Taming the Crazy Elephant
Sojong Reminder from Anam Thubten
Dear Dharma friends,
The natural world is often gentle and kind. Because of that, we’re all alive on this beautiful earth, breathing, eating, walking, and being surrounded by friends. It gives us what is necessary to meet our basic needs. On a daily basis, most of us might not need to feel fear of any substantial threat to our life. Life is often like a stream flowing on its own. It take cares of itself. Now and then, the physical world can be quite wrathful; earthquakes, storms, and tornadoes all happen as nature is fully active and alive. It has no intention to cause a cataclysm for any living creatures. Even with its wrath, to many of us the natural world does not seem to be violent.
In the animal kingdom, there is a food chain wherein creatures feed on each other. This is true everywhere on the earth and in the ocean. Witnessing this can sometimes be disheartening, and can make us wish that the universe is structured in a way that all beings can survive without harming each other. At the same time, we wouldn’t necessarily call animals violent. Animals are a part of nature’s display that is not run by ego or conscious intention.
From one perspective, violence is a particularly human thing that has different levels. It takes many forms in our interactions with each other. Extreme forms of it can manifest as war, which has occurred since the beginning of humanity. It should be a thing of the past, yet it’s still happening in the 21st century. It shows us where we are as a species. Sometimes it feels like our beloved humanity might still be in the initial stages of its evolution. We’ve moved away from caves and into homes, and we’re using smart phones instead of clubs. However, our consciousness might still be stuck in an old dualistic paradigm propelled by primitive instincts and egoic intentions.
Violence can be physical, mental, and verbal - such as harsh words. Their roots lie in the mind and spring from intention that is lacking in love, compassion and wisdom. These roots need to be recognized, whereby such violence can be stopped. This is what Buddha called “taming one’s mind”. The sutras often compare the human mind with a wild horse or crazy elephant, which teaches us that it can be destructive unless it is tamed. The way to tame our mind is through daily mindfulness; recognizing when negative thoughts or intentions arise, and not following them. Eventually, these internal forces will lose their power over our mind.
Buddha, as well as many great sages, taught ahimsa as the true, universal dharma. Ahimsa means nonviolence in Sanskrit. Buddha started holding the famous monsoon retreats during rainy seasons in India so that his disciples would not travel too much, and so that they could avoid stepping on tiny creatures or causing damage to crops in the fields. Environmental degradation is also a form of violence. The practice of ahimsa is to refrain from intentionally causing harm to living beings or to the environment that we very much rely on for our survival.
It’s also truly important to practice ahimsa towards oneself. Sometimes people can be violent towards themselves by directing hatred, judgment, criticism and aversion inward. This can be a powerful stumbling block on our path, impeding us from actualizing inner freedom. It can also inadvertently create an obstacle to developing compassion and love toward the world. It’s a painful form of self-centeredness, which is often a product of an erroneous perception of who we are.
During this Sojong, we can hold the intention to make ahimsa the very foundation of our path, and to practice it towards oneself, people, and the natural world. May the world be blessed by good heart and kindness.
With palms joined,
Anam Thubten
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