When the pig pokes his snout


  In traditional Tibetan houses the farm animals live downstairs whilst the people live upstairs or so I learned from Alan Wallace, a long time Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, in something I read by him. Whether it is completely true or not, I don’t know but let’s just say that it is. Considering this, it is not hard to imagine that, once in a while, the animals do so happen to stray where they shouldn’t: upstairs. Wallace describes the solution:

“What do you do when a pig pokes his snout through the kitchen door looking for stuff to munch? Hit him on the nose before he gets the other 200 pounds through the door! Hit the pig on the nose quick enough and he turns tail. But a pig that is already feeding at the trough is hard to get rid of”.

   Why am I talking about hitting pigs you may rightly be wondering? This followed by a belief that there’s no place for the advocation of animal cruelty in Bodhi magazine! And right you are on both counts. This, you see, is actually a clever analogy that is also particularly apt whereby the pig symbolises the negative mental habits that lead, invariably, to suffering. Wallace follows:

... As soon as you identify afflictive tendencies of the mind, as soon as their snouts poke through the door of your mind, hit them on the nose... These are not abstract philosophical concepts." (Wallace, Buddhism With An Attitude, Snow Lion, 2001, p.220)”

   Now this story is, if anything, most illuminating to me as it corresponds to many insights I have discovered whilst observing my own mind and its associated emotional manifestations. Often a feeling of, say, hatred appears in my mind whereby, without some manner of adroit mental effort to counter it, it can then enlarge and enlarge causing an intense amount of mental anguish. The pig has got in!

   This pig is clever however and with feelings that arise, such as depression, one can almost be convinced that it is not worth struggling against as it is all pointless anyhow. This is logically absurd for when depression arises we start to suffer but somehow- due to the unique nature of depression- we manage to convince ourselves that further suffering is not worth fighting against. Somehow we convince ourselves that we should suffer; that we deserve to suffer. I believe that we have a responsibility not to suffer.

   This is not to suggest, as the Victorians may have, that depression is somehow caused by mental frailty or some other such nonsense that they loved espousing. I would hate to suggest such an absurd and callous thing. However, what I do wish to get across is that, through the practice of mindfulness (or Sati as it is known in Theravada countries), one can slowly come to realise that there is a possibility, at times, of stopping the negative emotions before they inflame the mind. Also, it stresses the crucial importance of spotting the arising of negative emotions before they develop. Nipping them in the bud, so to speak.

  This observation is not just the preserve of Buddhism as modern psychology and especially the treatment of cogitative behavioural therapy (CBT) says the same thing in trying to get the patient to look for mental triggers that generate negative views of the self, their current situation or the future. Yet, without proper mindfulness training this can be a futile battle as by the time one realises that an emotion has arisen it can be too late.

 

 Another reason why this analogy is so accurate to me is that the negative emotions must really be hit and hit hard when they are recognised. This requires mental toughness and can often seem like an impossible battle. However, as with all battles there will be defeats and victories; these are irrelevant. The most important aspect is a strong determination not to suffer and not to allow oneself to purposely increase one’s own suffering. Mental habits are extremely strong and one cannot expect to overcome mental traits that have been acted on for years in a single evening; that’s simply not realistic. What is important is taking the responsibility onto oneself that, where possible, if mental suffering can be avoided or fought against then this must be done.

 

  Now the question must be asked, why do we develop so much fear and negative mental emotions? To this I cannot conclusively answer but I do have some nascent ideas on it. Carl Jung once said that “neurosis is always a substitute for legitimate suffering." Most mental afflictions are caused by a desire not to feel certain things and of all these things the main one has to be that of suffering. Yet the truth of life is that we cannot avoid suffering. We, however, do not wish to accept this and in an effort to fight against the reality of suffering we cause ourselves all manner of difficulties. In essence, our fight against the reality of suffering perversely causes ourselves infinitely more suffering than we would have ever experienced had we simply faced the suffering.

 

  There is a Tibetan saying which goes:  if you want to look at how your life has been look at your body but if you wish to look at how the future will be then look at your mind. What this strives to explain is that each mental decision we make has an impact and if we make mental decision that challenge negative emotions today then we can be sure that, although we may notice no difference initially, gradually a change will arise. The battle may, at times, feel pointless but as long as a fighting spirit is there we can be sure that we will reap the rewards of our efforts. I would stress to say as that this isn’t a matter of faith at all as one can empirically observe the changes to one’s habitual thought patterns over time.

 

  As the Buddha says at the beginning of the Dhammapada: “Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.” This shows the importance of the battle against negative mental afflictions as, ultimately, our very happiness is at stake. There really is no alternative! Get your stick ready and start whacking!