Against the Stream

Being a human being requires strength. It is so easy to fall in line with the ways of the world, which go up and down and have no real firm standards. Sometimes they’ll say lying is bad; sometimes they’ll say lying is good. Killing is bad; killing is good. You can’t trust the standards of the world.

So what you need is some strength to stand firm. It starts with conviction that your actions really do make a difference. We’re convinced of the Buddha’s awakening. What does his awakening mean for us? It means that human actions have power. You really can make a difference by what you do, say, and think. So the effort put into doing and saying and thinking good things is well spent.

Of course, the test for that conviction is that you hold to the precepts. Those are the four qualities of conviction that the Buddha pointed to. Conviction in the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, and also virtues that are pleasing to the noble ones. You don’t lie; you don’t steal; you don’t have illicit sex; you don’t kill; you don’t take intoxicants. You stick to these precepts to show that you really do have faith in the Buddha’s teachings about karma. As you stick with them, it requires that you develop mindfulness and alertness—being mindful to keep the precepts in mind, being alert to make sure that you’re actually following them.

It’s through this way that you get the mind into concentration, as your mindfulness and alertness get stronger and stronger, and your precepts go inside, so that they’re not just a matter of what you do and say, but more importantly a matter of what you think, how you train the mind. When the mind is trained in concentration, then it’s in a good position to develop discernment.

These five things—conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment— these are the strengths of the mind. These are the things that keep your mind healthy, that allow you to withstand the pull of the world.

Often we’re told that we should be going with the flow. Well, the flow goes down. The Buddha actually says to go against the flow. You have to go upstream, and that takes strength. If you’ve ever walked up against the current of a river, you know that it takes more strength than it does just to float down.

So work on these strengths. Make sure they’re strong within you. Feed them well as you practice concentration and as you go through the day. After all, the practice isn’t just a matter of sitting here with your eyes closed. It’s a matter of how you engage with the affairs of the world and maintain your principles as you do so. That way, you can live in the world and not suffer from the world and not come under the influence of the world. You want to be independent and strong.