Buddhist Boot Camp (2 page)
Read Buddhist Boot Camp Online
Authors: Timber Hawkeye
When a friend recently asked me if there is anything I would change about my life, I instinctively said, “Absolutely not! I am more content than I’ve ever been, and happier than I ever thought would be possible.”
His response was, “Surely you would like to have more money, a bigger house or SOMETHING, no?” And my answer to that was . . . “No.” I mean, I am already happy; who knows what more money would do to my life?!
It’s like this: if life is a cake recipe that we are trying to perfect, then I’ve got my recipe down JUST RIGHT for the time being (with the ideal amount of flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.). More sugar, for example, would not necessarily make a better cake. In fact, it might ruin it!
So if you’re not happy with your life, figure out which ingredients make it bitter and take them out. Don’t believe commercials that tell you to spread more frosting on the top, because then you would simply wind up with a bitter cake that has frosting on it.
People say things like, “If I just go on vacation to Hawaii, then my life will be better!” The problem is that when you return home from the Islands (or, in other words, when you’re done licking the frosting), your bitter cake will still be there waiting for you.
But, and this is the really good part, if you get the ingredients JUST RIGHT, then your life is awesome (with or without frosting). Anything fun you do on top of that is, well, icing on the cake!
We get to try a new recipe every morning (especially if we live our lives to the fullest). So even if your cake ends up bitter one day, that’s okay—make it differently tomorrow. Just never blame other people if your cake doesn’t turn out; we each bake our own.
Here’s a secret: while everyone’s recipe is a little different, the main ingredients for a successful batter are love, gratitude, kindness and patience. And the single most common ingredient that makes people’s cake bitter is fear, so don’t use it!
Happy baking, everybody!
If we always do what we’ve always done, we will always be who we’ve always been. —Anonymous
My dad wanted to see what my life was like after years of hearing me talk about simplifying and being a minimalist. I told him that to TRULY understand it, he’d have to come live with me for a month, so he did.
He is very much the materialistic consumer, so when he first walked into my little apartment he said, “OMG! You don’t have anything!”
After living with me for a month, however, preparing my meals with me, going for long walks every day, reading, writing, meeting with people one-on-one, and truly tasting the simplicity of my life, he hugged me before boarding his flight back home and said, “there is nothing missing from your life!”
It brought tears to my eyes because he actually got it. Both his statements were true: I don’t have anything (in the materialistic sense), yet there is nothing missing from my life.
When I shared this particular story on
Buddhist Boot Camp
’s Facebook page, I received hundreds of wonderful comments from readers who truly understood the significance of that moment with my dad.
Working part-time so that I can live full-time is the best decision I’ve ever made. I don’t feel like I have “sacrificed” a life of “luxury”; I’ve simply exchanged material goods and the illusion of abundance for actual, true bliss.
I moved apartments every six months when I was younger, so I learned not to keep ANYTHING that I would later have to pack. No knickknacks, no souvenirs, no “stuff.”
It feels great to be so light and free from any attachment to things. But if you’re torn about throwing or giving away something that has a memory attached to it, keep in mind that you’re only giving away the object, not the memory.
If you’re worried about not remembering something, take a picture of it (the photo doesn’t take up any room). The past will let go of you if you let go of the past.
Now spread your wings and fly!
You don’t have anything, yet there is nothing missing from your life. —My dad
I’m not sure if wisdom is so much about acquiring additional knowledge, or more about letting go of the illusion that we know any ultimate truths.
My dad made an interesting observation when I explained my life journey to him. “You’re not trying to learn anything new,” he said. “You’re trying to go back to being two years old, aren’t you?”
To some degree, I think that’s true. I mean, I didn’t know how to be prejudiced or judgmental at that age. I was fascinated by everybody regardless of race, weight, height, gender or even species.
In fact, I think everybody is born caring and compassionate, with the capacity to unconditionally love all sentient beings without exception. As soon as we are old enough, however, our parents, teachers, preachers, and society teach us to only love and trust family members or, at most, people with the same colored skin.
As a result, by the time we reach high school, we’re so disconnected from one another that we can watch an entire nation starving on TV and not feel an ounce of compassion simply because they don’t look like us. It’s sometimes not until after college (if at all) that we wake up to realize, “Hey, wait a minute. They’re people too!”
I admit having felt very distant from people who were “different” from me in my preteen years. But we certainly don’t have to stay who we were when we were younger! I can’t even watch a caught fish flopping on the sand without feeling its agony nowadays, let alone see another human in pain.
Sometimes life isn’t about anything new that we have to learn, but about what we have to UNlearn instead.
I am another you, and you are another me. And the journey continues. Namaste.
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. —Frederick Douglass
Life can be like a loud football stadium, with all the visual and auditory stimuli of a game (the screaming, laughter, cheering, food, noisemakers, players, refs, and the vibration of your seat . . .).
Now imagine the same stadium absolutely silent, still and calm, to a point where you can hear a person whispering at the other end of the field. That’s how I can best explain the transformation of my world through sitting meditation. By lowering the volume, I went from hearing the music of life, to listening to the sounds that make up the song; from living, to being alive.
The true beauty is that it’s ongoing . . . it keeps getting better. My senses are heightened and I notice even the subtlest internal changes. There are no words to describe how profound and incredible this feels; one must experience it to truly understand, if only for a moment.
Sitting very still may not sound interesting, but the results of doing it on a daily basis are extraordinary. Is peace merely the absence of war, or is it tranquility despite the conflict? Is happiness the absence of suffering, or is it contentment despite the imperfections?
I believe we can be happy in a world that is already broken, and have inner peace in the midst of chaos. We can be in a frustrating situation but choose not to get frustrated, and we can also find bliss in less-than-ideal situations. Happiness is a choice.
When the mind’s delight in being stimulated is exhausted, serenity sets in . . . a deep calm with a half-smile of appreciation and acceptance of whatever arises, without judgment or aversion. It’s a sense of relief beyond peacefulness; it is divine tranquility.
Through meditation and by giving full attention to one thing at a time, we can learn to direct attention where we choose. —Eknath Easwaran
We Are the Victims of Our Own Choices
Where we are today is a direct result of decisions we’ve made as far back as ten years or lifetimes ago, and as recently as last night.
We have a tremendous personal responsibility for the way our life has turned out, and an equally important role of steering it into the future. Although we constantly make decisions, we’re not always mindful of their far-reaching consequences.
The first step is to have a very clear idea of the kind of life you want to live (perhaps a simple life, uncomplicated, comfortable, calm and happy). Then, before making any decision, ask yourself, “Will this action that I am considering get me closer to the kind of life I want to live, or farther from it?” The key, again, is to think of the far-reaching consequences of your decisions, not just instant gratification.
Here’s the catch:
the path of LEAST resistance will often take you farther from your destination than the seemingly more difficult one, but an easy trek in the wrong direction is ultimately far more exhausting and devastating than an uphill climb toward euphoria.
Every decision you make is important. If you smoke now, for example, you might not be able to donate a lung to your own child in the future. And if you have more money than you need while someone else doesn’t have enough to buy food, you’re not changing the state of the world; you’re contributing to it. There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going to.
Instead of looking to blame others for your dilemmas, look within. Any circumstance (no matter how devastating it may seem), is not only caused by a past event, but is actually a blessing if we gain wisdom from it. History doesn’t have to repeat itself if we can learn from our mistakes the first time around.
Treat every living being, including yourself, with kindness, and the world will immediately be a better place.
If you really want to do something, you will find a way. If you don’t, you will find an excuse. —E. James Rohn
Imagine the world as a restaurant, and we are all its employees; a group of people who share the vision of a perfect dining experience (great food, wonderful service, and a pleasant ambiance).
Each person has a different responsibility, and no task is more important than the other; it takes the combined effort of everyone involved for the dream of utopia to become a reality. While one person is the cook, another is a server, the other washes dishes, and yet another cleans the bathrooms, but they each do what they can in order to help the restaurant be a success.
The most important (and difficult) aspect of ANY job is to focus on the task at hand, and to not worry whether someone else is doing her or his part.
It is not our place to judge or comment on somebody else’s job performance. The minute we become more concerned with what someone else is (or is not) doing, is the minute we fail to do our own part.
We cannot control what anyone else is up to; we can only be mindful of what we can each do individually, and do it well.
This approach is very applicable in our daily lives. I have seen people who drive electric cars get angry with SUV owners, and vegetarians being downright hostile toward
Their meat-eating brothers. Everything is subject to time, place and circumstance. We do not all ripen, awaken or mature at the same rate, and the opposite of what you know is also true.
Be gentle with yourself, kind to others, and love your neighbors unconditionally (not only if they live according to your beliefs).
Everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its entire life believing it is stupid. —Albert Einstein
One of the practices in the kitchen at the Zen Center is to wash, towel-dry, and put used dishes back where they belong (it’s part of the “leave no trace” training).
Other residents occasionally left their dishes in the sink, so I did what I thought was the “right thing” to do and put them back. The Temple Keeper saw me doing it one day and gave me “the look” followed by “the speech.”
“How are you helping them with their practice if you do that?” she asked. “Leave the dishes for them to see when they return.”
It was interesting to understand that even an act of kindness could have a negative impact, and that sometimes we cause more damage by trying to help because we’re not looking at the big picture of what “helping” truly means.
This is why
Buddhist Boot Camp
was written without any “should” statements in it. I am not here to tell you what to do, but rather to convey what I’ve learned in the simplest terms possible, so that you can apply the lessons in your own life if you want to.
The book’s intention is to inspire readers to be the best version of themselves there is, which sometimes means NOT putting other people’s dishes away, or else you’ll get “the look.”
Beyond right and wrong there is a field. I will meet you there! —Rumi
Love Is the Recognition of Beauty
A flower doesn’t stop being beautiful just because somebody walks by without noticing it, nor does it cease to be fragrant if its scent is taken for granted. The flower just continues to be its glorious self: elegant, graceful, and magnificent.
Our Mother Nature has provided us with these immeasurably valuable teachers that blossom despite their short lifespan, stars that continue to shine even if we fail to stare at them, and trees that don’t take it personally if we never bow down in gratitude for the oxygen they provide.
We also have an incredible and unlimited capacity to love, but the question is: Can we do it like a flower? Without needing to be admired, adored, or even noticed? Can we open our hearts completely to give, forgive, celebrate, and joyfully live our lives without hesitation or need for reciprocity?
It seems like sometimes we go beyond taking things personally and are noticeably deflated when unappreciated. In fact, devastated, we wilt in sorrow and then attempt to guard ourselves by withholding, using all sorts of protections and defenses. We get hurt (even angry) if our boss fails to recognize an astonishing feat, if a lover pulls their hand away, or when a friend forgets our birthday. Can you imagine a flower copping an attitude for not being praised, or the moon dimming its glow because we’re too self-absorbed to notice it more often?
Make an effort to shine
no matter what,
to love unconditionally, and to be a kind and gentle soul (even when nobody is watching).
And, if you’re so inclined, hug the next tree you see and say, “Thank you!”
Everything has its beauty, but not everyone can see it. —Confucius
