Charles Ling

The book and the DVD called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne have been phenomenal bestsellers. The motivational teachings given in the book and DVD are not new. Perhaps what is new is the bringing together of different motivational speakers who subscribe to the teachings and historical figures who also allegedly subscribed to the teachings. These historical figures include Buddha, Jesus and Einstein.

The central teaching of The Secret is the Law of Attraction which is described as follows: “Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it’s attracted to you by virtue of the images you hold in your head.” (2006, p. 4)

In other words, our persistent thoughts become the things in our life (2006, p. 25).

The Buddha said that the mind is the forerunner of all dhammas (Dhammapada chapter 1 verse 1). The word dhamma has been translated as things, phenomena and knowables. This is very close to the view that our thoughts become things. In fact another translation of the same Dhammapada verse is found in Byrne’s book (2006: 73) as: All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

According to the Buddha the creative aspect of the mind is intention. He said `karma is intention’. Karma can be described as an explanation of how the world is brought into being through intention.

Standard formulations of the law of karma include `What you get is what you give returned’ or `As you sow, so shall you reap’. Both the law of karma and the law of attraction suggest that the world we experience is in some sense created by our minds.

Buddhism agrees that there is a close connection between what we are thinking and what we are feeling. The Buddhist formula is as follows: sense contact, feeling, perception and mental formations (reactions). When we have a sense contact, whether it is seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching or thinking (contact with thoughts), there is a feeling which is pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. This is followed immediately with perception (or recognition) of the object which caused the feeling. The feeling and perception (recognition) cause us to react (generate mental formations) in a positive or negative fashion. These reactions generate more sense contacts (contacts with thoughts and feelings) and the whole cycle continues.

Buddhism would agree that trying to change what we think and what we feel are ways to break the cycle.

Another way is to observe the whole process with mindfulness and detachment. That allows the mind to free itself from involvement with negative thoughts and negative feelings. From a Buddhist point of view to observe is always a positive state of mind. This is because the observing mind is non-involved and non-involvement eventually leads to freedom from the past and the future.

The central point here is to live mindfully. Mindfulness means not to be carried away, not to be distracted and not to be lost in thoughts. It can be described as living a conscious life.

Byrne talks about using pleasant memories, nature or one’s favourite song to change bad feelings. Changing one’s feelings is an act of mindfulness. To be aware that one is feeling bad and to change that to good feelings on a regular basis is to live a conscious life. For those who have done years of daily meditation, being mindful becomes second nature.

Byrne’s method (2006: 170) of being conscious is by asking regularly: `What am I thinking now? What am I feeling now?’ The importance of meditation for thinking and feeling positive should not be underestimated. If you can choose to return to the breath or to the present moment, then you can choose to change your negative thinking/feeling into positive ones.

One interesting claim made by Byrne and other motivational teachers is that we have to focus on what we want rather than what we don’t want. For example if I want to be healthy I should say `I want to be healthy’ rather than `I don’t want to be sick’. The second statement actually focuses on sickness (and creates images of sickness in our minds). Our world becomes what we focus on.

There is an obvious difference between the law of karma and the law of attraction. Karma implies reincarnation but the law of attraction does not. In Buddhism the idea that the world is in some sense created by the mind is used to explain the kind of world we are born into and the kind of physical form we have in the world.

Let me now say something about motivation from a Buddhist perspective.

To maintain a regular meditation practice, we need to be motivated. In Buddhism it is said that the way to deal with lack of motivation is to make effort. Making effort in relation to the meditation practice is called sustained application (vicara). Sustained application has two meanings. First it means doing the meditation every day. Secondly it means we keep trying to stay on the meditation subject during the meditation session.

Of course distractions are bound to occur in meditation practice. Here it is good to remind yourself of the Zen saying, `A thousand distractions gives me a thousand opportunities to return to the breath'.

Outside of the meditation practice, making effort is also an important antidote to lacking in motivation and self-confidence. This is because after you have made the effort to do something once, it usually becomes easier the second time. For example, if you want to get up early in the morning to train for the marathon or to study for an exam, the first day is going to be the hardest. The second is going to be easier than the first and the third is going to be easier than the second.

In Buddhism it is often said that attachment is the cause of suffering. This seems at odds with the teaching of motivational psychology which encourages desire and the achievement of goals.

Actually there is nothing wrong with the desire to improve our lives. Even if you just want to meditate, you need to have a desire to meditate. Attachment, however, arises out of the erroneous belief that our long-term security lies in money, people and other transient objects. Long-term security lies within. To believe that it lies outside ourselves can lead us to a misguided search.

Enlightenment can be described as a significant experience of no-self (or a significant experience that the isolating ego is an illusion). The experience is significant if it results in a long-term and substantial change in the individual.

Only a well trained mind can see through the illusion of the isolating ego. The goal of all spiritual practice is to see the reality of what Byrne (2006: 106) calls the One Universal Mind because that is where our true security lies. Once the illusion of the isolating ego is seen the goal is within reach.

Does the law of attraction work? Of course, a positive mental attitude has a positive effect on our lives. Ayya Khema once said that the power of positive thinking is not a myth. From a Buddhist perspective, having a positive mental attitude may be more effective for some people than for others. That’s because our karmic inheritances are different.

I guess another question is to what extent it works. Not every positive thinker is a billionaire. The best thing is to try it yourself and see whether the law of attraction works.

Thinking and feeling positive are also important on the meditative path. Buddhism would say that enlightenment is more important than making lots of money. That’s true. Most people will agree to that intellectually. They will say that money does not give true security, but we need to be quite advanced on the meditative path to see that the path can lead to true security. If we can’t see that the meditative path can lead to true security, we tend not to devote all our energies to it. So there is a catch-22.

Reference

Byrne, Rhonda. 2006. The Secret. Sydney: Atria Books