Day 16 - Precise Archer Part 4 - Staple it Together (2006)

Dear friend,

Today is our fourth day meditating on the archery metaphor. Hope you enjoy these insights to help you to make sense of your path of healing as it is helping me to make sense of mine. 

These metaphors of butterflies and arrows are tools that have been used for centuries by Buddhist monks and more currently in Buddhist psychology in search for enlightment, or as we call freedom from our past mistakes or injustices.

In using tools for healing, Jack Johnson's Staple it Together is a clever song about someone that is trapped by his own past, did not aim nor shoot right for his future.  Someone that is not feeling so good in the present, but should accept life as it presents, "stapling it together and call it bad weather".

We do feel sometimes that our thoughts, words we spoke and actions we had were seeds we planted, that can bring us good fruits if we cultivated the good seeds, and this meditation on the Precise Archer encompasses the ability to discern between what is good and what is not so good, what can be useful and what is not when we need to choose new arrows and shoot now for the future. We sometimes feel very tense, and scared of taking chances and making mistaken choices, but when we ask mindfully if being tense is useful, we know that it all depends on the situation..., but everybody agrees that living worrying and stressed all the time is not useful nor good to our health.

So enjoy the steps and processes of Swamiji's Archer meditations on taking the right decision, while dancing, my friends, on the swing of Jack Johnson's Staple it together. Tomorrow we start a new phase!

Namaste

Aloha e

Choosing the arrows

Is it useful or not useful?: This is the most important aspect of the Archery metaphor. It means asking our deep Wisdom, "Is this useful or not useful?" about specific options in front of us. "Does this bring me closer or further away from the goal of Enlightenment?" "Should I do it, or not?" By consulting within in this way, answers will come. 

Consulting Buddhi: In the Four Functions of Mind, the part that knows, decides, judges, and discriminates is called Buddhi. It is through the cultivation of Buddhi that one becomes a better Archer, training Manas (the lower mind) to follow the wise instructions of Buddhi, rather than just following the old habit patterns in Chitta (the storehouse of Samskaras, or deep impressions and habits).  

Determining actions by choice: It is a matter of actions being determined by the choice of Buddhi rather than by the unconscious impressions arising from the quiver. It works something like this: 

• Once the target, or purpose is known, 
• When Buddhi can make choices, 
• And when Manas will listen, 
• Then the arrows of action are shot in more accurate ways, 
• And there are fewer negative consequences, 
• As well as a greater number of useful consequences.  
• These useful impressions are stored in the quiver. 
• In turn, these arise to motivate further useful actions,
• And we experience an overall reduction in our Karma. 

The aim improves by consulting Buddhi: Through this repeated cycle of utilizing Buddhi to determine the aim of the arrows of action, one becomes a better and better Archer. As we become a better Archer, the process of reducing Karma works better and better. 

What to do with the fruits of actions: An important key to shooting our arrows well has to do with the question of who is to receive the fruits of the actions. There are three general choices of where to give the fruits of actions: 

1. The fruits come to me. 
2. The fruits are given to others.  
3. The fruits are offered to God. 

The question of what to do with the fruits of actions is an important part of Karma Yoga, the Yoga of Action, which prepares one to do the deeper practices leading to Self-Realization. 

Selfless service: Consequences of actions breed more actions, and in turn, more consequences. This cycle happens because of one's attachment or aversions to the fruits of the actions. However, the more one practices selfless service, giving away the fruits of the actions to others, then the less those fruits turn into negative consequences that feed the cycle. 

For example, if one is attached to the financial fruits of his or her job, then those financial fruits might be used to seek pleasure in the external world. When those external pleasures end up being inadequate, one might end up seeking even more fruits in an attempt to feel satisfied. 

Other fruits might be, for example, the accolades, recognition, or the internal feelings of accomplishment coming from actions. These too can leave one in a painful cycle of seeking greater and greater fruits in an effort to feel whole and fulfilled. 

A shift in attitude about fruits: However, if the same person has a shift in attitude, whereby the fruits of their labors are for others, such as family, friends, customers, clients, society, or humanity then one is free of the fruits. In other words, one learns to give away the fruits of the actions. Then the inner motive is to serve those other people, not merely to feed one's own sense of personal needs. 

The paycheck, accolades or recognition will still come and be enjoyed, but it is without expectation that these fruits themselves are capable of bringing happiness. When the fruits are given up, then one is free. The feelings of wholeness and fulfillment can then come from within, regardless of the outcomes of the actions. 

Refinement leads to freedom: It is an ongoing feedback loop of shooting arrow, refining one's aim, and shooting again that leads to being a good Archer, and to freedom from the bondage of Karma.

Archery in Yoga Meditation: Having a good aim in decisions and actions of daily life reduces Karma by having "the new" come into play, as "the old" works itself out. The same process is also done during Yoga Meditation. 

Meditation in Action: In the external world, the Yogi allows the old Karmas (the arrows in flight) to play themselves out. In the internal world, the Yogi also allows the old Karmas to play themselves out, as the inner drama is observed from the vantage point of a Witness. For this reason, both "Meditation" and "Meditation in Action" are a part of Archery and the Art of Reducing Karma. 

"Staple it Together"

It’s really too bad 

He became a prisoner of his own past 

He stabbed the moment in the back with the round thumbtack 

That held up the list of things he got to do 

It’s really no good 

He’s moving on before he understood 

He shot the future in the foot with every step he took 

From the places that he’s been because he forgot to look 


He better staple it together and call it bad weather 


Well I guess you could say 

That he don’t even know where to begin 

Because he looked both ways but he was so afraid 

Digging deep into the ditch every chance he missed 

And the mess he made 

Because hate is such a strong word 

And every brick he laid, a mistake they say 

That his walls are getting taller, and his world is getting smaller 


Better staple it together and call it bad weather 


It’s really too bad 

He became a prisoner of his own past 

He stabbed the moment in the back with the round thumbtack 

That held up the list of things he got to do 

It’s really no good 

He’s moving on before he understood 

He shot the future in the foot with every step he took 

From the places that he’s been because he forgot to look 


Better staple it together and call it bad weather 


If the weather gets better we should get together 

Spend a little time or we could do whatever 

And if we get together we’d be twice as clever 

So staple it together and call it bad weather