TRANSFORMING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
“Erase the false impressions from your mind by constantly saying to yourself, i have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire or any kind of disturbance - instead, seeing the true nature of things, I will give them only their due. Always remember this power that nature gives you.” - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.29
There is one thing I have found very useful when I am afflicted by mental obsessions - craving cookies, what the labs will say, will her plane crash, I hate the government. Negative ideations grounded in fear. They rob me of my peace of mind. Or better stated, it is “I” who rob me of my peace of mind.
Some may have success with a mantra to remind them of their power to choose their thoughts, such as Marcus Aurelius suggests in his Meditations. Sadly, that had never been enough for me, that is, until I read the following story about an exchange with Chao Chou and one of his students. Chao Chou is a late-eighth-century Chinese Zen master who lived well into the ninth century. This simple story is now a famous koan with many interpretations.
A monk told Chao Chou: “I have just entered the monastery. Please teach me.”
Chao Chou asked: “Have you eaten your rice porridge?”
The monk replied: “I have eaten.”
Chao Chou said: “Then you had better wash your bowl.”
At that moment the monk was enlightened.
Science says when we are stressed or overwhelmed, (as Marcus describes as thoughts of evil, desire, or other mental disturbance), we need to compress time to balance our attention with our circumstances.
Instead of thinking about the plane landing in 8 hours, or the government collapsing in the next decade, or the call from the doctor tomorrow, this koan says to me I should focus on the present and do the next thing. Eat my rice. Wash my bowl.
My frightened mind can handle the next thing.
So can yours.
This is my mantra for those times…
“Wash your bowl.”