Contemplating Rudders and Spiritual Life

The rudder of a sailboat is the part of the craft is a movable part that descends from the rear… the way the captain steers.

I have been contemplating how important my own personal “rudder” is in directing my life.

Several conversations with Buddhist lamas come to mind:

In the early 2000s I made a temporary Tibetan shrine room in the (leaky, as it turns out) garage below my rental apartment in Oakland.  I started inviting lamas there and also leading practice groups for the foundational practices at the instruction of one of my lamas.  While discussing a future teaching there with Lama Yeshe Wango, she encouraged me to wrote a mission statement for the little space—something that non-profit organizations do—which had never occurred to me.  In the process of doing that I greatly clarified my own purpose, focused it and refined it.  This prevented me from going of in many directions at once.  The whole experience of “Dakini Cave” was a very positive one, and I felt completely satisfied when I closed up the space at the end of 2006.

At other times, my three main Tibetan lamas have gently encouraged me to focus on the main point of our lineage teachings, and – in so many words – there is no need to keep researching every practice and every lama. They know I tend to be interested in everything, and also have endless projects put into my mind.

I do have a background in nursing, where we need to be able to clearly articulate our nursing diagnosis, our specific goal, and plan to get there.  I also have been through “strategic planning” meetings with non-profit organizations where they do similarly frame things in terms of an over-all mission statement and a few clear specific objectives about how accomplish them.

That all sounds kind of dorky and dry, but I have an opinion:  it is really useful to sit down and make a mission statement for our life for a specified period of time, such as three or five years.  Then, it is probably good to communicate this to the people in our lives.  I feel this is especially true for us people who are spiritually focused – if not, all the forces of this materialistic society will push us in the direction of trying to create a comfortable and pleasant situation in this life (a never-ending struggle) instead of our own transcendent purposes that go beyond this life.

Take, for example, John: he is a relatively new, but serious, student of Tibetan Buddhism who has a good connection to a wisdom lama of the Great Perfection Teachings.  He might have the mission statement

“The Mission of John Smith is to attain enlightenment in this life, in the bardo, or in the next life. ” So, John might make the following specific objectives:

·      I will follow the practice instructions of my Vajrayana teacher to the best of my ability.

·      I will finish my foundational practices in four years by practicing a minimum of 1.25 hours at least five days a week.

·      Within five years I will start a six month to three year retreat under the direct guidance of a qualified teacher.

·      I will get myself out of debt so I can increase my freedom to practice.

·      I will learn the Tibetan alphabet and some basic Dharma vocabulary.

Contrast this with Emily, who at 23 has taken refuge as a Buddhist, and attends group practices at her local meditation center.  She is married to a Buddhist, loves children and delights in thinking of raising kids with Buddhist values.

She might write:

“The mission of Emily Fairchild is to create a family with her husband Bob and strongly incorporate Buddhist values such as love, compassion, joy and equanimity into our children’s rearing.”

·      I will connect with other Buddhist parents who want make a support group for Buddhist Childrearing.

·      I will put energy into sustaining a positive relationship with Bob, and co-envision how we can incorporate the Dharma in the first few years of life.

·      I will gradually start talking with my parents and sister about what my values are.

·      I will continue to attend my one-hour group practice at the center, at least once a week.

·       I will work extra shifts now to support my family, because I know it will not be possible later.

So, we can see that John and Emily’s goals – while outside of the mainstream -- are very different, and will result in vastly different behaviors.  John, for example, cannot realistically initiate a long-term committed relationship during this five-year period, and also cannot take on responsibility for long-lived animals.  He needs to choose a career, such as tradesman or nurse, which will not be harmed by taking time off to do retreat in the future.  Emily needs close ties to the community of like-minded parents, and to spend her free time either with her husband, to build the young relationship and nest environment, or at work, to save money.

This is the kind of rudder I am talking about.  Without it, all kinds of obstacles to our own goals will sneak in, and before we know it we find ourselves in old age having done little of lasting value.

Do you think this is true?