2021-06-18 The Dharmic Life (5 of 5) One Thing at a Time

11:23PM Jun 19, 2021

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

life

infuse

give

sense

mind

meditation

dishes

washing

learn

work

wonderful

washing dishes

simple

talk

fully

purpose

practice

benefit

daily life

dharma

This may be the last talk in this five part series on the Dharma life, although perhaps all talks are about the Dharma life. I like the idea that a spiritual life is also a lived life. A lived life that, in Buddha and Dharma terms, is infused with mindfulness, awareness, and intentionality – a certain sense of purpose – an orientation towards a radical non-harming of oneself and others. This is something we bring to all of our life.

It is such a wonderful privilege to have the opportunity to live a dharmic life, a contemplative life, where we infuse our daily life with spiritual practice. It is a wonderful honor to be able to do this in this human life that we have.

It is easy to want to do this, but remembering to do it is hard. Rather than having some high standard, like: now you are supposed to be mindful and aware throughout the whole day non-stop. I think for most of us, if we just increase the percentage of our presence – our attention to life – we will get a tremendous amount of benefit. I suspect that if 10% of the day you were mindful of what you are doing, that day would transform your life in big ways.

I want to offer another practice today – another approach you can take to infuse your daily life with a sense of practice, living a dharmic life. This approach is: when you do something, just do that one thing – practice doing one thing at a time. In a world where a common expression now is "multitasking," single tasking may not be respected as much. But to be present for one thing – when you are doing something, really be there for it.

Why is this useful? This is what we are trying to do when we meditate. We are trying to be present for what is happening in the moment – one thing at a time, being there for it. We might switch and be aware of something else a moment later, but whatever is happening, the idea is to be there for it. In the process of doing that, we learn how easily we are distracted. We learn how easily we are bored, caught in desires, in aversion to what is happening, or caught in preferences and fantasies.

We have to learn to work with this mind that gets all entangled in things, and begin to learn to shed them – not let them get in the way. Somehow learn to be simpler in meditation. In that simplicity, to relax deeply. Get in touch with ourselves in a much deeper way than we can when we are spinning around in preferences, desires, aversions and distractions.

This remembering is to come home to ourselves – to be here in a deep, intimate, connected way. That comes from having a somewhat simple mind – not a simplistic mind, but a mind that is not caught up in many things.

The benefit of meditation – feeling that simplicity and non-distractibility of the mind – just being here for this moment. We learn so much about ourselves in that process. We learn what makes us tick. We learn what to let go of. We learn what it is like to connect to ourselves in a peaceful way – in a wonderful way.

We can do the same thing in daily life with most things that are simple enough they allow us to do that one thing. Have it be the same way as with meditation. If you are washing the dishes, just wash the dishes. Do not have the news on at the same time because you want to be efficient and do more than one thing at the same time, and hear the news. Might as well hear it while you are washing dishes. Dishes are mindless and have no important, great value, so you might as well listen to the news or the soap opera or whatever. Instead, infuse washing dishes with the same kind of attention, purpose and practice as you do in meditation – just do the dishes.

Maybe you will get bored. Learn to work with that and let go of it. Sometimes boredom means that you are holding yourself apart from the experience. Can you give yourself more to the experience – just washing the dishes – just you and the dishes. Wash with both hands, with your whole body present there.

That kind of focus and attention will certainly reveal all the ways the mind wants to escape and do something else. In the process, you will also learn how to quiet the mind or let go of these preoccupations. You will learn how to simplify the mind. You will experience the benefits – the intimacy and the coming-home-ness with ourselves – of being there for that one thing.

This can apply to all kinds of things we do – cooking, cleaning, or driving. Just drive. Driving involves many different senses and considerations. Mind is moving around looking – rearview mirror, sideview mirror, front. Just do what driving requires of you. Do not have the radio on. Do not be talking on the phone. Just do this, if you want to get the benefits of having the practice grow in your daily life.

Some people will complain and say, "Well, I have a lot to do. And I need to multitask." Maybe that is so – please do it if that is necessary. But sometimes things are done more efficiently if you just do one thing at a time. If you do it properly the first time, it does not have to be done again. You do it fully so you do not have to come back to it later. You understand it fully – "just this", "just this."

One of the advantages of monastic life – the monastic life that I lived – is that you are given different tasks through the day, where what is called for is to just do one thing at a time. Raking the temple grounds – just rake. Or washing dishes. I was a dishwasher in the monastery, my first summer there. I spent this time where it was just me and the dishwashing machine. Rather than washing in the sink, I had this wonderful dance of completely being in the dishwashing shack. It was vigorous and active work. It was not calm and relaxed. But it was beautiful – for me it was a dance of putting dishes in and away and washing. I gave myself over to what was needed then.

Doing one thing at a time does not mean that we do everything slowly. Though sometimes it is delicious to do that and very helpful. We do it at a pace that is useful. Sometimes doing one thing fully means we give ourselves over in a very full and active way.

After I was in the monastery, I worked as a line cook in a very busy restaurant. I was doing a lot of different things. In a sense, I was multitasking – cooking different dishes at the same time and tracking them. But that is all I did – I was completely absorbed in this activity – in concentration or absorption in what I was doing. I would leave work feeling more relaxed than when I came in, because of giving myself over to doing this one activity.

If you are protesting a little bit that you cannot do one thing at a time, you might experiment with it to find out if it does not actually give you more ease and relaxation in your life. Maybe you do not have to spend as much time afterwards relaxing. Relaxing is a wonderful thing. But if you do not need to relax, then you can continue living your life in a nice way. Doing one thing at a time, sustaining it and following through on it to the end.

Many years ago, I left the monastery and was living in a house. While going from one end of the house to the other, to move the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer, I discovered how easy it was to get distracted by things – little tasks that we stop to do here and there. It took a while to get to the laundry area. Sometimes if the purpose is to go to the laundry area, it is nice to just go there.

The body and mind get this sense of what it is like to just do one thing – not bounce around, not be busy, or grab at everything that comes up. Sustain and follow through, if you set yourself to do something. Unless something important comes up, of course. Follow through, so you can give yourself the pleasure – the joy – of just doing one thing.

For practitioners it is more than the pleasure and joy. It is doing the same exploration of our inner life as we do in meditation. We are learning to let go of what does not serve us – what is unhealthy. We are learning to wake up to the present moment. We are learning to have some continuity with doing that. That continuity is so beneficial. Continuity is what allows the Dharma life to unfold and deepen.

So I end this five part series with something that I think is quite simple, in principle. Yesterday's talk was more complicated, with the idea of intention, commitment and sense of purpose – why we do things. Today I am bringing it back to the value of something that is ordinary and simple. I hope almost anyone can do it. It does not take a lot of intelligence. It does not take a lot of sophistication. When you are doing something, just do it. Do it fully.

I will end with a story of two Zen students. This is how the story was told to me: two Zen students were praising their own teachers. One of them said, "Oh, my teacher is so wonderful. He has all these psychic powers and can fly through the air and walk on water" and so forth. And the other student said, "Oh, my teacher is really great too, because when she walks, she just walks; when she sits, she just sits; when she works, she just works." And the first student said, "Oh, your teacher is really great – that is wonderful."

So, walk when you walk, sit when you sit, clean when you clean, talk with friends when you talk. This is a great power. It is a gift to the world when we give ourselves to each thing that we do carefully. Thank you.