MJ21 - 38 Blessings - Mindful living (22 of 39)

This is the twenty-second session of the Buddhist path of practice leading from the mundane to the transcendental based on the 38 Blessings of the Mangala Sutta. This twenty-first blessing concerns mindful or intentional living, illustrating how the original understanding of these terms in traditional Buddhism included the idea of non-recklessness in life.

Transcript

Last time you saw me,

We looked at blessing number 20 on restraint from drinking intoxicants.

With the dharma talk today,

We'll continue in our series on enlightened living to the final blessing in the preparation of mind subsection,

That is,

Number 21 on living with intention.

In the previous blessings,

We've already started to lay the foundation for the cultivation of higher virtues by closing the door definitively on any unwholesome behaviours that might cause us to deviate from our spiritual quest.

We've already seen specifically the dangers towards our path of cultivation of temptations generally and intoxicants in particular.

However,

In this grouping,

There still remains one possible danger for us on our path of cultivation,

Namely that we tend to overlook the opportunities that come our way to cultivate ourselves in earnest.

Such opportunities are precious and few,

And given our short lifespan,

If we miss the golden opportunity to work in ourselves,

We can never be sure if there will be a second chance.

Because the untrained mind is full of blind spots,

It spends the whole time bogged down in unsystematic thinking,

Unlike the thinking of an enlightened man who would perceive the world as it really is.

Even when we are supposedly sober,

We spend our whole time drunk with the desires of life,

And our thinking is more like an anchorless boat cast adrift in the sea than someone pursuing a spiritual quest.

Whenever the mind is without direction,

It will almost always fall sway to five forms of sensual desire – pretty sights,

Melodious sounds,

Tasty food,

Perfumed scents,

And soft things to touch.

All we care about is beautiful houses and clothes,

And our desires are often insatiable.

When material possessiveness dominates the mind,

There's no space left for our spiritual vocation to get a look in.

Egotism gets the upper hand.

When our thoughts are negative,

Negative speech eventually escapes our mouths,

And we find it hard to keep negative actions to ourselves.

When we set our mind on doing good things,

Our inspiration soon fizzles out.

Allowing our mind to succumb to such unsystematic thinking is a condition the Buddha referred to as a recklessness or pamattho.

Because of the harm brought by such recklessness,

The Buddha advocated non-recklessness at every opportunity.

Recklessness may not sound very earth-shattering,

And probably calls to mind the image of a person running across a road without checking first for traffic.

And in this respect,

I might explain that the choice of word recklessness may be yet another example where some of the urgency has been lost in translation,

Especially since the Buddha equated non-recklessness with spiritual life,

And recklessness with the death of our spirituality.

With the words in verse 21 of the Dhammapada that,

Apamattho amata padam,

Pamattho matthuno padam,

Which translates as,

Non-recklessness is the pathway to immortality,

Whereas recklessness is the pathway to death.

Or again,

At Dhammapada verse 28,

The Buddha continued by saying that,

When the learned one drives away vanity by earnestness,

By climbing the terraced heights of wisdom,

He looks serenely down upon the toiling crowd of fools,

As one that stands on a mountain looks down upon those that stand upon the plain.

One might think that there's no harm in being reckless,

Perhaps just on the weekends,

But according to the Buddha,

The opportunity to cultivate ourselves spiritually is so precious that we cannot afford to be reckless about any resource needed for self-improvement.

I suppose a more contemporary expression for the ideal I'm referring to might be living with intention.

Resources for spiritual self-transformation that are too precious to treat mindlessly include time,

Youthfulness,

Good health,

Long life,

And opportunities to better ourselves in terms of working skills,

Knowledge,

And spirituality.

To deal with each of these in turn,

The first of these,

Time,

Should not be treated with complacency because the Buddha taught us to reflect habitually that days and nights are passing us by,

What are we doing with our lives?

Some people spend the whole day sitting around gossiping,

Catching up on fashion magazines,

Or rehearsing TikTok dances.

Unfortunately,

Since time waits for no man or woman,

We can't afford to waste it on things of no ultimate consequence.

As for youthfulness,

The second resource for self-transformation,

We cannot afford to waste the prime use of our lives.

Some people spend their life thinking that they will wait until they have one foot in the grave before getting spiritual.

However,

In reality,

Even if you are lucky enough to reach retirement age,

By then you will lack the mojo you need for spiritual striving.

As for good health,

The third resource for spiritual self-transformation,

We cannot afford to risk our health on things that are of no ultimate consequence.

As for longevity,

The fourth resource for spiritual self-transformation is that we cannot assume that we are going to get our three score years in ten.

I'm sure everyone here knows someone younger than themselves who has already passed away.

So we ought to be asking ourselves whether it couldn't just as easily have been us.

As for the opportunity to better oneself,

Whether it be in vocational knowledge,

Secular knowledge,

Or spiritual practice,

The final resource for spiritual self-transformation,

We should make sure that we treat every task that comes our way as a masterpiece.

If we have the opportunity to learn new things,

We should jump at the opportunity before our memory starts to falter.

And the same goes for every opportunity that presents itself to train ourselves spiritually.

In a single lifetime,

Perhaps we can only expect to overcome 10% of the weaknesses in our mind at the most,

And that is only if we try our hardest.

Therefore,

It's very easy to find ourselves just treading spiritual water in life or even backsliding if you let opportunities pass you by without training yourself spiritually.

No one is accusing anyone of laziness here,

But what I'm saying is that there's a tendency to complacency in everyone's life that we need to be active in pushing back against.

The main inertia we are working against are three particular outlooks in life that lead people into recklessness.

They amount to blind spots in their worldview concerning their logic of karma that cause a person to treat resources for spiritual self-transformation in their lives with mindlessness.

The first sort of outlook,

Which the Buddha referred to as kusita,

Is thinking that you don't need to do anything good in your life,

But you can still expect a good outcome.

This would include students who don't bother studying,

But who expect to pass their examinations,

Those who do no work but expect a promotion,

Or those who neglect precepts,

Generosity,

Meditation,

And expect a big welcome at the pearly gates.

A second,

Slightly worse variation on the theme which the Buddha referred to as duchcharita are those who do nothing but treat others badly,

But who still expect everyone to like them.

A third variation are those which the Buddha referred to as siddhila,

Who do negligible amounts of good deeds,

But who expect disproportionately large good outcomes.

It might be a person who does someone a tiny favor,

But feels entitled to that person's loyalty for the rest of their lives.

Or it might be a person who does nothing but light sticks of incense on a Buddhist shrine,

And hopes that the Buddhist teachings will be their refuge.

In conclusion,

Any of these complacent worldviews are caused when the doer underestimates the importance of investing effort in doing good deeds.

So now that we know what living without intention or recklessness means in relation to the precious resources and opportunities for spiritual furtherment,

We can turn to look at the opposite which might be called non-recklessness,

Or perhaps to use more contemporary terms,

Living with intention,

Or living with mindfulness.

In this connection,

Non-recklessness means being careful or thorough,

And non-recklessness in the Dharma means being in control of oneself the whole the time,

No matter whether one is thinking,

Speaking,

Or doing overt actions,

Never allowing ourselves to slip into complacency,

And never letting the opportunity to do good deeds pass us by unanswered.

We need to be focused on the things we have to do,

And the things we need to avoid.

We have to be aware and responsible of our duties,

Working in earnest on our spiritual furtherment the whole the time.

Non-recklessness is rather like feeling a sense of responsibility towards your spiritual destiny which you maintain the whole of the time.

Put another way,

It's like being constantly awake to one's proper priorities.

So you might think that reminding ourselves how precious the opportunity is to cultivate oneself,

We might be under the impression that this advice is just default advice for any sort of inspirational teacher.

However,

It turns out that living with intention is the very heart of Buddhist teachings.

So let's see how non-recklessness or mindfulness according to its proper definition anyway,

Fits with the bigger picture of Buddhist teachings in their entirety.

If you were to collect together all the Buddhist practices and teachings from the scriptures and arrange them according to subject,

A good model for the teachings would look something like this pagoda.

Buddhist teachings at their simplest can be broken down into three teachings as mentioned in the Ovatapattimokkha of avoiding unwholesomeness or keeping the precepts,

Doing good or meditation and purifying the mind or cultivating wisdom.

If you want to expand on these three teachings,

They can be expanded into the Noble Eightfold Path by elaborating the avoidance of unwholesomeness into right speech,

Right action and right livelihood.

Meanwhile,

The meditation component would be elaborated into right effort,

Right mindfulness and right concentration.

Finally,

The wisdom component would be elaborated to give you right view and right intention.

If you were to elaborate beyond the Eightfold Path,

You might go further still,

For example by elaborating the details of the precepts to give you five precepts,

Eight precepts,

Ten precepts and 227 precepts.

In fact,

You can go further still to include all the teachings in the three sections of the Buddhist scriptures,

Which are sometimes totaled up to a notional figure of 84,

000 items of the Dharma to give us a broad base to our pyramid.

In the case of the precept component,

We would expand the teachings to 21,

000 items,

Which are the content of the Vinaya section of the Buddhist scriptures.

The elaboration of the right effort,

Right mindfulness and right meditation component would give us 42,

000 items,

Which are called the Suttanta section of the Buddhist scriptures.

The right view and right intention components would be further expanded into 21,

000 items,

Known as the Abhidhamma section of the Buddhist scriptures.

But if you ask yourself what belongs on the pinnacle of our pyramid or pagoda that represents the ultimate aim of all the practices beneath it,

The flag attached to the top of the pagoda of the Dharma would be marked non-recklessness,

Or equally well with the words freedom from defilements or Nirvana or perhaps Arahanthood or freedom from suffering.

If you are ultimately non-reckless,

Then you will manage to attain all of the other things I've mentioned,

Which would mean an end of defilements and an end of suffering,

Nirvana and Arahanthood.

This is why when you see the structure of all the teachings,

You can see that the teachings of the Buddha all derive from non-recklessness,

And anyone who wants to live with intention needs to train themselves in precepts,

Meditation and wisdom.

We might easily overlook the importance of non-recklessness at this particular point in the 38 blessings because it seems like nothing more than a vague instruction to be careful.

We might confuse it with nothing more significant than taking a flashlight with us when we go out into the dark or hunkering down at home if there's a tornado.

Non-recklessness in the Dharma means being more than this however,

And it certainly doesn't mean being careful to make sure your drinks trolley is always stocked up.

What being careful really means,

According to the Buddhist teaching,

Is to care for our spiritual destiny,

Not just in this lifetime,

But with a view to lifetimes to come as well.

It is a teaching that is particularly deep,

Not just a teaching that is vaguely useful.

It's a teaching that is at the heart of Buddhism,

And some Buddhists,

Even those who have known Buddhism all their lives,

Might not fully understand the meaning of non-recklessness if they've not given it due consideration.

If it were an easy blessing to apprehend,

It would surely not have been put at number 21 in the sequence of the 38.

In this connection,

To underline the importance of the teaching on non-recklessness,

We can look at the way it appears prominently in the Parinibbāna Sutta,

Which was the final teaching given by the Buddha to his disciples before he passed away.

In his final days,

Before going back and repeating any particular teaching from the 45 years of his dispensation,

The Buddha concluded all his teachings under the umbrella of non-recklessness.

He said,

O monks,

Our aggregates have the nature of impermanence.

Therefore,

All of you must arouse non-recklessness.

These were his final words before passing away.

So,

Non-recklessness is therefore sure to be a major issue,

And one we can't afford to overlook.

Non-recklessness in the Dhamma refers particularly to being intentional concerning the setting up of conditions that will lead to the outcomes we are looking for,

Rather than superstitiously believing that everything will turn out fine,

Even if we're too lazy to do the footwork.

So,

The conditions we need to commit to in order to switch on to intentional living are particularly important in five areas,

Namely,

Avoiding unwholesomeness,

Cultivating good deeds,

Remembering the retribution coming from unwholesome deeds,

Remembering the suffering inheriting continued rebirth in the cycle of existence,

And reminding ourselves always to keep our mind on the object of meditation.

These would be intentions maintained continuously in the mind by those who are cultivating non-recklessness.

If you were to treat every day of your life as potentially your last,

It will imbue you with the urgency not to neglect these tasks of non-recklessness and remain focused on the task of self-cultivation.

Such an ability to focus comes from the mental attribute we call mindfulness.

So,

To return to this idea of not being complacent or letting life pass us by,

We have time for a quick story.

Once upon a time,

There was a king called Makkha-Deva,

Who ascended the throne.

On the day of his coronation,

He summoned his barber and said,

From now on,

My workload will be much busier,

Now that I have to look after the whole country.

So I'm delegating a special job to you in case I get too caught up in my duties.

Your job is to tell me immediately when you see the first grey hair appearing on my head.

The barber smiled at such an easy job.

However,

One day a few years later,

The barber spotted the first grey hair on the king's head.

When the barber passed on the news,

The king's face turned as white as a sheet.

The king immediately summoned together an assembly of all the subjects in the kingdom and announced,

Today,

After many years of ruling this kingdom,

The first sign of deterioration has appeared on my body.

It has therefore come to time for me to dedicate myself fully to the cultivation of good deeds for my own spiritual destiny.

I hereby abdicate the throne,

And my son will reign in my place.

The king then retreated into the forest and became a hermit,

Meditating until the end of his days.

That was the Buddha himself in one of his previous lifetimes as the Bodhisattva.

The example he set is very different from most people who,

When their hair turns grey,

Instead of thinking of impending death,

Are surfing the internet to find a good price on an advanced anti-grey hair growth supplement.

So,

Using the deterioration of our own body as a catalyst to urgency in spiritual practice,

Is a good example of living with intention,

And fulfilling our spiritual destiny on the ultimate level before it's too late.

So,

To come back to our subject matter for today,

We continue to explore living with intention,

With the thought that the word mindfulness,

According to its Buddhist definition,

Actually goes a long way to establish the personal characteristics which we are looking for in this blessing.

Mindfulness is something I'm sure you've already heard a lot about.

It may be one of the reasons that you got interested to learn meditation in the first place,

Because it's like a buzzword for the benefits of meditation,

Or at least it should complement the meditation we already practice.

Where meditation is something you would do when you're sitting with your eyes closed on your meditation mat,

Mindfulness is a way of training the mind that takes place outside the meditation practice when you're doing other things.

Mindfulness helps to bring the meditation you've attained during your sitting practice out into the other aspects of your life.

You'll have heard trending hashtags like the mindfulness revolution,

And today we will talk about some of the meanings of mindfulness as it was traditionally understood,

Because so-called mack mindfulness has tended to overlook some of the most important features that it was originally intended to convey,

One of the downsides of what sociologists call the process of western cultural appropriation.

So,

How do Buddhists define mindfulness?

Originally,

Mindfulness was defined as a sort of recollection,

Remembering,

Or discernment between good and bad,

Right and wrong,

Motivating you to think,

Speak,

And act in a good way,

Without forgetting yourself,

And without being distracted by your senses,

And always with wise reflection.

This was the original definition of mindfulness.

Some western meditation teachers,

However,

Characterize mindfulness as merely bare or undiscerning attention,

Otherwise known as going with the flow.

The western version of mindfulness often means that so-called meditators do things at half speed,

Feeling virtuous about sitting idle,

Or remaining in equanimity when faced with life-threatening danger.

Mindfulness in its traditional meaning,

By contrast,

Would probably help you to realize that it's better to run away from dangerous things.

Mindfulness should not be just exclusively a passive quality.

If you understand the full meaning of mindfulness,

You would also realize it requires some effort to cultivate.

It's not just something that babies and children are born with,

Because children can also sit there and be passive and not do anything.

It doesn't take a great deal of training.

By contrast,

Although the traditional meaning of mindfulness may mean observing without judging things,

It also means understanding their true nature on a deeper level.

Within Buddhism,

Mindfulness is something quite central to many teachings.

What's known in Buddhism as non-recklessness,

Is based very firmly on this idea of being mindful.

Recklessness to you might mean something like running across a highway without looking right and left first.

But recklessness in Buddhism can mean much more than that.

It can mean anything that jeopardizes your spiritual cultivation,

And mindfulness would be the character quality that helps you to prevent such jeopardy.

Despite the commercialization of certain types of mindfulness,

It is a subject that is currently very much the flavor of the decade,

With a lot of scientific researchers.

This wasn't always the case.

If you look back to the 1990s,

You can see the number of papers published on mindfulness was only a handful per year.

But these days the number has increased exponentially,

And there can be several peer-reviewed journals devoted entirely to research on mindfulness.

So,

Evidence-based research on mindfulness is part of why meditation has become much more mainstream.

But generally speaking,

The research has not been on the mindfulness in the traditional sense of the word.

The Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory,

For example,

Limits itself to the factors of being open to the experience of the present moment,

Being aware of your body while doing other activities,

Bringing the wandering mind back to the experience of the here and now,

Appreciating yourself,

Paying attention to what's behind your actions,

Not judging your mistakes,

Feeling connected to the here and now,

Accepting unpleasant experiences,

Being friendly to yourself when things go wrong,

Watching your feelings without getting lost in them,

Pausing rather than reacting to difficult situations,

Experiencing moments of inner peace in spite of hectic surroundings,

Avoiding impatience with yourself and others,

And being able to smile when you know how you sometimes make life difficult.

By contrast,

The traditional conception of mindfulness is as a means of uprooting greed,

Hatred,

And delusion from the mind,

And it has four properties.

Firstly,

Mindfulness prevents the mind from wandering.

So,

Of course,

The mind likes to wander,

A phenomenon of the so-called monkey mind.

But if through meditation we can bring the mind back each time it wanders,

Little by little,

Even monkeys can be trained.

In Thailand,

On Gotsebui and in Surat Thani,

They have training schools for monkeys with a three-month course where monkeys can be trained to collect coconuts.

So,

Even monkeys can be trained.

So,

Your monkey mind should be no great challenge.

If it wanders,

Then you just use your mindfulness to bring it back to your center each time.

Secondly,

Mindfulness prevents moods and feelings from hijacking the quality of your mind.

Let's say you feel angry.

Well,

Everyone feels angry from time to time.

Even monks feel angry.

But with mindfulness,

You don't let the anger take over.

You have to use mindfulness to remind yourself that you are not your anger.

And if you have got a lot on your mind,

Thoughts for example,

Mindfulness will prevent thoughts from proliferating without end.

There may be some things that you find upsetting to think about,

But it's also your choice to stop thinking about those things that upset you.

If you are mindful,

Then you can actually catch unwanted thoughts before they get under your skin.

Finally,

Mindfulness has the property of constantly reminding yourself not to forget yourself or get lost in thought.

To put this in a way modern listeners might understand more clearly,

It is an awareness of the present moment.

For example,

You may be washing your dishes by hand,

But your mind may be on something completely different like,

What am I going to do when I finish washing the dishes because this task is boring and meaningless.

Or,

Without mindfulness,

You generally don't actually enjoy washing the dishes because your mind is never actually focused on what you're doing.

As a result of that,

You may drop things or you may not get the dishes squeaky clean.

Instead,

You should focus on what you're doing until you've finished it before turning your focus of attention to the next task.

You'll be much more present in the moment and your focus will lend a quality of reflection and understanding even to mundane tasks,

Which will make those things much more meaningful.

So this is what we mean by self-awareness,

Being present in the here and now because things don't change in the future and you can't redo your past.

The only things that you can change are in the here and now,

The task you actually have your hands on.

These are the four traditional properties of mindfulness.

So let's move on now to some of the benefits of mindfulness and I will go through these quite quickly and in more colloquial language.

Firstly,

By being mindful you can set up a sort of barrier between how you feel physically and how you feel mentally.

Okay,

Your body may have some discomfort but with mindfulness you are not going to let that physical discomfort seep through into your mind in a way that's going to ruin your day.

As you can imagine,

This takes some practice.

Secondly,

Mindfulness helps us not to get stuck in selfish or blinkered perspectives but instead to see the bigger picture objectively.

I guess in the present day you could say that mindfulness helps you to become more of a woke person.

Thirdly,

Mindfulness provides you with the penetrative insight to see through to the roots of the problem,

Not just see the superficial symptoms,

So you can discern the way to solve a problem for good.

It's like,

Do you keep on mopping up the water or do you find out where the pipe is leaking?

Finally,

Mindfulness adds a dimension of self-purification to whatever you do,

Say or think,

To transform that action into something that will purify you to become a better person.

So mindfulness brings at least four benefits because it is a sense of awareness or a sense of conscience which you take with you into every activity.

So,

Having looked at the properties and benefits of mindfulness,

Now we turn to the traditional functions of mindfulness.

Mindfulness allows you to be suspicious of things deserving suspicion and protect yourself from dangers,

Even those dangers that might seem superficially small or insignificant.

If you see a campfire left smoldering in a national park,

A mindful person would make sure it's completely extinguished because even a small and seemingly insignificant spark can cause a raging wildfire that can burn for weeks,

Raising whole neighborhoods to the ashes.

Secondly,

In every task there is a line beyond which risks start to occur.

If you are mindful,

Even though it may be quite a mundane task,

You'll be able to see where that line needs to be drawn.

For example,

You may like your children to be happy,

But you shouldn't let them take pleasure in things that may be dangerous to them,

So you have to draw a line somewhere.

But,

Discerning exactly where the line lies,

That is where mindfulness comes in.

Some people start out doing something and feel happy with it,

But if they are smart enough to realize,

I'm going to have to do this every day of my life from now on,

Maybe they will pace themselves.

So,

With mindfulness,

You would start out as you mean to go on,

With a long-term view that,

I'm going to make sure I enjoy the journey because I'm in this for the long run.

Furthermore,

Mindfulness gives you a timely reminder,

Almost like an alarm clock or a catalyst.

Some people might like to lie about in bed all day,

Because it seems so peaceful and calming.

However,

Mindfulness is not always just a passive quality.

Like a catalyst,

Mindfulness should stimulate late risers to hurry up instead of dragging their feet in certain situations which require haste,

Like 30 year olds still getting their parents to do their laundry instead of standing on their own two feet financially.

If you have responsibilities,

Then mindfulness will help to make you aware of that too.

For example,

If you are your stereotypical bachelor,

You can afford to please yourself,

But the moment you start a family,

Then you have to start thinking about some other people as well.

You can't just be self-indulgent anymore.

So,

Mindfulness would help you to realize your responsibilities,

So you don't carry on like before.

Finally,

Mindfulness engenders thoroughness.

For example,

You can see the differences in mindfulness of office workers at the end of the day.

Suppose the office finishes work at 5pm.

If you want to know about your colleague's level of mindfulness,

Just take a walk around the office at 4.

30,

Take a look and see who is in the middle of an unfinished job and take a mental note.

Take a second walk around the office at 5.

45 and you'll see what people's habits are like.

Those without mindfulness will turn in unfinished or shoddy work.

Some will shove the unfinished work into their office drawer.

During the working day,

Everyone looks quite well organized.

It's only when you're nearing the end of business that you will see the difference in mindfulness between your colleagues.

Finally,

Let's look at some traditional metaphors for mindfulness.

The people of old compared mindfulness to the main supporting pillar because no other virtue can be cultivated without awareness.

Without mindfulness,

Every other sort of good thing which you do in your life will collapse.

For example,

You might want to show compassion for all the living beings around your home.

But if you're not mindful,

Then you might end up stepping on some of them.

Or if you're not mindful,

Then you may end up saying things which you don't mean.

So mindfulness is like a supporting pillar upon which other things like your truthfulness or your sense of compassion depend.

You need to have mindfulness to turn every situation into something positive.

Sometimes mindfulness has been compared to a doorkeeper or maybe a bouncer would be a more contemporary word for this.

Doorkeepers have a very important task because they size up people at the entrance of some reputable establishment.

And if they feel like the clientele is not up to the high standards of the establishment,

Then they don't let them in.

But if the client looks like they are not going to cause any trouble,

Then they let them in.

Mindfulness can perform the same function when it is considering the sort of sensory stimuli to let into your mind.

So it has the important role in the sensory filtering.

Some things,

Once they get past the filters of your mind,

Can create havoc inside.

Think of what happens with a clear plastic cup if you pour in boiling water.

It will get distorted and melted in a way that can never be recovered from.

In the same way,

This is why we protect children from certain experiences because they cannot unsee those traumatic things and it may affect them adversely for the rest of their lives.

Some things may not be traumatic immediately,

But they can trigger a delayed effect that leads to much worse things later on.

So mindfulness would filter out an experience before it gets to the point where it's going to hijack the quality of your mind.

Sometimes mindfulness has been compared to an accountant who is responsible for the incomings and outgoings of the mind in terms of the goodness which you are managing to collect for yourself.

It is also a part of yourself that knows to reserve enough down time for yourself to avoid you helping other people so much that it burns you out.

This is why they say that mindfulness is like an accountant who must be fussy about precious mental resources.

Finally,

Mindfulness has sometimes been compared to a ship's rudder which keeps a ship on course for its long-term destination,

Even though it may be a long journey ahead.

So mindfulness can keep you on track and doesn't let you lose sight of your goals in life.

Without a rudder,

A ship will go in circles.

It uses up all its fuel but it gets nowhere.

Similarly,

Mindfulness stops us from getting waylaid before we reach our long-term spiritual goals.

So before we finish today,

I have a story about non-recklessness that goes back to the final days of the Buddha's life.

When the Buddha knew that he was approaching the time when he must enter Parinirvana,

He announced to his congregation that anyone with remaining doubts concerning the Dharma should come to him and ask their questions within three months.

Many of the followers of the Buddha,

Even the monks,

Were so sad that they cried with grief.

One monk,

Subhata,

However,

Did not cry but withdrew into the forest to intensify his own practice.

He practiced meditation walking,

Standing and sitting,

Never allowing himself to lie down.

He trained himself in mindfulness the whole of the time.

Someone went to the Buddha and accused the monk of disrespect,

Saying that even though Subhata knew the Buddha must pass away soon,

He had not come to pay his respects.

The Buddha summoned Subhata and asked,

Why have you abandoned the community?

Subhata replied,

I reflected that I have still not attained any of the stages of enlightenment as a result of my meditation practice.

If I am stuck in my practice even when the Buddha is still with us,

What will I be like when you are gone?

Therefore,

I am practicing to my utmost in the hope that the Buddha will be able to help clear any obstacles that may crop up in the course of my practice during these three months.

The Buddha then praised his answer and said,

Other monks should take this monk as their example.

He has done correctly and is an example of non-recklessness.

Not long afterwards,

Subhata was able to become an Arahant before the Buddha entered Parnibbana and he was the last of the monks to become enlightened before the passing of the Buddha.

This might seem like a very high level of practice which is surely not applicable to us,

But even on meditation retreats when retreatants know for themselves that they are close to making a breakthrough in their meditation,

They would be wrong to waste time chattering and joking with their friends.

Instead,

They may need more time to themselves,

More solitude and practice,

So they can secure progress in their meditation and only then return to their usual gregarious self.

So,

In conclusion,

In this blessing we have seen that a traditional definition of mindfulness comes very close to what Buddhism would call non-recklessness in the Dharma.

In order to cultivate non-recklessness in the Dharma,

One needs to make the cultivation of wholesomeness a regular daily activity,

Without exception or excuses,

Whether it be the practices of being generous,

Keeping the precepts or meditation.

You may even look out for the opportunity to take temporary ordination for a while or to keep eight precepts in the temple,

And you would maintain your mind on your object of meditation throughout your waking hours,

While reminding yourself of impending death in order to maintain a sense of urgency in your spiritual vocation.

Mindfulness is therefore more important to our spiritual destiny than just going with the flow or chilling out.

A true definition of mindfulness includes the sense of upholding conscience and integrity.

It includes a sense of care and also the wisdom to see deeply into everything that we are dealing with,

Even the mundane things.

The result of mindfulness would be to give a sense of quality in life.

When we can cultivate meditation,

We might be quite proud of ourselves and get a warm fuzzy feeling.

But if we have a sense of mindfulness throughout the day as well,

In between meditations,

Then it will keep that good feeling going in other activities besides meditation.

It will mean that many of the things that were causing you frustration in the first place,

That were perhaps the reason you took up meditation,

Will no longer impact you because you took care of them by mindfulness before they got extreme enough to disturb your meditation.

So mindfulness is something that ideally goes hand in hand with meditation,

So that sleepwalking through life is upgraded to living with intention.

So this session I've introduced to you Blessing 21 on Living with Intention.

For my next session we'll make a start on the seventh group of blessings with Blessing 22 on Respect.

Hopefully as a result of today's session you will have a better understanding of how to live with intention through the practice of mindfulness and non-recklessness in the Dharma.

So for today this is me Pratnikos Tanyasros signing off for now.

So long folks and stay safe.