Unexpected Freedom

Practice as PreparationUnexpected FreedomThe third line of this verse says, ‘Happiness arises fromhaving accumulated virtue at life’s end.’ That is somethingthat would not necessarily have occurred to me if I hadn’tread those words. It isn’t a thought I would generally dwellon. But this is something the Buddha spoke about often –not to waste our time, not to be heedless. We don’t knowwhen we’re going to die – it could be soon. He encouragedus to prepare ourselves. A lot of what we are doing asspiritual practitioners is, in fact, preparation. Ajahn Chahsaid that true practice is not sitting on a cushion – that ispreparation. The true practice happens when the passionsimpact on the heart. If we can be there in the moment ofcontact and stay there in the middle and not wobble, thatis when we are practising. But if we don’t prepareourselves… Well, I’m sure you all know from your ownexperiences what happens.Even if we prepare ourselves it is not easy, when thepassions flare up, to stay there in the midst of the fire. It ismuch easier to go with them, to get carried away by themand act them out physically. The other common response isto go up into the head and rationalise or fantasise our waythrough their manifestation – perhaps in scenarios ofheavenly sensuality, or in theatres of horrendous violence:our fantasies can take us to the most extraordinary limits. Ifwe get carried away by the passions, we act on them and dothings without due care, driven by wild energy. So our taskis to be able to stay there in the centre, when the energy israging, without repressing, without pushing down so we geta stomach disorder or a heart attack. We neither indulge infantasies, nor act out passion, but follow a middle way ofbeing sensitive, yet still and centred, when the passions are188