Your Contribution
November 03, 2023

Close your eyes and watch your mind. Focus your mind on the breath. Focus your full attention on the breath, all the way in, all the way out. We’re here to observe the mind because the causes for suffering come from within. There are so many things going wrong in the world outside. We all know that. But as the Buddha points out, the real reason why we’re suffering is because of things coming up from within the mind itself. We don’t know how to deal with the events of the world without greed, without aversion, without delusion. And it’s the greed, aversion, and delusion that are causing the trouble.

So we have to look into their source. They arise in the mind right here, right now, so we use the breath as an anchor to make sure that we’re right here, right now. Try to make it comfortable as you breathe in. Ask yourself, “What kind of breathing would feel good for the body right now?” Sometimes heavy breathing feels good, sometimes light. Sometimes long, sometimes short. Deep, shallow. Try to notice what kind of breathing feels best right now. If you find something that feels good, stick with it until it doesn’t feel good anymore, because the needs of your body may change. Keep adjusting the breath so it feels refreshing. If it starts getting mechanical, the mind gets bored. It’s going to go running off.

Take an interest in this breath element in the body. When you breathe in, the breath is not just the air coming in and out of the lungs. It’s the movement of energy throughout the body. So as you breathe in notice: How do things feel in your arms? How do things feel in your legs? The whole torso? The head? The whole body? Wherever there’s any tension or tightness as you breathe in, just think of it relaxing so that all the body can participate in the breath, be nourished by the breath.

This way, the mind has a good place to stay—and a good place from which to watch itself. When you’re coming from a sense of well-being, it’s a lot easier to see the things that are wrong in the mind and not try to hide them from yourself. You can say, “Oh yes, there is that problem in the mind. There is some greed there. There is some anger. Do I have to go with it? No.”

That’s the thing you have to realize: You have the choice. Just because something comes up into the mind doesn’t mean you have to take it on. It’s as if someone is offering plates of food for you. You don’t have to take everything on all the plates. Take just the things that are useful for you. Let everything else go. After all, sometimes the person offering the food is offering some garbage instead. You don’t want to take everything.

Sometimes the food that’s being offered doesn’t give you much to choose from, or at least nothing much good. But if you develop skills here in the present moment, you can take food that’s not especially good and you can make something good out of it. Learn that skill, so that when something comes up in the mind, you have the ability to step back and decide whether or not you want to get involved. Take on only the good things or the things you can potentially make good. Everything else you let go.

In this way, you’re being responsible for not only the shape of your mind but also your contribution to the world around you. Everything you do, and say, and think comes out of the mind, so you want to make the mind is in good shape. If each person would be responsible for his or her mind, allowing only skillful things to come out, the world would be a much better place.

So this can be your contribution. Take care of what you’re responsible for. And don’t neglect your responsibilities because you want to straighten other people out. Start here, and when you start here, you’re starting at the source, and it’s making the source good. Things that come out of the source will have to be good as well.