calmness + sense of urgency = inconceivable?

vfargenta

Hello friends,

I'm just learning about Buddhism, and I think I'm having some trouble understanding what the Buddhism and the very Dalai Lama mean with 'sense of urgency'. The purpose of having sense of urgency is to aware that our time is precious and limited; we must use it rationally and productively.

But I just can't think how one can have a peaceful mind with the sense of urgency! I mean, urgent events makes us feel anxious, and the very fact of thinking that our time is limited makes me feel like 'Oh, I have to do this right now, because I have to finish that right after, because I have to do that thing after that, because I have to complete these jobs as soon, because I have to do I don't know what, so I can have some 15 minutes in my day to meditate!'.

My mind rushes with that, I lost the sense of calmness and some peace go flushed away. I just can't figure out how to have this 'sense of urgency' parallel with a calm and peaceful state of mind.

I consider myself a scrupulous person and I don't see myself procrastinating jobs; I clearly have knowledge of my duties. I just need some better enlightenment about what it is meant with 'sense of urgence' and how having it keeping a very calm mind.

I live in big city; it is natural the day-to-day rush, and since I started reading about Buddhism, I slowed down my daily routine because I thought that the slower possible, the better. Of course, I take care to do my needed everyday work in the proper time; I relax on things that don't demand time controlling from me, like my daily physical exercises. But since I discovered that we have to have some urgency in our lives, well, I felt anxious about it because I was so greatly having a calmer life and mind...

Could anybody help me? I really really really appreciate your help!

shenpennangwa

By sense of urgency we arent talking about pressuring yourself to the point of anxiety.
Its just a reminder that the fortunate human life that you have should be spent in the best possible way. By training in the dharma.

FyreShaman

You have a precious human life which may end at any time. The 'urgency' is there in that we should get on with our practice NOW and not procrastinate, as we may die at any time.

Those who do not believe in post-mortem rebirth would say that we should have a sense of urgency as this is our only opportunity.

Those who do believe in post-mortem rebirth would say that we should have a sense of urgency as this human rebirth is rare, and our next may be less fortunate if we do not get on with our practice.

Either way, there is urgency to practice, but the practice should not be driven by emotions such as panic or fear. Rather, it should be driven by a desire to become enlightened in order to be able to help other beings achieve the same.

zenone

Hi vfar,

But since I discovered that we have to have some urgency in our lives, well, I felt anxious about it because I was so greatly having a calmer life and mind...

Consider the possibility that perhaps you maybe wern't really experiencing a calm mind, but rather, the dawn of awareness of just how un-calm your mind really is. Perhaps your mind has been operating with an anxious sense of urgency your whole life, and buddhism is simply instructing you to shift that sense of urgency towards developing a calmer mind.

That said, you are right to point out the apparant contradiction. I cannot count how many times i've run up against logically unsolvable paradoxes in my study of buddhism. Yet somehow, these paradoxes always seem preferable and more truthful than choosing one possible alternative or explanation over the other. And then, with some effort, patience, concentration, generosity and wisdom, sometimes there is a sense of having transcended the paradoxes without really rejecting them. And that is the closest I can come to a definition of awareness.

I'm sorry that didn't make much sense, but I personally am beginning to believe that reality itself just isn't as simple and straightforward as we like to make it out to be. Hardly something that can be solved with a few lines, pages, books, encyclopedias, or all the conscious knowledge in the history of man put together.

If "practice with a sense of urgency" is making you anxious, then sit with that on the cushion until you absolutly can't bare it for one more moment. And then, right there, bare it for another moment.

Edit: here's some more useful advice from Ajahn Chah:

Training this mind... actually there's nothing much to this mind. It's simply radiant in and of itself. It's naturally peaceful. Why the mind doesn't feel peaceful right now is because it gets lost in its own moods. There's nothing to mind itself. It simply abides in its natural state, that's all. That sometimes the mind feels peaceful and other times not peaceful is because it has been tricked by these moods. The untrained mind lacks wisdom. It's foolish. Moods come and trick it into feeling pleasure one minute and suffering the next. Happiness then sadness. But the natural state of a person's mind isn't one of happiness or sadness. This experience of happiness and sadness is not the actual mind itself, but just these moods which have tricked it. The mind gets lost, carried away by these moods with no idea what's happening. And as a result, we experience pleasure and pain accordingly, because the mind has not been trained yet. It still isn't very clever. And we go on thinking that it's our mind which is suffering or our mind which is happy, when actually it's just lost in its various moods.

The point is that really this mind of ours is naturally peaceful. It's still and calm like a leaf that is not being blown about by the wind. But if the wind blows then it flutters. It does that because of the wind. And so with the mind it's because of these moods - getting caught up with thoughts. If the mind didn't get lost in these moods it wouldn't flutter about. If it understood the nature of thoughts it would just stay still. This is called the natural state of the mind. And why we have come to practice now is to see the mind in this original state. We think that the mind itself is actually pleasurable or peaceful. But really the mind has not created any real pleasure or pain. These thoughts have come and tricked it and it has got caught up in them. So we really have to come and train our minds in order to grow in wisdom. So that we understand the true nature of thoughts rather than just following them blindly.

The mind is naturally peaceful. It's in order to understand just this much that we have come together to do this difficult practice of meditation.

Jeffrey

Different people wish for different things at different times. I coincidentally have a friend who is looking for something in the dharma to just calm down and relax. You are not wrong for wishing this. I think the point the Da Lai Lama is making to practitioners is that their life here is very precious. It is a rare chance to become a human where the dharma is taught and you have a chance to develope confidence in the dharma through experience and realization. Everything is uncertain and the things that are supporting you currently including good health are surely going to decay. Does that sound calm? No not to me either but buddhism shows a calm and confidence not from putting the head in the sand but from letting go of the tendency to try to put ground under our feet. You can pull the rug out yourself or let life pull it out for you.

vfargenta

Thank you all for your answers, it really helped me alot.

I understand now what it is meant by 'sense of urgency', and I think I was getting it literally - and than getting really anxious. And I could find out that I am, in fact, a little anxious sometimes.
For instance, if someone (like my boss) ask me to do something, and this person gives me no explicit deadline but just a feeling to don't take the whole life to complete the job, I will happily do the task and it's very likely I finish it in a reasonably time, and, during the execution of it, I'll tend to maintain myself calm and relaxed - I'll think like 'I'm doing my best right now - and I won't worry'. But if I have to deliver the same work in a specific time, I can get a little bit anxious about completing it in time.

I always thought that hurry is enemy of perfection, so I recently have managed my life to do my duties withour rushing. It's right because I can become anxious if I do something under pressure, and I certainly don't want to experience this bad feeling.

Knowing that, how could I handle this anxiety that could arise, I mean, what approach I can use to train my mind, like zezone said, so I can eliminate this state of mind?
I really want to begin seriously with Buddhism, but I must do it calmly.

Additionally, could you point me to some material very very introductory to Buddhism?

Thanks very much!