Practicing to Be Mindful

So the Buddha taught that we should learn to go against the grain and skilfully develop patient endurance, with mindfulness well established and our minds well focused, especially in situations that we have never encountered before.

The process is similar to catching animals in the jungle. Catching a wild animal is not easy. Until one can catch one, one needs to learn a lot about its behaviour and approach it with gentleness. One needs to be sure that one knows the animal’s behaviour very well until one can approach it.

So we need to observe ourselves.

Look at the external side, the way we live our life. If you’ve studied it well, you will know what this lifestyle of a monk is like. Whenever you don’t get what you like, take it as a training in the Dhamma. At least you get some experience and training with the Dhamma of patient endurance.

It is exactly when we get used to patiently enduring things that it makes us feel that everything is simply normal and not particularly difficult or something to get agitated about. These situations become easy and they are conducive for a life that pursues liberation.

So we need to conduct ourselves accordingly and train ourselves, being aware and cautious, practicing to be mindful – mindful not to get lost in worldly attitudes, mindful not to get lost in one’s moods.

This reflection by Luang Por Liem is from the book, The Ways of the Peaceful, (pdf) pp. 57-59.