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Talk: 2011-09_21 Dogen's Instructions for the Cook - Some Useful Suggestions for Vipassana Yogis.json Start_time: 00:59:28 Display_question: Is there a way to be busy and be mindful? Keyword_search: mindful, busy, obstacles, innovation, creativity, pause, breath, multitasking, Ajahn Cha, simple, present moment, thinking, computers, awareness, anxiety, emotional cost, Thailand, Buddha, mindfulness, Cambridge, Harvard Square, anapanasati, breath, mind, attention deficit disorder, TV, granddaughter, Buddha, 1st noble truth, suffering, unsatisfactoriness Question_content Questioner: It seems like for me one of the things that gets in the way of being mindful sometimes, is being really busy, and particularly in this culture, and this city, it’s very easy. Is that like a false dichotomy? Is there a way to be busy, and be mindful? Or do you find yourself cutting back on things to allow for this. Larry: Yes. No. What you pointed out are the particular obstacles in your situation that make it… that get in the way of carrying out…In other words, the words are clear to you, I can see that. It’s just how do you do them? Sometimes you have to be… there's room for innovation and creativity. For example, sometimes just a 15 second pause, and being with a few breaths, if you feel you're getting swept up, and getting lost in your own… or getting too complicated. Break_line: One of the best teachings I was given, was by Ajahn Cha, from Thailand, and he would just say over and over again, we totally underestimated it. He said, no matter… we'd ask questions, no matter what we'd said, he’d say… it looked like he was giving it deep thought, and then he would always say the same thing, keep it simple, and stick to the present moment. Okay, so the outer conditions are complex. Maybe you're multitasking and so forth. Now if thinking is involved, as I gather it must be, right? Questioner: Yes, computers. Larry: Computers, then correct action would be to really 100% do thinking. When you're a cook, you have to do what cooking is. But if thinking is involved…now so then how does this… what is this awareness? How does it contribute? Well, first of all, let's say you're doing the task, and you can feel a lot of anxiety coming up. Okay, that means there's some huge emotional cost, and you may get the job done, but then you come home, and you're exhausted, or right then and there, you may realize that you're afraid of failing, or that there's a deadline, and you're competing with someone else, and you want to get promoted. We've created a system where it's hard to… if this was invented by somebody, who wanted to undercut everything that's been said tonight, they did a good job. But look, if you read the ancients, they had a hard time too. They really did. Break_line: There's one practice that I tried to practice when I first came back from… actually, I learned this in Thailand. Let's say the yogis at the time of the Buddha, you'd be walking along the road, granted, it was mainly a rural society, very much more simple, than what you're getting at. And let's say you walk past a tree, and then past a lake, and you realize that suddenly at the lake, you lost your mindfulness. In other words, when did I get caught up in my thoughts? Typically, the future, or the past. So, then it was the lake. So, you go back to where you lost it. So, when I first came back here, I tried to do that. I walk from Cambridge to Harvard Square, at the time a lot, almost every day. And so, I would do it, I would get to the corner of Ellis and then where did I lose it? You lost it about 2 seconds ago. But the point is, it took me like 2 hours to get into Harvard Square. Okay so… and I had a very simple task for myself. But you have to use your ingenuity, not get discouraged. One value for some people, no method works for everyone is are you drawn to breath awareness at all? Questioner: Yes. Larry: In anapanasati, most people think of it as just concentration. That you do the breath. So the mind becomes very serene, calm, peaceful, still. And so, it's serviceable. It's able to then examine complexity and so forth. But in the full anapanasati, you're keeping the breath in mind a lot throughout the day. So, let's say with practice, you're already breathing. It's not like you have to be so self-conscious. In out is already happening, and it's like accompanying you like a good friend into what's going on. And granted, the challenge is now, first of all, attention deficit disorder, right? That's all I hear. Now, does my granddaughter have attention yes, granddaughter have attention deficit disorder. I'm saying, well, when I look at TV, and I look around, I think the whole planet has attention deficit disorder. Everyone's being given so many different things, and the more new gadgets that come out, they're going, you know (grring sound). So, what do we give up? So, you have to be reasonable. You probably fall on your face a few times, but can you improve your ability? Break_line: One thing that can, whenever you're suffering, I found that it's in the very first teaching the Buddha gave, the first noble truth. If you're suffering, do you know it? First noble truth there is unsatisfactoriness, in human life. He's not saying everything is suffering, but there is. If you're human, you know that. And it's always been true. Probably always be true. Probably true of anything that's alive. So, whenever you're suffering, it's sort of like an alarm goes off. For me. Now that's the place to look. End_time: 01:04:50
