Chua Duoc Su

All of you have goals in your work and want to know how to do your job well. If you're a cook, you want to know how to season food to your customers' liking not too salty, not too sweet, not too bland, just right to serve them. Knowing how to complete the job is more important than anything else. On the other hand, not knowing what you're doing is unacceptable. For example, when you tell friends or customers:

- I don't know what I'm doing. I'm not sure how to handle this situation,

The listener will lose confidence in your abilities and may start to wonder if you're suitable for the job. If you're a cook and you say you don't know what you're doing, then you're unlikely to do the job, and of course, no one will hire you. To avoid such situations, you usually keep your work-related difficulties to yourself. Because it's difficult to accept not knowing, you often have to pretend you know what you're doing when in reality you don't.

Many people project an image of knowledge by stating that the work they're doing is going well, is productive, or is half-successful. The fancier the words you use, the more people believe you know what you're doing. The truth is, you can't avoid not knowing; sometimes you simply don't know. Because work is often complex and full of surprises, you're constantly facing uncertainty about what's happening or about to happen. This makes you feel uncomfortable and insecure. You cling to answers to feel more confident. But you shouldn't view these feelings of discomfort and uncertainty as weaknesses or problems that need immediate attention. If you stop and observe, you can use the advice preached in the classic teachings of meditation:

- Simply not knowing

When you know you don't know and discover that not knowing is a vast resource that helps you work effectively and creatively. Therefore, not knowing is not a fog where you sit in one place and vaguely tell yourself:

- I don't know what's happening around me?

Rather, the state of not knowing is the desire to slow down, to let go of preconceived notions, to be present, to be interested in understanding the work situation as it unfolds. Not knowing here means practicing a balance of two efforts: being intelligently and actively present in the process of achieving a goal.

Not knowing begins by detaching yourself from the pressure of things, always knowing what to do, and the constant need to achieve something. You shift from the feeling of making something happen to letting something happen. You relax your mind and body, carefully observing your surroundings. You no longer cling to what you know, but instead become excited about what you don't know. You slow down in the race to complete tasks and allow yourself to pay attention to what you would normally overlook. Not knowing makes you incredibly curious, a vibrant curiosity that explores, questions, and asks questions without being rude or impolite. Here, you're not curious to prove a point, to blame someone, or to solve a problem; rather, it creates a sense that your work environment is vibrant, engaging, or even more so, vast, profound, and worth your attention. By accepting not knowing, you allow yourself to explore, observe, and pay attention to as many possible events as possible to gain useful insights.

The motto "knowing your own ignorance" reminds you to slow down your pace of always trying to appear professional at work, shifting from making things happen to letting things happen. You can let your work environment become more intimate, allowing your intellect and curiosity to run wild. Instead of resisting ignorance, you can relax to it, viewing it as a natural and necessary part of the job. You create opportunities for yourself to absorb, listen, observe, and be curious about the unexpected, the routine, and even the frustrating aspects of work, instead of treating them as normal or discouraging. You can listen to the silent messages, often unintentionally sent and often misunderstood. Through ignorance, you open yourself up, and so does the world around you, to offer a treasure trove of untouched wisdom and teachings.

To open your heart and understand what you don't know, there's only one way: look from the heart. This will help you realize that in your workplace or your place of study, you'll inevitably witness conflicts among others. Perhaps a fellow practitioner can't control their anger, becoming resentful of their fellow practitioners, leading to dissatisfaction and depression. Or perhaps members of a group are at odds with each other, blaming each other for erroneous perceptions and failures.

When you see others struggling or arguing in your practice, you often want to help. Because you are fundamentally practicing the path to liberation, you naturally want to alleviate others' suffering. Helping others resolve conflicts or face disappointment isn't easy. You yourself might be the cause of the conflict. Furthermore, there's always the underlying ignorance of misplaced compassion, causing your efforts to fail. However, you can better appreciate and understand disagreements and difficulties at work by practicing looking from the heart.

Looking from the heart begins with the experience of self-reflection and introspection during your practice. When chanting scriptures, reciting Buddha's name, or meditating, you observe your mind, creating a vast space for yourself. You may see your anxiety, unease, or your wandering, unrestrained mind. Or you may observe the vastness of being alive, of being present, or the peaceful serenity of being precisely present in each moment. You observe your mind chasing after illusions, then gradually slowing down. You follow your breath in and out. Such mindful, ready minds help you to be yourself, to be present where you are, which is the foundation of looking from the heart in your work. Thus, mindful preparation allows you to calmly observe conflicts, arguments, and troubles as they arise, just as you observe your life unfolding while sitting on a meditation cushion, without participating or judging:

- Only vigilance, openness, and presence.

This approach to work difficulties is not a way to maintain impartiality or detachment, like a bystander or a polite guide. Rather, this mindfulness allows you to know the issues as they truly are, unaffected by your agenda and perspective. Completely accepting the problem, not ignoring it, not arguing with it, not trying to fix or embellish the difficulties, is the fundamental behavior of openness. You don't take sides, and you don't hold anyone accountable. You observe the problem without prejudice or bias.

Conflicts can often be very troublesome and impactful if you approach them in that way, because you are directly receiving the distress. While that approach might help you see the issue clearly when implemented, you will certainly also feel sad.

The sadness you experience when looking from the heart is because you truly feel the suffering of your fellow practitioner, because you are fully living in the emotions of that moment.

That sadness is a bodily sensation, a gentle numbness, and you feel a pang in your chest. Some call that compassion. When you feel such sadness while you are compassionate towards your work, you may want to distance yourself from those sharp feelings. You might tell yourself:

- This is work. There is no place here for borrowed sympathy or hired tears over other people's affairs. You must be careful about such things, assess the problem, propose a solution, and then be done. There are other things to do.

Such a rational approach to the problem certainly has its merits. But if you look from the heart, you will have a broader perspective. Instead of avoiding this distress because it brings no benefit, you truly befriend it. You see it as part of the problem-solving process. By doing so, you gradually realize that this suffering is not sentimentality or emotion, but a firm and clear perspective. When you allow yourself to be compassionate, open, and directly feel the pain of others, you discover a focused wisdom, unafraid of ignorance, allowing you to open your heart to help without feeling the need to explain.

The motto "Look from the Heart" reminds you that feeling pain over the problems of your fellow practitioners is your instinct. It helps you see and act clearly. When you look from the heart at a fellow practitioner suffering from unfortunate family circumstances, you also see the whole picture: that this is indeed the time for that person to renew their self-perception and adapt to the situation. When you look from the heart at a fellow practitioner's slander against someone, you also see that they are harming themselves through cowardice, and finally, when you have time to confront the slander, you act with precision and determination. Or when a fellow practitioner angrily expresses frustration at being neglected, if you look from the heart, you know that you should only listen.

The motto "Look from the Heart" reminds you that you can rely on your heart in your work and that there is no need to be ashamed of your emotions. When you see others suffering or experiencing misfortune, you can guide and support them with compassion, for within that compassion lies strength and wisdom. Just as in meditation, you allow yourself to observe yourself thoroughly; you can also extend your heart to other unfortunate people. By doing so, you can learn truly useful things from the talents and wisdom of others.

Knowing that you use a sincere heart to see your friends, don't forget that there are times when you seem to lack patience because things happen too slowly. Frustration and impatience while waiting, and your unwillingness to slow down, only make things worse. However, impatience is understandable. In today's consumer society, speed and efficiency are often promoted as a true human right, such as:

- Fast food, one-hour photo processing, overnight mail delivery, internet browsing, express messaging, high-speed audio, and fast phone calls.

You create this world for convenience, only to end up feeling impatient and frustrated when you can't get through the present moment quickly. That sense of power leads to intolerance and the need for immediate gratification. Hundreds of studies and books have listed the physiological factors of this impatience as:

- Stress, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, chronic fatigue, drug abuse.

Many encouraging pieces of advice have been offered: Take a few minutes each day to relax, exercise, watch your sugar intake, count to ten, spend time with loved ones, breathe deeply. However, it seems difficult to apply this advice when you need it most. Under the pressure of crisis, speed, and frustration, you forget to breathe, you forget to relax, you forget loved ones, you forget to slow down. Rather, you forget to be mindful. You lose the ability to live a meaningful and useful life.

When mindful at work, you don't forget to be alert; You can do that because you practice mindfulness meditation. Of course, even the most accomplished people sometimes lose patience. But when you combine impatience with mindfulness, you don't forget that who you are and where you are is essential and completely sufficient. You are always reminded of the simple reality of your authentic nature. Even if you're stuck in unbearable traffic, you shouldn't forget to pay attention to the motto:

- Mindfulness is the mother of success

And you smile. Usually, when you're impatient, you no longer pay attention to your experience. For some reason, being present in the moment doesn't seem enough to you. You want to rush somewhere, want to forget, ignore, or brush aside your frustration. You just want the present moment to pass. Children turn on video games; teenagers turn on the TV tuner; travelers pull into fast food restaurants; Reporters chatter incessantly through the airwaves; leaders rush from one meeting to another. This eagerness to get somewhere other than where you are has become a serious and harmful addiction to forgetfulness. You forget who you are; you forget to be grateful to your world; you forget to face life appropriately and correctly; you forget to help others. This addiction to forgetfulness prevents you from experiencing the satisfaction and joy of being alive in this world with all your being.

Like many addictions, you may need detoxification, and mindfulness meditation is your detoxification program. When meditating, you experience the rawness of impatience. You sit on the cushion, in the correct posture, and just sit. You observe your breath as time passes. Then you begin to feel trapped. You feel frustrated at not being able to read the newspaper, check emails, make phone calls, to eat, or to entertain yourself. You want to forget you're sitting there, to quickly stand up, but mindfulness doesn't allow you to escape the present moment. You sit, unable to forget, and begin to experience the burning patience of detoxification. You feel the frustration and discomfort of being present in the moment, and you want to escape. Perhaps you'll get up and go to the refrigerator for something to drink or eat, or turn on the television. You can rest a little, but then don't forget you still have to return to yourself, to your meditation cushion, and persevere in your practice. The practice of not forgetting begins with detoxifying your impatience with reality, and that happens right there on your meditation cushion. If you are courageous and continue sitting for hours, weeks, months, and years, your detoxification program will bear fruit. Your hot impatience will gradually become cool patience, and the addiction to forgetting will lessen. You may still feel irritated or anxious, but if you don't forget to return to the present moment, you discover that your impatience has been transformed into simple, unwavering serenity. In the Buddhist tradition, this kind of calm, serene patience is called the gait of an elephant. Each step of the elephant is complete, absolutely present. There is no hesitation or doubt. The elephant doesn't rummage through its pockets for a speed-dial mobile phone or glance at its wristwatch while standing in line to pay. The elephant's calm patience is reliable, steadfast, and self-possessed. It is through this patience that the elephant never forgets to awaken.

The motto encourages you to completely immerse yourself in the calm patience of mindfulness. Instead of rushing, you can suddenly become deeply mindful right there. Because of mindfulness, you don't forget to take a deep breath, drink a sip of water, or enjoy a stroll in the park. Because of mindfulness, you don't forget to be present, to listen, to be patient. You might feel a fleeting impatience at the checkout counter as the customer slowly counts her coins, but you don't forget to stop and dwell on the authentic nature of the elephant within you. There is so much joy in knowing how to live mindfully and correctly. Don't forget to remind yourself that you can overcome the addiction to impatience and not forget to be present in life, not rushing through the moment.

Once you learn to see from the heart, in your work, you naturally show steadfastness and ambition. Everyone wants to achieve their goals. The ambition to do your job well brings you a feeling of enthusiasm and satisfaction, so you don't mind putting in extra effort to achieve success. However, if your path to success falters, you may feel constrained, controlled, or obsessed by your own ambition. In such cases, when the need for success becomes too intense, people say you suffer because of blind ambition.

Ambition is sometimes seen as blind because when you rush to achieve success, you forget yourself in the present. You become so obsessed with reaching your goal quickly that your life is constantly in trouble. You may be so consumed by the desire for advancement that you forget to share your success with others or acknowledge their contributions. Your pursuit may be so relentless that you forget your own needs. Your health may suffer because you focus on nothing but work, or your family may become distressed because you no longer see them, only engaging with their lives in a detached way without truly being present. Or you may become so blinded by your ambition that you think you have the right to disregard rules, such as accounting and ethical regulations. When you no longer see reality in this way, you become seriously detached from the consequences of your actions, creating much confusion for yourself and others. It's difficult to control your mind when you're blinded by personal ambition. Stopping for a moment to feel the texture of life seems impossible. Consequently, you misinterpret most of the signals you perceive. You mistake your colleagues' frustration and your own fatigue for the result of completed work. Criticism is seen as envy. The auditor's aggressive questions? You treat them as stop signs on your path to success. Blindness obscures all truth, including your desperate recklessness.

The ultimate result of blind ambition is that you're trapped in a vicious cycle of hope and anxiety. You're consumed by a proud desire to win at work and an extreme fear that you might become a slave to it. Your arrogance and exhaustion, though unspoken, are all too obvious; though ignored, they drive your actions. They rob you of your enthusiasm and hinder you from living true to who you are and where you are. Ultimately, you become unbalanced, overly fixated on the hope of achieving something quickly, further distorting your circumstances, becoming lost and confused in your pursuit of success.

With mindfulness, ambition in work doesn't need to be blind. You can be mindful in your work while still striving to achieve your goals and do your job well. You can be enthusiastic and persistent without losing yourself in your work. However, such an approach requires balancing your ambition to achieve something with humility.

When it comes to humility, you might think of it as shyness, timidity, or silence when praised. You might feel humble and timid when invited to the stage to receive the Employee of the Century award. When asked to say a few words, you'll do just that, saying nothing more than that you don't deserve the award. That image of humility diminishes the value of the demanding nature of true humility. Humility doesn't mean being weak and submissive. Rather, humility is the willingness to thoroughly address every detail of the job, the patience and carefulness in handling the demands of the work. Details and complexities in the job are not unworthy of your attention; they are not obstacles, annoyances, or problems. The details of the job, rather, are about how you live in the workplace, being present mindfully and participating seriously.