A Clear, Calm Mind
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A Clear, Calm Mind
Whitehead, World Loyalty, and Buddhism If you want peace, work for justice. So goes the old adage, and there's truth in it. There can be no peace in the world if people are hungry, or frightened, or dominated, or denied their dignity. If you want peace, cultivate a clear, calm mind. Let's include that one, too. To the degree that our minds are clear and calm, we have become the peace we commend to the world. We help create a culture of peace by listening to others, caring for them, and responding with compassion. We make space for justice. That's why it is so good that Ani Chudrun made her choice of becoming a Buddhist nun. We do well to follow her lead, if not by making the same choice she made, then by aspiring to become clear, calm minds in our own way. Most of us, perhaps all of us, need to find our inner Buddhist. We live in an Inter-Subjective Universe Some people think that peace comes only through overt actions which reduce violence and promote justice. But the truth is that subjective states of mind influence the world, too. At least they do from the perspective of those influenced by the philosophy of Whitehead. They -- we -- believe that we live in a world of inter-subjectivity and that how we respond to the world around us subjectively, with our thoughts and intentions, affects the world itself, quite apart from our more overt bodily behavior. A moment of anger makes the world a little angrier; a moment of kindness makes the world a little kinder. May All Beings Be Happy This is why prayer is effective. Consider the Metta Sutta of Buddhism. It is one of the most beautiful prayers the world knows: May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. All living beings, whether weak or strong, In high or middle or low realms of existence, Small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, Born or to be born, may all beings be happy. Even as a mother at the risk of her own life, Watches over and protects her only child, So with a boundless mind may I cherish all living things, Suffusing love over the entire world - Above, below, and all around, without limit; So may I cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world. Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, During all my waking hours, A simple act of positive prayer -- of willing the well-being of another person or, for that matter, all beings -- adds a portion of kindness to the world. A Clear Mind is Prayer, Too Of course no prayer is omnipotent. There are so many other factors at work in our world besides prayers of loving-kindness. Still, a prayer like this makes a difference, changing the situation of the world ever so slightly in a positive direction. Indeed, says Christian theologian Marjorie Suchocki, it alters the situation in which even God can act. But if the prayer is to truly help, it best comes from a clear, calm mind filled with kindness, which likewise adds a portion of goodness to the larger world. In its own way, the clear, calm mind is prayer, too. It is our gift to the world and an answer to the world's prayers. If we pray to God for peace, I suspect that God's response goes something like this: "Follow the way of a Buddhist nun. Become a non-anxious presence as best you can. Try to have a calm, clear mind." This is why various forms of Buddhist meditation are helpful. They are answers to prayer. The Connections Already Exist Clear, calm minds are ways of being born again. They do not create connections that did not exist beforehand; rather they are ways of validating connections that already exist, giving them significance. Thomas Merton puts it this way. “We must begin by frankly admitting that the first place in which to go looking for the world is not outside us but in ourselves. We are the world. In the deepest ground of our being we remain in metaphysical contact with the whole of that creation in which we are only small parts. Through our senses and our minds, our loves, needs, and desires, we are implicated, without possibility of evasion, in this world of matter and of men, of things and of persons, which not only affect us and change our lives but are also affected and changed by us…The question, then, is not to speculate about how we are to contact the world – as if we were somehow in outer space – but how to validate our relationship, give it a fully honest and human significance, and make it truly productive and worthwhile for our world.“ - Thomas Merton, From Love and Living If Merton is right, then Ani Chudrun's choice to become a nun was not at all an escape from the world, but rather a way of validating her already-existing relationships with people, plants and animals, the world itself. Her choice to become a nun was a way of breaking free from consumerism and moving into a different kind of loyalty. We might call it loyalty to life or, for short, world loyalty. A World Loyalty Network "We invite those who share our interest in more organic, relational, integrated, non-dualistic, and processive ways to find a home in the wider Whiteheadian community or to become part of a network with us." -- John Cobb, Seizing an Alternative Imagine that there is a network of people all around the world who comprise what we might call a World Loyalty Network. This network consists of people all around the world who want to break free of the confines of consumer culture and help create a world in which the well-being of life, not ever increasing GDP, is the guiding ideal. Its participants include schoolteachers, artists, children, grandmothers, accountants, farmers, and nuns. What does it mean to be loyal to the world? It is not to forego a love of friends and families, of neighbors and strangers in local settings, whom we rightly love as we love ourselves. It is not to think big at the expense of thinking small. Big thinking without small thinking is empty. Imagine someone who loves the Earth but won't plant a garden, or who loves Justice but doesn't like people. They are disconnected and out of touch with what is immediate and true and beautiful. They can say there but not here. People who are truly loyal to the world plant gardens and spend time with friends. They seek to reduce suffering in active ways, but they also savor the good things in life: fresh tomatoes, fresh ideas, friends both old and new. They know that stories are always more than numbers, and they like listening to stories -- those of people they know and people they do not know. They know that we live on a small but gorgeous planet in which each person has a story and every voice counts, not just those close at hand. They remember that other living beings, too, have their stories as do the hills and rivers, landscapes and waterways. That's what it means to be loyal to the world. It is to hear and respond to one of the writers for this website, Arlene Goldbard, calls the republic of stories. This is why we need clear, calm minds. They help us hear the stories. Spirituality of an Open Heart From a Whiteheadian perspective, it is wise to hear stories, because we live in a storied universe. But wisdom is not reducible to a set of doctrines written on a page. It is an intuitive way of seeing things, sensitive to how they are folded into one another even as they are different from each other. William Blake invites us to see heaven in a wildflower and the universe in a grain of sand. Whitehead's philosophy invites us into this kind of seeing. Wisdom lies in seeing each entity in the universe -- indeed each moment of experience -- as a place where the many become one. Nevertheless, at its best, Whitehead's philosophy is not simply a way of seeing. It is also, and perhaps more deeply, a way of listening. Although not a process philosopher, a Catholic writer -- Joan Chittister -- puts into words what is important to many Whiteheadians: "The spirituality of an open heart. A willingness to be touched. A sense of otherness. There is no room for isolated splendor or self-sufficiency. Here all of life becomes a teacher and we its students. The listener can always learn and turn and begin again. The open can always be filled. The real discipline can always be surprised by God." Many of us believe in God -- understood as a Bodhisattva of Compassion who embraces the universe in a spirit of empathy and justice. We trust that this Bodhisattva embraces us and all living beings with a tender care that nothing be lost and that this Bodhisattva is actively present everywhere in the universe as a spirit of creative transformation. This Bodhissatva is manifestly present, among many other places, in the journey of people like Ani Chudrun, who make a conscious choice to try to live consciously, gratefully, kindly, as best they can -- with clear, calm minds. In the clarity and the calmness, and in the kindness itself, we see the face of the Bodhisattva. Our task is to become windows through whom her light shines. -- Jay McDaniel |
Metta Sutta
This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise, Who seeks the good and has obtained peace. May I be strenuous, upright and sincere, Without pride, easily contented and joyous. May I not be submerged by the things of the world. May I not take upon myself the burden of riches. May my senses be controlled. May I be wise but not puffed up, and may I not desire great possessions, even for my family. May I do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove. May all beings be happy. May they be joyous and live in safety. All living beings, whether weak or strong, In high or middle or low realms of existence, Small or great, visible or invisible, near or far, Born or to be born, may all beings be happy. May I not deceive another, nor despise any being in any state; May I not by anger or hatred wish harm to another. Even as a mother at the risk of her own life, Watches over and protects her only child, So with a boundless mind may I cherish all living things, Suffusing love over the entire world - Above, below, and all around, without limit; So may I cultivate an infinite good will toward the whole world. Standing or walking, sitting or lying down, During all my waking hours, May I practice the way with gratitude. Not holding to fixed views, Endowed with insight, Freed from sense appetites, One who achieves the way will be free From the duality of birth and death. -- the Berkeley Zen Center Ani Chudrun the Artist "Welcome to my 'profile page'. In 2003 after spending a while settling my mind I managed to find time to teach myself to paint and to have my first exhibition and also, to sell a few pieces. Since then I have been endeavouring to improve my painting techniques. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. However, one thing I found which came easily was line-drawing. A lecturer at the RCA generously commented that my line work did not need to improve. I hope that I honour my motivation - which is to share some of the joy and contentment I have found through my meditation training. I initial my work 'AC' - as I was ordained a Buddhist nun in 1994 and given the name Ani Chudrun. Mick Brown, international author and journalist for the Telegraph Magazine was kind enough to write a review for me back in 2005: "The best art speaks to and from the heart, and this is what Chudrun's paintings do for me. These paintings are the product not just of art practice, but life practice.." I have been extremely fortunate to travel widely, East and West, and am not ashamed to admit that time in my woodland yurt and visits to international galleries are part of my pilgrimage. I absolutely love The Met in New York. Great art resonates with the pure and perfect aspect of our mind. Therefore, great art helps to develop a more vivid awareness. If a painting can help bring that about - and some definately do - that is precious indeed. In the late 80s, I co-presented Top Gear, that now somewhat gauche (in the socially awkward petrol-guzzling-for-thrills kind of way) BBC TV programme. I've had an unusual life. It wasn't a long road after that to becoming a Buddhist nun. There was a somewhat stoney road for a while, opening a cannabis coffee shop in protests against prohibition, and then ordination. And then to canvas and paints. I hope my paintings bring joy to you. Thank you for your interest." -- Rebecca Adam (Ani Chudrun), profile on artgallery.co.uk 
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