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Emergency Dharma
Shim
Veteran
What kind of "emergency practices" do you have? Especially in sudden, challenging situations how does Buddhism help you? (Or does it?) They say there are no atheists in foxholes but what about Buddhists?
Or does this kind of behaviour have its place in Buddhism, shouldn't we just train our minds so that they would have the "Calm" superpower in whatever situation life throws at us? (I wish it does, I'm a mere mortal...) Do we even need a spiritual lifeline in the mundane world?
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Comments
The 'breath' ....I never leave home without it...
I like the phrase you used, @Shim: "Calm superpower". I've had some pretty dark serious times in my life, and until I really started studying the Buddhism, I didn't even aware that lots of times I was literally holding my breath, waiting for the next piece of cr*p to hit the fan. So, what @Shoshin said pretty well sums it up -- just taking that first deep breath to bring on the calm and now that I think about it, taking a deep breath when I realize I'm getting too wound up and worried about something, my mind actually just stops and takes a break. Even if just for a moment, stops the shenanigans from cartwheeling out of control.
I remember reading in one of Thich Nhat Hanh's books that the emotion of anger itself only lasts 90 seconds. To remain angry longer than that is because we want or choose to. Harsh but true. When I start to "lose my sh!t", I repeat that to myself like a broken record and focus on the feeling of anger and focus on "watching" it leave my body. This in itself is often a circuit breaker of sorts and helps me calm myself.
_ /\ _
I know only too unwell (well) the breath holding (a fear holding syndrome) that @silver mentions. I did it for most of my life.
Not good.
Tee hee! Well said.
In some traditions breath and spirit are considered identical ...
In the unfashionable Sufi tradition, there is no 'mundane life'. In the lay path of the Gnostic lay people, ordinary life is the spiritual arena.
How as predominantly Buddhist lay people do we practice?
Re-establishing mindfulness is helpful, but if all else fails there is: "This too shall pass."
^^Yes^^, "This too Shall Pass" coupled with attention to the breath, and breathing in....breathing out.... is a fail-safe sure bet.... That's Mindfulness in Action, I would say.
Regular meditation practice. You don't notice much when life is going peachy. But when it hits the fan is when you notice how much work you have done in all of that sitting and breathing that you do. Mindful breathing calms the nervous system, making escalated situations easier to think through, and shorter lived.
And I remind myself that "in 24 hours/1 week/1 month/1 year" this probably won't matter any more. And even if it does, it will be just a memory, it won't be this hard or this painful later." Basically yes, this too shall pass. We get stuck so easily in thinking what we are experiencing will last forever, even if we are just having a really crabby day. Knowing it's temporary helps so much even when you are at the depths of horrible grieving or fear or whatever.
Breath is good, and I tend to start looking for the roots of things, what originated a given problem.
@shim -- Anyone who thinks it through knows that just as there are no atheists in foxholes, so there are no believers. Literally: The same shock that obliterates all secondary items (imagine a fire cracker going off next to you) and may inspire a "God save me" wish in its wake also obliterates any room for credulity. Now is now ... the end. And after the end ... then is the time for atheists and believers.
But that doesn't play well in war movies, I grant you.
I need every lifeline going. Not sure if I am drowning or swimming on dry land ...
Armchair Buddhists never develop anything more than a slack lifeline. We have to stalk the walk and then strut the stuff.
The practices from dharma include the eightfold path, the six perfections, the prefects/precepts - whatever it is I break
etc.
We do increasingly develop these behaviours and capacities but not by accident or wishing. We have to do/activate/practice something to begin ...
Most of us can understand yoga as it induces calm and gets us physically toned. We can practice a tantric sadhana/regular meditation/Pureland mantra/prostration repetition/concentration exercise/pranayama practice etc
Understand and implement ...
Ooh @lobster, do you mean that we should all become wandering Buddhist monks? Like those who travelled the Silk Road in the second and third century AD? Those were some brave hombres, carrying the dharma to far corners of the earth
Reminded me of a song from the Mikado called The Wandering Minstrel: "A wandering lobster, I, a thing of shreds and patches, of mussels, winkles and crablets.."
We don't have to go too far to take a wander ...
"Anonymous self-proclaimed Zen master..." Pah!
Oh I don't know, I think lots of people would benefit from a bit of wandering along the Silk Road by yak caravan. It would lend a bit of (smelly) perspective.
Om Mani Padme Hung...