zen

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Compassion for the Self

It’s easy to have compassion for others, for the most part.  In doing so, we feel we are making the world a better place.  What we fail to realise is that compassion must first start with our self – that is where the change in the world begins.

A lot of people don’t take the time out of their lives to look at their own self, at least not without using some form of judgement.  And even if they do so, often they can feel guilty about it – they should be helping the kids with the homework or working at the local animal shelter instead of perhaps meditating on the nature of compassion.  What I would suggest is that perhaps this taking time out for yourself is the very best thing you can do, for yourself and for the world.

Compassion for others is often seen as noble – when all it really is, is simply compassion.  There is nothing noble about it at all – it is merely a way of viewing the world not merely as an exercise in inter-relatedness, but of a deep knowing that everything is connected to each other.  The iron in our blood comes from star-stuff, the computer I write upon is made of plastic and metal, which in turn is made up of a myriad things that can relate back to sunlight, water, human and other animals.  Compassion is seeing this in everything, and in doing so letting the barriers of the self and the other fall away so that we can see clearly, and in doing so, empathise and act accordingly with the world around us.

Not too terribly hard to grasp, that.  But what of compassion for our selves? We are taught, at least in the Western world, to judge anything and everything.  I’ve heard it said that this is what makes us human, different from the rest of the animal kingdom. It’s an interesting thought.  We can judge others fairly, harshly, unfairly or with loving kindness.  However, it is still a judgement.  We cannot have a judgement without having a sense of self – and yet how many of us have looked in the mirror at some point in their lives and said “Who is that?”.

There are many theories as to what makes up the sense of the self – from a mere collection of thoughts that we have repeated over and over until we believe them, the loudest pushing forwards, to an eternal and changeless core of existence that we try to return to again and again.  I can offer no ideas – I’m still searching. What I do know is that this sense of self, however we view it, can get in the way of compassion.

Believing in a self, means that we believe in a separate entity to all other things.  That’s not so bad – but it’s also where a helluva lot of conflict, judgement, and bad-behaviour can arise.  I can judge something because it is not me – or in a lot of cases, because something reminds me of what I don’t want to be, I shall judge it, and judge it either wisely or harshly depending on my mood.

I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fully drop the sense of self, but what I can and am trying to do is to drop the judgement that comes from the sense of self.  In an earlier blog, I wrote about ceasing to expect things from other people – and how this can only be a good thing.  This leads on to a life without judgement as well. I’m getting better at it when it comes to other people. But when it comes to myself?  I am my own worst critic. How many of us have said those exact words? How many of us judge ourselves more harshly than we could ever judge others, or even worse, project these judgements of ourselves unconsciously onto others in order to feel better about ourselves or to outpace our own demons?

The key lies in finding compassion for your self.  To sit with your self, to see your self in all reality, in the “good” and the “bad” – whatever those may be.  In acknowledging all that you have done, and realising that, as in a Taylor Swift song, that “who you are is not where you’ve been” or “who you are is not what you did”.  Pretty deep stuff from a 19 year old in her song, Innocent.  I also really like the lyric “Lost your balance on a tightrope, it’s never too late to get it back”.  We have all made mistakes – we can stop judging ourselves and simply get on with living life to the fullest with all compassion, for ourselves and for others (which is really one and the same).

This last month has been a deep, introspective month for me, of looking deep into my soul and seeing the good, the bad and the ugly.  Coming to terms with all of this, with all past mistakes and glourious achievements, and realising that these are not what constitute my being – they are simply my past – has led to a mini-breakthough in the way I view the world.

I have compassion for my Self.

Getting to know your Self, in understanding, not in judging, is the key to compassion.  If we all simply tried to understand everything and everyone, instead of judging – as Sam Cooke sang, “what a wonderful world this would be”.  See your faults, see your errors, see your successes and your triumphs. And let them go. Return to the Self of the present moment, instead of living in the past, and letting the past define you.

Equally – stop living in the future. Stop judging your Self for not being where you want to be. Stop being so harsh for having dreams, even.  Let the future go, much as the past.  Sure, it’s okay to plan, but hold onto those plans lightly, for everything in this world changes. It’s the one constant, paradoxically.

Get on with life now – by having compassion for your Self.  It’s the best thing you can do, for yourself and for the world.  If we can let go, we can truly live in a world of love and peace.  End the judgement, and begin the understanding, both of your Self and the world around you. Have some compassion – for your Self.

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Excerpt from new book, Zen Druidry

We are not “away with the faeries” in meditation – we are truly and more aware of what is going on around us than most people at that moment.  We are also aware of our own bodies – any tightness, any pains, where we are relaxed and where we are tense. We can adjust our bodies, again without attachment, releasing tension and the moving on to full awareness of everything. 

 

This first phase of meditation is exceedingly important.  Once we have attained a modicum of discipline, we can then open ourselves up to what is going on around us without instantly jumping into thoughts about everything we see, hear or smell.  We have already modified our behavioural patterns into something much simpler, much more integrated with the world around us. 

 

The next phase is to allow the thoughts that arise, releasing the focus on our breath and our environment.  We do not become absorbed in these thoughts, however.  We let them bubble up, notice them, and then without paying any more attention to them let them go.  This is the key – like an angry child with a temper tantrum, the more attention we give to our thoughts, the louder they will become, until they have completely absorbed us into their own little world.  We must realise that their little world doesn’t even exist – we must learn to stop living inside our heads.

 

Some of the thoughts that arise might be full of emotion, leading us to joyous recollections or into the pits of despair.  Again, we must simply see the thoughts that arise in these first stages of meditation, and later find the space to deal with them should they need to be dealt with.  The idea of mindfulness is not to push aside the feelings, not to suppress them in any way. You truly have to feel them – and with such feelings like rage, it can be difficult. But it is possible to feel these emotions without acting upon them. It’s why I haven’t murdered anyone – and I hope I never will! Because we live in honorable relationship to the world, we know that to act on certain feelings is morally unethical. We can still feel them, acknowledge them – hell, we’re only monkeys with car keys after all. We honor the feelings of our own human nature, dance with them, surrender into their flow for a time, but never ever submit, for to do could quite possibly mean our death, or the death and harm of others.

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An Enlightened Druid?

Many people ask – what is enlightenment?  Oh for an easily explained answer.  The Buddha, when choosing his successor, simply held up a flower and one of his disciples was enlightened and smiled – he then became the successor.  There are many stories in Zen philosophy and spirituality about enlightenment, but none of these stories actually tell you just what it is. And nor should they – it is something to be experienced, not read or talked about.

Outiside of Japan, most Zen practioners experience enlightenment gradually, as opposed to the full smack upside the head that satori can create.  It is through meditaiton, and being completely aware that you gradually gain enlightenment.  As the ego starts to fall away, the so-called “real” self emerges.

To allow the ego to fall away, one technique is to use the “Don’t Know” mind.

“Everybody says, “I” — “I want this, I am like that…” But nobody understands this “I.” Before you were born, where did your I come from? When you die, where will your I go? If you sincerely ask, “What am I?” sooner or later you will run into a wall where all thinking is cut off. We call this “Don’t know.” Zen is keeping this “Don’t know” mind always and everywhere. When walking, standing, sitting, lying down, speaking, being silent, moving, being still. At all times, in all places, without interruption – what is this?” – taken from http://zen.buddhism.org/about-zen.html

It’s a hard thing to admit that we don’t really know anything.  And yet, any true scientiest will tell you that it is impossible to know 100% about anything – there is always margin for error.  When we embrace the fact that we don’t really know anything, whole worlds open up for us.  We can examine ourselves more deeply, and then ponder even on the notion of self if we were to take it one step further.  Enlightenment is said to strike when we realise that there is no self – that we are all part of everything else. In Zen, the term “oneness” is often used, but I don’t like the monopoly that this word invokes – instead I think of it as a “wholeness”.

When we are completely in the moment, when our chattering minds are stilled, when our sense of self falls away and there is only the now, we become enlightened.  In this state, many great things can happen – the perfect haiku is written, the archer and the target become one and the bullseye is hit without thought, the music simply flows, the painting emerges.

This reminds me of a similar term in Druidry, which is awen.  Many people now believe the Welsh word’s translation to be something akin to “flowing spirit” or “flowing inspiration”.  Is this any different to the Eastern version of enlightenment?  As Druids, we gain awen from the world around us, which inspires us to create or to be still, to act or to remain passive, to be in complete and total relationship with the world around us.  Not so different to satori, is it?  Again, to be in a perfect relationship with the world around us, we must learn not to separate the I from the It – instead viewing the world as a whole rather than as separate.  In this way, the inspiration or flowing spirit can flow freely down all channels directly into our soul and out into the wider web of the universe.

So, am I enlightened?

Don’t know.

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Mindtraps

Every day we are caught in mind-traps – little prisons of our own making.  We are constantly hijaked by our thoughts and feelings, our attachments to them and our egos, that we spin endlessly in circles until we fall down upon our butts.  The key to breaking free of these mind traps is through observation.

When we meditate in the Zen style, or do zazen as it is called, we become aware of our bodies and our thoughts.  We do not “zone out”, we are not “away with the faeries” or pondering the mysteries of life – in zazen we focus on pure experience.  This focus helps us in our lives when we are not in zazen. We are aware of how our bodies are feeling – whether our breath is shallow or deep, that twinge in our back, whether our facial muscles are tense or relaxed.  We also turn that awareness to our surroundings, listening to the birdsong outside, or the traffic, feeling the breeze or the sunlight upon our shoulders.  We are aware as much as is humanly possible of everything that is around us and within us.  It is no easy task.

Our thoughts are constantly seeking to distract us from the comfortable reality that we have created. Even though this reality may be a false reality, still it is more comfortable than sitting, thinking about our headache or the plain “boredom” of doing zazen.  We daydream, we think through all our life’s problems, we spin off in attempts to do anything but simply be in the moment, because we feel that we deserve otherwise. Remember that old saying, “there is no time like the present”?  Similarly, there is no experience other than this present moment – mayhap the best thing you could be doing is simply experiencing it right now.

We like to think. There is nothing wrong with thinking – we can solve problems, work out situations with a little forethought. We plan – and again, there is nothing wrong with having life plans. It is our attachment to these plans that sets us off in another mindtrap – where if we don’t achieve them our life can feel in ruins.

In zazen, we learn to observe.  We sit, and we observe our bodies’ attempts to defy our intention of just sitting still and being in the moment. Why do our bodies do this? Because they reflect our thoughts – our thoughts don’t want to sit still – they want to run riot.  In zazen, it is not so much controlling our thoughts, pushing them away or yelling at them to be quiet like unruly children – we observe the thoughts and gradually, through observing them, they become quieter.  A new thought is a wonderful, shiny thing that we want to explore – whether it is a “good” thought or a “bad” thought.  When we have observed that thought 100 times, it becomes a lot less interesting.  This is what zazen is about.

If we think about what happened to us that upset us during the day, we can easily become lost in our emotional attachment to it.  If we simply observe the thought – “Oh, I’m having a thought about this again” and then return our attention to simply sitting and being in the moment, then we are on the path to freedom from these mindtraps.  Again, it is not easy – we may have to do this 10, 100 or 1,000 times before the thoughts settle down and we tire of them.  With persistence, they will.

We must be careful, however, to simply observe, without “being” the observer.  If we become the observer, then we have created a separate entity that does not exist. If we are simply observing, then we are the pure moment. The past does not exist, neither does the future. It is only this moment, that is constantly changing, that exists.  If thoughts about the past occur, you can observe them, but then ask yourself – “where is the past right now?” It does not exist. When we worry about the future, we can ask ourself “where is the future right now?”. It does not exist. Only this present, everchanging moment exists.

I love to daydream – but not when I am in meditation.  I set aside a time in the day to daydream, to come up with wonderful stories that may see the light of day in future novels or short stories.  There is nothing wrong with imagination – it is a gift that should be used every day. We must learn, however, not to become lost in it, this imaginary world, as it is so much better than our reality can seem.  Living in a pure moment does not leave us unthinking, mindless zombies.  We are totally and completely present, truly living life to the fullest.  That is the greatest gift.

It is time to break free of your mindtraps – look at what thoughts keep occurring, what keeps rising to the surface when you are being silent and still.  By observing them you will notice them, notice the patterns that are created, the emotions and physical pain that may be attached to these thoughts and how they so easily control your life.  Once we see the pattern, we can weave our way out into a new pattern, into a new cycle.  Through zazen, we can take this into our everyday lives, and so, when someone upsets us, or hurts us, or brings us joy – we can see the pattern that is created and either choose to remain within it, or weave a new pattern upon the web of life.  We can either live in this very moment, or stay within our mindtraps. The choice is ours.

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What is Zen Druidry?

So, what is Zen?

Zen is living your meditation, being fully awake and aware.  Bodhidharma (528 A.D.) said: “Not dependent on the written word, transmission apart from the scriptures;  directly pointing at one’s heart, seeing one’s nature, becoming Buddha”.  It is not about sitting on a cushion all day meditating – it is about awareness of everything, and bringing that awareness into every aspect of our lives, seeing our own nature.

Zen is often likened to a philosophy or an attitude rather than a belief. It doesn’t require a belief in anything, not even Buddha.  It is about relationship, and understanding our relationship with everything around us – we are not entities alone in this world.  We are individuals, but we are also a collective of individuals.  Zen is about experiencing, fully.  It refuses to be distracted by the illusions of the constructed world around us, from the prisons we create in our own minds to the material consumerism we see running rampant around us.  Zen means not only going with the flow of the world around us, but being the flow itself.  It is about the true joy of life itself.

So, what is Druidry?

Druidry was the spiritual tradition of the natives of Britain and Ireland and parts of Europe.  An ancient pagan tradition, it was a relationship between people and the land which is maintained in modern Druidry, with a focus towards more individualised relationships with the natural world. Druidry today includes relationships with the ancestors and a cultural heritage, as well as encompassing many other worldviews.

Druidry, like Zen, is often likened to a philosophy – it is indeed a way of life, that does not require a belief in any external deity or concept.  Druidry seeks to strengthen our bonds of relationship with the natural world, gaining inspiration and wisdom from studying the patterns that nature constantly unfolds before us.  At its very core, Druidry holds a reverence for nature.  It is about attuning to the cycles of nature around us that we often find ourselves distanced from in this modern world, and finding the wisdom of the oak.

So, what is Zen Druidry?

Zen Druidry encompasses both teachings from Zen and Druidry to combine into a spirituality that is infused with an awareness of the natural world around us.  Both Zen and Druidry are all about relationship, and how we fit into the world around us.  Through meditation and concepts such as non-attachment to thoughts and experiences coupled with high levels of concentration, Zen Druidry allows us to see the world for what it really is, and in doing so, to honour it and hold a deep reverence for nature in her all glory.

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Charlotte Joko Beck Interview

I really enjoy Charlotte’s way of looking at life.  I’ve copied an interview with her and the original can can be found here:- http://www.oxherding.com/my_weblog/2009/03/charlotte-joko-beck.html

Look up her books on amazon.  Then stop reading and just do it! x

Charlotte Joko Beck

Shambhala SunSpace recently published an interview with Charlotte Joko Beck, conducted by Donna Rockwell.

In my experience, few teachers have Beck’s willingness to jettison all the trappings and traditions of Buddhism, in order to express themselves without disguise. I hope you’ll read the entire interview, below.

Beck

How old were you when you started meditating?

Charlotte Joko Beck: Thirty-nine, forty, somewhere in there.

Did you have any realization through meditation?

No. Of course we have realizations, but that’s not really what drives practice.

Will you say more about that?

I meet all sorts of people who’ve had all sorts of experiences and they’re still confused and not doing very well in their life. Experiences are not enough. My students learn that if they have so-called experiences, I really don’t care much about hearing about them. I just tell them, “Yeah, that’s O.K. Don’t hold onto it. And how are you getting along with your mother?” Otherwise, they get stuck there. It’s not the important thing in practice.

And may I ask you what is?

Learning how to deal with one’s personal, egotistic self. That’s the work. Very, very difficult.

There seems to be a payoff, though, because you feel alive instead of dead.

I wouldn’t say a payoff. You’re returning to the source, you might say – what you always were, but which was severely covered by your core belief and all its systems. And when those get weaker, you do feel joy. I mean, then it’s no big deal to do the dishes and clean up the house and go to work and things like that.

Doing the dishes is a great meditation — especially if you hate it…

Well, if your mind wanders to other things while you’re doing the dishes, just return it to the dishes. Meditation isn’t something special. It’s not a special way of being. It’s simply being aware of what is going on.

Doesn’t sitting meditation prepare the ground to do that?

Sure. It gives you the strength to face the more complex things in your life. You’re not meeting anything much when you’re sitting except your little mind. That’s relatively easy when compared to some of the complex situations we have to live our way through. Sitting gives you the ability to work with your life.

I read your books.

Oh you read. Well, give up reading, O.K.?

Give up reading your books?

Well, they’re all right. Read them once and that’s enough. Books are useful. But some people read for fifty years, you know. And they haven’t begun their practice.

How would you describe self-discovery?

You’re really just an ongoing set of events: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, one after the other. The awareness is keeping up with those events, seeing your life unfolding as it is, not your ideas of it, not your pictures of it. See what I mean?

How would you define meditation?

Awareness of what is, mentally, physically.

Can you please complete the following sentences for me? “The experience of meditation is…”

“…awareness of what is.”

“Meditative awareness has changed my life in the following way…”

“It has changed my life in the direction of it being more harmonious, more satisfactory, more joyful and more useful probably.”Though I don’t think much in those terms. I don’t wake up in the morning thinking I’m going to be useful. I really think about what I’m going to have for breakfast.”

“The one thing awareness has taught me that I want to share with all people is that…”

I don’t want to share anything with all people.

Who do you want to share with?

Nobody. I just live my life. I don’t go around wanting to share something. That’s extra.

Could you talk about that a little bit?

Well, there’s a little shade of piety that creeps into practice. You know, “I have this wonderful practice, I want to share it with everyone.” There’s an error in that. You could probably figure it out yourself.

I think that’s something I need to learn.

You and I know there’s nothing that’s going to make me run away faster than somebody who comes around and wants to be helpful. You know what I mean? I don’t want people to be helpful to me. I just want to live my own life.

Do you think you share yourself?

Yeah, but who’s that?

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Meh.

Reactions are interesting things.  They can only truly happen once – every emotion following them is built upon a memory of the event.  We all have an initial reaction to things – some people cover theirs up, some people let it all out emotionally, some people simply have a “meh” and move on. 

How we react to things – is this in our control?  I would like to think it is.  I’m not advocating not reacting, or suppressing reactions to the extent that we become cold and frigid, uncaring.  But I think it is a very interesting concept – it is emotion combined with instinct.  A bear walks across our path in the woods – we have a reaction.  Someone tells us they love us – we have a reaction. Our car skids across the road on ice – we have a reaction.  Deep down in the limbic part of the brain, most of the physical parts of reaction are engaged – adrenaline, tears, laughter.  That’s the first thing to hit us. The second is our emotional response – fear, sadness, joy.  

Next up is usually a mixture of learned behaviour and patterns that we have created over our lifetimes.  From quite an early age, we are told and we learn not to let all of our emotions and reactions run riot.  We can’t have what we want – the five year old has a tantrum.  The parent (rightly so, in my opinion) tells the child to stop. We begin to learn to control our desires as we separate ourselves further from the parental embrace that gives us everything we need – the difference between desire and need is established. 

In our learned behaviour, we have created all sorts of attachments to memories and feelings that will colour our future reactions.  We have been hurt by someone in the past – when a partner says they have something they want to talk to us about, we may instantly jump to the conclusion that they want to end the relationship – our initial reaction is insecurity.  It may or may not be well off the mark.  If we can let go of these attachments, then we can simply react accordingly to each situation.  How much smoother would life run if that were the case? 

Again, this is not a suppression – that does us absolutely no good at all.  Through meditation and mindfulness, gained through meditation (Zen techniques and philosophy), we learn to observe ourselves, our thought patterns and our behaviours.  We learn that we react in different ways to different things, and noticing the reactions enables us to shift slightly out of our pattern in order to create more harmonious ones with the rest of the world.  

Druidry is about connection.  If we are truly connected, our reactions to things would be much different than what they usually are.  If we realise that we are connected to the person who cut us up on the motorway, our reaction wouldn’t be filled with anger – there might be an initial adrenaline surge as we hit the brakes, avoid any possible accidents, the initial swearing – but afterwards we don’t have to get angry.  That person is made of the same stuff we are, existing on the same planet, breathing the same air, having joys and difficulties in their own lives.  We can simply acknowledge that and move on with our own lives, thus changing our reaction to events. We avoid any accident and continue driving, concentrating on our own path through the lanes. We aren’t suppressing any emotion, because there isn’t an emotional attachment to suppress anymore.  We can’t attach to the reaction either, because it has been and gone. 

Acknowledging that we cannot control other people has a great deal to do with our attachment to our responses.  I can try to manipulate my husband, but I ultimately have no control over him whatsoever, and vice versa.  When we realise that, everything becomes simplified.  We don’t have to become passive – we can still make our point, without becoming upset that the other person doesn’t agree with it. We can still protest on Wall Street.  We can work to make the world a better place with care and compassion for all living things.  We just don’t have to get so attached to it. 

In essence then, is the “meh” attitude one worth having? Next time someone upsets me, I’m going to give it a try. I’ll simply say “meh” and get on with my own life, for it is the only one that I can change for good or ill.  I’ll let you know how I get on.

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Working on excerpt from upcoming book, Zen Druidry

Hi peeps! Just to give you an idea of what I’m working on, here’s a short excerpt from one of my chapters from my new book, Zen Druidry. It’s all about combining the philosophy and spirituality of the two, where east meets west and flows into one path that leads to a life of awakening to the natural world, with full awareness. Enjoy!

Zen easily blends in with any form of religion, for it uses the gifts that you already possess, and emphasises the fact that you are perfect and perfectly who you are at this given moment in time – you can be no other.  As we saw, Zen is about living in the here and now, this very present moment, which does not exclude any higher or other powers should this be your belief system.  You could be a Zen Celtic Druid, a Zen Christian Druid, a Zen Animist Druid – the path is open to you and you only.  Each path is different.  You can make full use of the here and now and appreciate the natural world around you, its rhythms and sounds, smells and sights.  The main point is that Zen does not contradict any religions – in fact, it adds new dimensions.

While most Zen practitioners may be Buddhists, this need not restrict you to the teachings of Buddha.  If, like me, you find them beautiful and informative, feel free to incorporate them into your Druidry.  There is no monopoly on wisdom.  That wonderful saying about killing Buddha on the road when you meet him, for you are already perfect and Buddha cannot exist outside yourself, relates to Druidry on so many levels.  Each living thing is simply living, doing the best they can at that particular moment.  Realisation, perfection – it’s already there within each living thing.  Like a seed, you already carry that potential within your very self, and with the right nourishment and conditions, will blossom.

Zen, like Druidry, is in the living; in the doing.  It’s not an intellectual exercise.  We all have jobs, families, obligations. Many of us have felt a call to enrich these with devotion to causes, gods or goddesses, art.  There is nothing wrong with that – equally, there is nothing wrong with simply devoting oneself to living in the present moment with no external obligations.  It is in the doing that we create the most change in our lives, not in the thinking, or praying, or anything similar.

Let’s look at Buddha’s five noble precepts once more, and see how they relate to Druidry:-

  • The destruction of life causes suffering, so we learn compassion for all things and protect all that we can, whether it be the lives of people, plants or animals.  We refuse to kill, or to condone any acts of killing.

Many who follow the path of Druidry are vegetarian, seeing in our present day and culture no need to eat meat. The meat industry is so wasteful and so far from compassion that is abhorrent to many – any visit to a slaughterhouse will testify to this.  While there are Druids who eat meat, many of them have raised the animals themselves and can vouch for their living conditions, ensuring that there is the least amount of suffering possible.  More and more Druids have allotments, if there is not enough space in their own gardens, to grow and tend their own vegetables, and so to live with minimal impact upon our agriculture and our community.

There are also many Druids who do not condone any acts of war or violence.  Druidry acknowledges the spirit in each and every thing – though many find it harder to see that in humanity than in the natural world around us.  We close ourselves off to other humans in particular, for they appear to have much more power to hurt us than the tree at the bottom of the garden, or the grasshopper in the fields where we picnic.  By seeing that there is no “other”, that we are all related and connected, any act of violence is also done to ourselves.  Druidry is about opening to all forms of life and seeing the sacred in them all – yes, even in David Cameron or Margaret Thatcher.  We never said Druidry was easy!

  • Injustice exists in the world, and we vow to learn loving kindness so that we may work for the well-being of all, whether they be a person, a plant or an animal.  We learn the value of sharing, of helping the community, and refuse to steal or harm in any way.

We can’t escape it – the world is unfair. It is unjust.  Many people seek out justice to right this supposed wrong.  However, this justice can often be at the expense of others.  We involve other people in our “fight” for justice.  I’m not saying that we shouldn’t upset the applecart every now and then, as long as it’s our own cart and no one else’s.  What we can do instead is to cultivate the attitude of loving kindness, which in Buddhism is termed as compassion.  In Druidry, I find that the word that most fits is empathy.  Much as we find ways to relate to the bee, the ant, our grandfather, so too should we find ways to relate to everyone else in this world, whether they are being unjust towards us or not. 

This is not pacifism.  This is taking an active role in bridging that gap between “us” and “them”.  We do not even have to like them, per se – we merely have to empathise with them.  It brings a whole new world view into focus, where we are all walking towards a path that sees the relativity in all living things.  In that relativity, we will only want to do good, to help others and the community. We realise that stealing is only stealing from ourselves.  And so, while we may try to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, therefore ending up being a mile away and with their shoes – this doesn’t quite work, though it is a funny thought!  We can’t escape injustice, we cannot escape each other.  We can only learn how to live fully with empathy for all living things.  We’ll have to give them back their shoes.  They’re our own shoes after all.

  • Sexual relationships must be treated with full respect, and we must not engage in any sexual misconduct, for this causes suffering.  We must protect ourselves and others from sexual abuse and any other sexual misconduct. 

Many within Druidry see a sexual relationship as a very sacred thing.  It is not to be misused or abused in any way.  It is also a very natural thing and a very natural human tendency to want to express our feelings for others in a sexual manner.  For us humans nowadays, sex is not about procreation so much as an expression of our feelings for one another.  As such, we must be fully aware of each other’s feelings, and not hurt each other in any form, sexual or otherwise.  It a paradigm – both sacred and mundane.

If we have cultivated an attitude of empathy, of loving kindness, then we fully allow others to choose their own sexual path that causes no suffering to each other within the relationship.  We must also protect others who are being abused by a sexual relationship – we cannot condone acts such as paedophilia.   To each their own, as long as it harms none, whether that be a same sex relationship, a polyamorous relationship, or even a life of celibacy.  We cannot discriminate towards others in this very personal sphere, so long as there is no suffering involved.

  • Speech is a powerful thing – words have power.  We must speak with attention to what we are saying, with loving kindness and working to resolve conflict.  We must also listen with full attention to what others are saying.

We live in a verbal society.  Words, whether spoken or written, have power – hence the phrase “the power of the written word”.  We attach truth to the written word in many cases.  In Druidry, we recognise the gift of speech and the power that it has.  In Zen, we have learned how we often simply react to a situation, rather than engaging fully with it.  We must think before we speak, and be mindful of what we say.  The Druids, as we have seen, were often the resolvers of conflict, and what better way than through the power of speech.  Words cause conflict as often as they resolve it, and we must work towards the latter, for there is certainly enough of the former already! 

In Druidry, we learn to listen – to the blackbirds singing at dusk, to the airplane overhead, to the bee buzzing amongst the daisies.  So too should we learn to really listen to each other, and not merely hear them.  As stated before, too often we are “listening” to someone while already forming a reply in our own heads before they have even finished speaking.  Engaging fully with the moment means fully listening when someone is speaking.

  • Seek out the middle way – unmindful consumption causes suffering.  We vow to create good physical health in ourselves and others by being mindful of what we eat, drink, and consume in our society to create the least amount of suffering.

This is a big one in Druidry – being mindful consumers.  We see too many people, especially at Christmas time, engaging in a frenzied consumer state that doesn’t really benefit anyone at all except the corporations that prey upon a newly created meaning of that particular time of year.  We become aware of who we are buying from, if we cannot make or grow it ourselves. We become aware of the practices involved in getting the product to our doorstep, every step of the way.  We learn where our water comes from, how many food miles are in our bananas, whether they are organic or not.  It is a cultivated awareness of every aspect of our life, in the same way that Zen is.

Druidry is pretty much the antithesis of being wasteful – for that is sacrilegious towards Druidry.  Every disposable, non-organic diaper being thrown into a landfill is an affront to our world and to Druidry.  It is not only the external world around us that affects our Druidry – it begins with our own physical body.  Drinking, smoking, eating, taking drugs – these all are not “forbidden” in Druidry. It is in the excess of these things that causes suffering – alcoholism, cancer and emphysema, obesity and addiction.  Seeking out a middle ground – avoiding asceticism, for that is simply the other end of the spectrum of excess – gives us the best platform to ground ourselves and live a fully integrated life. 

These five precepts are an excellent starting point for merging Zen and Druidry. Yet we should remember that in Zen and in Druidry, our lives have already started, and we must live them fully! Right now!

by

The non-dramatic druid

by Brian FroudDrama. We all enjoy a bit of it every now and then. Influenced by television, film and books, we act in a similar fashion to people in those tales – or how we think they would act. Life is not at all like EastEnders, and yet, how many people do you know who try to make their lives just like that particular show? I have known plenty in my brief time on this planet so far, for various reasons – boredom and low self-esteem ranking high.

 
Why do we enjoy the drama in our lives so much? Various reasons – it gives us attention, it makes us feel important, it turns our attention away from other things. When something is happening to us, we enjoy the opportunity to extol upon this, whether the situation was a positive or negative one (yet, in reality, there are no positive or negative situation, merely situations).

 
The culprit for all personal dramas is the ego. Remove the ego, and all drama ceases to be.
Remove the ego? Who would I be then?

 
We are all under the false assumption that we are our egos. In effect, our egos consist of patterns of ingrained beliefs and behaviours. All of these can be changed. If all of these can be changed, then who are we? Is there a core person in the first instance, if we all have the ability to change? What would you say if I told you that you were not the centre of the universe? You would probably agree with me (I hope). What if I told you that you were not the centre of your own universe?

 
It is only our perception of ourselves as the centre of our little universe, our dramas, that continue to lead to suffering and dissatisfaction in our lives. When we realise that, in fact, our own universe does not even exist, we can move away from both it and the drama that we create to sustain it – just think about all the energy that we pour into something that doesn’t even exist. We cannot have our own universe, for we are sharing it all the time with everything on this planet, indeed in this universe. Uni – one. Not separate. When we realise that, our worldview shifts dramatically.

 
Not being the centre of our own universe means not reacting to every little or large thing that happens in our lives. If someone upsets me, who is the “me” that they are upsetting? Why am I reacting, getting upset? For comfort from someone else, for attention, to be told that I am right and that they are a horrible person? Who is this person that is upsetting me? Who am I?

 
By combining Zen and Druidry in my spiritual path, I have come to realise many things about myself, whoever this self is. I don’t have to react to everything. Things will happen, I have no control over them. What I do have control over is my reaction to them, or lack of reaction. Much like in nature – the daffodil rises early in January, and then dies from killing frosts in February. Does it get upset about it? Why do we let our human consciousness impede our lives so much in this way, when all of nature seems to cope without the drama? The daffodil will bloom again when it can – as simple as that.

 
Seeing how nature copes, combined with the principles found in Zen (of no separation, the destruction of the “self”) has really opened my eyes over these last two years. Zen teaches us that when we see Buddha on the road, we should kill him. Why is this? Because there is no Buddha external to us – it is inherent in all of us. To believe otherwise is to believe in fallacy. When we realise that Buddha is in everyone, why be all dramatic about anything? As Charlotte Joko Beck stated, and titled a book – Nothing Special.

 
Living with this mindset, that life is nothing special, has, paradoxically, the effect of seeming to make everything special. Life becomes special, when we take our egos and the drama out of it, and see it for what it really is. It becomes real, as opposed to the imaginary world that we create to indulge our egos, our imaginary universe where we are the centre of existence. Which would you prefer to live in?

 
Note: Zen Druidry is a book that I am writing for Moon Books, looking at how Zen and Druidry can combine to create a worldview that awakens one to the natural world with full awareness. For more wonderful titles from Moon Books, please see their website at http://www.moon-books.net.