Monday, May 11, 2009

Do you want to be right or to be free????

One day when the Buddha was teaching, a person came along and spit in his face. The Buddha's reaction was ,"Thank you, now I am free." he was now free from the karmic bondage of that particular situation. His response to not react in anger freed him from the cyclical affects of karma. When you react in anger, you get anger in return...... it does not matter if you are right or wrong. Reacting in anger ties one to the "Wheel of Samsara." In sanskrit, samsara literally means "same suffering".
Your argument might be, " what if someone has hurt me so deeply that he/she deserves my retailiation?" If you respond in anger, then you will create more oppurtunities in the future for you to be angry. Remember, You are responsible for making your world the way you want it. Ask yourself the question, "Do I want to be right or do I want to be free?" By chosing freedom, you become aware that you have a choice and that you have access to evolving your reactions to outer events. You no longer act like a child, you are peaceful in the moment and you are creating a more peaceful future.
This is how you fix things at the very root of the problem and not react with frustration to the affects of the problem. You can probably think of a time where you tried to fix a problem after it has been created. It is very, very difficult to do--all involved parties have to want to change fully and completely. By going to the root-- your mind and its reactions--- you insure a better future outcome.

All of your reactions to outer circumstances come from you. Knowing this, you can sit down everyday and do some mental gardening. Go back mentally to a situation that caused you to react in anger and make a vow to yourself to choose a different reaction. See yourself reacting differently. You are planting new karmic seeds that are like brand new plants. They are fragile and you have to protect them. Everyday you practice having better and beter reactions. Eventually, all troublesome situations will stop..not because the world is different but because you are different. You have chosen being free over being right.

If you have led a life that has been full of anger, pain, and frustration and you find it difficult to meditate on change, then doing physical asanas, like twisting or inversions like shoulderstand and headstand, can help. Twisting asanas help because they act on the abdominal region which is the seat of the ego and egocentric reactions. Inversions help because the physical act of turning the body upsidedown turns your mental perspective upsidedown as well. Patanjali said in the Yoga Sutra," when experiencing troubling thoughts, think the opposite thought."

The teaching of yoga as found in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra does not say that anger is wrong or right or good or bad or justified or not. Patanjali does not pass a value judgement on any action for it's own sake. He speaks to those who seek enlightenment, to those who want to disentangle themselves from the cycle of karma. To them he says choose your actions wisely, according to the results they will bring, be sure that those results are in alignment with your aims.

1 comment:

Ron Strelecki said...

Another great post. You are giving Buddhism (or whatever) a good rep in my mind. Up until now the only Buddhists I've known have been people who've been attempting to (barely) cap their RAGE. I am sure you are familiar...

I have this "metaphor" for which I can never find the right phrasing. I picture a dog on a leash with a cruel master. There are other dogs running free and playing and the dog watches them. And the moment the dog is free, he puts the leash on his master and starts choking. A dog on a chain can't imagine a world without chains...

Something like that. The point is that when the dog is free, it just turns around rebuilds the system that enslaved it. But dogs don't do that. Help me with my metaphor!