It is common in our venacular to talk about 'finding' peace. In fact, my last essay was entitled "Finding Peace". But peace is not lost. We might be, but peace isn't.
I actually began to explore this idea when I was contemplating nature and thinking about how nature isn't out there somewhere hiding or hidden from us. Nature IS. It hit me that peace is the same.
The movie Rocky and Bullwinkle was filled with subtle and not-so subtle gags. One of the more subtle has two young men pull up and offer Rocky and Bullwinkle a ride. The two young men explain that they are out looking for America but, alas, can't find it. Is this not what we do with peace? We assume that it is somewhere to be sought out and discovered while, like nature, it's right here.
When I walk the Black Fox Hollow trail singing Om mani peme hung, focusing on my breath or saying 'hi' to the plants, do I find peace or do I open myself up to something already here and recognize that as peace? Could it be that in our constant chatter at ourselves, which I call our Chatty Kathy brain, we separate ourselves from peace? Could it be that we do not know how to let go of the issues and baggage we all carry around.
While I want to avoid the negative as much as possible in these essays on peace I would be amiss if I didn't acknowledge the role that our social systems play in our distress. Social systems indoctrinate us to constantly be concerned about appearance, future, competition, etc. These keep us from knowing peace. We have been indoctrinated to believe in revenge, keeping face, etc. Capitalism, our economic social system, would have us believe that competition is a natural part of life, when, in reality, that is not true. Part of the way social systems control us is to keep us constantly in turmoil or fearful of the future. We must be willing to stand up and contradict our social systems. For a greater peace, we cannot permit our social systems to dictate our behavior and beliefs.
It is imperative to be willing or desirous of letting go of whatever keeps us from peace even if we have no idea how to do that. It is the willingness or desire that matters. From my own experience I have found that peace comes to me especially when I am desirous of throwing off the emotional baggage I carry. I don't have to work at peace. The biggest effort comes in letting go of the issues. At the same time I find that, if I'm walking the trail and don't want to give up my funk, peace cannot be forced upon me.
That last sentence made me think of an old gag or joke where the person is grumpy and angry and saying something along the lines of "don't try to cheer me up. I earned this funking and I'm going to . . . ." If we insist upon holding on to our disquieting and oppressive thoughts and emotions, nothing is going to take them from us.
When I was in Rockford, MD for my National Hypnotherapy certification training I spoke with a practitioner who was very successful helping people to stop smoking. His success rate was well over 90%. He explained that the reason was that the patient had to sincerely want to stop smoking for themselves. If they came to him and said that they did it because their children or spouse convinced them to do it, he wouldn't take them as a patient. The drive to quit had to be personal. He then created other guarantees. He made them pay a large fee up front. This, he said, served multiple clinical purposes: it reinforced that it was their personal desire, and it put a significant value on completing the course. There are people who might pay $50 or even $100 to say "I told you it wouldn't work," but most people are not going to shell out $400 to do that.
Letting go of our anger, frustration, etc., requires both a desire and a cue. I have noticed that singing Om mani peme hung is evidently my cue. I did not create this cue on purpose. I'm guessing that I came to naturally associate this popular Tibetan mantra with the Dalai Lama with whom I had the privilege of studying. That was a peaceful and happy time. There are times when I will pick up a mala, sometimes called a Tibetan rosary, and sing the mantra or I'll just start singing to myself. No matter which way I do it, the results are almost immediate. I first begin to feel a sense of calm followed by tranquility. Is this like cues I'd teach my patients? I guess it is. The mantra brings my focus immediately on the present. When Om mani is on my lips there is no past or future. Just the present. For some reason it doesn't seem possible to have a negative thought or emotion and sing Om mani at the same time.
How to let go of issues and baggage is the focus of many self-help books of varying quality. Almost all books on Buddhism address this to some extent at some point. It is much easier to talk about than do while, at the same time, it isn't as hard as we think. I know. That sounds like a contradiction. The first thing is to interrupt our negative self-talk. That can be done with the basic meditation that focuses on our breath. (i) I'm not as regular as I should be, but I use walking meditation.
It seems only proper to share some of the cues of which I am aware and/or have used. I have found great benefit to accupressure over the years. The skin between the thumb and index finger is called Hegu or LI-4 in accupuncture and accupressure. It is used to control pain but is also a good place for a self-cue. Either with the help of a professional hypnotherapist or on your own, you associate a gentle squeeze of LI-4 with a sense of tranquility. Basically you start by squeezing when you experience tranquility in your meditation or self-hypnotic state. After a while you will associate the squeeze with the tranquility and recall it when the squeeze comes first. This breaks you out of the daily spiral of negativity, fear, anger, etc., and brings you back to the present where you find peace. Since tranquility is a part of the peace experience, you learn to build upon it.
One thing to which I must confess is being rather reclusive. I'd be a happy recluse if Pamela would go along with it. Since becoming a nomad I have learned to turn sauntering through the desert or mountain wilderness into my walking meditation. I got the idea of sauntering from John Muir who said he didn't like the word 'hike' but preferred to saunter. (ii) Sauntering is much slower than walking or hiking. I may be gone for several hours and not cover more than four or five miles because I move slowly, in a mindful manner, looking closely at everything from the smallest plant to the greatest mountain. When I do this my focus is so much on the present, so much on the beauty of nature, that my Chatty Kathy brain, which is constantly talking to me and often in a negative way, is tuned out. Since we have been confined to our place in western Kentucky during the pandemic, I have been thankful for the Black Fox Hollow where I can replicate this experience and saunter. I would strongly recommend getting out in nature, as far away from the din of humanity as you can, and just sit or saunter. Experience and learn the marvels of the here and now where one experiences peace.
I was introduced to the 'singing bowls' when I studied with the Dalai Lama some years ago. I bought a modern bowl and loved it so much that I bought an 18th century bowl with the most phenomenal tone. Pamela finds that a session with the singing bowl when trying to go to sleep helps with her Restless Leg Syndrome. I find that the sound of the bowl is similar to Om Mani in that it is associated with present peace and tranquility. A nomadic lady whom we know lives in her van and is known as 'the gong lady'. I won't use her name because I don't have permission. The point of telling about her is that she provides meditation sessions and programs using gongs and will draw a sizable crowd even out in the desert. The use of a bowl or gong is a two-way interaction. The deep, rich, calm sound helps us in our efforts to turn off Chatty Kathy thereby being able to focus on the present moment and experience peace. While the bowl is initially an aid it soon becomes the cue. When we hear the sound of the bowl we can almost immediately tune out Chatty Kathy and focus on the present peace. Believe me. It is an amazing experience.
Staying with the basic theme, bells are used by Buddhist monks to cue them to stop and be mindful of the world around them. One monk told me that he was so accustomed to the temple bells that he really missed them when he came to the United States. He started using any bell he might hear; church, tower clocks, etc.; and supplemented them with an alarm that made a bell sound. The use of bells to remind, or cue, us to stop and focus on the present is not only beneficial just for that but can also become a trigger as we found with the bowl.
The mala, sometimes called the Tibetan rosary, is not magical. It is a simple counting device. However, like other devices, it becomes our cue and perhaps a trigger. I do not use a mala to count the number of times I recited a mantra. For me it is part of the process of maintaining my focus. I chant Om mani peme hung for each bead. Because I have done this so much over the years, the tempo of the recitation soon matches my steps which are matched to my breathing. It is all a very successful way of turning off Chatty Kathy and being grounded in the present. Peace is in the present.
The recitation of a gatha or mantra is an obvious part of the use of a mala, but the gatha or mantra can be used without a mala. In fact, I recite Om Mani more without a mala than I do with one. A gatha is a short reminder phrase that Thich Nhat Hanh teaches. He has a gatha for just about every activity of daily living. His gatha for brushing your teeth is a vow to use loving speech.
Brushing my teeth and rinsing my mouth,
I vow to speak purely and lovingly
When my mouth is fragrant with right speech
a flower blooms in the garden of my heart. (iii)
As I have said, for me to start chanting Om Mani has almost immediate results. But there are two things of which I should remind readers. Firstly, I have to be willing to use it. We must all be mindful of and willing to admit that there are times that we just don't want to give up our negative funk. We might say we want to be happy and at peace, but we cling to our funk and defend it like a close friend, when it is among our worst enemies. Secondly, any of these cues and triggers will work but work faster and more efficiently with practice. While I had a peaceful experience the first time I used a bowl and chanted Om Mani, they didn't have the almost instant effect for quite some time. It's rather like the classical musician in New York City who was asked by a tourist "how do you get to Carnegie Hall?" to which the musician replied "practice! practice! practice!"
The result of casting off the baggage, letting go of anger, etc., is that we realize that peace has been here all along. It is a matter of clearing away all the hindrances so kindly provided by difficulties, social systems and our Chatty Kathy brains. Our cues remind us that peace is not something we lost in the past or must seek in the future. When we focus on living in the present we find peace.
FOOTNOTES.
(i) I highly recommend any of Thich Hnat Hahn's books on meditation.
(ii) Palmer, Albert. (1911). The mountain trail and its message. Boston. Pilgrim Press. p. 27. The famous Muir quote actually comes from the work of Albert Palmer who tells about meeting Muir on the trail where he made this statement. "I don't like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not 'hike!' Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, 'a la sainte terre', to the Holy Land. And so so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them."
(iii) Nhat Hanh, Thich. (2009). Happiness: essential mindfulness practices. Parallax Press. Berkeley, CA. p. 28
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