He asked, "Do you have something you can tell me to help me live a spiritual life?" "Yes," replied the Sage, "close doors, never let them slam shut." "Why is this important?" "How you treat a door will be how you live," said the Sage.
In the spiritual life, how you do anything matters. How is one with what.
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Thich Nhat Hanh, in My Master's Robe, written in his late twenties in the monastery 1942-47, wrote of using gathas, or short verses, during day-to-day activities to cultivate mindfulness. Below, he recalls a gatha enjoyed by the cook affectionately called Auntie Tu:
Auntie Tu really liked the verse, "Sweeping the ground of the monastery diligently makes happiness and understanding arise." She would often recite it when she swept the fallen leaves in front of the temple. It means that diligently sweeping the temple grounds can increase merit, virtue, and wisdom.
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Doing everyday things wholeheartedly and with awareness is a training in the Way. If we do meditation and get up and relate to our lives on automatic, what good is meditation? Meditation as a set apart time is present to cultivate awareness and presence.
To do this, we learn to slow down and be with what we are doing. If the mind wanders to the past or future, we bring it home. We may use a gatha or not. You might find your own way to nurture this being-present.
We want to be at-one with our actions. So, we are the doing, and the doing is us. We have brought together in action and presence what had been separated in the mind.
In Buddhism, we devote three avenues of action: body, mind, and speech. In the morning, I chant a mantra devoting these three. The chant is Om Ha Hum. Sometimes, I use a visualization for the three taught in Buddhism. I do this as a prayer to use the movements of body, thoughts of mind, and words of mouth in a wise, compassionate manner. This is to heighten my awareness of how I wish to act concerning persons and tasks during the day and to celebrate these wonderful means of being in this world.
In the Christian contemplative path, this being-fully-here is practicing the Sacrament of the Present Moment. This moment is an opening to Grace. You can open to Grace in a church ritual, a Buddhist sangha, walking your dog, grocery shopping, sitting on the potty, or raking leaves.
We will need intentionally to practice this for it to grow. In time, it will become a more spontaneous way of living. One way I practice this is by eating in silence rather than watching or listening to something. I just eat. When driving, I just drive. I do not listen to music or books when driving.
Eating and driving are opportunities to practice the Way. Eating is enough, and driving is enough. We learn to live more from a this-is-enough mentality. With this mentality, we become more present to what is present, the totality of the setting in which we are moving and doing. We cultivate a global sense of presence. Our relational field expands to include more and more.
The fullness of Life is always present. The question is, "Am I present?" Through a spiritual path, we learn this wholeheartedness. We also learn how gently to bring ourselves back home when we wander away—and we will wander away.
We do not have to go to some holy place to manifest this wholeheartedness. We can open to Life here. Where is here? Where are you right now?
