Some 20-odd years ago, while I was teaching English at a university in eastern Virginia, I encountered the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the eminent Vietnamese Buddhist monk and teacher, and was immediately captivated by the clarity and simplicity of his teachings, which cut to the core, it seemed, of all the wisdom traditions I had encountered, whether Western, Eastern, or Indigenous. So after hearing him give a luminous public Dharma talk in Washington DC, and thereafter immersing myself in his many books, I decided to write down a digest of his teachings to share with my students, albeit without mentioning the “B” word (Buddhism), since nearly all of my students — at a historically black university — were lifelong Christians.
My students were fraught with anxiety about their grades, their future plans, their parents, their romantic relationships, and the relentless social stigma that came with their skin color whenever they stepped off campus; but like all other students, they were also distracted by the endless feed of news, gossip, TV entertainment, and popular music (even well before cell phones became a ubiquitous accessory). And so they had a lot of trouble concentrating in class, and were easily distracted, often simply tuning out, no matter how energetically I tried to engage their attention. So I realized that teaching them some of Thich Nhat Hanh’s timeless insights into practicing mindfulness might be useful to them. Thus, I composed, and thereafter handed out on the first day of class, a set of eight “Axioms for Clearing the Mind” that summarized Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings as best I could. They were well received; some students even slipped them into the transparency on the cover of their three-ring notebooks so they would always be accessible.
Fast forward twenty-two years to the present day, well into retirement, and while I have long forgotten most of my other teaching materials, I still consult this digest of “Axioms” periodically, as a kind of auto-therapy, whenever I find myself in a rut — depressed, desultory, or distracted — and need to refocus my attention. So I offer these to the world, slightly updated, in the hopes that a few readers out there might find them useful, as we all navigate the uncharted waters ahead of climate chaos, collapsing infrastructures, runaway inflation, and a future that looks far more threatening than promising…
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An Axiom is a statement that is both self-evidently true and worthy (the literal meaning of the Greek word axion), in the sense of being useful to remember. Here are a set of axioms you might find useful for clearing your mind of distractions as you go about your daily life
- The Present is all there is. The past is gone, and the future hasn’t happened yet. So avoid getting overly caught up in memories or regrets about the past, or anxieties or fantasies about the future. Now is all we have — ever. So live in the present, honor but let go of the past, and plan for, but don’t fret about, the future.
- That that is, is. So stop wishing things were otherwise, or had been otherwise. Hell resides in the Past Subjunctive — in the contrary-to-fact realm of “if only I had…” This realm of thought can only bring you suffering. If you find yourself wishing things were other than they are, (as we all do, from time to time), a good practice, if you are religious, is simply to join your palms and say “Thy will be done.” If you are not religious, try the old Walter Cronkite signoff, “That’s the way it is.”
- Nothing you’ve done, suffered, or failed to do in the past has any direct bearing on what you CHOOSE to do in the present moment. So don’t let any dysfunctional self-concept about “the kind of person you are” prevent you from making wise, constructive, or compassionate choices — right now.
- There are really only two states of mind — mindful and distracted. In tune, or out of tune. Engaged, or idling. Here now, or somewhere else, then. Attentive, or spaced out. It’s always your choice.
- Therefore, there are two ways of doing anything: mindfully or distractedly. That is, (1) doing it in order to do it as well as you can, here and now; or (2) doing it hastily and sloppily, simply in order to get it done, so you can do something else. Life is interesting and rewarding if you do things mindfully, and boring and frustrating if you choose the second option.
- Anything done mindfully can become worthwhile. Whether it is writing an essay, studying, cooking a meal, paying the bills, tying your shoes, raking the leaves, or cleaning out the kitty box, if you do it mindfully, you will do it well and enjoy it in the process. Attitude is everything.
- Everyone gets distracted, all the time. So if you find yourself distracted — by worries, resentments, anxieties, fantasies, or simply listlessness and torpor, you’re not alone. All you need is a good and reliable technique you can use and remember for returning to mindfulness.
- Here is one such technique. When I get distracted, this is what I use. Try it if it works; if it doesn’t, improvise. It consists of ten long, relaxed breaths, silently repeating and contemplating each of the following verbs or verb phrases:
Breathe, Observe, Let Go.
Be well, Do Good Work, Keep in Touch.
Learn, Teach, Heal, Create.
To unpack it a bit, the first three injunctions are your starting point, to which you can always return; they are the foundational teachings of Buddhism and other contemplative traditions throughout the world, and they provide the foundation for a worthy life:
Breathe: Simply draw your attention to your breath, in and out. Breathe slowly, from the diaphragm, and keep your attention focused on the sound and sensations of the air rushing in and out, and the pauses in between. Think of your breath as your home base — a “safe place” to which you can always return, no matter what is going on around you, or inside your own head. This is the quickest, easiest way to restore calm and equanimity when you are in any way agitated or distracted.
Observe: Sooner or later, after you return to your breath, thoughts, sensations, images, or other distractions will draw your attention away from your breath. When this happens, neither yield nor resist — just quietly observe the distraction for what it is. You might even try naming it, e.g. “pain in my left side” or “music” or “anxiety about my work” — as a way of observing it calmly without identifying with it.
Let Go: Once you have transformed a distraction from an obsession (i.e. something you are caught up in) into an “object” whose presence you have simply observed, you can, when you are ready to do so, simply let go of it, and return to your breath. This is the essence of meditation: you breathe in order to observe, you observe in order to let go, and you let go in order to breathe. Repeat as often as necessary until you regain a deep inner calm and equanimity — “the peace which passeth all understanding.”
The next three injunctions comprise a generic daily agenda — three vows to yourself to cultivate mindfulness and compassion in all your activities:
Be well: If you have followed the above instructions diligently — breathing, observing, and letting go — you are already “well” — no matter what physical afflictions you might have. This is a good time, then, to renew your vow to take good care of yourself — to “be well” in body, mind, and spirit. Physical wellness is maintained, of course, through regular rest, good diet, and exercise. Mental wellness is simply the attitudes born of inner equanimity — kindness, patience, diligence, tolerance, openness, and gentleness. Spiritual wellness is acceptance of that that is; it is being able to say “Thy will be done” — and mean it.
Do Good Work: Once you have re-established “wellness” it is time to renew your vow to do what needs to be done, and do it well — for the sake of your self, your loved ones, your community, and all of life. “Good Work” always has two complementary aspects: Arête and Agapé. Arête is doing things well — doing it in order to do it, with mindful attention to detail. Agapé is “right livelihood” — working for the right reasons — to promote the health, competence, and resilience of yourself, your family, friends, and colleagues, community, society, and all of life.
Keep in Touch: The third personal vow to renew, once you have regained the equanimity to do so, is to take care of everyone and abandon no one — that is, to be attentive at all times to the inner and outer needs of others — both those close to you and complete strangers. Remembering that nothing you’ve done or failed to do in the past has any necessary effect on what you choose to do right now, this vow presents you with a good opportunity to write that letter, make that call, or do that good deed that you have been putting off for whatever reason — to make “keeping in touch” an integral part of your generic daily agenda.
The final four injunctions enable you to establish or renew a worthy life agenda; they can be viewed as an elaboration of “doing good work” and “keeping in touch;” standing goals around which to organize your life plans, whether for a day, a week, a decade, or a lifetime:
Learn: Everyone you see, and every situation you encounter, is your teacher, so be ready at all times to learn. Make learning — of new skills, new knowledge, or new insight — a lifetime project. Try not to let a day go by without learning something worthwhile. It keeps life forever fresh and interesting, no matter how old you are, or what your circumstances may be.
Teach: Everyone you see is potentially your student, so be ready at all times to teach. Your learning is ultimately useless and will die with you unless you also make an effort, whenever possible, and in whatever ways are appropriate, to impart what you know to others — to share your knowledge and experience, in order to improve the lives of others.
Heal: Everyone you see may be hurting in some way, so be ready at all times to heal. You don’t need special medical or psychological skills to be a healer; it just takes sensitivity to others’ needs and a willingness to be there for others when they need you, and leave them alone when they want to be left alone.
Create: Everyone you see may need your special gift, so be ready at all times to create. We often delude ourselves into thinking “I’m not creative,” but this is a lie; there is creative potential in all of us. Our task is to discover our own special gifts, and then put them to use for the well-being and inspiration of ourselves, others, and all of life. In the immediate present moment, creativity arises whenever you choose, deliberately, to break a long-established habit (especially a dysfunctional habit) and do something different, something better.
Finally, don’t fret if you have thus far failed to live up to any or all of these vows — to be well, do good work, keep in touch, learn, teach, heal, and create. Think of them as asymptotic goals, for which you continually strive, without attaching yourself to outcomes. You are always free to start anew — by breathing, observing, and letting go — because you have the present moment in which to do so, and the present is all there is.