"False thoughts"!
One of my friends is a successful garments businessman in Surat. Last few years, he has deeply come to align into the understanding that real wealth is purifying our own mind and expanding our own hearts.
Yesterday, he shared a really amazing story with some of us. He was reading a book "Highway Dharma Letters" which many of us deeply like. It is about 2 American Buddhist Monks who took this incredible "3 steps and a bow" pilgrimage for 3 years. After every third step, they will bow to the ground. All through the highways of California. Why - whatever life throws at you, you need to learn to accept it graciously, to receive it equanimously, to learn to humble themselves, to learn to love, to learn to serve. To dilute their ego. Not further compound the hurt. I would not go into details now, it is a paradigm bending journey, not only a back-bending one. :)
But for now, back to my friend.
He shared that one concept that hit him deeply was "false thoughts". In the book, they must have said we need to watch and transform our "false thoughts" very diligently.
Now one has to have some practice of detachment/equanimity from one's own mind: to make any sense of what this might mean. :) Basically, most of our thoughts come from a place of fear, separation, clinging etc. which are not rooted in deeper truth. They are just a figment of our egoic imagination. They are not rooted in our true nature.
So he said he will through the day watch his false thoughts. Write down in a journal as soon as they come. And at the end of the day, he will bow. One bow to the earth for each false thought.
I was amazed that--
-- He has the audacity to accept and understand that we *all* have many "false thoughts". That he has false thoughts. We all think of ourselves as good human beings stuck in difficult situations. And we justify our violent and greedy thoughts. Worst, we further compound it by (re)acting upon our false thoughts. But he has the audacity to accept that his mind thinks cheaply in so many moments, which is not healthy for us, for others.
-- He has the wisdom to observe this thoughts *in real time* and know which one is false and which one is constructive. Only if you are attentive internally in the present moment, you can observe your thoughts. And only if you have wisdom, you can discern which thoughts are rooted in wisdom, which are rooted in myriad illusions we carry.
- He has deep accountability to "be the change." and transform his thinking pattern. For that, as a rewiring practice, he bows to the earth, for each false thought. Arising of ego in each of us is inevitable, but having the honesty and sincerity to dilute it - takes deep accountability. The activist mystic Vimala Thakar says, you can be rich and work on Corporate social responsibility, but what about the "inner social responsibility"? It is not what you do, but who you are, with what mind-states you show up in the present moment - that determines how far your actions would go in helping the world. My friend understands that and is commited to that hard work.
He said after last few days of practice, he is much more aware how many false thoughts he has in a day. His legs and arms are in pain because of number of bows he has to do everyday to account for his false thoughts.
If this was not enough. He had a further thought. There must be many false thoughts which I am not even aware. So now, he does 10 extra bows everyday, just as a buffer. Which is quite a sound practice in my opinion. By default, we err on the side of ego. So it is great to have extra buffers to err on the side of love and wisdom.
He leads of team of many employees. But this is hardcore self-leadership. :)
He of course has abundant financial wealth, but this is perhaps the most profitable long-term investment he is making: In purifying his own inner ecology.
He of course loves his family, but to become a purer person is the best way to ensure you become more loving to your family.
He does a lot of social work, but changing himself is the best and hardest gift for deep transformation of the world too.
P.S. Rev Heng sure is also an amazing guitarist and singer who offers all his music as a gift. Here he is covering a remarkable song by Kris Kristofferson (also covered by artists like Johnny Cash) -- Here Comes The Rainbow Again.