Practicing Samprajana
Samprajana is a practice that can help us to be aware of our tendencies and not to react with them when life’s situations challenge us. In Tibetan, it’s called Sheyzhin and means to be fully mindful in each every moment, not just here and there. There are teachings and writings on it that we can study. Among the classical texts, the fifth chapter in Shantideva’s Boddhicaryavatara deals with this particular practice.
Dear Dharma Friends,
Years ago I saw a picture of a very famous Tibetan Lama pushing a truck out of the mud with a bunch of lay people somewhere back in Tibet. Ironically, that is perhaps one of most moving pictures for me. This might not make sense to others. Pictures of the same lama sitting on a high throne or surrounded by devotees probably wouldn’t move me as much as that picture. It captured many of the noble qualities that Buddha encourages one to hold and develop: humility, compassion, altruism, and kindness.
That picture brings many levels of teaching to my mind. There is even a metaphor in it where this wonderful lama is helping others to not get stuck inside themselves. We have a tendency to get stuck in our mind with thoughts and emotions. This situation is happening all the time whether we’re aware of it or not. Not only are individuals stuck in thoughts and emotions, but the whole societies are stuck in unresolved emotional patterns.
The wife of a friend of mine is Japanese. She is a quiet and gentle person. She told her husband that she doesn’t feel safe to travel to certain Asian countries because of her nationality. It has to do with the fact many people in Asia still hold a strong grudge toward Japanese people for their country’s having inflicted unspeakable pain on other countries during the second world war as well as prior to it. Just like many other Japanese, she had nothing do with what happened in their history. This is an example of how a whole society can get struck internally.
The Thai Master Ajan Chah said something like, ”We feel that Buddha is telling us to leave our long time bad friends from childhood when he tells us to leave our hatred, greed and delusion behind,” Imagine a dear friend from childhood who leads us into all kinds of trouble. It wouldn’t be easy to sever such a relationship. His analogy is quite on point. When we look inside, we might find that we’re stuck in all kinds of concepts and unprocessed emotions.
Even in everyday life, we might see that we’re getting stuck inside as various situations arise. Sometimes it only requires a small matter for us to blow things out of proportion and to get angry or fearful. We can get lost in our internal dialogue and create a story line where things are black and white. We can often believe and hold onto those experiences for quite a long time before another situation challenges us. This is a tendency that keeps the wheel of duhkha (unhappiness) running again and again. It’s import to recognize this tendency in ourselves before we can work on letting go of it.
Samprajana is a practice that can help us to be aware of our tendencies and not to react with them when life’s situations challenge us. In Tibetan, it’s called Sheyzhin and means to be fully mindful in each every moment, not just here and there. There are teachings and writings on it that we can study. Among the classical texts, the fifth chapter in Shantideva’s Boddhicaryavatara deals with this particular practice.
During this upcoming Sojong, let’s practice self-reflection and notice, while not judging, these tendencies in ourselves. Let’s hold the noble commitment to practice the samprajana as a way to inner freedom.
With palms joined, Anam Thubten