Setting a Course from the Inside Out
For the new year...
It is the time of year when some people take a pause to reflect on what has transpired in their lives and to consider how to move forward. Although the culture recognizes “resolutions,” it is more helpful to think in terms of intentions. These are not the same as goals. Goals are about the future; intentions occur in the present, and have effects in the future.
As we practice mindfulness, we begin to see how actions have certain effects. We also see that “action” includes speech and even thought, not just bodily action. If I drink two cups of coffee, I am wired for a few hours; if I don’t, that effect doesn’t happen. When we observe how action comes about – what immediately precedes it – we see intentions. I don’t “accidentally” drink coffee, even if I do so automatically and unmindfully.
Most of our intentions are not known because we have never looked at them. When we start observing actions, we see that there is an ongoing process in which one action has a result, and then that result is the input that shapes my next action (or reaction). Looking deeper to the intentions, we see that intention is about how the mind and body are directed in this moment, and it has a large impact on how we experience our life.
If I’m angry and make that my whole disposition toward the world, I will see a world of competition. If I am fearful and take the stance of a victim, I see a menacing world. If I act with generosity, people will want to be around me, and I will have more connections and friends.
Once we grasp that this is how things are flowing every moment, we really want to pay attention to what is going on in the mind. Buddhist teachings encourage paying attention to our intentions.
What is going to be good in the long run? It is not rocket science.
That’s it. These are the three wise intentions.
In the last newsletter, we talked about the problems with the extreme view of thinking that we are in control of our path. The opposite extreme could be to deny any control over how we are or what we do. This extreme is more nuanced than the first, and rather than give a full analysis, this article partially addresses non-control by highlighting the powerful role of intention. The mind advances on the path when it is well-directed, and doesn’t when it isn’t. It is important to take responsibility for that.
Intention works alongside attention to shift the flow of the mind. Intention helps direct attention, and conversely, intentions change under the light of attention. One person was using mindfulness to assist with the problem of rampant spending (he had an intention to make this change). He agreed to record every single purchase, upon which his spending habits immediately changed. The simple act of looking made it possible to override the desire the buy in a given moment.
What might shift for us if we carefully attended to our actions and the intentions shaping them?
It may be quite radical. If one investigates intention and where it comes from very deeply, when the mind is concentrated, this can be sufficient for awakening.
Wise intention arises out of wise view. Wise view has several aspects, one of which is seeing in terms of the Four Noble Truths. Wise view includes sitting with a situation long enough for some process to go on, during which a number of different intentions will likely arise. Eventually the next right step becomes clear: Having seen the suffering fully, we understand how to take a step toward its cessation. The process may need to be repeated because taking that step changes the situation, and then something else might be right.
Given all this, I’ll offer an approach for framing New Year intentions wisely.
Contemplation Practice for New Year Intentions
1. Sit with your current state and imagine your life stretching forward for a year. Don’t be too specific (anything could happen!). Let it be more like a fuzzy image or impression. Bring in the notion that you want to take action or choose a direction that will be good in the long run.
2. If specific goals arise:
a. Open to the uncertainty of any specific goals you might have in mind. Notice the greater openness / reduction of contraction when you admit that specific goals are uncertain. That’s because the uncertainty is in line with reality.
b. Open to your mixed feelings about supposed goals. You may claim you want X, but you may also have resistance to X. It’s important to feel both.
c. Let go of specific goals into the sense that you simply want to take action or choose a direction that will be good in the long run.
3. Sit with the bodily and mental sensations of this impression of life in 2018. Reactions may come in the form of emotions, logical arguments, self-views, etc. Let them be. Settle more deeply into your bodily sensations.
4. When the surface buzz quiets down, sense beneath the surface, like peeking underwater. Do so with your whole body and mind.
5. Wait for something to emerge that is in line with letting go of harmful thought/speech/action, or caring for others. Feel this wholesome wish in the body. Feel what it would be like to embody that quality or action.
6. Form some words around it, if you wish. Or draw a picture, as I do. The reason is so that you can remind yourself over the course of the year. But the main effects come from the bodily experience.
7. Open to other intentions, if there is more than one.
8. Revisit these intentions from time to time in meditation, by calling up the bodily experience.
9. At the end of the year, notice how these intentions played out in actual circumstances. My experience is that all of them bring some effect, to the degree allowed by my level of development. It is good information to see in what way a certain wholesome intention could manifest; this helps us refine for the next year.
Do not doubt the power of this exercise. This is karma, and it works. Zen teacher Paul Haller once said that the Buddhist path can be thought of as a continual refinement of intention.
Can we “intend” Awakening? It is highly skillful to do this, even though liberation cannot be directly brought about by an intention. Sincerely acknowledging that this is your wish (if it is) can support the process of getting the appropriate conditions in place.
For the new year...
It is the time of year when some people take a pause to reflect on what has transpired in their lives and to consider how to move forward. Although the culture recognizes “resolutions,” it is more helpful to think in terms of intentions. These are not the same as goals. Goals are about the future; intentions occur in the present, and have effects in the future.
As we practice mindfulness, we begin to see how actions have certain effects. We also see that “action” includes speech and even thought, not just bodily action. If I drink two cups of coffee, I am wired for a few hours; if I don’t, that effect doesn’t happen. When we observe how action comes about – what immediately precedes it – we see intentions. I don’t “accidentally” drink coffee, even if I do so automatically and unmindfully.
Most of our intentions are not known because we have never looked at them. When we start observing actions, we see that there is an ongoing process in which one action has a result, and then that result is the input that shapes my next action (or reaction). Looking deeper to the intentions, we see that intention is about how the mind and body are directed in this moment, and it has a large impact on how we experience our life.
If I’m angry and make that my whole disposition toward the world, I will see a world of competition. If I am fearful and take the stance of a victim, I see a menacing world. If I act with generosity, people will want to be around me, and I will have more connections and friends.
Once we grasp that this is how things are flowing every moment, we really want to pay attention to what is going on in the mind. Buddhist teachings encourage paying attention to our intentions.
What is going to be good in the long run? It is not rocket science.
- Intentions that help us have smooth relations with others: Kindness and compassion.
- The intention to renounce the actions that have suffering (dukkha) as a result. This could be suffering for ourselves, others, or both. But it also encompasses any kind of dukkha, including the slight unease of concentrated meditation, where there is no explicit person.
That’s it. These are the three wise intentions.
In the last newsletter, we talked about the problems with the extreme view of thinking that we are in control of our path. The opposite extreme could be to deny any control over how we are or what we do. This extreme is more nuanced than the first, and rather than give a full analysis, this article partially addresses non-control by highlighting the powerful role of intention. The mind advances on the path when it is well-directed, and doesn’t when it isn’t. It is important to take responsibility for that.
Intention works alongside attention to shift the flow of the mind. Intention helps direct attention, and conversely, intentions change under the light of attention. One person was using mindfulness to assist with the problem of rampant spending (he had an intention to make this change). He agreed to record every single purchase, upon which his spending habits immediately changed. The simple act of looking made it possible to override the desire the buy in a given moment.
What might shift for us if we carefully attended to our actions and the intentions shaping them?
It may be quite radical. If one investigates intention and where it comes from very deeply, when the mind is concentrated, this can be sufficient for awakening.
Wise intention arises out of wise view. Wise view has several aspects, one of which is seeing in terms of the Four Noble Truths. Wise view includes sitting with a situation long enough for some process to go on, during which a number of different intentions will likely arise. Eventually the next right step becomes clear: Having seen the suffering fully, we understand how to take a step toward its cessation. The process may need to be repeated because taking that step changes the situation, and then something else might be right.
Given all this, I’ll offer an approach for framing New Year intentions wisely.
Contemplation Practice for New Year Intentions
1. Sit with your current state and imagine your life stretching forward for a year. Don’t be too specific (anything could happen!). Let it be more like a fuzzy image or impression. Bring in the notion that you want to take action or choose a direction that will be good in the long run.
2. If specific goals arise:
a. Open to the uncertainty of any specific goals you might have in mind. Notice the greater openness / reduction of contraction when you admit that specific goals are uncertain. That’s because the uncertainty is in line with reality.
b. Open to your mixed feelings about supposed goals. You may claim you want X, but you may also have resistance to X. It’s important to feel both.
c. Let go of specific goals into the sense that you simply want to take action or choose a direction that will be good in the long run.
3. Sit with the bodily and mental sensations of this impression of life in 2018. Reactions may come in the form of emotions, logical arguments, self-views, etc. Let them be. Settle more deeply into your bodily sensations.
4. When the surface buzz quiets down, sense beneath the surface, like peeking underwater. Do so with your whole body and mind.
5. Wait for something to emerge that is in line with letting go of harmful thought/speech/action, or caring for others. Feel this wholesome wish in the body. Feel what it would be like to embody that quality or action.
6. Form some words around it, if you wish. Or draw a picture, as I do. The reason is so that you can remind yourself over the course of the year. But the main effects come from the bodily experience.
7. Open to other intentions, if there is more than one.
8. Revisit these intentions from time to time in meditation, by calling up the bodily experience.
9. At the end of the year, notice how these intentions played out in actual circumstances. My experience is that all of them bring some effect, to the degree allowed by my level of development. It is good information to see in what way a certain wholesome intention could manifest; this helps us refine for the next year.
Do not doubt the power of this exercise. This is karma, and it works. Zen teacher Paul Haller once said that the Buddhist path can be thought of as a continual refinement of intention.
Can we “intend” Awakening? It is highly skillful to do this, even though liberation cannot be directly brought about by an intention. Sincerely acknowledging that this is your wish (if it is) can support the process of getting the appropriate conditions in place.
