Lojong slogan 28 is pretty straightforward: abandon poisonous food. Traditionally, the primary teaching on this lojong is about keeping our egos in check. Don’t get so full of yourself that your good deeds become a little too heavy-handed in the self-righteous department, in other words. As someone who spent a good number of years as a “professional religious person,” let me tell you, this is very helpful advice. It’s easy to slide into haughtiness. And who wants to listen to a spiritual leader who does that?!
Mostly, “abandon poisonous food” means not thinking about ourselves in excess. Just- don’t give ourselves too much thought. Notice, though, it doesn’t say not to give ourselves any thought. We’re allowed to be people with needs and even wants. We can be human. But when we start thinking too much about what someone thinks of us or how this action could make us look good or what so-and-so said about us, we start to lose our way a bit. It’s poison because it upsets our ecosystem. Too much “me” doesn’t support a healthy culture of life. (Too little “me” doesn’t either.) Particularly, we would do well not to ingest thoughts or ideas that are bad for us. Why give any of that space in our life?
These days, we sometimes call a poisonous spiritual ecosystem “spiritual materialism” or “spiritual bypassing.” We can find all kinds of ways to twist even spiritual practices into something that’s really anchored in our own need to prove ourselves worthy. When we find ourselves there, we can just shake it off and let it all go. We can return to basic human goodness and realize none of that mess is necessary. Whew.
For example, I love the story Traleg Kyabgon tells about a teacher who was expecting some of his biggest benefactors to visit his monastery. He set out three beautiful offerings before the Three Jewels. He realized he was trying way too hard to impress these people. So he grabbed a handful of dirt and tossed it across the offerings, saying, “Monk, just stay where you are and don’t put on airs!” The dirt ended up being the most honest and faithful part of the offering.
What a relief that we can drop the performance and just be ourselves. We don’t have to be perfect, we just do the best we can.
What poisonous words, old stories, or ideas can you let go of this week? What’s keeping your spiritual ecosystem too negative?
And also, where might you want to stop trying so hard and just let yourself be human?
