A clear mind and an open heart

Rev. Meg Barnhouse
December 4, 2016
First UU Church of Austin
4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78756
www.austinuu.org

The fourth element in the Buddhist Eightfold Path is “Right Action.” What did the Buddha suggest we think about as we consider our actions? What are we doing? Why are we doing it?

Many among us have been experiencing grief and depression about the results of the election. It’s not that the candidate we voted for lost the Electoral College, it’s that we must wake up to the fact that our friends and neighbors, our family members, can shrug off coarse, bullying, mean, ignorant and racist behavior. That they believed the other candidate when he said he knew how to do the job and handed him the reins of government, that the white nationalists are in the White House now and someone who’s behavior disgusts us is representing us on the world stage. He’s blundering around, and we fear that the delicate balances among nations will shake and give way. We’re sad and worried, and it’s hard to know what to do.

In times like these, as I’ve said, we go back to basics. The 7 Principles, the 8-fold path, the Golden Rule, the precepts we follow, our core values. First of all, it’s okay not to know what to do. It’s okay to be sad.

Buddhist teachers say, as I often remind myself, “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” We tell ourselves stories about what is happening, and we suffer from our stories. Then what happens is something we didn’t even think to worry about! One of the opportunities to do something is happening in the snow in ND. So many of us are going to Standing Rock. It seems like the next right thing to do. Take your body there. Be a protector if you are a vet. Be a chaplain if you are a minister. Be a healer if you are in one of the healing professions. Attend the Women’s March on January 21, either in DC or here in Austin in the local version of the protest. Find out how to go with us to the detention centers to visit with the women and their children being held there. We are galvanized, ready to be called into action. The Second Saturday volunteering group starts next Saturday – just show up at the church with or without the kids, and choose which service opportunity will do the most good.

Don’t waste your outrage, focus it. Pick two things to be working on, worried about. There are so many that if we try to spend passion and energy on them all, we burn out and grind to a halt. Find out what’s real and what’s made up. I was outraged about the list of liberal academics being put together. Look a little deeper, and it’s a college kid asking other college kids which professors are too liberal for them, a rate-your-professor kind of thing. It could grow, it could be used by those in authority, but that’s not what it is, yet.

How do we find the balance of being alert but not fearful. “Fear is the mind-killer,” those of us who are Frank Herbert fans will remember. Fear makes us want to howl, to hide under our beds, to obsess about how to make it stop. Alert, aware that there is a struggle to come, but it has been there for many already. Awake, understanding that, for half the country, racism is not any kind of a deal breaker. Alert, awake, and active. James Luther Adams, a Unitarian theologian, wrote extensively about his concern about American Facism. One of the most effective ways to stand against it is to be active in voluntary organizations, to band together with people of like values (the way we are doing this morning) and to be active in grass-roots lobbying (which we are doing on Feb 15?) knocking on doors, helping good candidates run for local offices.

How do we have the strength to move away from our fear? Spiritual practice. Building a sturdy spirit. We are talking today about the 8- fold path of Buddhism. It teaches how to be a person who does the right thing.

Right action is the name of this element, one of the three that talks about ethical behavior. Last month we talked about right speech, this month is right action, and next month will be right livelihood.

The reason to act rightly is not to avoid some hell in the afterlife, but to have a good happy life while you’re here.

Buddhist teacher Eric Kolvig says “Basically, we do our spiritual practice (meditation and ethical behavior) in all of its aspects to achieve two things: to achieve a clear mind-that is, to achieve wisdom; and to achieve an open heart-that is, to achieve love and compassion.”

The Buddha gave five precepts with which to experiment. If you live according to the five precepts of right action, you will be giving a gift to yourself and to the world, as you add good to the world. These are not commandments; they are trainings for setting the heart free from suffering and pain. Buddhists say “please don’t believe what I say. Try it for yourself and see what happens.”

The Five Precepts: Trainings for Nonharming

1. Aware of the suffering caused by violence, I undertake the training to refrain from killing or committing violence toward living beings. I will attempt to treat all beings with compassion and lovingkindness.

We want to try to remove violence from our lives. No beating our spouses or children, for a start. We can move from that into refraining from having violent fantasies of hurting those who reject or torment us, move from that into refraining from killing animals, bugs or spiders. (I’m not there yet. I confess to an obsession for killing fire ants. Non-harming takes many forms. I have told you about a friend who doesn’t wear any animal products, doesn’t use air conditioning, and rides a bike everywhere, but he is judgmental, oblivious of the feelings of others, unpleasant to talk to. For him, non-harming in his way is easier, and a priority. For me, it’s easier to begin to try to remove violence from my thoughts and my speech. I’m not a better person or a worse one than my friend. We are both doing our best right now.
Paul Dodenhoff

I recall an interview with His Holiness the Dalai Lama a few years ago. In a discussion about not killing, the reporter asked him what he did about things like mosquitoes. His Holiness responded by saying that he would blow the mosquito away (and then he blew on his arm to demonstrate.) The reporter asked what if the mosquito came back. His Holiness then responded by showing how he would shoo the mosquito away from his arm. Then the reporter asked again what if the mosquito returned. To which His Holiness the Dalai Lama responded by smacking his arm, giving his wonderful big grin and laugh to the reporter.

Maybe mosquitoes aren’t mice, but they are both disease carrying pests. And to the best of our ability we must be rid of them, doing no harm if possible, but doing what is necessary when necessary. If we could negotiate with them, things might be different. But I’ve yet to find a mosquito that listens when I ask it to leave … or a mouse.

2. Aware of the suffering caused by theft, I undertake the training to refrain from stealing, from taking what is not given. I will attempt to practice generosity and will be mindful about how I use the world’s resources.

We are happier and freer if we don’t take money that belongs to other people, if we don’t take their ideas or their space, their reputation or their happiness away in order to get what we want. In my opinion, holding on to way more than you need is stealing. If you have clothes you don’t need, for example, clothes you have outgrown, furniture you are storing without a plan for it, consider the possibility that those clothes, that furniture, rightly and truly may belong to someone else. You’re not a bad person for hanging on to it, but you might be happier and freer if you let it go.

3. Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I undertake the training to refrain from using sex in ways that are harmful to myself or to others. I will attempt to express my sexuality in ways that bring joy and feelings of connection.

Buddhism teaches that sex is most properly used in the context of a loving relationship. No anonymous hook-ups, no sex with children, As UUs we believe that loving relationship can be a same-sex or opposite sex relationship. The guidelines are the same.

No cheating on your committed partner. No withholding sex to get your way. Being generous with sharing sex with your partner, (in my opinion) is as important as being faithful. Too many couples have no sex, and the lack of sex is not consensual, and the partner that doesn’t want to have sex also doesn’t want their partner to have it with anyone else either. That is harmful sexual behavior too.

4. Aware of the suffering caused by harmful speech, I undertake the training to refrain from lying, from harsh speech, from slander, and from idle speech. I will attempt to speak and write in ways that are both truthful and appropriate. (we spoke in depth about this last month.)

5. Aware of the suffering caused by alcohol and drugs, I undertake the training to refrain from misusing intoxicants that dull and confuse the mind. I will attempt to cultivate a clear mind and an open heart.

If you’re not an addict, drinking some wine with dinner is not going to harm your happiness. Misusing substances that will dull and confuse your mind is where the suffering happens, not just for you, but for those around you. As soulful people we try to live without being overtaken by drugs and alcohol.

We do the right thing in order to be joyful and free. We do it as a gift to the world, and so that we will be safe for people to be around. So many people in this world will steal, lie, rape, hit, babble, yell, hurt. If we are non-harming in our lives, we create a space of safety. If each one of us in this room held open a space of safety, think how much better this world would be. We all can be non-harming when we are well rested, well fed, with gas in the tank and money in the bank. It’s when life takes a spin that we get mean. Practice, spiritual practice, is to strengthen us so that no matter what happens we can find joy and peace.

So we take the right action. If we don’t know what that is in the large sense, we do the next right thing.

How do you know what the right thing to do is? You listen to the wisdom inside you. What does that little voice say? You ask how would you feel if someone did it to you. You ask is it fair, is it harmful to me or to others? How will you feel about yourself and about the world later if you do it?

We soulful Unitarian Universalists pay attention to our actions, asking two simple questions: “What am I doing?” “Why am I doing it?” If you give away some things or some money, I hope it sets you free and makes you happy, if you make amends to someone you have hurt, or let resentments go toward someone who has hurt you, I hope that sets you free and makes you happy. May you be blessed. May you be forgiven, may you be joyful. May it be so.

Podcasts of this and other sermons are also available for free on iTunes. You can find them here.

Most sermons delivered at the First UU Church of Austin during the past 16 years are available online through this website. You will find links to them in the right sidebar menu labeled Sermons. The Indexes link leads to tables of all sermons for each year listed by date (newest to oldest) with topic and speaker. Click on the topic to go to a sermon.