Daily Dharma

In Zen, we are invited to see life as a question. We are encouraged to open to the 'don't know' mind and to embrace the insecurity of uncertainty. This does not make us confused; on the contrary it allows us to wonder at life like a child and to find marvels in the most ordinary. This is not an intellectual inquiry, we need to be engaged with the whole of our being. It is said that we have to question with the marrow of our bones and the pores of our body.

[...from Thorson's Principles of Zen by Martine Batchelor, pg. 16-17]

Let's Talk about Suffering

Gerard and I have been having a conversation about the Four Noble Truths. I don't want it to get buried in comments because I'm enjoying the conversation and I hope others will chime in with their thoughts. Check out the original thread here.

Gerard brings up some interesting points:

• The heart of Buddhist practice is seeing things as they really are.
• The mind is cunning, and often in the attempt to see things as they really are, we are really just trading one set of unquestioned ideas, notions or beliefs for new ones.

Then paraphrases them nicely:

1. We are suffering.
2. We have a mind full of ideas/beliefs which inhibit us from seeing clearly and is the cause of suffering.
3. Any effort to find a way out of our suffering will only lead to a strengthening of our ideas/beliefs which will continue our suffering.
4. Our lack of clear seeing is causing an unprecedented destruction of the planet.

And closes with a question:

So what are we to do?

The house is burning around us, yet we don't see the flames licking at our feet. We believe the flames are normal. We are so used to the flames that they have become part of us, and we hold on to them.

So what can we do?

It's interesting. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the Four Noble Truths. If my friend hadn't e-mailed the question, I wouldn't have spent the time trying to articulate what I think they mean. But through this process, I think we may be uncovering another type of craving that leads to suffering.

When I came to the end of Gerard's last post I smiled, because he's asking for something that I've so often asked for in the past. Something that I cannot give--The Answer (with a capital T and a capital A). What is it? What's the answer? There are so many questions, so many pitfalls, so many reasons to doubt the worth or efficacy of our efforts. How do we know we are "getting it right"? Is it possible to "get it right"? And considering the state that my mind is in, even if I am "getting it right" how do I know?

Isn't this something we all crave? Understanding? Answers? And when they don't come easily, we suffer. We tie our minds in a million knots trying to work it all out, trying to find the "Aha!".

Zen encourages us to approach practice with three attitudes--Great Faith, Great Courage, and Great Questioning. Maybe a solution lies in moving away from finding the answer and instead embracing the question... in moving away from an intellectual inquiry using the tools we grow up with in school (rhetoric, logic, and debate) and moving toward an experiential inquiry.

Daily Dharma

The section of the Samyutta-nikaya known as the Sutra of the Turning of the Wheel of the Law recordds the teaching of the Four Noble Truths to the ascetics in Deer Park as follows:

Monks! Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering. To be united with what is hated is suffering. To be parted from what is loved is suffering. Not to obtain what is sought is suffering. In short, attachment to the five aggregates is fuffering. This, then, is the noble truth of suffering.

Monks! It is craving that leads to rebirth, is connected to joy and greed, and continually finds pleasure and delight now here, now there. It is the craving for sensuous desires, the craving for existence, and the craving for nonexistence. This, then, is the noble truth of the cause of suffering.

Monks! Craving can be cast off and destroyed, abandoned and rejected. Release and nonattachment to craving [are possible]. This is the noble truth of the termination of suffering.

Monks! This is the noble truth of the Way to the termination of suffering: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

[...from Essentials of Buddhism: Basic Terminology and Concepts of Buddhist Philosophy and Practice by Kogen Mizuno, page 152.

Tell Me About Suffering

I think everyone goes through periods in their lives when they are searching for answers. This is true for a friend of mine who recently e-mailed a question about the Four Noble Truths:

Okay my question is about the Four Noble Truths...especially the first one True Suffering...is this about accepting suffering as a part of life that suffering is to expected and that once you realize the source of your suffering, you will longer experience true suffering?

I always feel the need to provide a disclaimer when I answer questions like these. I have no formal training... I'm not a teacher or a master... I'm just a practitioner... sometimes dedicated, but still fledgling. So I always try to preface what I say with something like... "This is how I've come to understand..." or "Based on my experience..." which applies to everything I post on this site.

The Four Noble Truths

1. The existence of suffering
2. The origin of suffering
3. The cessation of suffering
4. The path to the cessation of suffering

The First Noble Truth tells us that suffering exists and is a part of our lives. Life is full of discomfort, bitterness, anguish, and pain.

The Second Noble Truth tells us that if we pay attention, we can start to see what causes our suffering. Sometimes the cause is obvious... as with physical complains and health concerns... you break your arm... it hurts. You have a cold... you can't breathe easily... it is uncomfortable. Sometimes the cause is more mental/emotional... Someone says something negative about you or something you are sensitive about... it stings. The Second Noble Truth is about becoming aware of our suffering and the chain of cause-and-effect that brings it into being.

The Third Noble Truth is the good news. The Four Noble Truths is not a fatalistic teaching. It doesn't say that life is suffering and there is nothing you can do about it... It says that you can lessen your suffering in two ways... You can stop doing that things that make you suffer, and you can start doing things that bring you joy. Every moment there is a choice. Does this mean that you will never suffer? I don't know. Maybe through sustained practice, this is possible...But it seems that the more you become aware of the origin of suffering, the more you develop an ability to cut off suffering before it starts. This could mean taking good, gentle care of yourself when you are sick so you don't prolong or escalate the illness. This could mean becoming less reactive and deciding when people are mean-spirited that you don't have to let it affect you... Over time, these things lose the ability to hinder you... Maybe at first if you are very sensitive, the slightest comment makes you cry... as you grow and learn, the tears stop, but maybe the heart still gets wounded and the mind has a difficult time letting go of whatever was said... then eventually over time you are able to shrug off that thing that long ago brought you to tears... You've been through the cycle of cause and effect so many times that you recognize it and you can cut if off.

The Fourth Noble Truth is the program/practice developed by Buddha that anyone can use to lessen their suffering. This is also called the Noble Eightfold Path.

43 Things

I was surfing the net for information for one of my hobbies and came across this site called 43 things. I can't believe I've been blogging for a while but never came across this site. Basically, it allows you to create an account and list 43 things you want to do. You can post your progress to the site (and to your blog), and program in nudges or "friendly reminders" to keep yourself on track.

I've browsed the site a little bit... and the "things" range from the trivial to the extreme. But, I thought I'd post this as a follow-up to a recent entry for the new year on resolutions as another way to stay on track with personal goals.

Now I'm off to list my 43 things.

Wish this Wasn't On a School Night...

Local Buddhas... you've probably already heard about this but in case not, there's a talk on the Zen of Eating at the Royal Oak Public Library tomorrow (Wednesday, January 10th) from 7:00 to 8:30 pm. For details, see this BC article.

Daily Dharma

In the strength of your resolve
you will discover true bliss.

[...from the chapter on HEEDFULNESS in the Still Point Dhammapada, page 11]

Happy New Year

A friend asked if I was making any resolutions for the new year. My response? I don't do those. If I'm not going to do something on August 17th, I'm not going to be more inclined to do it on January 2nd.

Instead, I do something Iyanla Vanzant calls self accounting. I look at the things I want to be doing or need to be doing with more consistency for myself and I tally my score, so to speak. At the end of the day, I take note of which things I did during my day and which I did not attempt. I make it visible and put it in this cool journaling software I use called Life Journal where you can create something called a Daily Pulse entry and graph but you don't have to be that much of a nerd if you want to try it out... a pen, piece of paper and a refridgerator magnet will do.

I don't have anything against resolutions, and I don't think there is anything wrong with making a few. But the thing about resolutions is we usually tend to focus our attention on what we think we should do instead of what we are realistically going to do. My 2 cents worth on this is just to be nice to yourself this year. Don't guilt yourself by making a long list of shoulds that you won't (or can't) tackle.

What is self accounting? In Tapping the Power Within, Iyanla provides a short list of questions to ask yourself at the end of the day but we can certainly modify these to meet our personal needs:

Who did I serve today?
Who did I help today without asking for payment?
Who did I share my knowledge with today?
Did I speek consciously today?
Did I mean what I said today?
Did I keep the agreements I made today with myself?
Did I keep the agreements I made today with others?

Whether you are deciding to bring more awareness to your precepts practice or want a way to track your commitments with yourself, this is a tool that could work.

Well, whoever and wherever you are... Happy New Year. Make 2007 be a year of strength, resolve and fulfilled dreams.