One of the main things we’re dealing with in Buddhist practice is behavior. One of my teacher‘s favorite formulas goes something like, “Ordinary beings live by their karma, bodhisattvas live by their vows.” This directly addresses the behavior we engage in (Do I do things informed by my karma or my vows?). I almost wrote ’choose to engage in’, but actually the fact that we’re rarely making choices about our activity is the point I want to get at today.
It’s also the point of that aphorism about karma and vows. I’d like to be more like a bodhisattva, so I just need to do things that line up with my vows and not the normal human crap I do. The thing is, for me this is basically impossible without some serious examination of what that means and how to do it! Karma propels us through the world empowered by all the behaviors and choices we’ve rehearsed over and over. We blast right past the points where we could choose something different without even noticing them. How do we begin to notice the inflection points in our lives where we could make a decision based on vow rather than karma?
In addition to Buddhism, I’m going to write a lot about two other topics that I’ve spent time studying and practicing. These are the two most powerful lenses I know of for this examination: Alexander Technique and dog training.
The dog trainer I admire most and have spent the most time learning from is named Susan Garrett. Her training technique is based on a series of games that scaffold from very simple behaviors. The first game is called the Collar Grab Game. In it, you take your dog’s collar then give them a reinforcement (probably a food treat of some kind). The end. This is an incredibly simple game, and it has a lot of really important characteristics. One of them is this: the dog cannot fail at this game. All your dog needs to do to win is to be a dog.
I’m going to end today by posing a question I think about a lot. What is the equivalent of the Collar Grab Game in my life? In other words, what minute change(s) in behavior can I ask from myself that is so easy I absolutely can’t fail? These are the pieces that can form the foundation of a healthy and free life.