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                                                                                      6-29-19

Gain and Loss


We begin with an opening chant that sets our intention, both for ourselves and for others:   “Universal Well-Being”

May I/everyone abide in well-being
In freedom from affliction
In freedom from hostility
In freedom from ill-will
And may I/they maintain well-being in myself/themselves

This gives us an initial direction for our spiritual practice. We want to experience well-being which is more than just a temporary happiness. Rather it is something that is deeper and more lasting, something that can remain with us even during difficult times.

Another word for spirtual practice is cultivation (bhavana in Pali). This implies ongoing attention to what can be developed. Our aim in this thematic study is to learn from the example of nature and apply these lessons to our life. The Buddha chose to use similes from nature to illustrate many of his points, i.e. handful of leaves. 

Today we will look at gain and loss (aka success and failure) as part of the natural unfolding. How do we define gain and loss and is it a reliable measure of our well-being?  

Usually, we assess gain and loss based on our personal preferences: 


1.  If we want something and it happens, we consider that to be gain. 

2. If we want something and it doesn’t happens, we consider that to be loss. 
3. If we don’t want something and it doesn’t happen, that can also be gain (although less often recognized)
4. If we don’t want something and it happens, we consider that as loss. 

My own example from tending the garden: I planted many seeds. They germinated and began to sprout but insects ate them before they had a chance to get strong and resilient. Consequently, I don’t have a crop of beans, carrots or beets.

Problem: the sense of entitlement - these beans are "mine" just because I planted them (clinging/wanting/expecting). When the plants don’t survive, I suffer, thinking “I won’t have a harvest for myself and for other CSA members. How can I not suffer? 

    Let go of the sense of entitlement (it’s mine)
    Recognize impermanence/uncertainty
    Rejoice that the insects have food and that they are building soil
    Plant more seeds somewhere else
    Kill the insects 

Which of these responses demonstrate generosity, kindness and clarity (the three wholesome roots of action)?

Inquiry

Think of some examples from your own life (see the four types of gain and loss listed above).

Now ask yourself, "Is the gain really a good thing in and of itself"? Does it provide lasting satisfaction? Is there a way that it could lead to something that is not so helpful, i.e. complacency or harm to others who feel differently? Example: I get a raise at work. I use this money to go gambling so I can get even more money.

Is failure always a “bad” thing? Or is there a way that it could lead to something beneficial for you and/or be good for others?  Example: I don’t want it to rain on the day of my picnic. It rains. The plants and animals get a drink.

How does this apply to our meditation practice? Do  you consider the following to be gain/progress or loss/failure?

I have peace of mind when I meditate……
My thoughts are all over the place when I meditate…..
My body feels relaxed and at ease when I meditate…..
There is pain in my back and legs when I meditate….

What makes the difference in our experience? Is it what is happening or our how we view what is happening which then determines our reaction to our experience?  Can we see the same experience from a different angle and experience less/no stress? Consider this Chinese parable.

On a collective level, how does our society view gain or “progress”? Do you think that this way of measuring things is helpful? What does it lead to? How is it similar or different from the example of using one's raise to go gambling?

Revisiting the chant: “Universal Well-Being”

May I/everyone abide in well-being
In freedom from affliction
In freedom from hostility
In freedom from ill-will
And may I/they maintain well-being in myself/themselves

Is the affliction, hostility and ill will something that is imposed on me from the outside or does it have to do with my view and attitude toward what is happening? What helps me to abide free from affliction, hostility and ill will?
​        

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Earth Touching Mudra, 6-22-19

In most religions there are symbols, statues and drawings that represent  key teachings or are used as avenues of worship, reflection or practice. In Buddhism we don’t actually worship the Buddha and yet frequently there are Buddha statues and other iconography displayed in temples and Dharma halls. This iconography is something that we may or may not relate to depending on how we view them.
                    
Let’s look at a few.


In fact, the Buddha never asked anyone to make a statue of him and never encouraged people to treat him like a God. When asked how to deal with his body after death, the Buddha simply suggested the traditional way of honoring a teacher which was to pile a mound of rocks on top of the place where s/he died. Hence, we have the stupa which is a memorial often usually containing the ashes or relics of the teacher inside. It is usually rounded on the bottom and goes upward pointing towards the sky, possibly signifying the connection between the Earthly realm and the heavenly or sublime realm. 

You may have noticed that the Buddha statues vary in posture. They depict different events and qualities that were exemplified in the Buddha’s life. They can be inspirations for us if we understand their meaning. 

The Bhumisparsha or Touching the Earth Mudra depicts the Buddha sitting with one hand raised to show that he’s teaching, the other reaching down to touch the Earth below. It represents the moment that Buddha finally defeated all the snares of Mara and gained Enlightenment. Mara, the Tempter, asks who will stand as witness to his right to gain Enlightenment. Buddha reaches down and touches the Earth as he says, “The Earth is my witness.”

As the legend goes, the Buddha made a strong determination not to get up from his seat until he achieved full enlightenment. Mara comes with his army to defeat the Buddha because Mara would rather have people remain in ignorance. Whether or not we look at Mara as external or internal, the temptations to move away from clear seeing are strong. In the case of the Buddha they came in several forms:

temptation to power, gain, honor and reknown
temptation toward sensual pleasures which are fleeting
tempation toward an easy life without challenges or struggle
temptation toward excitement 

That’s when the Buddha touches the Earth, claiming it as his witness. Why does the Buddha touch the Earth? How does the Earth serve as his witness?

Here's one of many commentaries that I have found useful for contemplation: 

“When Buddha touched the Earth, he accepted the Earth, just as it is. Not an Earth that was re-made into what HE wanted, but the Earth, sky, oceans and rivers, just as they were at that moment. No waiting for it to be better, no waiting for it to change. But the Earth, with all it’s beauty and horror and disasters, as it was in that moment. It introduced an entirely new way of looking at time. Time, for the Buddha, stopped existing. 

 Not in the literal sense, of course. But from a practical viewpoint, time had effectively stopped. Because Buddha never again obsessed over the past, or feared what the future might bring. He didn’t worry about yesterday or tomorrow. He simply existed outside of the flow of time: Past or future.
 
With that one act, he found the timelessness inside of time. He found that true time is only to be found in THIS moment. Not tomorrow, not yesterday, not this morning, but right now. There IS no time if you live in the moment, going from moment to moment to moment, accepting what is and what is not. 

Simply saying to yourself, “This moment will never exist again. I will savor and capture it fully. I will experience it fully, right now, before it escapes. We say, “Time marches on.” With that one act of touching the Earth, Buddha stopped the march with a single gesture. He taught us to look for the timelessness within time. To stop, not to smell the roses, but to save ourselves. To stop the endless march toward an unknown future somewhere out there. To stop running from past regrets. In the end, to just stop. Because this moment of timelessness is all we ever really have. Just this moment. No other. Just this one timeless moment which includes everything.”            
                                                                                           Cindy Bird, Huffington Post

Here's another commentary that adds a different perspective: 

“Just before he realized enlightenment, it is believed that the demon Mara tried to frighten him with the armies of demons and monsters including his daughters who tried to tempt him to get out of meditation under the Bodhi tree. While the demon king Mara claimed the throne of enlightenment for himself, his demon army claimed to be the witness for Mara's enlightenment. Mara then challenged Siddhartha about the witness. Then the former prince reached out his right hand to touch the earth as it is believed that the earth itself roared "I bear you the witness!" Hearing the roar from the earth herself, the demon king disappeared. The following morning saw the first appearance of the one who is awakened, the Buddha. 

Hence, it is believed that the Bhumisparsha mudra, or "the earth witness" mudra commemorates the Buddha's victory over the temptation by the demon King Mara.This particular mudra does not only represent the defeat of Mara and his demonic army by the Buddha, it also represents the unwavering or firmness shown by the Buddha while he was in the pursuit of enlightenment by meditating under the Bodhi tree.”

Whether you think of this legend as fact or parable, please take the essence of the teaching and see how it applies to your life. Here are a few of my own observations of Mara’s temptations compared to the Buddha’s response:

Mara’s temptation                                            The Buddha’s example__

​power over the Earth - using                                                     connection with the Earth, humble
force over people and nature                                                    non-combative (turning arrows into flowers)


promises satisfaction in the future                                          discovers satisfaction in the present moment      
 
attention directed outward                                                       attention directed inward                                                                    


distracting with excitement of                                                 recognizing the impermanence of all                  
sensual pleasures                                                                         conditions leads to dispassion and contentment



What does the Buddha touching the Earth mudra signify to you?

Inquiry and Discussion Questions:
​

1.  What snares of Mara do you experience in your life? What gets you off track, distracts you, or undermines your confidence?

2.  Do you ever feel like taking the easy way out instead of looking directly at a situation to see how things really are -either internally or externally?

3.  What fears come up when you are faced with looking at matters deeply?

​4.  In this very moment - leaving aside both past and future - upon what can you rest with confidence? What do you connect with that serves as a witness to your capacity to awaken?

9/7/2017 0 Comments

Bummer

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"There's a crack in everything. That's where the light gets in."  
- Leonard Cohen
​

 The Buddha's "First Noble Truth" (dukkha), is often translated as suffering. Alternative translations which are more relatable to the average person who is not starving on the street is "unsatisfactory". One of my favorite translations is the one offered by the Dhamma teacher Leigh Brasington: bummer! This first noble truth that points to the often overlooked inherent unsatisfactoriness of all conditioned existence. But this is not definitive of ALL there is. The Buddha's third noble truth states that there is an end to suffering. To get from step one to three requires an understanding of the cause of our distress and that doesn't always happen as quickly as we would like it to.  

In our fast food culture, we want results immediately, but this isn't how quality happens, whether it's with food, a relationship or a life. Just knowing that something better is possible doesn't mean it's going to automatically happen or that we can will it to manifest. Sometimes we just have to hang out in the messy middle, pause and wait for the murkiness to clear. This is not what we want to hear and the last thing we want to do.  No better time to bring out our self-compassion mantra. We start with ourselves  because this is what is needed before we can effectively reach out to others.


You can make up a self- compassion mantra using your own words, but it needs four parts. First, the acknowledgment of pain, i.e. "This is tough right now", or "This hurts", or "I'm struggling". Along with whatever words we choose to  acknowledge the pain that is present, we need to feel it in our bodies. Where does it hurt?  Does it change, vibrate, pound or just weigh like a ton of bricks on your chest?

Secondly, welcome yourself to the human club: "Life is like this sometimes", "I'm not the only one who struggles with this", or "Life as a sensitive being is not easy". By saying this, you are not dismissing the pain or trying to rise above it. You are expanding your perspective so that you see that it's not all about ME (which is what makes the story so painful in the first place).

The third step is to invite in compassion. By opening to a loving, accepting space around the object, it no longer seems so all-encompassing. We begin to see that experience is a series of waves within a vast ocean. As we rest in this ocean of compassion, the feeling of drowning in the water can shift to one of being held and supported. However, in order to let in something new, we have to let go of something old. If we continue to hold onto our habits of fearful or anxious thinking, our mind will continue to obsess and feel stressed. Breathing slowly and deeply, our bodies can start to relax and our mind/heart can release into the place of our true belonging.

The last part of the compassion mantra is a short phrase that adds a comforting touch, i.e. "This too will pass." "I've been here before and made it through" or simply, "It will be okay." It's important not to jump to this phrase without going through the previous steps. That would be another fast food approach, also known as "spiritual by-passing". It's not about rosy platitudes or magic balms. We have to embrace the messy middle, ride the rumble and not opt for a convenient escape into our preferred coping strategy. 

The result of doing this practice is transformative. Instead of reinforcing old habits of avoidance, complaining, self-pitying, judging others or bemoaning the world situation, we come face to face with what is happening in our direct experience both on a somatic/feeling level and on the level of thought and language. We acknowledge the pain, admit that this territory is part of being alive and open to what is bigger and more true than the stories we tell ourselves. We lean into the suffering in order to move through it - however long it takes - with compassion!

Send in your mantras and let's share them with each other.

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    ​Ayya Dhammadhira is a Buddhist monastic trained in the Thai Forest Tradition in lineage of Ajahn Chah. She spent eleven years at Amaravati and Chithurst Buddhist Monasteries in England from 2001-2012.  In 2012,  she took the higher ordination as a bhikkhuni in Los Angeles, CA.  As an alms mendicant bhikkhuni living outside the support structure of a monastery, Ayya Dhammadhira relies on the ongoing support of individuals like you to continue her practice and service in community.

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Photo used under Creative Commons from Dainis Matisons