You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks, But It Will Cost You!
Daily, I try my best to walk this Pure Beautiful Path. Meditating and reading the Dharma daily. I am starting to see the changes in my life, from being less anxious and more like the controller of a situation. Not allowing anger to shine through when someone does wrong to me, but brushing it away like dirt and then wish peace unto him or her. Is it easy? No, not at all. I am dealing with my past karma. All the wrong seeds I sowed, I see it coming back to haunt me, but like the Buddha did under the grove tree, I take no heed to mara. The seeds of my past were from pure ignorance. I see it in a dream, I hear it when I walk or drive, but I take no heed to mara. I go into meditation and quiet all my thoughts and make my mind still like the water. I empty myself from all that I know. I study, reflect and meditate on the Dharma and from there I learn how to control my life. I understand in order to gain control or to become the Master of my life, I need to put in time and effort to see a transformation.
I titled this writing, “You can teach an old dog new tricks, but it will cost you.” It is based on karma, conditioning, and dealing with it.
This reminds me of a story about a person who adopted a young dog. The young dog was cute and playful but it barked furiously at anybody that rang the door bell. This became a huge problem for the owner because it was a continuous behavior from the dog. One day the owner thought of a trick to distract and pacify the dog when ever the door bell rings. When ever the door bell rang, the owner would take out a doggy treat and give it to the dog, and immediately the dog would run to the doggy treat and chew on it and forget that the door bell rang. This would pacify the dog so much that the owner had no trouble opening the door and invite his friends or family into the house. Again and again this occurred, the door bell would ring and the dog would get a treat. This went on for years and the dog never knew the difference. So as years went by and the dog got really old along with its owner, the owner stop giving doggy treats to the dog but the dog learned stop barking at the door bell. But the dog was so used to getting a doggy treat when the bell rang, that the dog would salivate all over the carpet when ever he heard the sound of the door bell. The owner would get so angry because the dog would salivate all over the carpet. But the owner realized that he has conditioned his dog to expect a treat every time the door bell rang.
So, we are like this old dog, we have conditioned ourselves for many, many years to think a certain way, act a certain way, live a certain way. That “certain way” is the ego’s way, the self-centered way. We were so accustomed to I want, I want, I want and me, me, me. We have learned how to cheat, how to lie, how to curse, how to lust, how to hate, how to be angry, how to gossip etc.. And now we have come to a point in our lives that we want to change and become a better person. I want to be kind, I want to love, I want to serve and help mankind, and walk a Pure Path. But we will need to face and deal with the karma we sowed. We have to deal with the bad habits we once lived with. All these seeds we planted are in the mind. Now we are putting away our bad habits and saying “Good bye to the bad guy and hello to the good guy.” But the issue is we are haunted by the attitude from our past on a daily basis. Its the voice in us that says, “That person is an idiot,” or “shut up, don’t bother me.” These were old attitudes that once conditioned us and by living it we have sowed those seeds of bad karma.
But the good news is, we can learn new tricks to get us out of this mess. New tricks that will put an end to suffering. New tricks that will eliminate the bad karma, but it will cost you. What does it cost? Time and effort on a daily basis.
Dhammapada -The Way
“It is you who must make the effort.
The masters only point the way.
But if you meditate and follow the law
you will free yourself from desire.”
Freeing yourself from desire is the main goal. You will need to spend time in meditation to figure out what are these conditions that are in your mind and you will have to address them one by one. By meditating and making a conscious effort to being mindful of everything that comes into your mind. By practicing mindfulness we are analyzing all of our thoughts and stopping the stream of the bad ones. The bad thought comes but you must reject and detach from that concept, because that is not you thinking but your false self, the old you. Let go and drop the bad thought like a hot potato.
Yes, it will be challenging, sometimes the thoughts seem to be so thick you do not know how will you be able to cut right through it. And when you are meditating the mind can be so noisy, filled with thoughts and images. Don’t worry, don’t get depressed, don’t get discouraged. It all takes time.
Here is a quote from the book “Entering The Stream” that helped me.
“As meditators, we would be wise not to become depressed or discouraged when faced with these difficulties, but instead to understand that it takes time it change the ingrained mental habits of years. It can be done only by working repeatedly, continuously, patiently, and persistently.”
So no matter how bad our past was, and how many things we were so used to doing, we can change the way of thinking, we can change the pattern. Practicing meditation and learning the Dharma will liberate you. Put in time and effort and be determine.
I hope this was of some kind of help to you as it was for me.
Take care, be well and Namaste!
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