How do you take practice into life? A better question, I think, is how do you make your life your practice? Perhaps this is the difference between exoteric and esoteric practice, where exoteric practice is about finding solace in the vicissitudes of life and esoteric practice is about “a peace that passeth understanding” even in the worst that life has to offer.
In either case, one of the most effective methods I have found is to say a little prayer.
In the Tibetan tradition, there is no shortage of prayers. There are philosophical, emotional, metaphorical, instructional, aspirational, confessional, laudatory, supplicatory—I could probably write a dictionary with all the different kinds of prayers.
Here is an example of the kind of prayer I mean.
Give me energy for my heart to turn to the spiritual.
Give me energy for the spiritual to become a way.
Give me energy for this way to dispel confusion.
Give me energy for confusion to arise as wisdom.
There are literally hundreds of such short prayers in the Tibetan tradition. This one was composed almost a thousand years ago by the Tibetan mystic Gampopa. It has withstood the test of time—always a good sign.
First, find a prayer that speaks to you.
Pay attention to the translation. I have often belatedly become aware of unwitting biases in my translations. For example, a number of people have translated this prayer by leaving out “Give me energy for…” The first line then reads “May my heart turn to practice.” This interpretation changes the prayer from supplication to aspiration. Nothing wrong with that per se, but there is a definite benefit in keeping the supplication.
The essence of prayer is reaching out. Supplication is one way to reach out. You go to the edge of the world as you know it and you reach out. To what? You reach out to what is beyond what you currently know. You reach out and face the hesitation, unwillingness, and raw fear that you encounter when you step beyond the confines of your conditioning. That’s when practice becomes real.
Then learn the prayer. Memorize it and make sure you understand all the words.
Then make it a part of you and let it work its magic.
Here is my understanding of Gampopa’s prayer.
Give me energy for my heart to turn to the spiritual.
This line is usually translated as “may my mind turn to the Dharma” and it is interpreted as being about renunciation. Trungpa Rinpoche might have translated this as “may my mind turn to the spiritual.” That opens things up a bit, doesn’t it? But is it about renunciation? Gampopa is describing a turning toward something, not a turning away. And is it about the mind, or about the heart? Perhaps this line is more about listening to your heart and following a calling.
Give me energy for the spiritual to become a way.
The spiritual becomes a way of life when it becomes part of you. It becomes part of you when you put your heart into it. Your head is not enough. When you put your heart into it, there is no turning back. You have started on a way. Over time, the spiritual becomes the way you live, and the question about how you take practice into your life is taken care of.
Give me energy for this way to dispel confusion.
Spiritual practice puts us in touch with anything and everything that creates confusion in our lives. As Trungpa Rinpoche once said, “Practice is one insult after another.” If it isn’t, something is wrong. Then we have to face the next question. What do we do with all that confusion? Suzuki Roshi said it so well in
Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: we use our very imperfections to find our firm, way-seeking mind. In other words, as we work through our imperfections, we gain a little clarity here, a little clarity there, and a way takes shape at our feet.
Give me energy for confusion to arise as wisdom.
At first, it is all about dispelling. Clarity instead of confusion. Bliss instead of pain. Stillness instead of agitation. Silence instead of noise. Openness instead of occlusion. Peace instead of disturbance. Emptiness instead of everything else. Then out of the blue we discover that we can experience stillness in movement, silence in sound, clarity in confusion, and so on. How is that possible? Here, we step beyond the conceptual mind. We have found a peace that passeth understanding. We have found what it means to be free. This is a completely different way of experiencing life, the universe, everything. And in that freedom, we find wisdom.
Each of the shifts I describe here, turning to the spiritual, the spiritual becoming a way in life, that way dispelling confusion, and confusion arising as wisdom, comes about because, at each stage, we reached out to what was beyond what we currently know. Meditation builds the energy and opens possibilities. But the reaching out? Prayer is one way to reach out. It's a way to reach out to what is beyond our control, to what is beyond our sense of self, to the mystery of life itself.
So, say a little prayer.