Good afternoon,
Dear friends.
It's a joy to share with you from the land of the Lumbee,
Piscataway,
And the Cherokee tribes,
Today known as Baltimore,
Maryland in the US,
And especially a joy to share with everyone during this period of Black History Month.
And while we celebrate and make ourselves aware in body and mind about this period,
We also can look to how we can continue to create this history,
Co-create this history together as we move toward our collective liberation.
And just briefly,
The history of Black History Month dates from the 1915s.
1915 was the year when the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History was established by historian Carter G.
Woodson and minister Jesse E.
Morland to promote the achievements of African Americans.
Today,
This association is known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
During 1926 in February,
This association sponsored its first ever national Negro History Week to highlight the contributions of African American histories,
African Americans throughout history,
Or African Americans in history,
Or African descendants in history.
By the 1960s,
The week had grown to a month and had been then called Black History Month on different colleges,
At different college campuses.
Of course,
This was due in part to the civil rights movement during that era,
That it became a month instead of a week.
But it was not until 1976 when the celebration was officially expanded into a month by the president,
Then Gerald Ford.
And since then,
Every United States president has recognized the month of February as Black History Month,
As well as other countries recognizing Black History Month.
This year's theme in 2020 is African American on a Vote.
And this is to honor the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment,
Which as you know is women's suffrage,
And the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment,
Which granted black men the right to vote.
So we are truly in deep regard,
Humbled,
And offering much gratitude to our ancestors,
Our African descendant ancestors brought to this country more than 400 years ago,
Not in freedom,
And yet now still moving toward freedom.
We celebrate the many accomplishments that have come from African descendant people who have helped to build our country to be what it is today,
Who have survived the trauma and still maintain much joy,
Maintain much warriorship,
Maintain much compassion,
Maintain much love for all of us together as we continue to move and grow into freedom for everyone.
And it's this that I want to share a little bit about,
Or a little more about.
This is the movement,
The awakening into freedom for everyone,
And how as we celebrate black history,
The pain,
The suffering,
And the joy,
And the awakening to this date in 2020,
How do we move forward into the next 20 years,
50 years,
100 years,
Where we are all waking up,
Where we are all reaching into our fully expressed humanity?
Because it will require not only African American folks and descendants of Africans in this country to do so,
It will require all of us of all race and ethnicities.
Because this history,
In general,
The history of African Americans in the United States is not shaped by African Americans or African descendant people only.
It's shaped by everyone who was here,
Certainly by the colonizers,
By those who were the enslavers,
As well as those who the abolitionists,
White and African descendant,
Who struggled,
Fought for the freedom of African American people.
So our history is really shaped by all of us.
And so the question that comes to mind today is how are we going to continue to shape this history into the future so that in 50 years when someone is offering a reminder and a celebration of Black History Month,
It will include so much more than we are now celebrating.
We would have moved beyond the separation that continues today.
We would have moved beyond the policing violence that continues to plague our black embodied folks.
We would have moved behind these structures that continue to be held up to maintain separation around race and ethnicity and especially around and against the black body.
And these disparities,
As we know,
Exist not only in policing,
But it exists in all of our sectors.
We have the largest income and wealth disparity between African American and whites that we've ever seen or that we've ever recorded.
Health disparities are great.
Housing disparity,
Educational disparity are all there still.
And in some sectors or some regions,
We have greater segregation in our classrooms than we had before the 1960s.
So,
We continue to have these inequities that we must free ourselves from so that we can really truly all be free living into our fullest happiness and our fullest humanity and our fullest wisdom.
And so how do we do this?
I would like to shape this in this discussion today around or within the Buddhist structure of right effort or the four right efforts.
As some of you may know,
In Buddhism,
The four right efforts exist as a way for us to not only bring into our mind and our awareness the way that we might want to be and practice every day in order to continue on this beautiful path of awakening.
It is a way also in every single moment of the day to keep remembering,
To practice mindfulness as to how we want to exist.
So,
Some call it the four right exertions,
Some call it the four right efforts.
Right effort is one of the noble eightfold path.
So,
When we think about our path of awakening,
Our path away from suffering,
This is how we think,
How am I going to exert myself in toward this path of awakening.
The four right efforts are simply to not bring into the mind or into the body any action on skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
The second is if there are unskillful qualities there in the mind,
In words,
In our actions,
To abandon them.
The third is to bring rise,
Bring effort to bring rise,
Skillful qualities into the mind,
Into the words that we use into our bodily actions.
And the fourth is to maintain and develop further any existing skillful qualities that are already there in our mind,
In our words,
And in our actions.
So,
You can see how using this framework of the Buddha,
These four right efforts or four right exertions can be a way to remind us in our everyday life,
Our everyday walk of life,
How we might want to be,
How we might want to practice,
How we might want to remember,
And what is it that we're trying to remember.
Well,
In regard to the way that we would move toward awakening and freedom for all people,
Not only for people with light skin,
People who identify as white or Eurocentric or Caucasian,
Especially for people who have lived through enslavement,
African American descendants,
How do we think more clearly,
Exert right effort and extend this right effort from our mind into our words and into our actions in our daily lives using this framework?
How can we help achieve this equity?
So,
We can take each one and just use an example.
So,
This is not just in the meditation hall where we are meditating silently or with a guided meditation that we would practice these right exertions or these right efforts.
Certainly,
We do.
Sitting in meditation,
We would bring into our mind and looking into the mind what unskillful intentions am I harboring.
If there are some,
I would abandon them.
If there weren't any,
I would find a way to give rise to skillful qualities in my mind as I'm sitting in meditation.
And if they're there,
If I recognize them,
I would then maintain those or develop them further.
So,
Certainly,
This is a very personal practice that we do as we sit in meditation,
As we pray,
As we reflect maybe in the morning or the night before we sleep.
And we also can take this same framework,
This same looking into deeply,
This same mindful awareness,
The same alertness,
Mindfulness,
And ardency to our daily lives.
And this could be as we're walking down the street and we meet someone.
What comes to mind if you're a person of color or if you're a non-person of color and you walk and you pass a person of color,
Can you notice what comes into your mind?
Is the thought in your mind one of discrimination?
This is the noting.
This is the noting what is there and if it's unskillful,
Abandoning it and instead bringing rise to something more skillful,
A mind of non-discrimination,
A wisdom mind of non-discrimination.
And if that mind is there,
If there is no mind of discrimination there when you walk past that person who's different than you,
To develop that,
To notice that that mind is like that and to do things to continue that skillful mind.
Another example is of the daily way we practice with these right efforts toward awakening for all of us is in our workplace.
If we're engaging with someone,
A work colleague and there's some challenge in our work environment or there's a meeting and there's disagreement,
How do we engage with these four right efforts?
If we're engaging as a person of color with a white person or a non-person of color who disagrees with us,
Who we think might be judging us because of the color of our skin,
How do we bring these four right efforts into practice in our speech in that moment?
It's the same thing.
We're alert and mindful of the thoughts in our mind.
What are we thinking?
Can we notice what might be arising?
Is it an unskillful thought?
Can we bring into mind something skillful?
If there is something skillful there,
Can we nurture that?
Can we continue that,
Maintain that so that the words that come out of our mouth represents that,
The action represents that?
That might be that this person might be treating us with some discrimination based on our skin color or they may not.
We may perceive that because there is such a large history.
Perhaps we saw them at some other time treating someone of a different race or ethnicity in a way that was not kind.
We have this perception in our minds that they would be holding the same feelings and thoughts and behavior toward us.
In that moment when we're holding on to that perception,
Is there a way that we can notice what we're holding on to?
Is there a way that we can open up,
Open our hearts to the opportunity to allow that person to come into the engagement with us from a different place?
Or can we be compassionate enough without harming ourselves,
Without repressing what is right in front of us?
How can we stay open without self-harm to allow something else to unfold?
This is nourishing and bringing skillful qualities into the mind,
Staying open,
Staying generous,
Bringing some equanimity.
And this also continues with our actions.
We might be,
One of my favorites I use is driving.
You're driving down the road and we're in a hurry.
What happens when someone cuts in front of us?
We feel righteously indignant,
So much so that we sometimes feel we can raise our arms in a fist or other favorite projections of the fingers.
And we feel it's fine because this person clearly did something violent towards us,
Harmful.
They jumped in front of us,
They could cause an accident.
They were disrespectful.
Many reasons that we can feel we have a right to respond or even more it's a reaction,
It's a retaliation.
Our feelings get hurt,
Our heart gets hurt.
And often when our heart gets hurt,
The arrow that touches that place of sensitivity,
It bounces right back.
It shoots an arrow.
It wants to find a target.
It doesn't want to hold that hurt.
So it responds by redirecting,
Looking for a different target than the target here in our hearts.
And so without mindfulness,
Without this framework of how we want to be in the world every day,
We can very easily respond from a place of hurt,
Often which is how we might be responding when someone hurts us.
And we feel justified in not being kind.
And so this again is a looking into,
Is a maintaining this right effort of what's in my mind as I'm hurt.
Can I notice that I'm hurt?
Can I notice that my action is about to come from that place of hurt?
And can I maybe not continue with that,
That energy that's about to express itself with my fists?
And this comes from having a mind that is able to notice,
Am I having an unskillful mind at this time?
Can I give rise to something more skillful?
Can I maybe notice,
Yes,
This was not nice.
This should not have been done.
And perhaps this person is having a bad day.
Perhaps this person is late as well.
Perhaps this person thinks they will be fired if they're late or has a really important appointment.
Or perhaps this person has simply not met the conditions that sufficiently would allow them to be more aware of how they behave in the world.
And that we can offer them in that moment meta.
We can offer them the wish for the conditions that would support their happiness.
Because if they had the conditions that would support their happiness,
They would not behave in that way.
They would be more mindful and aware and would not jump in front of you as they're in their hurry or in their world of time constraint.
And this can be anyone.
And it can also be how we feel more or less inclined,
Depending on our skin privilege,
To behave toward each other.
We have been conditioned,
We have been socially conditioned to still carry with us perceptions of superiority and inferiority.
These perceptions,
This lifetime and generational energy that lives in all of us,
It has an effect on our exertions and how we think on the mind that we carry.
We might carry a mind of feeling superior just because our skin is white,
Because of the construction of the society of white superiority.
This is a mind that we would want to release,
We would want to transform,
We would want to abandon this unskillful mind,
These qualities.
These are unskillful and we would want to give rise to a skillful mind that does not hold itself as superior because of the skin color.
And similarly,
If we have a sense of inferiority from also the social conditioning in being a black or brown body,
We would similarly want to release that mind of inferiority.
We would want to transform that and not give rise to it,
The first right effort,
Not give rise to it.
But assuming it's there already because of this generational trauma of enslavement for African descendant people,
We would want to begin to notice that and notice how it's there often directing how we feel about ourselves,
Our sense of self-worth,
Our sense of our ability to do things,
To accomplish things,
To show up and be fully present,
To engage.
And we would want to,
This would be noticing and abandoning these qualities and giving rise to qualities of,
I certainly can do it.
I have no restriction based on the color of my skin because as the mind goes,
So does the rest of our actions in speech and behavior.
And then we would want to continue to find the conditions to uphold that mind,
To develop it,
To increase it,
And to continuously give rise to that mind.
If we could practice with these four right efforts,
Not just around our racial awareness and identity,
But this mind in every single thing we do and being heedful in our everyday life,
This type of awareness,
This type of mindfulness in the mundane things of life begins with the smallest things.
The way we open and close the door,
Can we stay with the door?
Because if we stay with the doorknob until we're finished with the door,
It allows us to have a mind that stays in the moment and is aware.
And it's those small activities as you brush your teeth.
Can I be aware of the brush on my teeth?
Can I be grateful as I'm brushing my teeth that I have teeth,
That I'm lucky to have teeth,
That I didn't have a diet of so much sugar that I lost my teeth or that I grew up so poor that I didn't have the ability to have dental care and had a lot of cavities and now that I'm older I've lost my teeth.
When I eat,
Can I be aware of the food I'm eating?
Can I chew my food and not my thoughts about the next thing I'm about to do or the thing I did before?
Can I be with the food and give rise to a mind of gratitude for the farmer,
For the truck driver,
For the person stocking the shelf?
Can I bring that mind of skillfulness,
Of gratitude develop that mind?
And so you can see that it's a small mundane acts in daily life as we stay with awareness,
Being heedful that we can begin to notice this mind of discrimination – this mind that leads us down this road of inequity because it's this mind of discrimination,
Of judging in a way that punishes people for being different than us.
There is nothing wrong with noticing difference.
The problem,
The challenge comes when we take that difference and now create a hierarchy,
Violate based on those differences,
Feel that some deserve more and some deserve less based on this difference.
So our practice around noticing what is happening in our mind as it will determine how we use words,
How we act towards each other,
This mere awareness in daily life begins to build concentration so we can be,
Continue to be aware,
Notice and develop the clarity,
The insight of what we're thinking.
And as we notice what we're thinking,
We can decide if this is skillful.
We can decide if it's not skillful,
Maybe we want to abandon it and give rise to something that is skillful.
And if it is skillful,
Then we can continue to nourish it.
So the practice of continuous awareness,
This practice of being,
Remembering what it is we want to keep in mind and what it is we don't want to keep in mind is what allows us to continuing this,
Continuing daily on this path of waking up,
Waking up to our way of being,
Waking up of how we contribute in this world to equity for everyone.
And during this period of black history,
Awareness and gratitude and celebration and awe for the history of African descendant people who have come through so much,
Persevered and delighted,
Enjoy to be here today in helping to develop the country.
It is with this awareness that we can then,
Every one of us,
Regardless of our skin color,
We can all contribute to making this history one that is even more beautiful,
One that doesn't continue to live from these history and the relics of separation and segregation,
But instead move into a path of wisdom,
A path of joy,
A path of equity,
A history that our descendants 50 years,
100 years,
200 years from now can truly celebrate and can truly celebrate how everyone together rebuilt this history,
One that serves all of us in more equitable way.
Thank you there,
Friends,
For listening.
I wish you well on this path of practice of awakening,
Of rebuilding history so that we all can benefit more equitably,
That we can all access teachings that bring us healing and love and understanding,
And that we all remember that we are standing on the shoulders of all our ancestors who came before us,
Paving the way through all the difficulties,
Through all the joys that we can be here today to continue to practice toward freedom.
Ase.
