Taming the enemy

I want in this post to discuss an aspect of being a socially active bodhisattva. Some may argue the possibility of that, and I may be convinced at a a later time that it isn't a possibility, but until then I find that it is.

Verse 20 in Thogme's Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva, states, "If you have not tamed the enemy of your own anger, combating outer opponents will only make them multiply. Therefore, with an army of loving kindness and compassion, to tame your own mind is the practice of a bodhisattva."

Being socially active, particularly in politics, makes this verse important. Because if you haven't learned to tame your own mind, then politics will only multiply opponents, one of which will be your own mind. So let's look at why we tame our mind, and how we tame our mind.

The obvious reason as stated here is that until we do, we will multiply our opponents. Notice it doesn't say that anger is to be eliminated, or that combat is not to be engaged in. It does say that anger is to be tamed. So what's wrong with opponents multiplying? Well, a lot really. My perspective on being a socially engaged Buddhist means that I work for a society that is amenable to the presentation of the Dharma. Considering that the manifestations of a Buddha are often disrupted by times of karma that eliminate the prevalence of the Dharma from the world, I find it essential for future re-births that there is an opportunity for the Dharma and practice to find open expression. So in that work to create such a society, do I want opponents to be numerous, or few? I would rather there be few. An aspect that comes into play here in the "why" of it all, is considering this: is it easier to change things through conflict, or by making my enemy my friend? Anger will create defensiveness. People don't listen well when they are being defensive. Yet if I approach my own message, values, and policies I want to see married to an approach that demonstrates patience, respect, and compassion, I think I will have more success in spreading that message. That will tend to minimize my opponents, and open the way for my message to spread.

Yes, it seems that it's almost ridiculous that anyone would argue with the message of Buddhism. But some will. In fact, some folk that have quite a bit of power would have it silenced completely. That is the actuality of America in 2007. Which is what in my perspective makes being socially and politically active important.

So how do we tame our minds? That's the crux of meditation. The basics of meditation involve mastering tranquility and insight meditation, before moving on to the vajrayana forms of meditation. In fact, that is the point of tranquility meditation. Just sitting and breathing, which allows the mind to be tamed. For the mind to be trained, it needs to be tamed first. And that involves a lot of letting go of things. It seems in some ways counter productive to being involved socially, but it isn't. It makes you a better vessel. Having a tamed and trained mind brings forth clarity and insight, bot of which are needed in this world when it comes to resolving the problems that cause suffering. The aspect that comes along with this is in the third line, "with an army of loving kindness and compassion...." This phrase is loaded with meaning, and is consistent with the metaphor introduced by the word "combat." The army though is somewhat different than any other army on this planet. It has been my experience that taming my mind with an army of compassion means that I need to approach myself that way, with he full intention of having my being conquered by compassion and loving kindness. it also has meaning to me in that i am not alone in the path of enlightenment. All of the Buddhas were once human. They still exist, and are the "deities" of Buddhism. They live in the genuine reality, or some of them do. Many others are still reincarnating to rescues beings from suffering. They are the army of witnesses, whom are present when we invoke them during meditation. This is the army we are training for when we tame our minds.

Unless we tame our minds, then we are spinning our wheels. Do reduce the number of opponents we face in our path, we need to tame our mind. We need to deal with the inner opponents first. We do this by practicing sitting meditation. Not by blogging about it, or thinking about it. We need to do it. We need to allow ourselves to be occupied with compassion and loving kindness, and then go forth and conquer.