An Attitude Toward Acting

Some people believe that spiritual practices encourage passivity and non-doing. There is a special term in Chan philosophy related to non-doing, where there is no abiding in particular actions. I eat, go to work, and go to school, but because I am not attached to the notion of a ‘self’ doing these things, it is really as though I am not doing anything in particular. In other words, when I know that this self is constantly changing (as well as the conditions around me), I can rest without thinking that everything I do either adds to or subtracts from the self. In this way, doing becomes a way of contributing something to the world as a whole and a way of thinking, rather than having a goal related to the self.

This sounds pretty good, but some people might still wonder, does this mean that nothing a person does really matters to him or herself, and therefore there is nothing to do at all? I don’t think this is the case. As long as I have this body and this human form, I still need to behave in response to the human world from which I am a part. An example of this is brushing teeth. Very few people think about this daily habit, and yet it is essential to our society to keep our mouths and teeth clean, as a health measure for the body and out of courtesy to others. But the point is, when one brushes her or his teeth, there isn’t really any attachment to the self. I don’t necessarily need to think that brushing teeth is going to make ‘me’ immortal or better than others.

The attitude one can take when doing things or making decisions is to be aware of the present conditions which allow those actions to emerge, and to know that those conditions are not permanent. In this way, actions can flow easily without grasping at the actions and their outcomes or attributing them to a permanent self. An example might be getting a medical degree. I might worry about whether the conditions are ripe for me to get a degree that lasts many years and costs a lot of money. But what I can understand is that based on my research and current understanding, this decision might make sense to me and be within my foreseeable means of achievement. I make a reasonable judgment based on what I know about the conditions and consequences.

But let’s say that down the road, I lack the resources to continue this pursuit. Well, if I am attached to the self, I might attribute the inability to continue to a weakness on my part, or ‘bad karma’ or any number of other self-referential judgments and regrets. On the other hand, if I am not attached, then I know that the actions come from the causes and conditions of the moment, and therefore there is no need to regret when conditions have changed or there are unforeseeable circumstances. This is because there will always be the unforeseeable: one’s brain is never capable of registering everything that could happen in the future.