You cannot have an external approach to the Internal – this was the gist of John's conversation yesterday. There are many Buddhist and Taoist stories about the abbot teaching in the monastery – giving words of wisdom accompanied by a mantra or meditation which the monks take on board and practice in the same lack-lustre way they do everything (under sufferance) whereas the humble uneducated gardener or cook, who just happens to overhear the instruction, is overwhelmed by its beauty and truth, and spends the next 10 years practising assiduously, reaching must greater spiritual heights than any of the monks. The gardener has practised from the heart and has allowed himself to become consumed by what he practises.
Students who fail do so either because they refuse to work internally – from with and to the heart – or because they cannot face the consequences of internal work. When you work with heart the heart gets stronger and its message becomes clearer – it actually starts to speak to you. In particular it'll point out aspects of your life that it doesn't like – relationships that are bad for you, time that is wasted and could be better spent on the work, activities that needlessly drain your energy, food (especially meat & dairy), drink (especially alcohol & caffeine) and other stuffs that damage your long-term health. If you refuse to act on these messages then eventually something will break, usually either your health, your commitment to the work, or your teacher's patience. Students who refuse the messages of the heart are generally too set in their ways – too comfortable – to either sacrifice or leap into the great unknown. They believe they can have – in fact they believe they deserve – the best of all worlds. This approach has no honour, dignity or nobility – it is totally selfish. Internal work gradually lifts a veil, not so much from the eyes but from the heart, and it always requires sacrifice. There is nothing reluctant about such sacrifice – it is done willingly and with immense relief. If there is reluctance it implies that you have either reached your present predicament through rational extrapolation rather than real internal work, or you have only been working partly internally – usually as a consequence of your teacher's strong character. This just means that the sacrifice you make is going to be messy – full of pain, tears and doubts, with clinging regrets long after. So be it. Far better to sacrifice and regret for a while than carry on regardless – something you can only do if you smother the internal completely. Now is the time. It is hopeless to procrastinate because by tomorrow the internal impetus that thrust you to this brink may well have dissipated, meaning that future action will lack the internal power of present action – it'll be coming from the wrong place.
Students who fail do so either because they refuse to work internally – from with and to the heart – or because they cannot face the consequences of internal work. When you work with heart the heart gets stronger and its message becomes clearer – it actually starts to speak to you. In particular it'll point out aspects of your life that it doesn't like – relationships that are bad for you, time that is wasted and could be better spent on the work, activities that needlessly drain your energy, food (especially meat & dairy), drink (especially alcohol & caffeine) and other stuffs that damage your long-term health. If you refuse to act on these messages then eventually something will break, usually either your health, your commitment to the work, or your teacher's patience. Students who refuse the messages of the heart are generally too set in their ways – too comfortable – to either sacrifice or leap into the great unknown. They believe they can have – in fact they believe they deserve – the best of all worlds. This approach has no honour, dignity or nobility – it is totally selfish. Internal work gradually lifts a veil, not so much from the eyes but from the heart, and it always requires sacrifice. There is nothing reluctant about such sacrifice – it is done willingly and with immense relief. If there is reluctance it implies that you have either reached your present predicament through rational extrapolation rather than real internal work, or you have only been working partly internally – usually as a consequence of your teacher's strong character. This just means that the sacrifice you make is going to be messy – full of pain, tears and doubts, with clinging regrets long after. So be it. Far better to sacrifice and regret for a while than carry on regardless – something you can only do if you smother the internal completely. Now is the time. It is hopeless to procrastinate because by tomorrow the internal impetus that thrust you to this brink may well have dissipated, meaning that future action will lack the internal power of present action – it'll be coming from the wrong place.
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