Goodness in a Crazy World

When we meditate, it’s a voluntary activity. Nobody is forcing us. As Ajaan Fuang used to say, “Nobody hired us to be born. Nobody hired us to practice.” We’re doing this of our own free will because we see that it’s a good thing to do.

The mind needs its own independent source of goodness inside. Look at the world outside. Things that used to seem dependable are no longer dependable. Things we used to expect to run smoothly no longer run smoothly. If we expect our goodness to depend on the goodness of the world out there, it’s going to be very weak, unreliable. And yet what do we have as our own possession when we go? Just our goodness.

So. Try to generate as much as you can from within. Look to good examples from other people, because they are there. If you show respect for one another, you begin to see that other people do have some good habits, things that you can learn from. So take their example. Then look inside yourself for the resources that are going to be needed: persistence, determination, endurance. These are things you have to generate from within.

Now, it helps that we have the breath on our side. We can make the breath as comfortable as we like—the more comfortable, the better. Just make sure that you don’t leave the breath in order to go to the comfort. Otherwise, your concentration will blur out and your foundation will get foggy.

It’s like climbing a scaffold and then seeing a cloud pass by. The cloud looks comfortable, nice and soft, so you jump into the cloud. Of course, you fall right through. Stay on the scaffolding. Stay with the breath, and it will provide you with a lot in terms of strength, well-being, a sense of belonging right here. Then whatever you do with regard to the world in terms of your thoughts, your words, and your deeds will be coming from a good place, a solid place inside.

So we look outside for good examples. This is why we take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha because they know a lot of things that we don’t know. But we can take their knowledge and make it our knowledge as we try to develop their qualities within us: virtue, concentration, discernment. These are things we have to work on.

So take the good from the world and then as you create goodness inside, you’ll be giving a lot of good back. As the Buddha said, when you observe the precepts, you provide safety to everybody, and you have a share in that universal safety as well. As you get the mind into concentration; you gain discernment. Fewer and fewer of your little greed-anger-and-delusion animals go running around the neighborhood. And you yourself are better off. This is a goodness that spreads its rewards around in all directions, both inside and out.