Mindfulness for 30min within the isolation of a meditation session is like taking a pill in the morning to deal with stress. It’s more than that …… it’s delusional! Harsh? Yes, but a truism unless you tackle the underlying cause of the stress. And that is why having a personal code of ethics sits alongside mindfulness, it’s really about being morally disciplined as well. It’s also Buddhist thing!

Moral Discipline is one of the three sections of Buddha’s 8-Fold Path and is based on the 5 Moral Precepts of Buddhism ….. don’t kill, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t engage in sexual misconduct and finally don’t intoxicate your body, or anyone else’s. Each of these 5 contribute to Buddha’s definition of the underlying causes of “suffering” in one’s own life. However they can all be expressed in more positive ways such as respect for life, respect for truth, respect for others’ property ……. etc …… AND most importantly they precede the next section of the 8-Fold Path which is Mental Discipline containing mental effort, mindfulness and concentration. So much interconnectedness, so much interdependence between all 8 steps in the Path.

“Steve and Sarah took a long deep breath and opened their eyes. They were sitting cross-legged on their meditation mats and facing the large picture window of their bedroom. Facing East they caught the dawn and the rising sun every morning and it added to the feeling of calmness and mental focus they experienced before leaving the house for another stressful days work. They had been using the Vipassana technique of meditation for almost a year now, focusing ONLY on their breathing and observing their thoughts as they arose without judgement or exploration.”

“After a shower they dressed and went downstairs for their usual light breakfast of cereals and fresh fruit washed down with a cup of Matcha Sencha green tea. It further helped to set them up for a long hard day. Today Steve had to visit his warehouse and organise the large shipment of drugs arriving from Columbia into smaller lots for his team to further distribute across the city. There was always a risk of the police being informed of the shipment and the warehouse being raided, but his men were all armed and there was no way he’d be caught. Sarah was soon halfway across the city too, her shipment was different to Steve’s but female trafficking was almost as lucrative as his drugs operation and today she had a new “consignment” arriving from Eastern Europe which had to be moved on very quickly. So much stress, but it was worth it for the money they were making.”

The moral …….. Isolated mindfulness or meditating gets you nowhere without its application within your daily life. Suffering follows you ….. instant karma!

Categories: Buddha

Tags: Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, delusion, Dhamma, Dhammapada, dharma, eightfold path, ethics, instant karma, karma, meditation, mindful, mindfulness, morality, precepts, Stress