With an Unaffected Mind Residing Compassionate

Phagguna, if anyone speaks critical in your presence, you should abandon any desires and any thoughts based on the household life.

And herein you should train thus: My mind will be unaffected, and I shall speak no evil words; I shall reside compassionate for his welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, without inner hate. That is how you should train, Phagguna.

If anyone should give you a blow with his hand, with a clod, with a stick, or with a knife, you should abandon any desires and any thoughts based on the household life.

And herein you should train thus: My mind will be unaffected, and I shall speak no evil words; I shall reside compassionate for his welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, without inner hate.

That is how you should train, Phagguna.

(Reference: MN 21)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares how a Practitioner should train the mind to be unaffected by influences from others while always maintain a practice of loving-kindness and compassion.

Loving-kindness(Pāli: mettā) is active goodwill towards all beings without judgment. A genuine interest in seeing all beings be well.

Compassion(Pāli: karuṇā) is concern for the misfortunes of others.

The Buddha explains that if one criticizes you or even hits you “with his hand, with a clod, with a stick, or with a knife” to “reside compassionate for his welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, without inner hate”.

With this said, one will need to understand that it is possible to protect the physical body from physical harm from others while maintain a mind that has loving-kindness and compassion.

Defense and Protection

There may come a time in life where you need to defend the body from an attacker. Should you find the body in this situation, it is understandable if the decision is to defend against bodily harm in that immediate moment to protect the body or the safety of those around you.

However, keep in mind that there are many choices and decisions that can be made each day to ensure we do not find ourselves in a situation where the body is attacked. Having a well developed mind and purity of mind is your first line of defense and protects the body from negative events and experiences (i.e. unwholesome Kamma).

If the body is being attacked due to your speech or actions, that is Kamma and due to your speech and actions, another person has chosen to attack the body. To avoid this, practice The Eight Fold Path as your “life practice” to extinguish all unwholesome Kamma production.

If you find yourself in an unprovoked attack and you can get away to avoid the situation, you should. A person with no ego would have no interest to stand and fight for the sake of fighting, but instead, would prioritize safety of the physical body to continue life over protection of the ego. However, removing the body from the situation is not always possible. If you need to defend the body in that immediate moment to be safe, you can.

If there is a way for you to defend against bodily harm without killing the attacker, that would be best but not always possible. Defend the body with as little harm to another being as possible while ensuring the body is safe and protected. Do not prolong the defense and only apply as much force as required to provide for your immediate safety and the safety of those around you.

How can one embody non-resistance, yet still take action to affect social change in activities such as protesting?

It is important to establish in the mind that the goal of The Path to Enlightenment is to train one’s own mind and develop one’s own life practice. Through learning, reflecting, and practicing these Teachings, one comes to deeply understand The Natural Laws of Existence being able to no longer struggle in the world through the “unknowing of true reality”. Through gaining wisdom, one awakens the mind and can function peacefully and harmoniously in the world with “all beings”.

Our goal on The Path to Enlightenment is to train our own mind, not to change others. This is really important to deeply establish in the mind through multiple days, weeks, months, and years of practice, while seeking guidance with a Teacher.

With that said, that does not mean one is unable to help the world to improve. But through developing one’s own life practice of these Teachings, then a Practitioner will deeply understand that the struggles and difficulties that everyone with an unEnlightened mind is facing is….

Craving, Anger, and Ignorance (unknowing of true reality).

The true problem is deeply rooted in each person’s individual mind and the only solution is for each person to decide to train their own mind. That cannot be forced onto others and be successful. People need to be invited to make those improvements with the guidance and resources being provided as one chooses to step forward to learn, reflect, and practice, improving the condition of one’s own mind and life.

The primary problem that is keeping the mind in the unEnlightened state is ignorance (unknowing of true reality), a lack of wisdom. This is why beings struggle in the world, making decisions that lead to unwholesome results (i.e. unwholesome Kamma).

So, if one is going to create events where they are looking to help other members of society to understand and improve, one would need to incorporate into the event the ability to share “wisdom” with those who are choosing to participate. Wisdom is the antidote to ignorance (the unknowing of true reality).

Practitioners can come to understand that their goal is not to go into the world attempting to force others to change or do anything particular but instead, that we can host events that are enjoyable, inviting others to join, while providing an opportunity to learn and gaining wisdom to improve one’s life through their own improved decision making based on wisdom.

If we are just protesting, without the component of educating others who choose to learn, then there can be no improvements. Protesting without education just looks like complaining and attempting to force one’s own desires onto others.

If we are just protesting, which sometimes might include destruction of property, inconveniencing others, and inhibiting others to move about the world to handle their daily affairs, then we are causing harm to others and not practicing wholesome conduct that would produce wholesome results (i.e. wholesome Kamma). We are part of the problem, not the solution to the problem.

Protesting which includes destruction of property, inconveniencing others, and inhibiting others to move about the world to handle their daily affairs, distracts from the goal of providing the ability for others to acquire understanding and wisdom. The true message of the protest gets lost in the story about how destructive people were and how much damage was caused to the community. To be effective, a protest needs to be conducted peacefully, with non-violence, and without harming others, that is what will produce the best results.

When I think of an individual who was able to create massive amounts of good in the world through peaceful and non-violent events, I look to Martin Luther King Jr. He provided leadership to organize events that were non-violent, attracting large numbers of people from all diverse areas of the globe. He brought attention to his cause through providing the ability for large numbers of people to assemble and walk together in peaceful and non-violent ways, with no interest to cause harm to others. As part of his events, he would typically deliver a “speech” (i.e. a discourse) sharing wisdom with others that they could understand, learn, reflect on, and practice for improved decision making to produce improved results.

He moved hearts and minds through education and wisdom, not through being forceful, controlling, violent, or disrupting other people’s lives.

This is really key and something we do not necessarily see in today’s activities or protesting, which is, to bring focus and attention to a certain cause for change and improvement in society.

The effective way to help others see an improved way for all of humanity needs to be peaceful, non-violent, bringing attention to an improvement that is needed for society, which would include providing education to help people acquire wisdom. Through the wisdom that one chooses to acquire, individuals are able to then make improved decisions to experience improved results.

The human mind does not like change. It wants to be a wild animal. It wants to be complacent. Therefore, any improvements in the world will need to come through wisdom, as taught by The Buddha, and people need to choose to acquire that wisdom on their own. You cannot force someone to acquire wisdom nor force them to make improved decisions.

Improvements come through peacefully inviting others to understand the issue that needs attention and providing the ability for people to talk, discuss, and understand that issue, so there can be wise decisions made to create improvement.

So, with a well developed understanding that our goal is to focus on our own life practice and the elimination of craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality) (i.e. The Three Poisons, The Three Unwholesome Roots, The Three Fires) we can assemble for events through practicing The Three Wholesome Roots which will produce wholesome results (i.e. wholesome Kamma).

The Three Wholesome Roots are Generosity, Loving-kindness, and Wisdom.

When we function through generosity, loving-kindness, and wisdom, assembling events based on these wholesome roots, then we can make decisions that lead to wholesome outcomes (i.e. wholesome Kamma), while always focusing on our own practice, not attempting to “change the outer world” but instead, improving and “changing the inner world (the mind)”.

This can all occur while inviting, supporting, encouraging, and motivating others to do the same, if they choose, to cultivate wisdom.