Awakening the Buddha Within _ Eight Steps to Enlightenment - Lama Surya Das [69]
YOUR THOUGHTS SHAPE AND DEFINE
YOUR EXPERIENCE
How do we apply impeccable intentions to the mundane, dog-eat-dog world that we often perceive around us? A real Bodhisattva has pure intentions toward everyone and everything. There is no selfishness, no neurosis, no rough edges, and no hidden agendas. This is the ideal that we strive to cultivate when we take the Bodhisattva’s selfless altruistic vow. This is what we are hoping to achieve as we work on ourselves and set about purifying our intentions.
Our internal thoughts and intentions ideally could reflect a purity of heart and a sincere sense of interconnectedness with all humanity. Our lives can reflect generosity, tolerance, hope, forgiveness, honesty, and commitment. This is true whether we’re thinking about the survival of the rain forest, the person in the next room, or a snail struggling across a blacktop driveway.
Sometimes it’s easier to feel this high-minded purity of intention toward the world as a whole than it is toward those in your own immediate environment. Take Annie, for example. She’s probably going to move within a few months, but she hasn’t informed her roommate. Because she wants to leave her options open, she plans to tell her at the last moment. She knows perfectly well that this will greatly inconvenience her roommate, but she figures it’s an every-roommate-for-herself situation. If questioned about her intentions, she would probably say that this is a practical matter of self-protection. It’s often a trade-off: How much will it cost to do what we know is right, compared to what is the best deal we can get for ourselves? In this way we separate ourselves from others, which has a certain cost.
Consider Edward. His immediate boss is in his fifties, and company gossip says that he’s about to get the ax because the board of directors seeks a more youthful leadership and image. If his boss gets replaced, Edward will probably get the job. How can Edward keep his thoughts pure and wish his boss a long, healthy, happy, well-employed life, without his own ambition and desire for economic advancement coloring his wishes? Can he cultivate bodhicitta and recognize that his boss wants and needs much the same things that he does?
Marion has a problem some people might consider peculiar. Ants! Lots of ants of all sizes parading determinedly through her living room, into her bathroom, across her kitchen. Last week Marion saw an ad for an ant killer that talked about “getting” ants outside before they get into your house. Marion would like very much to get rid of her ants. But does she want to poison the great outdoors—or the ants? Marion worries that by giving the ants a toxic substance she would also be poisoning the birds who might feast on ant carcasses. This predicament creates genuine conflict for Marion. Is there any way that Marion can maintain her concerned thoughts for the environment and all beings and still not have ants in her sugar bowl and her bedclothes? The monks and nuns in some Buddhist countries don’t even go outdoors during the rainy monsoon season in order to avoid squashing bugs. Can we strive so conscientiously toward nonviolence, even in our own Western environment?
Intentions and thoughts about others obviously take place on many different levels. Nathan, for example, loves his wife and, for the most part, wants only the best for her. But they recently had a new baby, and his wife is so absorbed with the child that he often feels left out and ignored. This has made him both resentful and guilty. It was more fun when marriage meant enjoying himself with his wife. Now, it’s beginning to mean something different—something that appears to be more connected to responsibility and obligation than it