From the cushion to the street: Where meditation and action meet | Opinion
Most people who know me are shocked to learn that I spent the greater part of my career as an investment banker and corporate operator. Five years ago, I was not interested in racial equity or climate change. 5 years ago my mindfulness practice was still a work in progress (as it will be for the rest of my life).
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Meditation and action meet
Many people think that mindfulness and meditation are just a peaceful escape from reality. And while the happy side effects of meditation (now proven by western science) include stress relief and calmness, the point of the practice as taught by the Buddha is actually to wake up to what causes us suffering and to alleviate that suffering. That means seeing reality for what it is without the projections we layer on top of it, both in our day-to-day lives as well as the reality of the societal, environmental, economic and political situations that surround us. When my friend doesn’t respond to my text immediately, my go-to storyline may be that she doesn’t prioritize me as a friend, when in reality she was feeling overwhelmed at her new job.
This insight is paired with compassion in what is often known as the two wings of the bird of freedom. When I start to see reality more clearly, without my (and society’s) filters on it, I can’t help but be moved to empathy and to action. The Buddha taught that everything is interconnected, nothing exists in a vacuum, and all actions have a consequence (aka karma). Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh taught that when we drink a cup of tea, we are also drinking the ocean, clouds and rain that made the water, and the sunlight, soil and farmer that made the tea leaves.
If you extend that circle a step farther (what went into making the farmer?), and a step farther than that, perhaps you can start to see how all things affect all other things. That means when I take care of another being, I am taking care of myself, and when I injure another being I am injuring myself.
This is why my spirituality is communal.
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Taking compassionate action
When the Covenant school shooting happened, even though I am not usually one to yell in public, I instinctively knew I had to take part in the rallies at the Capitol. When I participate in conversations about environmentalism, my heart beats faster until I speak up about Indigenous rights and landback. The ongoing violence in both of those areas - just two examples - may not directly affect me but I can still feel their impact by living in a society where they are present.
Spiritual practice can also provide spaciousness and patience - the patience to know that we don’t have to react to everything immediately or replay old habitual ways, and the spaciousness to approach difficult conversations with curiosity rather than defensiveness or judgment. As a result, when we do engage in action of some sort, we can do so from a foundation that is intentional and compassionate. For me, my litmus test for checking if I’m acting authentically is how grounded I feel in my body. The question I ask myself is whether I am helping the situation (rather than a specific person).
This is not to say that everyone should become a Buddhist (although I see it more as a way of life than a religion). The invitation here is to consider if your way of life, whether or not it includes a spiritual practice, helps you to cultivate the best version of yourself, connects you to community and the world around you, and opens your mind to wise and compassionate action, whatever that may look like for you.
Jennifer Wang is the co-founder of Nashville POC Sangha and a board member of Tennessee Environmental Council, Turnip Green Creative Reuse Center, and API Middle TN
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How meditation and mindfulness led me down a path towards action
