| Developing the Positive by Bonni Ross Vancouver, March 1997 For more teachings by Bonni visit the Sunshine Coast Retreat House website Let's begin with a traditional reflection: From beginningless time until now, countless unwholesome actions have been performed, knowingly or unknowingly, due to ignorance. The results of these actions are continuously coming into consciousness now, creating great suffering. I feel remorse for having been involved in such actions. They are like poison, and with all my heart, I wish to be free of them. May I never perform such actions again. Also from beginningless time, I and all beings, including all the saints and Buddhas of all time, have performed countless wholesome actions. I rejoice in, and feel my life supported by, this wondrous ocean of positive energy. May all my actions increase this wholesome force. May I never give up the realization of total, unformed potential. May I never reduce myself or any other being to the false understanding of seeing them as a permanent self or object. Until I am able to abide without clinging in that realization, I will take Refuge -- in the Buddha as guide, the Dharma as path, and the Sangha as spiritual companion. May all my actions be motivated by the wish to decrease the suffering of all beings. In order to fulfill that wish, I will do as all the Bodhisattvas have done -- as much as possible of whatever is necessary. By the merit gained through this prayer may I awaken speedily for the sake of all beings. In our culture we are very quick to identify and focus on the negative; we have a sort of pathological approach, intent on "purifying" or "fixing" what we think is wrong or out of balance in ourselves. But that Path can also be described as the augmentation of certain positive qualities which we all possess to some degree. Of the six he identified, the Buddha taught that there was really only one that mattered -- generosity, and that if generosity was perfected, all the others, in an inevitable and developmental process, would be perfected too. Looked at from this point of view, for a meditator aspiring to liberation for the sake of all beings, the relationship to the dana bowl, to the outstretched hand of the street person, to the telephone call from the friend in crisis, is the most important personal relationship there is, save that with the Teacher her, or himself. The opportunity to give is our call to loosen, to let go of some part of ourselves in support of another. It is only through loosening the tight, ego-centered grasping which ties us to fixed views of about our own capacities that allows for the possibility of liberation. This universe of which we are part is in a state of dynamic unfoldment which we can call flow. To fully realize our state of union with universe, or God, or Buddha-nature, whatever your language is for that concept which goes beyond language and concept, we must cease grasping and clinging to anything. It is very unlikely that a person will come to that state of total letting go, or flow, without a lot of practice. We are conditioned to hold on, to seek stability and permanence when our own senses give us continual evidence that no such states exist. In the face of such illogical behaviour, it is clear that we need to practice non-clinging deliberately and repeatedly, to break down these established habits of mind. We are also taught that there is no liberation possible without the practice of active compassion for other beings. And how to we express that caring? By giving our time, our money, our kind words, and also what is considered most precious, the Teachings about liberation. We engage in these compassionate acts of giving directly, through our own involvement, and also through supporting the work of those beings and agencies whose reason for being is to act on our behalf for the benefit of all. If we understand how fundamental an attitude of generosity is to experiencing the reality of flow in our lives, we will make it a discipline to never overlook an opportunity to give. Especially when our lives feel tight and stuck, when there doesn't seem to be enough of anything to satisfy our many needs, we need to give, and give, and give again to jump-start the flow. It's easy to be generous when our lives are happy and abundant, but even then we are often so caught up in our narcissistic enjoyments that we forget. Later we learn how quickly states of ease can be lost, and how much effort is needed to re-establish the awareness of flow. Once this principle of giving is clearly established in the life, and there is a certain amount of movement, it becomes important to consider the question of morality. This refers to how we behave, how we train our resources of body, speech and mind in the aspiration to freedom. In this Teaching, moral behaviour is that which causes no harm to oneself, or any other being. From the Buddha's teaching and their own years of observation and experience, our predecessors on the Path learned that certain types of activity interfered with developing the calm, clear states of consciousness necessary for the experience of awakening. Training precepts are taught that increase in number and subtlety depending on one's depth of commitment. The fundamental ones are: to refrain from taking or harming any life, to refrain from taking that which is not given, to refrain from using any of the senses in an unwholesome manner, to refrain from communicating anything that is not true, and to refrain from eating or drinking anything that causes heedlessness or intoxication and interferes with the clear functioning of consciousness. These moral restraints ensure that once a certain flow is established in the life, it will be directed in ways that support the attainment of freedom, rather than in creating further karmic difficulties. They are based on the understanding that controlling our actions in a wholesome manner will lead to mastery of the more subtle thought processes and fantasies of mind. The third perfection is patience. It's the one no one wants to hear about in this culture, with it's expectation of instant solutions to problems that are the fruit of lifetimes of unwholesome action. The bottom line is that we must practice, and we must learn to expect nothing. We continue to stimulate the experience of flow through giving, and consciously direct that flow into behaviour which creates positive, rather than negative, results for us in the future. And we don't make our practice conditional on getting any particular result or experience, because we have no way of knowing what patterning that we are blind to must be freed from distortion. We give up our expectations and practice patience, knowing that if our lives are generous and ethical, we will be moving toward the positive whether we are aware of it or not. As we let go of hopes and fears, a discovery dawns. It is called energy and it brings a renewed vitality and zest for life and the practice of Dharma. It arises because all the while we were practicing generosity and patience, the blocked energies of past conditioning were being freed. The challenge we face when these energies arise is to focus them on awakening, rather than dissipating them on pleasant pastimes. And we do that through the perfection of concentration. Even though we have been meditating through this whole process of unfoldment, now we are able to develop our practice of meditation much further. While we were afflicted by stored aggression, attachment and confusion, there was not sufficient calm to apply the mind to long periods of focused work. Now, as the energies are releasing, we can use them to explore the nature and laws of universe, and move into more direct experiences of realization. These lead to the final perfection, that of wisdom, which is nothing other than the universal mind which sees things as they really are, free of limited views. This whole process of unfoldment begins with great simplicity -- an open hand, informed by a heart aspiring to open and unfold. The universe itself is ultimate generosity -- sun and rain pouring down equally on all beings, support for unfoldment eternally, unconditionally present, manifesting in many flavours to stimulate your curiosity. What kind of a bowl are you? One that is open, but leaky, letting the opportunities for unfoldment drain away? One that is firmly turned upside down, so that none of the blessings of universe can be incorporated? Or one that is upright, wide open and overflowing with abundance in all directions?
May all come to realization of that great fulfillment!
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