Often in this practice we speak of letting go of things; let go of thoughts, let go of emotions, let go of pain. Sometimes that is not exactly the right phrase, because letting go suggests that you need to do something.  A better phrase to work with is “Let it be.” Everything comes and goes by itself. We do not have to do anything to make it come, or to make it go, or to let it go.  We just have to let it be.

In order to let it all be, we need to grasp a difficult but essential lesson for meditation practice, and indeed for all aspects of our life:  Having pleasant feelings and avoiding unpleasant ones is not the purpose of our practice. The purpose of mindfulness practice is freedom.

So the important thing in meditation is not whether we experience pleasant versus unpleasant feelings, but rather how we relate to all those feelings.  If we relate with mindfulness – that is, simply noticing, simply observing – then in that moment we are free from greed for the pleasant, aversion to the unpleasant and delusion about what is really there. The practice is opening, it is accepting and, most important, it is liberating.

We like meditation when we’re inspired, in touch, on the right path.  But it can feel like a burden when the practice is difficult, not making us soar, not living up to our expectations. We’re caught between the sublime nature of how we think things ought to be and the reality of how they actually are.  This can be very fruitful.

That tendency of the mind to get small and feel miserable, like a victim—right there our minds can get expanded and much larger.  We can take it as a place of practice, where we can drop the complaints and actually train in letting go of judgment and criticism. We can just be there feeling off guard, uncertain, groundless, insecure, not knowing what to do – and just hang there.

This is the place where we begin to learn the true meaning behind the words. Is it possible to not have to change it? In that moment, not have to become the Buddha or a bodhisattva but just actually be who we are right there with all our flaws, and all the ways we’re feeling completely at sea, lost, fearful, anxious and not spiritual.  Is it actually possible to be there with that raw energy – this very tender moment – with care and compassion?

How can we best respond to the tremendous uncertainty of these times?  What is the source of this great mass of suffering?  What are the forces in the world that drive intolerance, violence and injustice?  Are there forces that hold the promise of peace?  Do we really understand the nature of fear and hatred, envy and greed?  Do we know how to cultivate love and kindness, energy and wisdom?

The great discovery of the meditative journey is that all the forces for good and for harm playing out in the world are also right here in our own minds.  If we want to understand the world, we need to understand ourselves.  Can we really do this?

Mindfulness is path to enlightenment.  With practice, slowly, our minds steady and we begin to experience some space of inner calm and peace.  This environment of inner stillness makes possible a deeper investigation of our thoughts and emotions.  Wisdom sees the impermanent, ephemeral nature of experience and the basic unreliability of these changing phenomena.  And wisdom opens our minds to the experience of selflessness, the great liberating jewel of the Buddha’s enlightenment.  This understanding, in turn, engenders a compassionate engagement with the world.

In the early 20th century, the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce first coined the concept of the Beloved Community. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. popularized the term during the civil rights movements and referred to “the beloved community” in many of his speeches and writings. In 1960, Dr. King told the Freedom Riders, “Our ultimate end must be the creation of the beloved community.”

Dr. King believed that the cornerstone for the beloved community is love and justice and that the foundation of the beloved community is integration and total relatedness. He saw the struggle to resolve conflicts, rather than the absence of conflict as the fertile ground on which to build the beloved community. He defined love as the binding power that holds the universe together tying us in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

We are fast approaching the decision to either fast-forward the creation of the beloved community or face the non-existence of humankind. As students on this path, we know that the beloved community starts inside each one of us. Each one of us must become an activist of the heart. Each on of us has the power to change the world by freeing our own heart-mind. Only then can we initiate change in our community, our country and throughout the world.

There is the story that after the Buddha’s enlightenment Mara, the king of delusion asked the Buddha what he thought gave him the right to think he could direct humankind away from the suffering it had always endured.  In response, the Buddha touched the Earth to witness his right to be there.  He acknowledged where he came from—recognized his true heritage and lineage—that of the Earth.

Similarly, we come together as a sangha to acknowledge our heritage, our lineage—all those beings who in the last 2,500 years have endeavored to sit with dignity, touch the earth and face everything that is within—their own greed, hatred, and delusion that underlies the suffering we endure.  These are all states we have in common and that can be worked with and transformed.  And we can also see the commonality of the kindness, compassion, love and peace that can lift us up.  These are also human states and through practice, can be uncovered and cultivated.  The teachings show us a way in which we can work with all the forces in the mind. And this path can teach us, through meditation, study and practice, a way to free ourselves from all suffering.

New Year’s simply marks the passage of time, there’s no real substance to a New Year — we are constantly being renewed from moment to moment and have the opportunity to authentically inhabit every part of our lives.  Navajo people teach their children that every morning the sun that comes up is brand new, not the same sun from yesterday. This sun has only one day, so you must live this sun’s day in a beautiful way. Acknowledging the preciousness of each day is a good way to live – to reconnect with our basic aliveness and purpose.

Yet, New Year’s is also a convenient convention for us to talk about the intentions of the heart right here and now.  We can tap into the collective energy and use this New Year to renew our commitment to the practice.  No matter what has happened before or where your practice is, you can start right where you are and begin again in this moment.  This is the essence of the practice and that is why it is always alive. So rather than talk about resolutions, I’d like us to reflect on the intentions that might organically arise from the heart if we remember who we truly are – moment to moment.

Happy New Year.

Meditation and mindfulness are key elements of the Buddhist path, but we may sometimes overemphasize them and underemphasize other equally important elements.  There is much more to a Buddhist spiritual life than mindfulness alone – even if mindfulness is the foundation that supports other practices.  Something I find very helpful is cultivating the paramis (literally, perfections of a Buddha), of which there are 10 in the Theravada tradition:  Generosity, Ethics, Renunciation, Wisdom, Vitality, Patience, Truthfulness, Resolve/Determination, Loving-kindness and Equanimity.

The paramis are not meant simply to be thought of in a cognitive way, but to be intuitively and practically cultivated and applied. In fact, they are basic aspects of insight practice, and not separate from it.  When the paramis are undeveloped, the possibilities of development in meditation are limited. Just as mindfulness supports daily practice, the cultivation of excellent qualities of mind supports meditation practice.

A great way to work with them is to take one parami each week and spend the week looking at your life in relationship to it.  This could be a wonderful way to begin the new year… If you like, you can read more about the paramis as daily practice here.

In this season, many of us give, but do we also receive? Receiving is as much an expression of generosity as is giving.  Giving expresses the release of holding and clinging, while receiving expresses that attitude which accepts what is offered and so transforms our aversive tendency to reject experience.

Although at first it looks as though it should be easy, receiving can also be difficult for us. How often have we refused something offered to us that we would actually have liked to receive?  Have you noticed how sometimes it can be hard to receive praise and not contradict it? Do you receive gratitude without saying “it was nothing?” Of course it is wonderful when receiving a gift to be moved to make an offering in return, and it’s wise to take praise with a pinch of salt. But we can be very conditioned to need everything to be an exchange, and be uncomfortable in just receiving.

To receive what is freely offered, requires a degree of humility and vulnerability.  We can learn not to impede the flow of the natural generosity that is an organic expression of our interconnectedness.

We are constantly drawn to those problems that have technical, or political, fixes, rather than to the big questions that elude definitive answers—the mystery of the human heart.  To what do we dedicate our lives?  What is it we hope for in being fully human?  What is it we aspire to in practice? This inquiry begins every time we start a meditation.  At that moment, we are challenging our assumptions about being limited and bound to habit.  We are opening to a state of vast possibility.

What is meaningful to us?  We are a culture obsessed with money, and other perceived sources of power.  Often our aspiration is very small.  Why not aspire to be completely free for the benefit of all beings everywhere?  We can have aspirations that bring joy even in the midst of our suffering.

Can we have the courage to walk the path with heart?  Can we be inspired to join collective action toward meaningful social change?  And what is social change but the movement of each individual heart towards freedom?