The Mindful Life with Waylon H. Lewis

May “I” Be Of Benefit

By Waylon H. Lewis, 12-19-06

	Caption: Look! This is your world. You can’t not look. There is no other world. This is your world: it is your feast. Look at the greatness of the whole thing. Look! Don’t hesitate—look! Open your eyes. Don’t blink, and look, look—look further. ~ Chögyam Trungpa, Rinpoche

I’m a “Dharma Brat,” the nickname (said to be a mishmash of “Army Brat” and Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums") for the first generation of American Buddhists to grow up from the get-go with the terrible technological brilliance of the West and the esoteric wisdom of the East.

When you grow up Buddhist, you notice that everyone’s always sitting around. They call it meditating. As a child, I remember wanting to yell at a building-full of meditators at Karme Chöling, in Vermont, “What are you afraid of! It’s a gorgeous day! Get out there and live!” Only later did I realize what hard work it was. Working with your mind. Becoming friends with oneself. Seeing through the incessant blah bla blah that speeds by so fast that, like a spinning tire, it looks solid. We look solid, that is: we think we exist. From there comes the urge to preserve and protect. From there comes the us vs. them mentality. From there comes ego, which is something I know all about.

But if I didn’t holler at them there Buddhists, they sure did at me. When you’re a child living at a Buddhist retreat center in the middle of nowhere (the exact middle: Barnet, Vermont), what happens is you get told to shush a lot. I was a just a kid. I ran and jumped instead of walking and laughed and yelled instead of talking. That didn’t go over so well with the meditation crowd.

Now I’m an old man of 32. I’m an adult, mostly. Folks don’t tell me to shush, anymore. They do, from time to time, suggest I put fewer photos of myself in my own magazine. I shrug, helplessly. I’m hopeless. For better and worse, I yam who I yam and I ain’t who I ain’t. And one thing I ain’t is someone quiet, or shy. I’m all about me. Not very Buddhist, I know.

And that’s where, as a young man, Buddhism hit home. Because Buddhism says...well, first of all, Buddhism says "don’t believe anything Buddhism says unless you can personally experience it and find it to be true." And secondly, Buddhism says, "You’re nobody. I’m nobody. I don’t exist." Then, in the Heart Sutra (the most beautiful, rhythmic sutra I know) Buddhism goes on to say that "though I don’t exist (form is empty,) I also am myself (emptiness is form)—and that’s not only okay, that’s great." It’s great because only through my own personal experience of our world and my life, can I develop compassion for others. And for myself. Finally, it says the thing that gave my life direction: "Be a ‘bodhisattva.’" Use my understanding of my lack of self—my awareness of my self-involved self, my compassion for my insufferable self—and then and only then go out and help others. Save the world. Change the world. Be an example. Be a good person. Live a good life, yes—but live a life that’s not only good for myself and my loved ones, but for everyone, and the world.

‘Cause lots of Americans live the conventional idea of a good life: go to school, join a frat, get a job, work hard, make money, buy a big home with a big garage to put my big car in, and retire rich but dissatisfied. And lots of others live a life that’s good for others: go to school, join the co-op, become a teacher, change children's’ lives and work day and night every day of the week for a few decades, and retire poor. But not enough people do both: live a good life that also happens to be good for others. Get rich doing something you love that the world actually needs. Make your mission in life about service.

And that’s not merely a Buddhist idea. You’ll find that in just about any religion and culture worth its salt.

And that’s what "the mindful life" is meant to be all about. And that’s what I aim to do with my life. I want to get rich doing whatever I happen to be good at, so long as what I do is good for others and the world. I want to get famous and spread the word. May my every action be of benefit to all sentient beings, as the twice-daily Buddhist aspiration goes. In Buddhism, someone who’s enlightened is called a Tathagata—literally, one who’s crossed the river. But it’s better to be a Sugata—one who’s crossed the river and enjoyed doing so. No kidding. So enjoy your life. And the best way to do so is to help a world in need. Be eco in your everyday habits. Practice meditation, just a little bit. Align your career, your passion and your skills.

Speaking personally, it’s a fulfilled life, if not always an easy one. I work all the time. Just a few years back, I had a reputation for being a wild n’crazy guy. Now, I spend quality time with my laptop. My idea of a good time is to quit work at 11, watch a West Wing, and sleep. But I’m not playing a teeny-weensy violin. I’m fortunate. I know what I want to do with my life. I want to be of benefit.
[End of article]

Whoaaa...too many times man is quick to judge different forms of Man's religions..
I find in Buddhistim that Silence meditation is listening to what is in front on our individual journey on this Earth.
Nice article Waylon...
I Won't forget meet'n Waylon Jennings In Las Cruces NM...Quite the Cowboy!! Giddup..;)

Waylon, would you please confirm whether you have edited your article since first posting the other day? If so, how has it changed? Thank you.

I don't think that financial status is at all related to thier happiness. Nor do I think it makes the world a better place if there are more rich people, or more people wanting to get rich. That just exacerbates the discrepancy between "rich" and "poor”. Wanting to be rich just feeds into the materialistic nature of our society. What happened to "all we need is love"?

Sorry, Craig, not sure what your'e talking about? I haven't edited it...should I? I'm a bit soft in the head, bear with me... - W

But wanting to be rich if your motivation is 'to be of benefit' can be a good thing for the very poor--Bill Gates and Buffet have, according to NY Times, EACH given more than twice what Carnegie and Rockefeller gave back in the day--and they are throwing their money directly as disease, poverty etc. My goal is not to have the new cool car or whatever--it's to live a good life, and (to the small extent I happen to be capable, based on my character, upbringing and training) to help others to do the same.

And yes, you're right--there are more 'very rich' and 'very poor' now than at any time in the past century--not a healthy discrepancy.

With appreciation--

I lived in the room next to Waylon at Karme Choling those years he speaks of in the early 90's. Just wanted to say I loved the chaos he brought to the place. I remember the arguments he got into with his wonderful Mom, Linda, about getting in late or his insistence on walking to the bus stop, day in and day out, with no coat on in the middle of the freezing Vermont winter.

But what I really remember is that every night before he went to sleep Waylon would play "Hotel California." Wow, every time I hear that song I have good memories and never got tired of it. Thanks Waylon. Keep the chaos coming... and when are you going to put my photo in Elephant? I'm sure I could dig up a nice one of you and me from "back in the day."

Waylon, the paragraph that I believed changed was:

"‘Cause lots of Americans live the conventional idea of a good life: go to school, join a frat, get a job, work hard, make money, buy a big home with a big garage to put my big car in, and retire rich but dissatisfied. And lots of others live a life that’s good for others: go to school, join the co-op, become a teacher, change children's’ lives and work day and night every day of the week for a few decades, and retire poor. But not enough people do both: live a good life that also happens to be good for others. Get rich doing something you love that the world actually needs. Make your mission in life about service."

Yesterday your piece caught my attention when I remember reading the dichotomy you drew between pursuing wealth and its consumption versus a life of service was politically tinged with identifying the former with Republicans and the latter with Democrats. The reason it caught my attention was that the point seemed to rely on trite, stereotypical, and erroneous distinctions which seemed very un-Bhuddist like. It doesn't read that way today. Perhaps my memory is in error.

Nice catch! That Republican/Democrat bit was edited out by our friends at New West--they didn't care for it either. I meant it to be rather tongue in cheeck, in any case--but, like all cliches, it was repeated so often because it had some truth to it: my mother is dirt poor, doesn't heat her house in the winter, and has worked all her life teaching, and has helped to found two Buddhist-inspired schools. She's a liberal, needless to say. My father, on other hand, while also a great person is Dubya's man--but the truth is you're right, he's not all about himself, he's not all about making money, he's not driving SUVs and living in the suburbs with the two cars in the garage...wait...no, he is. In any case, both 'sides' are sides of a coin--both are probably great, as long as the fundamental motivation is to be of benefit.

I greatly appreciate your feedback--I'd consider it a great favor if you'd comment on anything good or bad in the future--that's sort of the point of this blog--to try out ideas and refine them etc. before putting them into print.

Waylon, not to digress from your point but I am a bit shocked that anyone would edit your article after you posted, not notify you as you imply in your first reply to me, and then not note it to the readers that what appears is not how the writer submitted it. Changing an article after publication and comments without any alert for those changes to the author or the public disturbs me.

Well, the New West editor did edit after I post, and without my permission--but he's a friend of mine, I respect his editorial instincts, and I can see from your post as well as his deletion that my too-dry 'humor' didn't come through. He did let me know after the fact, and I'm sure if I protested or explained, which I wasn't inspired to do, he would have listened.

Yrs.,

Way

Waylon, I won't belabor it any further. I wish you great success on your spiritual journey. Everyday challenges and human failings can sometimes be where we stub our toes hardest along the path.

It is one of the things in life to be grateful for - direction. I think it comes to many people in many forms and plays out in our lives as we jump from path to path to stay in that direction. Most people of the world want the best for everyone, communal peace. The true blessing is finding your place in making that communal peace while keeping your direction. Thanks for the insight, it is much like growing up Cathloic with 7 brothers and sisters....where you learn very quickly that you are not the spotlighted individual but part of the group, offering your own strengths & doing your part to keep the group healthy. Of course with communal peace, you do learn to lift one another up and to be a support as well as the spotlight for the rest. Nay, nay to laughing or wiggiling during prayer time too...

You are jewish you big fibber.

read "May 'I' be of benefit" and loved it.

I'm 53 and started practicing 1998, and wonder allot about
the heart sutra and dealing with a self-involvement, that
may be fully illusionary but still in our faces; I loved
how you phrased that and how as a dharma brat you are
still able to provide some freshness to the oxymoron
(?)...

so your honesty and understanding was definately
beneficial.

Way, Quit picking on my bro! At one time he was a Woodstock goer, long-haired and full of youthful verve. We all change. This is a good thing. BTW, y'all (<---I live in Virginia so I can say that with impunity), Way is not Jewish. His grandma's family was once a few generations ago but they became secular American people, ...so it's in there somewhere...but he was born into Buddhism at home. I know him, I diapered the guy once. Yuck.