THE DRIVER

Ozmo Piedmont, PH.D. When we are in our cars on the road of life, who is really driving, our karma or our Buddha Nature? In the Dhammapada one reads that the Buddha once said: He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins.1 Anger is a form of aversion, one of the three mental poisons of the mind. When life presents us with situations that provoke aversion, whether it is in the form of anger, rage, irritation, frustration, fury, disgust, bother, worry, or fearall are opportunities for our spiritual practice. These sensations in themselves are not the problem, but it is rather our attachment to them, that which reinforces old patterns and unconscious habits based on egocentrism. When this happens, we are out of control y our actions cause hurt, pain, and suffering. In other words, we have lost the reigns of the chariot of our mind. In stead of training our body and mind in the ways of guiding the chariot in order to resolve problems with insight, wisdom, and compassion, we are actually prisoners of negative tendencies, those which become repeated thousands of times in our lives due to our negative karma. We are actually causing as much suffering for others as much as for ourselves. On the other hand, when we are able to practice mindfulness, or attentiveness to the moment, as a good driver, we are in control of our reactions, restraining the tendencies that cause us to in the wrong direction, allowing us to steer the chariot in the most appropriate direction. We neither go in the direction of inactivity, nor in the direction of uncontrolled emotions. Upon seeing an obstacle in the road, the situation requires us to act in the moment; our sensations are telling us to pay attention and attend to what is happening. For example, if there is a pothole in the road, the sensation of worry, irritation, anger, o fear tells us that there is a danger up ahead. One must avoid the pothole. But, how do we do that? If we are attached to our emotion of aversion, we could swear at the pothole, which would do us not good anyhow. But by observing the arising sensation, we allow it to pass, and in stead of allowing the emotion to dictate our behavior, we look for a more efficient way to avoid the pothole. This is the moment in our spiritual practice that we ask the Infinite, What is it good to do now? which gives us the opportunity to consider all the options, while we put our faith in a more profound wisdom, that which has a wider perspective, so that it can counsel us, that which pertains to our Buddha Nature. Upon receiving this directive, we commit ourselves to action. In this way, we avoid the pothole in the road, in the same way we avoid the interpersonal collisions with the world of

our families, work, and society. It is comforting to remember we are not alone on this road of life, since the counsel and the help from the Infinite is like having one of those global positioning systems, or GPS, in our cars. Upon pressing a button, a computerized voice comes on telling us the best route to take in order to arrive most directly to our destination, telling us, Turn right at the next corner. We can choose to ignore the voice if we like, but we trust that it is guiding us for in our best interest. In the same way, we trust the Infinite as our interior GPS, guiding us in the most direct way to reach our destination. Through meditation, practice and mindfulness, we are turning on this inner GPS guidance system, opening ourselves to the guidance available in this moment. When we ask the Infinite, What is it good to do now? we are pressing the button that gives us the Eternal the opportunity to guide us in our daily lives, to help us purify our karma, to alleviate suffering, and to arrive to our divine destination in our lives by the most direct route possible, that which is the joy and peace of the Infinite manifesting itself as our Buddha Nature.

Babbit, Irving. (Translator). The Dhammapada. New Directions Publishing Corporation: New York, N.Y. 1936. Chapter XVII: verse 222.