Strength in Cooperation

We got news yesterday that they’re going to turn off the water tomorrow and Thursday. So we have to prepare, get water in buckets in the bathrooms and the kitchens, so we’ll have water to use Wednesday and Thursday. Try to keep your water use as frugal as you can. It’s when we help one another like this that we can deal with difficulties as they come up.

There’s a lot that the Buddha says about the virtues of harmony, working together. It starts with the mind and the body. You’re sitting here meditating: If the mind is one place, the body someplace else, they don’t help each other very much. When they’re together, then they can help each other. The mind can look out after the body; the body can give the mind a good place to stay.

It’s like a house and its owner. If the owner is away most of the time, insects can come in, pests can come in, rot can form, pipes can burst, electric lines can short. All kinds of things can happen because nobody’s looking after the house. Then when the owner comes back and sees a big mess, doesn’t want to stay and goes out again, that just makes the problem worse. But if you stay here and make sure the pipes are working, the electricity is working fine, any pests that come in, you take them out, then it’s a good place to stay. And you want to stay here more and more.

So there will be some work in the beginning. This is what the work of directed thought and evaluation is all about—trying to adjust the breath, trying to adjust the mind, so that they fit together. When you see things are not going well in the body, then you fix them.

If there’s a blockage in your arm, say, or in your leg, where is the source of the blockage? Trace it out. Try to breathe all the way through the whole body. Get more sensitive to what’s going on. That way, you have a good place to stay. You’re not left wandering around. And the body gets looked after. So both sides benefit by staying together.

Then we can take this principle and use it in the world outside as well, learn how to work together instead of working at cross purposes. A lot can be accomplished.

An image they like to use in Thailand is a thread. If you just have a few scattered threads here and there, they can’t do much. But if you weave them into a cloth, the cloth can do all kinds of things for you. In the same way, we should learn how to weave our actions together so that we’re here in harmony. Then the fact that we’re living with other people is not an obstacle to the practice, it’s actually a help to the practice—an aid. When you think in that way, then living together becomes an important part of the practice, giving you strength as you’re giving strength to other people as well.

We know that famous image of the acrobats where the one acrobat says, “Look after me and I’ll look after you, and we’ll come down safely from the pole that we’re doing our tricks on.” The other acrobat says, “No. Each of us has to look after him or herself.” That’s half of the sutta. The other half is that there are times when looking after others, you benefit. You develop good qualities in the mind: endurance, patience, equanimity, goodwill, kindness. If you treat other people with these qualities, then you’re going to benefit from possessing them, too.

The way you use your mouth with other people is going to have an impact on the way you use your mouth with yourself. So try to use it well. Use your thoughts well. Use your actions well, so that everybody benefits.