In Buddhism, one of the Five Laws of Existence

is the Law of the Dharma

“Without fail evil is vanquished and good prevails.”

Not long ago, we spent a chunk of intense time in Portland helping out our dear friend and Teacher, Rev. Master Meiko who is, as most of you know, the Prior of Portland Buddhist Priory. Being in a very different environment with different expectations and responsibilities can be trying to one’s patience and forbearance. Especially one who is prone to impatience and sometimes, even, ill humor.

Being such a one as this, I found myself in the kitchen, one late afternoon, rather tired and feeling unhappy with whatever the universe was displaying to me at the time. I was looking out the window at a dying fruit tree in a soggy yard when a framed quote written beautifully in a practiced calligraphic hand asked politely for my attention. The hand written words fit perfectly in a small space between the window and the kitchen door that opened to a narrow porch, its stairs leading to the soggy yard below.

Moving my gaze from the yard, now lit by some interesting strips of sunlight, my eyes again encountered the words that made up the quote. This time my mind woke up and I read the words. They seemed scattered to me, too much of an effort to move my attention from myself to make much sense of anything “outside” of me.

Fortunately, some part of me grew tired of this game and I deliberately brought my attention back to the framed calligraphy message from the Universe. I read slowly, trying very hard to comprehend what it was telling me. It took awhile, standing there in the silent kitchen because my mind seemed to need time to get up to speed with the incoming information, but finally I could actually read it. A few beats after that the joy of recognition and acceptance rushed through me as I read:

“Without fail grumpiness is vanquished and playfulness prevails.”

I felt a smile begin to form as my mood shifted from alienation to inclusion. Sure enough, The Grumps was slinking away and Amusement was knocking on the door.

I hope I never lose my sense of humor. It has rescued me from many self-generated periods of suffering.

Putting aside the theological trap of “good vs evil”, I can relate to grumpiness; the state of which can serve to warn me of my impending “I don’t want this to be happening” slump where I close myself off from what is. The word playfulness has a gentle quality to it. It brings to my mind an innocence of spirit, an ability to be without agenda. It speaks to me of the enjoyment of the present; an invitation to join the dance.

I was driving home from an appointment in Sacramento. It was late afternoon and traffic was fairly heavy… not stop and go but pretty dense. I was conscious of how I was driving. Trying not to tailgate and also keeping pace with the traffic in my lane. I was feeling pretty Zen about it all, pretty self congratulatory.

A car came up on my right and pulled a little ahead. I knew he was going to pull into my lane and he did. I shook my head and eased back. Too bad everyone wasn’t as Zen and cool as me. Another car came alongside. She pulled in front and into my lane. Enough! I started gauging my distance from the car in front of me carefully. I wanted to be the perfect distance so I wasn’t following too closely and so there wouldn’t be room for others to continuously pull in front of me.

And it suddenly struck me what an ungenerous place that was to be. How miserly I was being with “my” space on the freeway. As if there was some shortage of space on the freeway and I had to grasp and hold my little portion. How different it would be if I instead practiced dana, if I was generous with the space, if when someone appeared to wish to change lanes I eased back to give them room.

I tried it and immediately noticed the change in myself. Instead of the tension of carefully calculating and holding distance to keep my space, I felt the relaxation of making the space needed available, not grudgingly but openly and freely and in the spirit of dana.

I was driving to town on the freeway a couple of weeks ago and got chopped by another driver. As chops go it wasn’t a really bad one… maybe a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10… but I noticed that little tightening I get in my diaphragm when irritation arises. And I noticed that the other driver was obviously impatient and in a hurry and was lane changing to move ahead more quickly than the flow of traffic.

A few moments later I was coming up on a freeway entrance and a car was entering to merge. There was that little moment of decision. Should I slow down and let them enter in front of me or should I speed up to get ahead of them. That little tightening in the gut wanted me to speed up, to get in front, to win in some subtle way.

It was such a clear example of the law of karma playing out on the road. The actions of the impatient driver creating irritation and impatience in other drivers, and continuing to move outward until one could see the entire flow of traffic being affected. The level of tension and anxiety on the road increased and amplified. There was a consequence for the view (it’s all about me), thoughts (I’m in a hurry) and actions (weaving in and out of traffic) of one driver.

Equally, there is consequence when one driver is calm and courteous. The acts of allowing someone to enter ahead, of making space for another driver to change lanes, of being aware of one’s own speed and selecting a slower lane to avoid impeding faster moving traffic, each reduce the level of tension on the road. Courtesy begets courtesy.

And with mindfulness, karma can be converted. If I can be aware of the tightening in my gut when I judge another’s actions to be wrong, when anger begins to arise in the form of irritation, then I can make the choice to not follow that irritation, to step away from the view that it’s all about me, to see the thought of “she chopped me so I’ll chop you” and to instead make the conscious choice of courtesy.

by Kim Woodward

I often drive to Sacramento to see my son and daughter-in-law. They live about 45 miles away, mostly freeway driving, and the last half in urban traffic. So there are a lot of cars surrounding me, a lot of different drivers and vehicles.

Sometimes I am able to make the journey peacefully. Other times, I find myself getting tense, irritable, angry that other drivers are somehow not doing things right (my way). I have been noticing this for a long time, and I am mostly pretty careful with my actions, but even there I can behave aggressively and with subtle discourtesy if the tide of irritation rises enough.

So what is the difference between a peaceful drive and a decidedly unpeaceful one? Partly it is due to external circumstances of course. There is certainly a tendency to anxiety and anger when traffic is heavy, or when I encounter other drivers who are aggressive. Time is also a factor. When I feel I have plenty of time, I drive with a lot less anxiety. But why, then are there times with heavy traffic, crazy drivers and time constraints when I am calm and at peace in my body and mind? What is different?

I think the major difference has to do with right view. If I begin the trip with a view that the important thing is attaining a certain destination by a certain time, then other drivers, vehicles, traffic situations all become obstacles to overcome in order to reach my intended goal. If I begin a trip with the view that what is important is that I and others I encounter have a safe and peaceful journey, then there is true peace. I don’t feel my stomach knotting or my hands getting tense on the steering wheel, and of course don’t feel any need to behave discourteously to self or other.

And, I have to view myself into right action. I am never long term successful in acting myself into right view.

by Kim Woodward

Living in rural California and driving a lot, I continue to do a lot of my training on the road. This past month I was driving daily from our home to the barn where we keep our horses about 15 miles away. The route is a quiet two lane country road with very little traffic.

I noticed when driving out in the morning that I didn’t even identify myself as “car”. I was just driving. Then, when a car would appear in front of me or turn onto the road from a side road or driveway I would judge the driver in front of me. “He’s driving too slowly! Come on, come on, don’t take all day.” Or, if the car pulled away from me, “She’s driving too fast! Where does she think she’s going so fast! It occurred to me that I never met drivers that really drive “right”, i.e. the same speed as I do. (Of course, if there are such drivers, I never would meet them because I wouldn’t overtake them or they overtake me.) So, having noticed this judging in my mind, I started trying to eliminate it. Very difficult! As long as I saw them as “other car” I judged, no matter how much I tried not to. I was able to modify my actions. I didn’t tailgate, or race to catch up, but the judgement was still there.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was just driving… not fast, not slow… just driving. A car turned out in front of me that was going more slowly and I began to overtake it. And, another car appeared in my rear view mirror overtaking me. Suddenly I saw myself from the other drivers’ point of view. Sometimes I am the fast car. Sometimes I am the slow car. When I could see their judgements of me I found myself able to genuinely let go of judgements. I could go back to just driving.

Kim Woodward