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I am going to present an alternative to mindfulness practice. I do this because I believe the concept of mindfulness \u2013 at least the way it is typically understood \u2013 can limit our spiritual development. It can become a dualistic trap that causes us to reject much of what we are as human beings.<\/p>\n
However, before I describe the potential pitfalls of mindfulness practice and offer a different approach that has worked for me, I want to discuss the metaphor of fingers pointing at the moon.<\/em> \u201cThe moon\u201d stands for the truth, Dharma<\/a>, Reality, or the essence of the matter. Teachings and practices are fingers pointing to the moon, and are therefore valuable only inasmuch as they manage to help sentient beings spot the moon. They are not the point in and of themselves.<\/p>\n Inherent in this metaphor is the suggestion that sometimes we can become too obsessed with a finger and forget about what it\u2019s pointing to. It also invites us to consider that there are many different ways to point to the same moon. One finger may work for us, while someone in different position needs a finger that may appear, from our view, to be pointing in a completely different direction!<\/p>\n I think the teaching and practice of mindfulness is a finger pointing at the moon and not the moon itself \u2013 but first, a little more about the teaching and practice of mindfulness.<\/p>\n Mindfulness was taught and strongly emphasized by Shakyamuni Buddha himself, over 2500 years ago. The ancient Pali word translated as \u201cmindfulness\u201d is sati<\/em>, and it can also be translated as \u201cremembering\u201d or \u201cpresence of mind.\u201d We are practicing mindfulness when we remember to pay attention to our present experience and try to keep ourselves from forgetting again.<\/p>\n Mindfulness has also been described as our \u201cnon-discursive faculty of awareness\u201d or as \u201cbare attention.\u201d Jon Kabat-Zinn, who over the last few decades has popularized the use of mindfulness techniques in secular settings, defines mindfulness as \u201ccontinuous non-judgmental awareness.\u201d More specifically, he explains, \u201cMindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally\u2026 It\u2019s about knowing what is on your mind.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n For most Buddhist<\/a> practitioners, our initial efforts at mindfulness are challenging but also powerfully transformative. We become more and more aware of what\u2019s happening in our minds. We notice our reactions. It can feel like someone has suddenly shined a light on our lives and there\u2019s all kinds of things we can see for the first time. This allows us to make many changes, and facilitates greater understanding of how we function as human beings.<\/p>\n So \u2013 isn\u2019t the whole point just to be mindful \u2013 that is, \u201cpresent in our lives?\u201d How is mindfulness just a finger pointing at the moon?<\/p>\n Before I explain, I want to state that I think it is essential that we start<\/em> our practice with mindfulness. We also benefit from returning to that practice again and again over the course of our days and lives. What I\u2019m going to talk about here is how we move beyond mindfulness and avoid (or drag ourselves out of) the potential pitfalls of the practice. I discovered these pitfalls by falling into them, so, in part, this is a confession of my own struggles with mindfulness.<\/p>\n The first pitfall is that we conceive of pure mindfulness as a state without thoughts. When we\u2019re \u201cmindful\u201d we\u2019re just peeling the orange, just tasting the coffee, just walking. Rather than wandering off into the dream-world of thoughts, we are present for \u201creality\u201d \u2013 which means only what is happening in this moment, in our immediate vicinity, perceptible through the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.<\/p>\n We encounter the second pitfall when we try to sustain a state of mindfulness through the inevitable thoughts, feelings, and impulses that arise in the course of our lives. We admit to ourselves that our state of mindfulness is rarely pure \u2013 that is, free of thoughts \u2013 but we work hard to maintain a second-best state of mindfulness by staying identified with an internal \u201cobserver\u201d who is aware of, but not involved with, the thoughts, feelings, and impulses. We think we need to maintain a detached self-consciousness at all times, allowing us to make internal comments like, \u201cOh, look, I am experiencing some sensations of anger.\u201d<\/p>\n In the third pitfall, we divide our lives into two parts: one, where we are consciously <\/em>aware of what\u2019s going on in the present moment and are therefore \u201cawake\u201d and present for our lives, and two, the rest of the time when we\u2019re caught up in the dream of thought and missing our lives as surely as if we were sleeping through them.<\/p>\n In the fourth pitfall, because the dreamy\/sleepy\/caught-up-in-thoughts parts of lives comprise over 90% of the time for most of us, we become burdened with a sense of sadness and inadequacy. We try harder but wonder why we still keep forgetting to be present. We suspect we misunderstand the teachings and practices. We figure we must be doing something wrong, because mindfulness teachers tell us that eventually we\u2019re going to get better at this! And while it\u2019s true that we got better at first, we\u2019ve hit a plateau in our development of mindfulness that seems endless. Most of us resign ourselves to being half-assed practitioners in some respect and just lament how much of our lives we aren\u2019t \u201cpresent for.\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, so now you know. I\u2019ve been meditating and practicing mindfulness for over 20 years and throughout most of my day I\u2019m not \u201cmindful\u201d \u2013 at least not in the sense I\u2019ve been discussing. Maybe<\/em> \u2013 on a good day \u2013 I manage to be mindful 20% of my waking hours instead of the essentially 0% before I started practice, but it still feels like most of the time I\u2019m mindful for a moment \u2013 \u201cOh, here I am! I\u2019m being mindful!\u201d \u2013 and then off I go again. The second I think of something, plan something, engage in a conversation or a project, or get absorbed in work, reading, music, beauty, or entertainment, the apparently fragile state of mindfulness is lost.<\/p>\n Fortunately, mindfulness is a finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself. Please note: If you \u201cfind the moon\u201d through mindfulness, super! If mindfulness has relieved suffering for you, if it\u2019s a profound practice you rely on every day, keep practicing mindfulness and let what I\u2019m going to say go in one ear and out the other. Try not to let it bother you at all.<\/em><\/p>\n What I\u2019m offering is a different way of pointing at the moon, one that may help you like it\u2019s helped me. I call it, at least at this point in time, the \u201cRadical Practice of Unified Presence.\u201d I call this practice \u201cradical\u201d not because it is revolutionary, but because it is (or can be) complete in and of itself and gets straight to the heart of the matter. Of course, it may very well be I have misunderstood \u201cmindfulness\u201d and what I describe here is exactly what the Buddha meant by \u201cmindfulness.\u201d If that\u2019s the case, then it just proves my point: Both the Buddha and I are looking for the moon, and different words and practices are simply different ways of pointing at it. But let me tell you, encountering the right kind of pointing (for you) makes all the difference in the world.<\/p>\n Ironically, the Radical Practice of Unified Presence begins with a moment of mindfulness.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have any problem with that first instant of mindfulness, which is basically when we wake up from the dream of thought and notice what\u2019s going on. That\u2019s the aspect of mindfulness reflected in the translation of sati<\/em>, the Pali term for mindfulness, as \u201cremembering.\u201d That moment of remembering is so sweet! It is so precious! It\u2019s what makes practice possible!<\/p>\n It\u2019s also not something you can will yourself to do. It just happens. You are asleep one moment and then you wake up.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say you can\u2019t do anything to make it more likely you\u2019ll wake up more often. That\u2019s why we meditate and study. That\u2019s why we cultivate aspiration and intention.<\/p>\n To make sure we wake up more often, we also need to treasure and celebrate the moments we wake up. Instead of beating ourselves up for all our previous forgetfulness the instant we become mindful, instead of seizing the moment of mindfulness with the determination to make it last, we can greet a moment of wakefulness with pure gratitude. This will help it last a little longer, and it will make mindfulness pleasant<\/em> instead of associating it with striving and frustration.<\/p>\n Then we come to the next moment, when we seek to sustain<\/em> \u2013 what? Mindfulness? Remembering to be present itself isn\u2019t hard \u2013 it\u2019s sustaining<\/em> a state of mindfulness for more than a moment that\u2019s hard, especially if you\u2019ve fallen into one of the pitfalls I described earlier.<\/p>\n This is where I recommend a different approach. Instead of trying to sustain a state of mind in which you are consciously<\/em> aware, and either thoughtless or taking the role of detached observer, you unify yourself. You take the opportunity to show up wholeheartedly for your life. You settle into your body and your direct experience, and refuse to be tricked into looking anywhere else (as if you could). You stop the internal struggles and own your body, mind, and heart.<\/p>\n This is all just more finger pointing, but this approach to practice may become clearer if I try to describe the moon itself. One way of seeing and understanding the moon is as a Way of Being. It\u2019s a liberated, authentic, joyful, centered, beneficial way of being<\/em> a being<\/em>. It\u2019s not a point of view, a kind of understanding, a transcendent experience, or a code of ethics. It\u2019s something you experience with your whole body, mind, and heart. It\u2019s how you are as you meditate, speak, drive, eat, brush your teeth, and watch movies. It\u2019s not limited to being thoughtless or self-consciously aware of being mindful. This Way of Being is how Buddhas are.<\/p>\n To further illustrate what this Way of Being is like, I\u2019m going to ask you to imagine your whole body-mind-heart experience of a bunch of different scenarios. Each scenario is mean to evoke something in you \u2013 some aspect of a Buddhas\u2019 Way of Being. A Buddha\u2019s Way of Being isn\u2019t limited to any one of these aspects, and it\u2019s not dependent on external circumstances. However, because it\u2019s so difficult for us to conceive of a Buddhas\u2019 Way of Being, it helps to imagine situations we can<\/em> conceive of.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Imagine you are facing incredible difficult and painful circumstances, but you are determined not to run away from them because you need to protect and take care of that which is most important to you \u2013 your children, loved ones, or deeply held values. Nothing has even been clearer to you than what you need to do right now. You feel no doubt whatsoever, but not because you\u2019re right<\/em> in some absolute sense. Right and wrong have nothing to do with it. The clarity, settledness, strength, determination, and willingness you feel? Part of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being.<\/p>\n Imagine someone has you taste a new kind of food and then asks how you like it. You describe your experience and feelings \u2013 whether you liked the food and how much, whether you found it salty or sweet, crunchy or creamy. The person really wants to know what you think, so you speak freely. As you describe your experience, no part of you wonders if what you\u2019re saying is true<\/em> in some absolute sense, or whether you are really in touch with your \u201creal\u201d experience or not. That centeredness in your own direct experience, without it even being a big deal to be centered in your own direct experience? Part of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being.<\/p>\n Imagine you have reached the end of your life, and you lay there on your deathbed surrounded by loved ones. You know this is it. The story of your life is complete. No more can be done. You\u2019re not without some sadness and regret, but you\u2019re reconciled to things being as they are, and for the most part you\u2019re happy and grateful. The long to-do list can be torn up and thrown away. The sense of peace and completeness you feel? Part of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being.<\/p>\n Fortunately, the practice of Unified Presence does not involve imagining all of those scenarios and trying to create a certain kind of feeling or mind-state. It is more direct than that.<\/p>\n When you have a moment of wakefulness, come home to yourself. Notice the many ways you are resisting the way things are and let go of the resistance. Notice the ways you are rejecting certain things about yourself (such as your lack of mindfulness!) and hold yourself in that mother\u2019s embrace of unconditional acceptance. Show up for your direct experience without questioning its validity in any way. Let go of the agenda of both the ego and the super-ego and ask yourself what you really<\/em> want. Cast aside all effort to be anyone other than who you are, when you are, where you are, because your life needs you and you can\u2019t actually be anyone other than who you are, when you are, where you are.<\/p>\n Essentially, this Radical Practice of Unified Presence is bringing all of parts of yourself together. Your aspiration and your selfishness, your love and your lust, your inner lazy glutton and your inner ascetic. Your body, your thoughts, your hopes, fears, passions, and shame. Your projects, habits, opinions, perceptions, blood, bones, and mucus.<\/p>\n This is what it means to be whole<\/em>hearted. To be half-hearted means to hold something back, or to do something without enthusiasm because you don\u2019t really want to do it. In order to be half-hearted you have to be divided \u2013 part of you wants one thing, while part wants another. Of course, this kind of inner division is part of being human, and the Radical Practice of Unified Presence is not about picking a winning side or pretending no inner conflict exists. Instead, to be wholehearted, we choose how to be in this very moment<\/em>. We may be in the midst of huge inner turmoil or a prolonged decision-making process, but in this very moment we can be wholehearted with exactly that. No apologies.<\/p>\n In the Radical Practice of Unified Presence we just say internally, \u201cNow is the time.\u201d Now is the time to show up completely. Now is the time to enjoy yourself. Now is the time to appreciate things fully. Now is the time to give yourself a break. Now is the time to say what you mean. Now is the time to open your heart. Now is the time to embrace your life wholeheartedly. We stop waiting to become someone else. We stop waiting to become enlightened, or to perfect mindfulness, or to finally gain access to the secret of complete happiness.<\/p>\n At this point it\u2019s very important to point out that the Radical Practice of Unified Presence is not<\/em> the Radical Practice of Deciding I\u2019m Super Cool and Can Do Anything I Want. The latter practice involves stories about yourself. It\u2019s like getting egotistical because your mother thinks you\u2019re great, or imagining yourself as a self-righteous martyr because you\u2019re enduring some difficulty while simply doing your duty. It\u2019s like describing what you think of a particular food and presenting it as Truth-with-a-capital-T because your sense of taste is so superior to that of others, or reaching the end of your life and congratulating yourself that so many people love you. The Radical Practice of Deciding I\u2019m Super Cool and Can Do Anything I Want is getting a taste of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being and then trying to bottle and sell it.<\/p>\n The moment you start drawing conclusions and telling stories, you\u2019re no longer mindful (to use the term we\u2019re all more familiar with). Your self is no longer unified, because no matter what the part of you that thinks \u201cI\u2019m great and can do no wrong\u201d is saying, part of you knows you are terribly limited and intransigently self-interested. The Radical Practice of Unified Self, on the other hand, denies nothing and assumes nothing. It happens in this very moment.<\/p>\n When, in the practice of Unified Self, you ask yourself what you really<\/em> want, you\u2019ll find that you basically want happiness and not suffering. You\u2019ll notice that how other people feel affects you, so you\u2019ll know their fate is not independent of yours. You\u2019ll find you want to be awake for your life. You want to be authentic and loved. Basically, you\u2019ll find out you\u2019re a good person who can trust yourself.<\/p>\n Sure, sometimes our habit energy makes us want to flirt with someone who\u2019s not our partner, or to elbow in front of someone in line, or to eat too much chocolate cake. But if you do the practice of Unified Presence you\u2019re much more likely to connect with the part of you who treasures your intimate partnership, values the opportunity to be generous, and enjoys feeling healthy. As part of the process of unification, you make your self-righteous super-ego and your mischievous id sit down together like two petulant, squabbling kids required to put aside their argument in order for the family to have a peaceful dinner. There\u2019s a chance the adult in the house will be able to make a wise and compassionate decision in the meantime.<\/p>\n The most important aspect of my \u201cRadical Practice of Unified Self\u201d is that I\u2019ve found it much easier to sustain<\/em> than \u201cmindfulness,\u201d at least in the sense mindfulness is a consciously aware state that\u2019s either free from thought or involves taking the role of detached observer. Instead of trying concentrate on \u201conly what is here and now\u201d and avoid getting sucked back into the dream of thought, I try to inhabit this moment more wholeheartedly. After all, it\u2019s just the bullshit in my mind about how \u201cI\u2019m not enough\u201d and \u201cthis isn\u2019t enough\u201d that keeps me separated from my life instead of letting me be intimate with it. Basically, instead of making a practice of thinking about what I shouldn\u2019t<\/em> do (get lost in the dream of thought), I channel my passion into being as fully alive as possible.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re practicing Unified Self, you aren\u2019t necessarily consciously aware of practicing Unified Self. Sometimes you will be more aware of it than other times. It\u2019s possible to be wholeheartedly engaged in something and have it take up all of your mental and emotional bandwidth so there\u2019s nothing left for observing yourself being wholehearted.<\/p>\n So how do you know if you\u2019re practicing Unified Presence if you won\u2019t necessarily be consciously aware of doing so? Upon reflection, you\u2019ll know. Recollect a period time spent absorbed in thought or in some activity, and notice whether you were divided during that time. Chances are, you were, even if subtly. You were having dinner with friends but looking forward to it being over because you found it kind of boring, and then you felt a little guilty for being bored. You were wrapped up in project you love but periodically found yourself getting irritable when things didn\u2019t work the way you wanted them to, revealing how part of you was more interested in the outcome of the project than in wholeheartedly doing it.<\/p>\n By the way, when you realize you haven\u2019t been Unified for a time, forget about it and simply Unify yourself right away! If you beat yourself up for not being unified, you may end up undermining the effectiveness of the practice to get you to the moon, a.k.a. a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being, by making the whole process stressful and unpleasant.<\/p>\n When you\u2019re doing the Radical Practice of Unified Self, there is<\/em> a certain kind of awareness present that otherwise isn\u2019t. However, it\u2019s kind of subtle, and it\u2019s incredibly difficult to describe without inviting our minds to separate out \u201cme\u201d from \u201cmy awareness\u201d from \u201cwhat is going on,\u201d and this Buddha-awareness is not divided. The words that most accurately evoke this awareness for me are \u201caliveness,\u201d \u201csentience,\u201d \u201cwholehearted being,\u201d or Uchiyama Roshi\u2019s \u201cthe self doing self.\u201d[ii]<\/a> The awareness that is part of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being is basic, natural, and ordinary. It isn\u2019t removed, thoughtless, rarefied, or limited to things in your immediate surroundings that you perceive through the five senses. In some situations it coolly observes, while in others it participates in leaping, laughing, crying, analyzing, and creating. This awareness will be present<\/em>, but it won\u2019t constrain activity.<\/p>\n I beg Shakyamuni Buddha\u2019s forgiveness, and the patience of all the great Buddhist teachers of subsequent generations, for my arrogance in implying I have found something new, or managed to improve on their teaching techniques. Still, I love my spiritual tradition for the fact that it invites all of us to point at the moon in our own way, using our own words, images, and approaches. When I turn to the ancestors to corroborate what I have discovered in the course of my own practice, I am pleased to read the words of Zen master Lin-Chi:<\/p>\n \u201cFollowers of the Way, the outstanding teachers from times past have all had ways of drawing people out. What I myself want to impress on you is that you mustn\u2019t be led astray by others. If you want to use this thing, then use it and have no doubts or hesitations!<\/p>\n \u201cWhen students today fail to make progress, where\u2019s the fault? The fault lies in the fact that they don\u2019t have faith in themselves! If you don\u2019t have faith in yourself, then you\u2019ll be forever in a hurry trying to keep up with everything around you, you\u2019ll be twisted and turned by whatever environment you\u2019re in and you can never move freely. But if you can just stop this mind that goes rushing around moment by moment looking for something, then you\u2019ll be no different from the patriarchs and buddhas. Do you want to get to know the patriarchs and buddhas? They\u2019re none other than you, the people standing in front of me listening to this lecture on the Dharma!\u201d[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n When Lin-Chi talks about the \u201cmind that goes rushing around moment by moment looking for something,\u201d I don\u2019t think he\u2019s not talking about our tendency to think about stuff. That\u2019s how I used to understand his words, but thinking is just part of being human (and frankly, it\u2019s a great part of being human). I think Lin-Chi is referring to something deeper and subtler: the part of us that is looking for something else, to be someone else, to exist in a different world than we live in right now. That part drives the mind to go rushing about \u2013 sometimes even in the pursuit of some state called mindfulness. Can you go ahead and think, speak, and act without rushing about?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [i]<\/a> http:\/\/www.mindful.org\/jon-kabat-zinn-defining-mindfulness\/<\/a><\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> Opening the Hand of Thought<\/em> by Kosho Uchiyama. Wisdom Publications, 2004.<\/p>\n![\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/mom-son-teddy-bear-love-hug-1363919\/\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/522\/2016\/08\/Mom-Embrace-from-Pixabay-AdinaVoicu-300x180.jpg\")
[continued from previous page<\/em>] Imagine you are in the embrace of your mother and she is offering you unlimited, unconditional love. (If your mother didn\u2019t or doesn\u2019t actually offer that, imagine a mother who could.) As you rest in her arms, probably sobbing gently as her love helps heal your inevitable wounds, you feel more confidence that you are acceptable just the way you are. With all your warts, foibles, tantrums, and limitations, someone sees you as precious, loveable, and worthy. Someone sees you as special without having to compare you with anyone else in the world. That ease, acceptance, and inner healing you feel? That\u2019s part of a Buddha\u2019s Way of Being.<\/p>\n
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