"Do not make the mistake of thinking you are a powerless individual in a vast world," writes Tai Situ Rinpoche in our book "The Way Ahead." "Know that you are armed with three great powers. You have the power of the body -- the source of all action; the power of speech -- the source of all expression; and the power of the mind -- the source of all thought."
Effectively, whether we are aware of it or not, everything we think, say and do has an effect on everyone and everything else. This means that our thoughts and actions can lead to chaos and destruction as easily as they can to healing and friendship. It also means that we have enormous resources available to us at all times.
Our actions, obviously, have the most direct impact on others. The destructive results of believing that whatever we do has no bearing on anyone or anything else can be seen throughout our natural world. Every action we take, even the smallest and simplest of everyday choices, has a consequence. For instance, in southern Egypt we traveled by truck into the desert. From where the truck left us, we hiked far up a dry riverbed into silence and beauty and rubbish: piles of polystyrene and plastic dumped in the middle of nowhere. On an island in Greece, we found large bags of garbage washed ashore that had been tipped into the Mediterranean by passing boats. While in the exotic paradise of Sri Lanka, Deb was happily swimming in the beautiful Unawatuna Bay when human feces floated past her. Apart from polluting the land and water, such garbage and raw sewage is devastating to the surrounding plant, animal and sea life.
"Nothing exists by itself; everything exists only in relationship," says Marc Ian Barasch in "Be the Change." "This leads to the realization that life is not just about my own pursuit of happiness or search for comfort, but the ego is always wanting gratification and this can lead to all sorts of problems. For instance, as we don't like to scrub and scrape our cooking pots, we invented Teflon and nonstick pans. But now toxic perchlor fluoride from Teflon manufacturing can be found in the umbilical cord blood of 98 percent of newborns. Everything exists in relationship."
Every creature, insect, tide or weather pattern has its own unique role to play as an integrated part of the greater whole. Nothing is without a purpose. If we don't understand this, then our actions can easily be abusive.
"The environment wastes nothing. It disposes of hundreds of billions of tons of fallen leaves and decaying materials, recycling them in an elegant and beautiful system," explains Mark Mawrence in "Be the Change." "Whereas we, in this modern world, waste everything. We excrete hundreds of billions of tons of toxins into the environment, causing the impact that we are all familiar with. Eskimos in Alaska are breathing lead from fumes emitted in Los Angeles. Farming cycles in Hawaii and Central America are impacted by smog created in China. Once we establish that connectedness between us all, whether we live in Boise, Idaho, or Tokyo, we see how everything we do impacts each other."
Our neighborhood is our shared home, our environment our shared garden. Picking up rubbish is not just an act of kindness to the street, but also a way to ensure that we don't clog our rivers or seas; fighting to save the rain forests is not just so that the trees can survive, but also so that we may breathe more easily. Just as ignorance creates ignorant actions, so skillful awareness can generate a more positive outcome.
Ed remembers walking down a fancy shopping street in London when a teenaged girl in front of him finished drinking a can of soda and threw the empty can on the ground. "I picked it up and handed it back to her, asking 'Would you throw this on the floor in your home?' She looked at me like I was crazy."
The impact of our words may be less obvious than that of our actions, but they are just as effective. Words are heard and felt; they reverberate throughout our system, affecting both those who say them and those who hear them. How we express ourselves can cause either conflict or joy; it can start wars or mend hearts. Words come and go, and others may soon forget what we say, but they will never forget how we make them feel. The simple act of replacing words that belittle or hurt with ones that encourage and uplift can change our world.
And it's not what we say but how we say it -- we catch more flies with honey than with vinegar! Hurtful words creep under the carpet and constantly remind us that they are there, while loving words lift and shake the carpet loose of unwanted memories. As such, words should not be used lightly, but with consideration of their influence.
Thoughts may be even subtler, but when used purposefully, they are equally powerful. As we think, so we become: like a domino effect, our thoughts influence our feelings; from our feeling are born our words and our actions; our thoughts affect our behavior and beliefs, whom we care for and whom we dismiss. They also affect the unseen and unknown as we send our thought waves and energy out into the universe. The greatest discovery is that we can change our life and the world by changing the way we are thinking. If we think it's impossible, it's impossible; if we think it's possible, then it becomes highly probable.
"We need to understand our own minds; we need to see our own patterns and expressions," says Joseph Goldstein in "Be the Change." "In a way it is so obvious. If we are full of judgment or anger or fear, we are just contributing to the problem. And if we let judgment go and become more loving and accepting and compassionate in ourselves, then that is what we give to the world."
How can you use the power of your body, speech and mind to improve your life? Do comment below.
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One small thing I'm attempting to improve involves both mind and speech. I have a bad habit (Mama would be so ashamed!) of swearing easily. Oh, I don't turn the air around me a bright blue, usually. But, as an example, when I was hanging laundry out today, I dropped some pins on the ground for about the third time, and the words "damn it!" flew out of my mouth. I'm trying to catch those words before they escape, trying to lower my frustration threshold. (BTW, one of the reasons I love these discussions is because it helps me analyze things. I sat here trying to think of WHY I thought it important to stop swearing so readily, and the idea of a frustration threshold hit me for the first time.)
No idea how it will affect the rest of the cosmos, although I do believe it will. But I hope it improves my own life a bit. And it helps to now know part of why I think this change WILL improve it!
I believe in what you are saying. Though the definition of good and bad actions is somewhat subjective, and at many levels complex and confusing, the concept of good and bad intention is to me clear cut. We make a move and the cosmic dominos fall, the ripples spread, and the effects travel beyond our awareness now and into the future.
Both your awareness of, and intention to curtail your response to frustration will become one more brick in that wall we can all building together, because of the effect it will have on others, and the effect it is having on you.
Your comment has made me think about the number of times I react in a less than positive manner to some issue or event, many times with no more forethought than a knee-jerk reflex… see, you are already having a positive effect. :)
Lawson
you then may even crack up laughing -
let's not take ourselves too seriously &
you may even just stop swearing & just start laughing :-))
Treasure yourself,
Ed
cool & fun & probably true
bearthcontÂrol.com
couldn't agree with you more lowery2008
Thank you!
Enjoy the journey!
What beautiful teachings...how good to be reminded of the awesome power of thoughts,
words, and actions. It definitely gives one a cause to pause and reflect on one's own life,
and hopefully renew our spirit of being positive and compassionate in all areas of being
human...it sure did that for me!
LOVE YOU,
AndiG
1- a heart of gold
2- a voice of love
3- always thinking of others
Big hugs & Love,
Love your way, today and every day,
Cara
happy to see you are the Featured blog today -
you deserve the SPLASH
your words are like a precious jewel in the hearts of us all.
and what you say here is wise & compassionate.
Big hugs & love
Great writing, as usual. I'd like to suggest that with regard to Body, Speech and Mind, what I find particularly important about this relationship is that in many traditions, Speech is the way of making a connection between Body and Mind. Thus, for example, with the Internet (which currently represents the neural net or the Global "Mind" of our planet), it is urgent that we somehow create a means to activate the Global "Heart" of the planet via the Internet. Thus, we have manifested www.templeofsacredsound.org, the world's first interactive sacred sound temple where people can go 24/7 in order to project intentionalized sound for Global Harmonization--the process of helping creating peace and harmony on this planet. I'd like to suggest that any of your readers who are interested please visit this website in order to help manifest balance on the Earth.
Blessings of Light & Love through Sound,
Jonathan
HP friends this is a worthy view:
www.templeÂofsacredsoÂund.org,
Sometimes I just lump Body, Speech and Mind into Behavior. However, I exclude or differentiate free flowing thoughts as not a behavior. Thinking assuredly is!
Mental activity is the source of physical actions and those actions influence how we feel. Once patterns of emotions become entrenched, they adjust our attitude. I think our attitude can help filter or decode the naturally occurring thought streams.
Thoughts start as images or vibrations. Their inception is pre language. They are like tiny bubbles of primordial ooze.
Which brings me to freedom. Those bubbles, generally, are not allowed freedom. They are herded into thought trains. Trains that often derail before they arrive at their station.
The essence or sine qua non of abuse is the deprivation of freedom. Freeing the internal flow can be the cart or the horse.
"Grant me the courage to change the things I can."
enjoy!
I recommend viewers to read this commend! There is a wealth here!
So true:
"Grant me the courage to change the things I can."
One cannot assess the changes surrounding one's self. Neither can the individual assess the impact of his or her actions. They may have significant impact or negligible influence. There is great emphasis in our thoughts about changing things yet this happens through and without us. We change our surroundings and are changed in return. The result is an echo that dies away in an indeterminate reverberation of white noise only to be recharged with another outburst of sound that also fades away.
It is not about improving our lives for that too casts a judgmental net over our lives. It is about stepping outside of such tendencies to judge. Neither improve our lives or not improve our lives but to simply live.
Joseph Goldstein is spot on when he says in your quote above, "we need to see our own patterns . . ." But, the observer and the observed must remain one throughout. We who see are seen and there is no difference between the two then observation is the same as the observer -- no dichotomy between self as seeing and self as seen.
Sati flows from Samatha . From the calm center one simply observes -- no observer, no observed just watching -- that is all.
Namaste
What you say here is spot on:
"Sati flows from Samatha . From the calm center one simply observes -- no observer, no observed just watching -- that is all."
couldn't agree with you more!
you show how few words can say so much
Zen Mind
fanned & fav'd
you know how to make a person feel good
your so right!
"The ability to not get attached? Very hard for me to do, how do
you do this?"
my reply - through meditation and the awareness that everything is constantly changing and nothing remains the same.
You don't do anything - other than being aware & seeing the mind may cling but not to give it energy
cause and effect, everything is in constant movement, flux, change. this great interdependent pulsing conglomeration of life we share is always shifting. everything coming into and going out of existence constantly.
isn't it newton's third law that says every action has an equal and opposite reaction? EVERY action. so obvious everything we do has some kind of impact. even the smallest movement is linked to the greater whole. guess we best take good care as any casual observer can see that there is plenty of suffering in the world and why oh why would we want to contribute to it?
what you say here is so cool:
"i love this post -- just reading the title i started to laugh. i immediatelÂy thought . . . do i really have three great powers? or do i really have three great liabilitieÂs? for i know i am especially gifted in the open-mouthÂ-insert-foÂot category . . . and that is both body and speech, but maybe not so much mind goes into that . . . ;-) "
there are many people who need to take your advice!
:-))
We create our own surroundings by the thoughts we think.
If we understood the power of our thoughts,........
we would guard them more closely.
If we understood the awesome power of our words,........
we would prefer silence to almost anything negative.
In our thoughts and words we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths.
~ Embraced By The Light
wonderful
But our minds haven't done the trick, mostly because we are naturally lazy, naturally greedy, naturally uncaring - it takes little effort to exhibit those characteristics, but lots of effort to work, to give and to care. It's an uncommon person who's willing to do those things. But it was also an uncommon person who saw Yosemite Valley and said, "We must save this place for all time, just as it was made by God" and to fight logging and exploitation for decades. But it was worth the effort for John Muir and others like him.
The Vikings had an idea that those who fought against impossible odds would find a special part of Valhalla - maybe there's a special life experience, or even a special heaven, for those who warn, against all odds, of the dangers of an unrestrained industrial life.
it is worth a read - I recommend viewers to engage
you are a gift to the living section dialogue