#29, November 17, 1999
One of my favorite Zen
stories: The student approaches the master, complaining, "My mind is
troubling me." The master wastes no words. "Show me your mind!"
he says, and with that, the student Awakens.
In my last column I wrote
about the power of our minds to deny the existence of a threatening reality
(like nuclear weapons), and thereby prevent us from acting to eliminate the
threat. But if that's too much of a bummer to think about, let's consider the
flip side-- training your mind to be comfortable with bad circumstances while
you work to make them better, and make yourself better in the process.
When it comes to this type
of training, Petaluma was lucky to have one of the best teachers ever. And
though he died last month, Eknath Easwaran (pronounced "EESH-warren")
leaves behind many dedicated students, and a treasure of books and taped
lectures. His collective work amounts to a comprehensive course in
activism-oriented spiritual development, the kind best exemplified by one of
his inspirations, Mahatma Gandhi.
Easwaran grew up in
British colonial India-- "Gandhi's India," he like to call it. He was
a professor of English literature there when he came to the U.S. on the
Fulbright exchange program in 1959. His writing, which blends Eastern and
Western religious wisdom with an endless supply of anecdotes drawn from living
in India and the Bay Area, is easily the most readable and rewarding of any
"philosopher" I've read.
Easwaran would hasten to
say that reading, by itself, isn't enough. Regardless of what your ideal life
looks like, you need more than a blueprint to build it; you need tools.
Easwaren's tools, the components of his "eight point program," are
simple, practical, and universal. You don't need to join or abandon any organizations
to put them to use.
The primary tool is
meditation. Also known as internal prayer, meditation is a method for training
your attention, and ultimately gaining control over your thoughts and your
actions. Similar to other mediation techniques, Easwaran's method has you
silently and slowly repeating an inspirational passage such as the prayer of
St. Francis. With regular practice, as you grab onto the reins of your brain,
you discover new resources with which to reshape your life.
But is meditation not
enough. The successful seeker of inner and global peace must get involved in
the world. In an example of his pragmatic methods, Easwaran advises that you
approach difficult people the way an athlete approaches the stations on a
fitness "par course." Each round of forgiveness, while it may
"burn" your ego a bit, helps strengthen the muscles of compassion,
courage, and creativity. Easwaran's exercises, like "putting others
first", "training the senses" and "practicing one-pointed
attention", work together, strengthening not only your skill to do things
right, but your will do the right thing. Just as you can quit a bad physical
habit like nail biting, you can defeat bad thinking habits like jealousy or
resentment (or even denial of responsibility to help save the earth.)
The folks from Easwaran's
Blue Mountain Center of Meditation (based in Tomales!) still hold their free
classes and videotaped lectures every Tuesday evening at Petaluma's United
Church of Christ. You can get details by calling them at 707-878-2369.
For me, the ultimate
beauty of Easwaran's approach is that you don't have to choose between saving
the earth and saving your soul; they are the same task. And people who are
bummed or numbed by the mountains of socio-pathology glowering down at them can
take heart. It is the destiny for all human beings, Easwaran says, to live in a
world filled with joy and peace.
Gandhi used to tell his
admirers, "I have not the slightest doubt that any man or woman can
achieve what I have." Easwaran agreed.
Each of us can win the contest against the ego-centricity that's wrecking the
planet. We need only step up to the challenge, and exercise our will to make it
happen.