Buddhism and the Twelve Steps


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Buddhism and the Twelve Steps

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The Twelve Steps	Buddhist Connections
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable.	Powerless over Dukkha, Anicca; not powerless over karma; not helpless. Right View a moment of clarity. Seeing things as they are. First Noble Truth suffering; understanding the difficulty of life is coming out of denial. Second Noble Truth the cause of suffering: craving and attachment. Powerless over thoughts.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.	Third Noble Truth the End of Suffering. This is the awakening of faith in Buddhism. Insanity of not following the Dharma. This is delusion, not understanding Karma (cause and effect), Impermanence, Suffering, and Not-Self. Exploring how faith develops.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God,as we understood Him.	Right Intention: Forming a commitment to the spiritual life, committing to the Eightfold Path (Fourth Noble Truth). Higher power of Dharma: suffering, impermanence, karma (it’s everywhere and it knows everything); these are inescapable powers and truths. Higher power of Buddha Nature. Refuges as a Higher Power committing yourself to the Three Jewels Trusting in mindfulness and the path itself. Don’t Know staying open to possibility
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.	Investigation. Mindfulness as existential honesty. Examining hindrances, precepts.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.	Monastic confession (around precepts) Right Speech and Right Listening Meetings Are Meditation Noble Friends and Noble Conversation being open and honest with the sangha.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.	Ready to let go. Examining what keeps us from being ready. Recognizing that we might never be entirely ready. Forgiving ourselves for not being able to let go. Feeling feelings before you try to let go. The investigation of feelings can lead to seeing the energetic quality of emotions, beyond the story of names and meanings. Avoiding extremes of thinking everything is a defect, or conversely, thinking everything’s perfect.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.	The process of letting go. Seeing how practice itself allows us to let go naturally, that practice itself can remove shortcomings. Seeing this process as ongoing, not a one-time thing. Opening to change. Through our practice a radical new perspective on who we are can open up how do we let go into that? Seeing the value of renunciation: on material level; on personal defects level; and level of views and opinions and the creation of self. Avoiding extremes of renunciation. Letting go of perfectionism. Watching that the effort to let go doesn’t become another form of control.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.	Seeing the patterns of damage in our relationships. Seeing that we may be at the top of the list of persons we had harmed and thinking about how we might make amends to ourselves. Seeing how the people we harmed are often the same ones we care for most. Using this list for Forgiveness and Brahma Vihara practice. Just making this list can open the heart deeply to the unhealed wounds. Remembering that clean relationships are fundamental to spiritual development. Meditators might be a self-selecting group of isolators. So, we need to be careful we aren’t using practice as an avoidance of social contact and relationship work. Being willing to forgive even those who hurt us. Staying on our side of the street when making amends. Non-blaming. Bill W.: This Step is the beginning of the end of isolation from our fellows and from God.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.	Cleaning up karma so that we can fulfill the path. Seeing the courage which is developed through this level of honesty and amends. Living amends: compensating for pain we caused others by living a new life based on spiritual principles.Making amends to ourselves. Creating a spiritual inheritance. MN 3 “Heirs in the Dhamma. Heirs of our karma. When Rahula asks for his inheritance, Buddha ordains him.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.	Continuing to investigate and recognize how we still make mistakes: No enlightened retirement.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.	Continuing to try to deepen our practice no matter what breakthroughs we’ve had. Practicing with the intention of being of service, not personal comfort, power, or gain. BrahmaViharas.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.	Continuing to investigate and recognize how we still make mistakes: No enlightened retirement.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.	Awakening; Service; Daily mindfulness; Precepts; Paramis