Visiting Hartridge monestry

I have over the past few years visitied a numer of Buddhist temples in the UK and today I drove out to the Devon Vihara at Hartridge and had a wonderful time. It is strange to see monks in saffron going about their daily routine but the people of East Devon have grown used to seeing the monks with their begging bowels in the local towns and villages. The monks at the Devon Vihara follow the Forrest sangha tradition a tradition that can be traced to the third-century B.C.E. and Prince Ashoka, originating in India, the forest monk tradition spread to Thailand, Burma, Laos, and Sri Lanka.

As I walked through the door of the temple the monks where sat eating their mid day meal, (the only meal of the day). When the abbot saw me he said “hello, go into the kitchen and have something to eat and I will see you later”……..and I did. Everyone there was friendly, welcoming and happy.

The temple is in a remote part of East Devon at the end of a very long lane surrounded by 22 acres of woodland. The monks live in small wooden huts called “kuti’s”, and follow the teachings of the Venerable Ajahn Chah. Ajahn Chah was born on June 17, 1918 in a small village near the town of Ubon Rajathani, North-East Thailand. After finishing his basic schooling, he spent three years as a novice before returning to lay life to help his parents on the farm. At the age of twenty, however, he decided to resume monastic life, and on April 26, 1939 he received upasampada (bhikkhu ordination). For further information please visit:

http://www.forestsangha.org/

The Serial Bully and his victim

Monday afternoon and I have just arrived home from listening to one man's story. An intelligent hard working man who has suffered from the attention of a bully at his place of work. I have no intention of breaching confidentially or compromising my position and all that I believe, but the opportunity now exists for me to bring the topic of bullying to the fore. Over the years I have spent a considerable amount of time counselling the victims of bullying and helping them over come their stress. The question of “why” always comes to mind, “why does one person bully another” and “why do companies allow it to happen in the first place?".

The Scene.
The company is a medium to large company with European connections, the bully in question is I believe a serial bully, and his target, a quiet intelligent male who could easily be you or me or some one we know.

The Bully.
The profile I am building in my mind of this serial bully from the evidence shown to me is one of a man who has a Jekyll and Hyde character, vicious and vindictive one moment perfectly charming and innocent the next. I do not underestimate this bully’s capacity to deceive, he is plausible and convincing when his superiors or others are present but his charm is used to deceive and cover for lack of empathy. This bully holds deep prejudices against the opposite gender, people of a different sexual orientation, other cultures, religious or ethnic background.

He is self-opinionated, arrogant and has a superior sense of entitlement and sense of being invulnerable or un-touchable. “I am the second most powerful man in this company” (even though his position is low in the company). He has a compulsive need to control everyone and everything his subordinates do, “If you want to get on in this company you better do as I say”. He is manipulative and undermines and destroys anyone who the he perceives to be an adversary or a potential threat. It is almost as though he has a need to find a weakness in someone then expose and exploit that weakness until his victim leaves the company, normally through illness and depression. The bully then goes to ground until he thinks he is safe, then, finds his next target.

The Victim.
This victim is competent and popular but vulnerable. This victim is intelligent, honest, trustworthy, and conscientious middle aged man who is sensitive, helpful, always willing to share knowledge and experience. He is tolerant, forgiving and inclined to think well of others. He has high moral standards and a strong well-defined set of values. He has low assertiveness and a strong need to feel valued. He is quick to apologize for anything he “might” have done wrong, he is a perfectionist with a strong sense of fair play and has a tendency to keep anger bottled up rather than express it.

In this respect our “victim” is a really nice man who the company would do well to employ.

The Company.
The company is a medium sized British company with expanding European connections. It has a well manned human resource department who are aware of the numerous complaints regarding this bully, but the department has been totally ineffective in dealing with this issue. The company does have a policy regarding bullying, discrimination and harassment, which is intended to protect both employees and the employer, but has failed dismally to protect the victims and in one case even supported the bully when he cleverly switched from being the persecutor to being a victim.

When the companies Human Resource Department writes off a bullying incident as a "personality clash" and sweeps the incident under the carpet, the company and individual managers are then wide open to litigation. A personality clash can only occur between two people of equal rank, status or power. To take the attitude “We don’t like him but he gets the job done” is to ignore the cost to the company in:
1. Low morale,
2. Poor productivity,
3. Poor customer service,
4. High sickness absence,
5. High staff turnover,
6. Frequent grievance,
7. Legal action.

In July this year, judges in the House of Lords decided that former health service worker William Majrowski could use the "Protection from Harassment Act 1997" to sue his former employer for workplace bullying. The Act was introduced to deal with stalkers but has been so loosely drafted that its remit has widened as clever lawyers has sought to put it to new uses. This latest development has important implications for employers.

Even if a company can show that they did all that could have reasonably been expected to protect an employee from harassment, the company will still be liable.

I expect that this law will be challenged in the due course of time, but at present an employer will held responsible if work place bullying is not controlled.

Conclusion?
The failure to tackle bullying head on or denying of the existence of the serial bully with in the company not only serves to discredit the target or victim, but invites the company manager’s behavior to match the profile of the bully. If the pattern of daily, trivial nitpicking and criticism, isolation and exclusion persists the individuals morale, resistance, and immune system weakens resulting in sickness, absence from work and depression.

Should the target then end his life as a result of negligence on the part of the company or it's failure to tackle bullying, then charges of Manslaughter or Corporate Manslaughter can be brought against the company and its managers.

I am only interested in taking the seagulls eye view of the incident within this company and to offer confidential emotional support to those who look for it and this includes the bully, because I believe he may have been a target or victim, at a young age, and the script he learnt then he is putting into practice now.

How long does it take to become enlightened?

There is no set time. The qualities of wisdom and compassion that we uncover on the path exist within all of us right now. One can even say they are our primordial nature. What we are trying to do on the path is to free ourselves from identifying with that which is false, such as the notion that our body is our self, or that our distorted thoughts and emotions are our self. How long that will take us depends upon how much effort we put into following the spiritual path, but enlightenment is in a sense available to us right now. Of course, one needs to find an effective method for removing the obscurations. Having found the skilful teachers who can impart these to us, we then need to be fully committed to using them. It is said that there are beings, like the dzok chen master Garab Dorje, for whom enlightenment follows instantaneously upon their hearing one line of the teaching. However, such beings are as rare as stars seen in the daytime. The vast majority of us need to follow a graduated and systematic path. However, if we follow the most powerful of Buddha’s teachings, the vajrayana, then it is possible to become enlightened in this very life. Even if that is not possible, by sincerely setting out on the spiritual path in this life we should be confident that in successive lives we will carry on with this upward movement towards enlightenment.

by Lama Jampa Thaye

Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass.
Dogen

Winds of Change.

As a young boy walking down to the fish quay I would often stop and read the poem carved on the door knocker of a fisherman's cottage over looking the harbour, it read...

The wind blows east,
The wind blows west,
It's the self same wind that blows.
But it's the set of the sails
And not the gales
That tell which way to go!

In the lines, "It's the set of the sails and not the gales that tell which way to go" we learn that even though the journey may be difficult, it is still possible for the ship to sail against the wind and reach its destination. So it is we mortals, sometimes our life is like a ship on a difficult passage, the winds of change conspire against us and we have to change tack again and again beating to windward to make headway.

Yesterday I spoke to two different men, both about fifty, their stories where completely different but the analogy of the sailing ship is useful in understanding both problems. One man is working his way through bereavement, the other, a man who having gained a BSc(hons) then a masters degree has lost his will to continue. For both people the wind has changed and is blowing against them.

The numbness, anger and sadness experienced after the death of a loved one and reactions such as bouts of silence, sleeplessness, loss of energy, loss of appetite, withdrawal, and sudden uncontrollable tears, are a normal part of the grieving process until the pain starts to subside and we see life in a more positive light. Slowly time heals, we begin to accept our loss and we begin to carry on with our life. Some feelings do not go away, we just learn to live with them, we learn to cope. When there are multiple stress factors in our life, and the death of a loved one occurs, bereavement then becomes all the more difficult to cope with. We are then like a ship beating to windward in a storm with torn sails.

The second man lost his job twelve years ago through illness and having decided on a new career direction. His initial positive motivation took him to university to study for a degree, his success there led him on to study for one year masters degree which he has just completed. But now the winds have changed for him, he is no longer studying, he has not got the employment he thought he would get with his new degree. He thinks this is because of his age and now he is at home, depressed, angry with the world, not sure if he made the right decisions, not sure what to do next. This man is like a ship in a storm sailing on to a lee shore. I do not use the metaphor lightly I have been there both at sea and in life.

But it's the set of the sails and not the gales that tell which way to go!

There is a way we can change the predicament we find ourselves in, we can change tack and beat our way to windward, round the headland and shelter in calmer waters. What we need is to give our selves time, find the will to change and go for it.

Breathe deep, take up the challenge, change your life.

"Waking up this morning, I smile,
Twenty-four brand new hours
are before me.
I vow to live fully in each
Moment
And to look at all beings with
Eyes of Compassion"

- A prayer by Thich Nhat Hanh

A Day of Tai Chi

Had a brilliant day today practicing Tai Chi at Ruggadon Farm in the converted barn, it is light, airy and surrounded by beautiful countryside. The BCCMA 24 Posture form is a nice compact form and particularly good in confined spaces, I am able to practice the twenty four postures at home in our front room. We also covered the Metal and water elements of the wu-hsing or "five elements" and worked our way through the 18 posture Qigong form.

The B.C.C.M.A 24 Posture Form Yang Style
1 Open Posture (Part the Horses Main)
2 Grasp the Birds Tail
3 Single Whip
4 Raise Hands Posture
5 White Crane Spreads its Wings
6 Brush Knee Twist Step
7 Strum the Lute
8 Repulse the Monkey
9 Slant Flying
10 Wave Hands Like the Clouds
11 Single Whip
12 High Pat on Horse
13 Right Heel Kick
14 Double Strike
15 Left Heel Kick
16 Snake Creeps Down
17 Golden Cockerel Stands on One Leg
18 Fair Lady Works the Shuttles
19 Needle at the Bottom of the Sea
20 Fan Thru the Back
21 Turn Parry and Punch
22 Draw Back Palm Under Elbow and Push Forward
23 Turn with Cross Arm Posture
24 Close

The Six Perfections or Six Paramitas

I have put together this essay on the Six Paramitas or the Six perfections because for me they are more than a useful code to live by. For the individual on the path to Enlightenment, or those looking for a more philosophical way of life, for small groups of people or nation states, generosity, morality, patience, joyful effort, concentration and wisdom are enriching for all irrespective of race, religion, colour or creed. All living beings have Buddha nature. I realise I might tread on the toes of of those who would describe my interpretation of the Six Perfections as “loose”. For those I offend I apologise, for those wanting more information please write to me for book lists, meditation centres and website addresses I welcome your comments.

A lifetimes interest in sailing has taught me time and time again the need to learn the lessons of getting on with each other in a small, confined environment. When you are in the middle of the ocean it is too late to find out you do not like your companions; you can not just walk away from your responsibilities, or ignore the needs of others and they have the same responsibilities to you. So, we develop an unconditional, “duty of care” for each other and the environment we find ourselves in.

On a larger, cosmic scale, we are all on the same densely populated “planetary ship” sailing through the universe together. There is no chart, sailing directions, destination, or port of call; our ship is just “sailing” on a vast boundary-less cosmic ocean. It does not matter what race, religion, creed, colour or ethnic background we are from, we are all on the same ship, we cannot get off, we need to work together, we have to be self sufficient, and we all have the same “duty of care” for each other and the environment that supports our very existence.

When we realise the fragility of our own existence and accept unconditionally, the responsibility for others then why is it so difficult to get on with each other? The idea of a “code of conduct” or “model” which we can all live by becomes quite a burden when you have to abide by rules that some one else has made, but a code of conduct that we can grow into is much easier to accept. The principal of the Six Perfections is a good code of conduct to live by for Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike. By practicing the Six Perfections one generates discipline and harmony in our physical and verbal actions, and take a step by step path to lasting happiness By following this path anyone can transform their mind from its present confused and self-centered state into the blissful mind of an enlightened one.

Accepting that all living beings have the seed or potential to become an enlightened one or Buddha, then, as a Buddha-to-be or Bodhisattva, we should have developed morality, compassion and wisdom to such a degree that Enlightenment and entry to Nirvana is possible. (Well this would be possible with a bit more practice than we average mortals show in our everyday lives).

There are six practices that we as “Potential Bodhisattva’s” need to cultivate in order to reach enlightenment. These practices are known as the “Six Perfections,” or the Six Paramitas. The Six Perfections are:
<br>1. Generosity, (Dāna paramita: generosity, giving of oneself).
2. Morality, (Sila paramita : virtue, morality, proper conduct).
3. Patience, (Ksanti paramita : patience, tolerance, acceptance).
4. Joyful effort, (Virya paramita : energy, diligence, vigor, effort).
5. Concentration, (Dhyāna paramita : meditation, contemplation).
6. Wisdom. (Prajña paramita : wisdom, insight).r>
>*(Some Buddhist teachings mention ten perfections)

Breathe deep, take up the challenge, change your life

1. The Perfection of Generosity

Giving begrudgingly is the same as not giving at all.

The difference between giving begrudgingly and giving freely with out any thought of gain or profit, is motivation. When giving we should ask ourselves, What is my motive in giving? Giving can and often does, have a degree of selfishness within it. If behind our act of giving is the notion that we will benefit from it in some way or other then our motivation has been polluted. Giving with only the thought of how the recipient will benefit, is the purest form of giving.

Traditionally there are three types of giving:
Giving material help.
Giving protection.
Giving pure sincere Dharma teaching.

Venerable Master Hsing Yun, (of the Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Tiwan):

A devotee told Chan Master Moxian, "My wife is extremely stingy. She will not spend even a penny on charity. Could you please come to my house and talk to her about engaging in benevolent deeds?" Very compassionately, Chan Master Moxian agreed. The next day, when he went to the devotee's house, the wife came out to receive him. True to her miserly nature, she did not even offer Chan Master Moxian a cup of tea. Chan Master sat down and held out his fist, asking, "Madame, look at my hand. What would you think if my hand remained constantly in a fist?". The wife responded, "If it remained in a fist, then your hand is deformed! Something must be wrong with it." Chan Master repeated her words back to her, saying, "It is deformed!" In the meantime, he opened up his fist and held out a flat palm to her, asking, "Were it like this all the time, what do you think?". The wife responded, "That would be deformed too!"


Seizing this opportunity, Chan Master Moxian immediately came to the point, saying, "Madame, you are right! A constant closed fist and a constant opened palm are both deformed. It is the same with the way we use money. If we are always closefisted, only concerned about getting more money, but never consider giving, we are deformed. If we are always open-handed, only thinking about spending but not saving, we are deformed as well. Money should flow like a smooth current. When it comes in, it should flow out too. There should be a balance in your receiving and giving." With this example from Chan Master Moxian, the devotee's wife had a clear idea about how to conduct herself in money matters.

2. The Perfection of Morality

Benefit others, If you can not benefit others, do not harm them.

It may appear old fashioned and out of place in this day and age to talk of moral behavior but the concept of the perfection of morality can also be referred to as behavioral discipline or ethics. In more specific Buddhist terms, the concept deals with the prohibitions against immoral behavior that are practiced by ordained laypeople, monks and nuns. But we as everyday, ordinary people have the tendency to act and allow others to act "unskillfully", and this tendency needs to be controlled. We should at all times protect of our body, our speech and our mind from performing unskillful and immoral deeds, for instance:

Protect our Body from:
Killing,
Stealing,
Sexual Misconduct.

Protect our Speech from:
Telling Lies
Slandering others
Gossiping and using harsh words
Swearing

Protect our Mind from:
Craving and attachment
Wishing to harm others
Holding wrong views

Cultivating morality in our selves is not easy, cultivating morality in others almost impossible but if we do not practice morality then the morality or behavioral discipline is nothing more than a theroetical exercise!

3. The Perfection of Patience

We, with our deluded minds allow the practice of patience to be more difficult than it really is. In our modern world, life is a compromise, inherently unsatisfactory and troublesome. Work, money, people, travel, noise, pollution, all conspire to make life difficult for us. It is very easy to blame others for our misfortunes and get upset with them when things have not gone right for us. The first person to get hurt when we get angry is ourselves! But by practicing patience we gain an inner strength and the courage to face difficult situations, we gain the strength not to get angry or abusive and the strength to stay calm.

When we face difficult situations, problems or anger, we suffer. Accepting that suffering with patience we recognise that these transient conditions will pass. If we stay calm with an angry person they too will eventually become calm, and in staying calm you will have become the stronger person by default.

Patience is a virtue that we all gain from!

The joys of practicing patience can be illustrated by the life and poems of the eighteenth century Japanese poet, Kobayashi Nobuyki who used the pen name “Issa”. Issa's life was full of misfortunes, he lost his mother at an early age, his stepmother mistreated him, he suffered extreme poverty, his children died, and his marriage with his second wife was more than unhappy. Issa's poems often reflected the small joys he found when depicting his life and the difficult poverty driven life of Shinshu peasants. He found beauty, virtue, and merit by practicing patience in his harsh surroundings. For example he was able to transform his irritation with the fleas that lived in his clothes into patience with this Haiku poem:

Now you fleas!
You shall see Matsushima
Off we go!

Or, with this observation of the flies that was irritating him in a temple…

The flies in the temple,
Imitate the hands
Of the people with prayer beads.

We can not prevent problems from occurring, but if we analyze the things that irritate us and cause us to loose our patience and regard lifes irritations like Issa's fleas, then they can become our friends and teachers, providing us with the opportunity to learn, and in learning we become less stressed.

4. The Perfection of Joyful Effort

The fourth perfection is that of joyful effort. The concept of having to work to get some where in this life is a bitter pill to swallow, we would much rather enjoy life with all its rich diversity than ‘work’, but as the saying goes “No pain, no gain.” So it is with Buddhism, following the Buddha’s path is a richly rewarding experience; however, at times we have to work at it. Simple!

It has been said that indulging in the sensual pleasures of this world is like “licking honey off the blade of a razor; it is the source of a little sweetness and it slices up the tongue”. That is not to say that following the Buddha’s path is dull, dreary and monotonous, on the contrary. If we change our perspective, then, when the going gets tough and we feel like giving up, consider that we are being presented with a great opportunity to practice, our effort then becomes joyful.

In all our daily activities joyful effort helps us to keep practicing and encourages us in times of weakness to keep trying. We should live our lives with joyful effort. Each moment should be a moment lived with an eye toward living it fully and completely. Sometimes it takes all of our strength to "just sit" for ten minutes in meditation, or find the right response to a loved one, or set aside the temptation to cheat on our vows.

Generally speaking, there are three aspects of joyous effort:
Joyful effort in following Dharma practice
Joyful effort of continuous practice
Joyful effort in not giving up

If we recognize that the main obstacles to the development of our efforts are the different levels of laziness, i.e. the laziness that comes with procrastination, the laziness that stem’s from indolence and laziness that comes from a sense of inferiority. Then we can make progress along the path we choose to follow and eventually gain higher realizations. We can over come discouragement, remember we, like the Giant Redwood grow from a single seed.

Breathe deep, take up the challenge, change your life

5. The Perfection of Concentration

Concentration or the 'single pointed mind' is the fifth perfection. With out concentration we can not penetrate in to the object of our meditation and realize our true nature. It is natural for our mind to be distracted and restless, always moving from one thought or feeling to another like the flame of a candle flickering in a draught, darting here and there in milliseconds. With the right concentration we can train our mind to be stabile, present and aware in everything we do.

Our concentration has two enemies, mental agitation, or busyness, and mental torpor, or numbness. Generally, agitation arises from desire, an attractive object appears in the mind and the mind leaves the object of meditation to follow it. Torpor arises from subtle apathy developing within the mind. A useful analogy is a man using a candle to view a painting on the wall of a dark room, a draught will cause the candle to flicker too much for the man to be able to see the painting properly, and if the candle is too small its flame will be too weak. When the flame of the mind is not obstructed by the wind of mental agitation and/or weakened by the smallness of torpor it can concentrate properly upon the picture of the meditation object.

We can train the mind with regular meditation practice and achieve focus, composure, and tranquility. The ability to concentrate and focus the mind will generate clarity, equanimity and illumination. As we eliminate our misperceptions and attachments, we can directly experience the joy, compassion, and wisdom of our own true nature. There is no attainment of wisdom and enlightenment without developing the mind through concentration and meditation. To sit on the cushion is to be enlightened.

Regular meditation is the foundation stone of the practice and development of our concentration. Set aside time each morning and evening to sit with ourselves in meditation. Light a candle and incense, then sit, and as the self drops away we will be able to see clearly our own true nature. Getting up from the cushion, we know that we are taking with us a profound grounding and truth that we can share with others.

6. The Perfection of Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability,
Developed through experience,
Insight and reflection,
To discern truth and
Exercise good judgment.

The last and sixth perfection, the perfection of wisdom, (transcendental wisdom), is called prajñaparamita in Sanskrit, and is practiced while performing the other perfections.

Wisdom is not the same as “worldly intelligence”, we can be very intelligent but have little wisdom, like the scientist who can develop weapons of mass destruction but have no idea how to lead a peaceful and virtuous life. Wisdom enables one to be self-guided in virtue, ridding our minds of disturbing emotions and ignorance. Wisdom allows us to see the truth about how things really are and develop compassion towards all living beings; ultimately we gain enlightenment and become a Buddha.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso in his excellent book “The Bodhisattva Vow” says “Wisdom is a virtuous mind that functions mainly to dispel doubt and confusion by understanding its object thoroughly. Wisdom practiced with bodhichitta motivation is a perfection of wisdom.”

We can gain wisdom through:
Studying the teachings of Buddha.
Citical investigation of reality.
Insight meditation. (Sanskrit: vipashyana).

Special insight is only possible if one has developed a calm abiding mind as perfected in the practice of concentration. Wisdom is a part of all of the paramitas, that is the foundations of the six perfections. To be wise is to be charitable, disciplined, patient, determined, mindful, and the result is the development of wisdom. Wisdom comes with time and cannot be hurried, we are all wiser with hindsight, our wisdom will evolve as we take each step of our lives. We will become wise when we see our truth, our failures, our successes, our efforts, and so on as just what they are, impermanent moments of our being. Letting go of these is the fruit of our wisdom.

Breathe deep, take up the challenge and change your life.