A Broom and a Dustpan

Foreword to this post: I wanted to share my own current practice in the Dhamma.  This practice arose after my most recent retreat.  It is yet another training stage.  We all have these various lessons and training practices that can help us along the way.  This broom and dustpan metaphor popped into my mind.  

                                   Dhammasukha dining room, lots of sweeping goes on in here.  
      

I want you to imagine for a moment that you are looking at your own dependent origination process, and you are standing there with a broom and a dustpan, ready to clean things up.  

Notice what arises. A painful feeling, an emotional reaction, tension, “I like it”, me etc.  Whatever arises could be in your mind or in your interactions in daily life.  It does not matter. Ultimately it’s all your own mind that you are dealing with.  Whenever you notice it 6r.  Then respond with a wholesome action. What is wholesome action?  Well, it can be mental, verbal or bodily action.  

The 6 r’s are amazing, because it is an all-in -one practice.  As Bhante says, it is the practice of the entire 8 fold path.  As far as actions go, it includes a positive mental action and bodily action.  When you 6 r you have brought up a wholesome mental action, because you’ve returned to the object of meditation - one of the Brahmaviharas or observing quiet mind if you are in npnnp.  When you smile in even the most subtle way, that is a wholesome bodily action.  

Let’s look at an example in daily life.  Pretend you are at work and you get an email and something in the email just bugs you a little.  How will you respond?  So you notice the tension or whatever is coming up, maybe a critical thought, a painful feeling, whenever you notice this, 6 r and then before you do anything, think about how you will make a wholesome response to the email.  Notice the feelings inside as you construct the sentences.  Is there any anger?  Is there any fear?  6 r again if you need to.  When you push send, ask yourself if can you be sure it is being sent with one of the brahmaviharas behind it?  While sending it, radiate loving kindness to go out with the email.  

Congratulations. With your broom and your dust pan, you removed a little more of the dust cloud and dust in your eyes and you just changed the world!