This month, we will practice the seventh step on the Eightfold Path, Right Mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh says Right Mindfulness is “the energy that brings us back to the present moment.” When we cultivate it, we find ourselves not looking to the past or looking toward the future, but focusing our attention right here, right now.
This seems simple, and it is. Doing it, of course, is what gets tricky. If the meteoric rise in mindfulness books, apps, programs, and now even a Barbie doll, is any indication, we know we need to be more mindful. We know it’s missing in our busy, harried lives, and we are worse because of it. But where do we begin, when we are so bombarded with things that make us scattered?
Actually, feeling scattered is a sign that our attention isn’t anywhere at all. It’s a little terrifying to think how often we move through our days without being attentive in any real way. This becomes a problem because it clouds our understanding of reality. We cannot possibly see the truth of things when we aren’t even paying any attention.
Which gets us to the heart of Right Mindfulness. The purpose is to hone our attention to what is true, so that we may become free from delusion. We can say this is paying attention to the Buddha-nature in all things. When we’re scattered, we only see things through our reactions, attachments, and fears. We see things in pieces, and not in whole. The beauty of Right Mindfulness declares that underneath all of our delusional, fractured awareness lies a very real wholeness. There is unity. Objectively, reality reveals harmony. And if we don’t settle in and learn to listen for it, to see it, we can’t possibly live into it.
Bhikkhu Bodhi says “this truth, in order to become liberating truth, has to be known directly.” We can’t just read about it or listen to a teacher tell us about it. We need to experience it for ourselves. And that’s why we practice Right Mindfulness.
We often wrongly think it’s our job to parse between the “right” and “wrong” ways of seeing things. But unfortunately, that just keeps us in the delusion of duality. Instead, consider that mindfulness only asks us to be present to what is. When we pare down to the level of bare attention, we arrive. Our distractions cover up and distort this natural state of completeness. We don’t need to create the harmony; we just need to stop flying all over the place ignoring it.
Bodhi says “the task of Right Mindfulness is to clear up the cognitive field.” So it’s “a matter not so much of doing but of undoing: not thinking, not judging, not associating, not planning, not imagining, not wishing.” Just be present. See what is. Bare attention holds the Truth of all things.
For those of you familiar with the Enneagram, Right Mindfulness is also the path to the Holy Ideas. All Holy Ideas arise from Essence, from this natural truth. All fixations arise when we lose touch with Essence. And, just as our wise Buddhist teachers know we must experience the inherent Buddha-nature in all things to experience true liberation, Enneagram teachers know we must experience Essence to be transformed.
What would it mean for you to experience Essence this month?
Where might you need to clear up your cognitive field this week? Can you, even for a few brief moments, try to let go of the past and future and just be present to the here and now?
