Reject the Poison

When we are dealing with people in difficult situations, people can be angry, frustrated and carry negative emotions. In other instances, some people are flat-out pessimistic on a regular basis and remind us of "Glum" from Gulliver's Travels. In other moments people can gossip and run down other people. The result of this activity is to generate emotional poison.

After forty-two years, I am still surprised that learning not to accept or eat emotional poison from others is still so very important. The same can be said for sending it as well. We have the capacity to make each other physically, emotionally and spiritually sick. It's not a particularly nice thing to do to each other, but it happens all the time.

An obvious question is, "how do we not taste or eat others poison." My response is that there is no silver bullet. What works best for me is a multi-layered response. First, I remember that their poison doesn't belong to me. I just make an effort not to take it in.

Second, I tend to use a mantra. Mantra translates as "that which protects the Mind from itself." Often, I will use "Namu Dai Bosa," like I learned when I was living at DBZ. We would often chant it and I often felt more centered.

Third, do Zazen. Though we often think of it as sitting, There have been hundreds of times I have stood somewhere, taking 5 minutes to clearly breath my practice. Doing this enables me to reconnect with myself and enviornment.

Fourth, I make a serious effort not to carry poison myself. There is an actual precet that I learned that says, "I will not gossip nor engage in frivilous converstation." When we talk about others in a negative way,, not only is there the effect of the words which we speak to another person, but there is also the cost and consequence of sending out negative vibrations into the universe Itself. These negative vibrations can carry much like a radio wave. This might seem strange to say, but it's like our ability to pickup on someone's mood. They say they are happy, yet might feel very sad.

There are many other ways that we can deal with poison. But the most important thing is just making the effort not to consume it. It doesn't belong to us, so we should not carry it. In doing so, we strengthen ourselves and our life.

May All Beings Be Happy,

Jaye Morris, Curator
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