Buddhist driving?
Richdawson
Explorer
Driving into work today, I had a thought. I saw the road as the course of my life, the car in which I was driving my body, and I was the essence. The lanes of the highway represented my current path in life, and the other cars on the road were obstacles or stresses in life.
Looking behind me, the cars were memories of things I had moved past and no longer worried or stressed about. Sometimes however those memories would catch up and I would have to take notice of them again.
The lane I chose to be in sometimes would contain an obstacle/stress (a car). Sometimes that stress would be further away, but never was the path clear. I often had a choice to either stay behind obstacles in my path or switch my path/lane and move around and pass those obstacles.
A few times the obstacle in front of me would be a large truck that would block sight of the path in front of me. During those times I would be forced to make a choice. I could be upset and annoyed or calm and wait for the chance to move around the obstacle. Sometimes changing my path/lane resulted in a clearer path, but sometimes the choice to switch lanes resulted in me going slower.
When the flow of my lane/path would move slower than I would have liked I had a choice to tense up and stress or relax and take a deep breath and just enjoy the ride realizing that eventually the obstacles in my path would eventually move again.
Anyway, it made the ride to work more interesting.
Any of you ever have similar thoughts about everyday life stuff?
Comments
Yes.
Interpreting our experience in relation to our path is a very powerful reminder. Everything becomes a reading or personal revelation. In many traditions this idea of personalised messaging from a higher or more complete awareness is part of a spiritual psychology. This is very different to a self-referential personal psychosis ...
For example what choices/interpretations do we make when typing or reading what others say? Do we react emotionally or reactively or impartially with bias and subjective ego interpretation ...
That's an extremely profound question, @lobster, and one I have to ask myself every single time I am on line, on here. "Is this about me, or is it about my 'job'..?" It's extremely difficult to decide sometimes, and if I am ever in any doubt, I step back and evaluate...
Sometimes, the evaluation is easy. It's a simple yes or no.
At other times, it leads me down a twisted path and it's hard to discern and determine.... I truly do make great Effort to be impartial and subjective.
I cannot deny that occasionally, even impartially and subjectively, emotion is present. Indignation, impatience, irritation. They are natural. But I have to go beyond that and see what evokes their arising. I have to make sure that in spite of their arising, the decision is sound and justified.
Very good post, @Richdawson and thought-provoking....
I would simply add, do not let your mental meanderings lead you to hit anyone's rear fender.....
And I suppose you could include that as part of the analogy!
I walk by the sea regularly, and spend a lot of time watching waves...nothing poetic these days, just looking at them.
I keep polythene carry bags to collect household waste. I do balls of them and throw up on rack. There are plenty collection has been occured. When I throw more plastic carry bag balls on shelf. They rolls back down to me. So I just realized that our bad or good deeds come back to us once they become enough large and improperly managed.
There is one sutta that Buddha recites "A fool find no trouble doing unskillful karma until they reap and create problems".
Outstanding @rohit - all too often we look for teachings outside our experiences but our experiences are our Guru, Lama, sauce of insight and incite to practice (that source is excellent with fish which are one of the auspicious signs in Tantra) ... Yum!
I know.
As a Dudeist Priest x2 I know it is OK to allow ourselves mistakes. Not intentional unkindness, or negativity, of course not - that is for Sith and other unbalanced extremes.
For example if you are friendly to monks, it is quite permissible to kick them up the bum (bottom, ass, posterior) to encourage them back onto the hard path they illustrate for us. To do so prematurely, with unkindness, lack of understanding or humour is disgraceful ...
Interestingly I would not kick a nun. I am such a hypocrite ...
Sort of @Richdawson .....I like your driving analogy btw, however it's not really an analogy at all, I feel it is part and parcel of the path....Walking, driving, talking, interacting... the path permeates all that we think, say or do...
It would seem that every moment, awareness is checking in on the path, via thoughts words and deeds, ever vigilant of those thoughts wishing to charm the mind in some negative way and get away with it...
But "I" must admit.... "I" like "myself" because "I" am the only "I" "I" have got, plus "I" come in hand every now and again... "I" am useful...However, "I" try to be there, only when "I" am needed...But on the odd occasion "I" do tend to butt in when "I" am not...
For the most part "I" try to remain out of sight out of mind when going about the day....
Sexist!
Whenever I seat in bus to reach some place. I feel that every passenger in the bus is contributing by paying running cost of a bus to reach at a destination. In similar way we all need to contribute to reach same goal in life by helping each others.
Anyway when it comes to finding a nun's butt to kick, @lobster, you'll find there are nun....
It's all in the mind, although we can massage the mind's way of viewing things by changing our perspective. I occasionally go for walks at odd times, like an evening walk on the beach, just for a change in energy, viewpoint, what have you. My mother calls this "clearing out the cobwebs", bless her.
I think of David Brent whenever someone says that.
I have a lot of attachment to these stressors knowing when to get over in the flippin slow lane instead of the fast lane haha!
Love it though. I have been using my over-an-hour commute as practice for a few years now. Patience, compassion, abandoning attachments and aversions. Some days are better than others of course.