Daily Word: Do not be attached to anything not even your practice.
Do not be attached to anything not even your practice.
Read or listen to this writing:
In the Zen poem “Hsin Hsin Ming, Inscribed on the Believing Mind,” written by Sen-Ts’an, there is verse that says “Two come about because of One, but don’t cling to the One either!”
And that is the verse we are going to concentrate on today.
I am coming to a point in my life that, I am not having enough time to do anything especially because my wife is expecting baby soon. The preparation for my son’s arrival, spending time with my family along with taking care of my daily responsibilities, and trying to practice meditation and read/study the Dharma.
It is not easy to balance life with spiritual practice. So far, I am trying my best to not miss a day of sitting, stilling the mind and connecting to the Absolute. There are times that I am not able to practice with the amount of time I would like to have. At times it results in, for me not having such a great day if I do not have a long session of meditation or meditate at all. But one day in my meditation, I reflected on the word “attachment,” and I realized that I was getting attached to meditation, in which I was depending on it too much. If I didn’t meditate or have a long session, my mind will interpret that to a bad day, which in reality it is not true.
I came to a conclusion that from the day I made my vow to follow the path, and by trying my best to live the life in harmony with the teachings of the Buddha, my Buddha Nature doesn’t depend on anything for it to do what it does. Its not what I do that makes me have joy or peace, its all in the mind that paints a false perception or interpretation of what my outcome will be if I do this or not. When we come to a point in our lives of practice, when we reach a certain stage in our lives, we no longer need to depend on anything, in fact, the Buddha said to rely on nothing, not even on emptiness.
The stages are: we first renounce all impure living and make the vow to follow the eightfold path, second is to practice to sharpen your mind with the Dharma which ultimately gives you wisdom to purify the mind, thirdly its to follow the path using the wisdom you have gained but rely on nothing. After all this, we come to a point in our lives that its not about trying to be enlightened, its not about trying to be in emptiness, its not about trying to still the mind, its not about how long we sit for meditation, it becomes about “nothing.”
Yes, the purpose is to understand all these things and to achieve all those points I have mentioned above, but it just doesn’t become our focus, that is not our reason why we practice, we practice because we breathe, because we walk, because we see and hear, its because its a way of life, its nothing special.
Also, in my practice, I notice that my wife use to get upset because there would be times that I totally didn’t spend enough time with her, because I would be occupied in practice. But the problem was I was not attending the house, I was not attending my marriage. I had to learn that there is a balance in everything, because too much of one thing is never good. I have to attend my spiritual house and my physical house in order to find true success within and without. I was learning that it was fine to go and lock myself in a room to practice in complete silence or go to temple. But I also needed to be out there in the real world, where I have my responsibilities as a husband, as a brother, as a son, as a friend, as a son-in-law, as a member of a sangha etc.. I was learning that balance is key for good practice.
Be here in the now, see your family, see your friends, see the outside nature, take a walk, go for a jog, swim, live life, for all this is giving to us to enjoy in a pure way. And if you do not have 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour to practice, just practice mindfulness while you drive, walk, or talk. It is not the end of the world if you do not do it. Do not get me wrong, it is ideal to practice everyday, because it is the vitamins to your spiritual life, it is your fueling station. But if you honestly can’t practice at the moment, practice mindfulness, be in the here and now, think of Dharma, and attend your daily activity. Also, if you notice it is becoming a bad habit that you are not finding anytime, then you should reevaluate your time schedule and see where you can squeeze in some time.
The main thing is that you do not get attached to anything, do not even let practice be a dependent in which you find yourself, feeling sad and feel like you are a bad practitioner if you do not take time to do it. Because then you are listening to mara, the false nature is lying to you and you are buying it.
So do not beat yourself over the head because you do not practice as much as you want, or that you have not reached a level you would like to get to, that is all not important. The importance is your intention. Your drive to do it.
Dhammapada – the man who is awake
“If you wounded or grieve another, you have not learned detachment.”
You can also say, if you have grieved yourself, because you feel that you are not having good meditations or do not practice too much, you have not learned detachment. There is no such thing of a good or bad meditation or practice. Just do it without labeling your progress.
Also in the Zen poem “Hsin Hsin Ming,” it says:
“Never tag after the realm of entanglements.”
Do not get caught up with anything not even your practice.
It also says:
“Leave it! Let things take their course!
In the end there’s neither going nor staying.
Follow your nature, blend with the Way,
be free and easy, a stranger to all care.”
Be free and easy, to yourself, stop being hard on yourself, just relax and just be, let things take its course, and be a stranger to all cares!
Let go of all your cares, all your issues, all your worries, just let it go!
Keep on trying, and live in peace.
I hope this was some kind of help to you as it was for me.
May peace be upon you and your family!
Your Internet friend!
Namaste!
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