February 2023

In a recent article I referenced the book, Practice of the Presence of God, by a 17th century French monk. A particularly compelling Buddhist expression that points to the same spiritual intention was given by a Japanese Zen monk at the time:

During our active day, it is easy to be swept along in a swift-flowing stream of thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. We habitually tend to narrowly focus our awareness on what is just in front of us, in a constant state of reaction to beings and situations and distractions as they come at us. And, to an extent, this is necessary for survival in an increasingly busy and stressful modern world. The problem arises when this narrowly focused survival strategy becomes all that we know of ourselves and the world.

Our Serene Reflection Meditation tradition provides us with spiritual tools for stepping outside this torrent to realize, and live by, our innate Buddha Mind in every aspect of our life. The fundamental tool in our toolbox is, of course, pure meditation itself. When we sit down, minimize external distractions, and open our heart and relax our mind, our awareness naturally expands beyond the confines of self. We awaken to the cosmic compassion, love, and wisdom that is the Buddha Mind. We know that we are not It, and that we are part of It. And we know that all beings are part of It, so that harming others by breaking the Precepts becomes harming our relationship to our True Self.

While pure meditation awakens us to our Buddha Mind, there are practical things we can do during the day to refocus our awareness on It when we are pulled away by external forces. Recollection of the Precepts reorients us toward the Buddha Mind. Statues and images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas help point us back to It…if we really look with the eyes of the heart. Malas (Buddhist rosary) is another tool many people use. I have a wrist mala that I use to turn through the Three Homages, Three Refuges, and Three Pure Precepts which helps me return to center when I realize that I have been pulled off. Bowing is also very effective, whether before a statue or image, or simply just…bowing wherever you happen to be if you are alone, or discretely making gassho if you are with others.

Years ago I read a wonderful little book of spiritual advice by a 14th century English monk called The Cloud of Unknowing. In it, he suggests finding a single word of particular spiritual resonance for you. He writes, “With this word you shall beat upon the cloud and the darkness…you shall strike down thoughts of every kind and drive them beneath the cloud of forgetting.”² In Buddhist parlance, this can be considered a mantra. I have such a word that I habitually call upon, and it does, indeed, help bring me back to center, to stillness.

Whatever we are doing, there is always a longing in us to have our deepest awareness focused on the Eternal, the Buddha Mind. Then, our life has context and meaning and, as The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi teaches, “Supreme Mind, in words, can never be expressed, and yet to all the trainee’s needs it does respond.”

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