Wise Action: Taking Your Practice Into the World
by WITHIN Meditation teacher Shundo David Haye
We might think of our meditation and mindfulness practice as something we do at a special time, in a special place, that is somehow cordoned off from the rest of our lives: "This is my quiet time, my 'me time', my restorative time," we say.
We do often need to carve out this kind of space and time for ourselves, but if we sit serenely on the cushion, and then make mess after mess in our everyday interactions, is the practice really helping? Not until we can allow it to inform how we comport ourselves in every part of our life.
Can we bring what we learn in our meditation to our actions, so that they become wise actions?
The term 'wise action' makes me think of Buddha’s eightfold path. In his enlightened awakening to the realities of human life, Buddha spoke of this path as the way to alleviate the suffering inherent to our existence.
The eight are usually listed as: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. These are how we can focus our body, speech and mind to behave in ways that demonstrate and promote ethical conduct, mental discipline, and wisdom - qualities often thought of as the three interlinked underpinnings of Buddhist practice.
The Pali and Sanskrit words that were used in the earliest Buddhist writings (samma/samyak), translated here 'right' actually had the sense of proper, whole, or all-pervading, rather than right as in right and wrong.
Right and wrong can be very limiting labels; it’s helpful instead to look at our actions through the lens of whether they reduce suffering - for ourselves and others - or increase it, and make that the underlying basis for what we do.
When we lead by the example of our actions in this way, it can be more of a persuasive model for people to emulate than trying to convince them through arguments.
Of course it isn't always easy to tell what our intentions are, and what the impact of our actions will be, but we start to trust that the insights and groundedness that we gain through our meditation become a reliable compass in this regard.
Much as we want to, we never get everything right. We are always going to make mistakes, and the best thing we can do is accept when we have gone astray from our intentions, or when the impact of our actions causes harm that we did not intend, and resolve to continue to do our best.
Our practice is always a work in progress, and checking in with ourselves about our actions can be a good way to gauge how we are doing.
Can we consistently remember to check in on the motivations for our actions: are they self-centered, or based on greed, hate and delusion, or are we truly working to reduce suffering?
We get very used to justifying what we do, but that can often be a defensive response. It is more mature, and more of a learning experience, to be honest about what our motivations are.
It doesn’t make us bad people, it makes us people who are willing to learn and grow, and do the best we can to skillfully meet all the situations in our lives, and all the people we interact with.
In the busy times of our lives, can we learn to trust that our actions will come from the same grounded place that we can access in the silence of meditation?
One thing that meditation reveals - even if it seems a self-centered and isolated practice - is that everything is connected. We thrive through nourishing connection with others, and when we can consistently choose wise actions, we further nurture and strengthen those connections, which benefits everybody.
Shundo teaches weekly in WITHIN’s online meditation studio. Join him for a class this week!