Complete Involvement, Complete Surrender

Chanting – what is this? Is this a valuable thing, or is it useless? If you ever doubt about it – to do it or not to do it - what goes on, do you know? Do you have to find reasons and justifications, do you have to be convinced? Or do you take some stand, saying ‘I am not going to do it’ or ‘I am going to do it’?

Some people are always saying, ‘Oh, chanting reminds me of all those awful things Roman Catholics used to do to me - blind devotion and rituals, rites and ceremonies.’ This is taking a stand. Can you mindfully participate in ceremony or are you going to reject it because of a stand against it? Can you give yourself to a tradition, or are you going to say, ‘I’ll only go so far, and then stop’?

Like in the monastic life – can you give yourself to the monastic life, or are there going to be reservations? ‘I’ll go so far, then I don’t know. In meditation, I’ll go so far then maybe…. I want life on my terms, and always with the bridges there so I can run back across them if I don’t like what’s ahead of me.’ This is, of course, samsara, heedless wandering.

In the practice of awareness, it is always the present moment, complete involvement, complete surrender, acceptance – and that is liberation. With the other - with the doubt, the rationalisations, justifications and reservations – then there is always a myriad of complexities that are going to pull us this way and that and confuse us.

This reflection by Luang Por Sumedho is from the book, Cittaviveka, (ePub) pp. 112-114.