Social Interaction with Mindfulness
Human beings are social beings living together in a community and society. Each human being has a tendency to live under the influence of one's own "Craving" (Tanha) and "Concept/ Ideation" (Ditthi). As a result, each human being would biasedly interact with the environment, community, or society in an egoistic or self-centered way conditioned by desire/greed, anger/hatred, and delusion/ego, as an 'hidden agenda,' to reap the reward and please oneself. This is basically a direct consequence of lacking mindfulness and self-awareness. Therefore, one would not see the true nature of oneself that it is but Impermanent, Imperfect, and Selfless. One is basically being blinded by a strong sense of 'selfimage' (similar to a hologram), which is but a thought concept, illusory and not real. One would be inluenced by bias or prejudice against other social members in various manners, as follows
๑. Bias or prejudice conditioned by love or desire (ฉนทาคติ), e.g., favoring an employee of opposite sex, or interact to others with a 'hidden agenda' for a personal gain, etc.
๒. Bias or prejudice conditioned by hatred or enmity (โทสาคติ), e.g., prejudice against other ethnic groups or religious beliefs, etc.
๓. Bias or prejudice conditioned by delusion or stupidity (โมหาคติ), e.g., mistaken oneself as being superior than other people, insulting others, and ending up making a fool out of oneself, etc..
๔. Bias or prejudice conditioned by fear (ภยาคติ), e.g., feeling threatened or being fearful of a big person; being insecure and feeling threatened for no good reasons, etc.
All such social behaviors are basically rooted in one's ego or 'self', causing one to be deluded or biased, springing out of one's own ignorance in not seeing the truth that there is no true permanent 'self' entity that one clings to.
Such behavior would generate a lot of negative response or create more distrust, chaos, even harm in the society, esp. when one is in the administrative, ruling or commanding position in the society, even domestically as the head of a household or family.
Mindfulness & self-awareness play a very critical role in guarding one's mind and restraining oneself from becoming the slave of one's own 'craving' and 'concepts.' To live harmoniously in a society, one needs to observe the 'Golden Rules', which in Buddhism are the "Five Precepts." Without such moral codes, life would be difficult and chaotic, as everyone would be thinking about taking advantage of each other, to serve one's gain and please one's ego. Mindful-awareness is essential for implementing such moral codes by refraining oneself from becoming biased with one's own greed, hatred, and delusion.
The 5 Precepts are, as follows:
๑. Refrain from killing a being, either human or animal, including oneself (i.e., not to commit suicide) as one respects every life form, oneself and others.
๒. Refrain from stealing, as one respects other people's possessions, as if they belong to you.
๓. Refrain from sexual misconduct, as one respects other peoples’ bodies and their rights, not to take advantage or make advancement on others who are not one’s spouses.
๔. Refrain from lying, as one respects and honors oneself and others, as well as refrain from saying harsh words, talking non-sense, back-stabbing, or gossiping.
๕. Refrain from any intoxicant, as one respects oneself, not to harm oneself or dull one's own mindfulawareness with liquor or drugs.
One could further enrich oneself or further engage in self-improvement towards the skillful means by treating others with loving-kindness and compassion, and by being truthful and mindful, as described in The ๕ Ennobling Virtues, or virtues enjoined by the ๕ precepts, as follows:
๑. Loving-kindness and Compassion (beyond refraining oneself from killing), towards other beings and oneself (to form a strong base to continue doing good deeds and helping others).
๒. Right means of Livelihood (beyond refraining from stealing) earning income through occupations that would not harm or take advantage of others.
๓. Sexual Restraint (beyond refraining from sexual misconduct) abstaining oneself from sex.
๔. Truthfulness, Sincerity (beyond refraining from lying) living an honest and truthful life, being trustworthy to everyone.
๕. Mindfulness and self-awareness (beyond refraining from intoxicants) allowing one’s mind to be unbiased and neutral, suitable for Insight Wisdom to arise.
One can further develop one's mind towards its norm and true nature by observing and practicing the ๔ Holy Abidings, enriching the sublime states of mind, as follows:
๑. Loving-kindness: wishing oneself and others to be happy and peaceful.
๒. Compassion: wishing oneself and others to be free from suffering, with universal love.
๓. Sympathetic Joy; altruistic joy: being joyful with others in their success and fortune (instead of being jealous), e.g., being joyful with the success of the Chile miners rescue on Oct. ๑๓, ๒๐๑๐, bringing back ๓๓ miners trapped ๖๒๒ meters down under at the San Jose mine.
๔. Equanimity; neutrality; poise: remaining neutral and unbiased when the situation is beyond one's capability to control it, but remains poised and gracefully accepts the situation, e.g., when your loved one is dying of an incurable cancer, you remain poised but be readily available to give any possible support and comfort. Being unbiased allows one to see the true nature of things, and realize that everything would follow the Law of the ๓ Universal Marks or Characteristics of Existence, namely: ๑. Impermanence (unstable), ๒. Imperfection (unbearable), and ๓. Selfless, soulless, or not-self (uncontrollable). Seeing the true nature of things as they truly are would make one become disenchanted and discerned. With Insight Wisdom, one would let go, without clinging, grasping or holding on to anything, and mind would be liberated, wihtout any more suffering. Such life would be simple, free, and peaceful, as stated by Luangpor Kamkian, Insight Meditation master, as follows: "I am not. I have not. I simply watch