Page 151 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

, and in due course you offer him a cup of tea. You go into the

kitchen and find it full of steam. Then you remember you had put
the kettle on some time ago, and that makes you remember your

letter. But it is now too late. You have missed the post.

So this is what happens. This is an example of unmindfulness in

everyday life. Indeed, everyday life consists, for the most part, of
this sort of unmindfulness. We can all, no doubt, recognize

ourselves in the portrait. We can recognize that this is the
chaotic, unmindful sort of fashion in which, for the most part, we
live our lives.

Now let us analyse the situation, and try to discover in what the

unmindfulness consists. This may give us a better understanding
of the nature of unmindfulness. First of all there is the plain and
simple fact of forgetfulness, which is a very important element in

unmindfulness. We forget about the letter which we are writing
when we are talking on the 'phone, and we forget the kettle

which is boiling for tea when we are listening to the radio.

Why do we forget so easily in this sort of fashion? Why is it we

lose sight of something we ought to be bearing in mind? The
reason is that we are very easily distracted. Our mind is very

easily turned away or turned aside.
It often happens, for instance, that I am giving a lecture or talk of
some kind. Everybody is paying close attention, and there is a

pin-drop silence. But then the door opens, and someone comes
in. And what happens? Half the heads swivel round, just as

though they had all been pulled by the same string. People are as
easily

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