeing everyone in the same light. Seeing everyone as having at least the potential for love, for compassion, for realizing, someday, that we’re all in this together. Everyone, full stop. So I guess yeah, mindfulness is for everyone.

Transcript

Judy, This is Wake Up Cough 545. And we are on Chapter 13 of the Dhammapada, Which is called The World. So just to give a frame, In chapter 12, The line that most resonated for me is, Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. And then in chapter 13, The focus shifts to sort of the external and this world that we live in and how we're impacted if we don't discover our work and give ourselves to it, How we're impacted when we do, But also just sort of how it is. So Gil Fronsdale's translation contains what are by now these familiar admonishments. Life of good conduct. One who does this is happy in this world and in the next. Whoever recovers from doing evil by doing something wholesome illuminates the world like the moon set free from a cloud. The poetry is so incredible. And then it says, Blind is this world, Few see clearly here. Okay, And Ram Dass and Thomas Byram, They include the admonishments as well. They say, Do not live in distraction and false dreams. Arise and watch. Follow the way of virtue. Follow the way joyfully. But then they also say this world is in darkness. How few have eyes to see. How few the birds who escape the net and fly to heaven. And then Shreema, Who's the person whose commentary we've been following here together. Um. . . Says there are four pieces of advice for us that arise out of this chapter. Don't cultivate indolence of mind. Don't choose wrong views. Arise and cast off negligence. Okay, So this is our frame. And yeah, So as with the earlier chapters, We're hearing how important it is to get to know our minds and cultivate our minds, And also how it's hard work to discover and then give ourselves to the work we need to do. How not doing this is going to lead to causing harm or being harmed to these perpetual cycles. But given the world I've been sitting with, And the world, The title of this chapter, I've been sitting with this question, Which one of our MLTT students posed to me on a walk on Monday. Rose, I don't know if Rose is here, But it was a beautiful question. Given the world and given our different propensities, And if you think about karma or you believe in karma, Our different karmas, Can everyone practice mindfulness? Can everyone hear these teachings? And the Dharmapada seems to be saying, Everybody has to. Or at least everybody who reads that. A book of poetry has to, But How many of us are at the point where we'll do that, Where we'll pick up that book or even know that these texts exist and that we have the option to read them or to study or to practice? I mean, Let's say there's a room full of lawyers or law students or there's a boardroom. Or there's a rotunda or a Capitol and somebody is offering mindfulness. One of our teachers has taught at the Capitol to Congress. Um And mindfulness is there to be studied, If anybody looks up. If anybody finds it, Right? So somebody is offering mindfulness and so it's there. Can everyone hear these teachings? And for those who hear, And if that's everyone, Is everyone transformed? Or do they at least feel a little better like there's a little bit more possibility from having listened? I don't know. I mean, I don't know the answer to this question. I can say that I was exposed to the Dharma or I could say that these teachings came knocking several times in my teens, In my 20s, Even in my early 30s. Knocking pretty loudly in a few cases. Kind of wake up, Wake up. And it was more than 10 years of invitations and knocking before I heard a thing. And longer before I could understand anything or see that I had work to do or what that work was, And longer still before I could do anything. So I want everyone to be able to practice and the stories in the suttas about people hearing the Buddha teach and becoming instantly enlightened, Well, Yeah, But look who the teacher was, Right? It was the teacher. But even now when not everybody gets to sit and study with a great teacher. I certainly hold in my heart this wish, This aspiration that everyone could hear and could see, Even though, As the verse says, The world is blind and few see clearly here. And I don't want to say that it's not possible for this person or that one. That it's not possible for this person or that one, You know, Even though it's somebody who is clearly causing harm. I just don't want to close that door and say they are not worthy, Not worth our time, Because could they someday, Somehow, You know, Hear the teachings of mindfulness someday realize that their work is to discover their work and then with all their heart give themselves to it. I just want to say yes. And you know maybe this is what Sri Ma is pointing to when she says to beware of indolence and wrong view. So indolence, Right? Laziness, Idleness, The habit of avoiding work. Um, And physical or mental exertion because we love ease and comfort. I mean, We all love ease and comfort. I want ease and comfort. I want to sleep in instead of practicing or watch Netflix instead of studying. Yeah, I love all the beautiful things. But Sri Ma isn't saying, The teachings don't say ease and comfort aren't a good thing. Our whole practice is pointing at ease. What I think she's saying is watch out for laziness of mind. Watch out for blindness. Don't be somebody who lives in darkness, Who doesn't have eyes to see. And when she talks about seeing, When the verses talk about seeing and what she's saying, See when we're taking the wrong point of view. The wrong point of view, That if we only have just a little bit more, You know, Nelson Rockefeller's famous reply when he was asked how much is enough, Then we'll be happy. Or the wrong view that our comfort matters more than anyone else's. Or that it's okay to have vastly more when others have nothing, Or that our choices don't matter. Or that other people are not worthy or even redeemable. Or that we're not all in this together. So she says, Sri Ma says, In a world of darkness we should arise and cast off negligence and begin to see clearly, To see what the wisdom that we have and that's offered to us, The wisdom that's offered to us. So this question, Can anyone do this? Can anyone arise and cast off negligence? In the ancient legend of the Buddha's awakening. I listened to a talk about the three watches of the night, The night that he became awakened. And he saw so many things and he thought when he woke up, I can't I can't teach this stuff. Nobody's going to understand anything I say. And if you hear or study or listen to some of the things that he saw, Yeah, I could understand it, Because I don't understand the things that he saw. And so he said that, And then this Brahmin, The legend says this Brahmin descended from the god realm and said, No, Teach. There are those but with but little dust in their eyes. And so that's everyone here for sure. And I don't know, Maybe I'm an eternal optimist or maybe I'm just being Pollyannish. But I guess I do think that in every human, And even those whose vision appears to me to be Very clouded. That their eyes are very dusty. That there's a possibility that someday because of something that happens. That they'll be able to rinse out the dust and begin to see clearly. Um. . . And I think that I probably feel that way because I feel like I was pretty dusty and pretty clouded for a really, Really long time. When those teachings came knocking at my door. And so if I can step onto this path, Just put a couple of toes on this path. Anyone can. I think that's why I feel that way. Okay, So let's sit. You So find a. A posture that is comfortable for you. Take a moment to settle in. Take a moment to notice the body in whatever posture you've chosen. And the breath in the body. The breath flowing in and out. Letting the mind settle, Letting the body settle. And then staying with your practice, Letting go of the breath. And beginning to notice. The other beings in your environment. And this might be in the same room, Or it might be. In the same house or building. Might be in the same community or town. Organization or firm or court. I'm just beginning to see the. . . The connections. That you have with all of these. All of these other humans. Without getting into a lot of discursive thinking, Just feel into the connections. Family. Friends, Colleagues. Employees. And see or feel. Your connections. With these other humans. See how you have the. The power to affect their well-being and they have the power to affect yours. Now it's not as if we are. In the center of a circle, And then there are spokes coming off us. It's more like a net. A beautiful net and we're all part. Of this. Interconnected existence here on this little planet. Some parts of the net may really sparkle and others may be frayed. Broken. But still feeling into the. The connection. And so I'll ring the bell and I just invite you to stay connected. Today. Thanks, Everybody.