Conditioned Things Decay — So Tread the Path with Care

These are reported to be the last words of Buddha to his disciple Ananda before he passed away, “Conditioned things decay, so tread the path with care!”

All suffering is conditioned. All conditioned things lack self. This no-self is not nihilistic, but for example when I feel in pain, it's the recognition that it's not actually the whole body in pain though it might feel like it, but just some part. If we go into and observe this pain, we perceive it to be lacking self. Lacking self, it is changing and impermanent, especially if I take a painkiller. So from knowing that conditioned things lack self and are impermanent, we come to realise inter-being. When the walls of separation come down, this frees a lot of energy. We come to realise a limitless capacity. The path of liberation from suffering is one of ethics, meditation and wisdom. This is usually further broken down into the eight components of the noble eightfold path.

For example, the first of these is “right view”. And it's important to stress that this isn't just about having one perception or another, but also the quality of perceiving with a recognition of impermanence: to watch things rise and pass away, and instead of attaching, to engage creatively with a sense of wonder… “hmmm… how long is it going to last?”

Or in the case of “right thought”, then this is the quality of renunciation, generosity and harmlessness that we cultivate in our minds. We might think, “if only I had … , then I'd be happy”. Happy for ten minutes, maybe. Rather, we creatively engage, and ask ourselves, “what is it I have that I can appreciate?”, “what can I do to help?”, “how can I be harmless?”. And we cultivate the practice of compassion, “May I be happy, may I be at peace, may I be free from suffering. May you be happy, may you be at peace, may you be free from suffering.” Thoughts are important because they are the seeds for our actions.

So, when Buddha said, “tread the path with care”, it is a guidance to ask ourselves, with a sense of conviction, but also with the creative energy of wonder, “what is the best I can do to cultivate qualities of ethics, meditation and wisdom?”

Source: Anonymous. This is merely written up by me. Any errors of interpretation are mine. 

The second image of the eightfold path is courtesy of K. Jayaweera:

https://scientificbuddhist.wordpress.com/noble-eight-fold-path/

This was published originally on Buddhist Travellers in 2011.

Third Noble Truth (Interactive): which drinks make you drunk?

This is a continuation of the following earlier posts on the First and Second Noble Truths:

Interactive First Noble Truth: what is the nature of our experience of life?

Interactive Second Noble Truth: why does life suck sometimes?

The first of the five faculties in Buddhism is faith. It is the starting point of every religious and spiritual tradition. It is not blind faith, but conviction or self-confidence. It is the ability to make a choice. 

That which is sweet first is bitter,

That which is bitter first is sweet.

To each a choice, then it all depends

On effort and unflagging will

To reach the city of your choice.

–Lalla

The city of our choice is not something concrete, or an intention of the ego. Rather, it is abstract, pure intent, a choice of the heart. Choices of the heart are always abstract. The path of heart may be difficult at first – there is nothing concrete to hold onto (it is a letting go) – but in the long run it will always turn out more pleasant.

When this faculty of faith is developed, it becomes a powerful force. It becomes the first power. To do good is to be faithful to abstract intent. To do evil is to be waylaid and distracted along the path.

And what causes us to be waylaid?

Before we try to answer that question, we recall the Buddhist paradigm (discussed in the Interactive First Noble Truth) of first examining the nature, before turning to the origin or cause, then looking at the purpose or consequence, and finally at the way to proceed. What is the nature of being waylaid? We might recall the five hindrances of day-dreaming, boredom, doubt, ill-will and agitation. But, in short, it is the interference of the mind that causes us to deviate from the straight path. Metaphorically, it is drunkenness. And what causes drunkenness? It is drink. With wisdom of which drinks have this effect, what is the consequence of abstaining from those drinks? It is sobriety or clarity. And finally, the way to proceed along with faith, with wisdom and with “effort and unflagging will”, is clearly to be mindful as to what we drink.

We can’t go to two cities at once! That would be called “seeing double”, a true sign of drunkenness. It is a cliché of Zen: when you do X, just do X; when you do Y, just do Y. Some students after long instruction of this by their Zen master were shocked to see him eating breakfast and reading the newspaper at the same time. “What’s the problem?” he replied to them. “When you eat and read, just eat and read.” Right then, that’s all the jokes done with. The rest will be all suffering. Actually, the cessation of suffering. It's no joking matter, lol.

Even if we have wisdom and refrain from the drink that causes drunkenness, still the craving for that drink remains and will cause suffering if not addressed. The craving is itself an interference of the mind, or a drink that we’d do well to refrain from. As we learnt in the Interactive Second Noble Truth, we must go to the root, and the root of that which disturbs peace of mind, or gives rise to dukkha, is tanha, the thirst and attachment to those drinks that lead us away from our city into the vineyards of drunkenness.

But again we ask, which drinks are these that lead us astray? 

Because this wisdom will get us a long way to avoiding them. If we recognize something as an unwanted attachment or addiction, then this recognition is the first step in helping us to be rid of it. It will give us the gift of disillusionment in that which causes us to suffer. If it is a strong addiction though, disillusionment won’t necessarily be enough to change our behaviour. Then we might try transference, and swap our craving for one drink with craving for another. We do this all the time in most interesting ways, for example doing things which give us pleasure to cancel or make up for that which gives us pain. We can all see this in our towns, how the evening and weekend binges release all the tension built up over the course of the day and week. Or at a more moderate level, how food and exercise are great relievers of stress. This is all well and good, but we may come to notice in time how pleasure and pain create patterns, some of which may distract us from the city of our choice. And the drunkenness borne of pleasure is the harder of the two to shake… because it feels so good! What if we didn’t or couldn’t transfer our craving or act on it in some way? I would call this “sucking it up” or cessation. Our capacity for cessation is much greater than we imagine it to be. But if the pain is too great, or we lack resolve, we might not succeed and this might discourage us completely. Our response might be avoidance, escape, sleep, cessation from the path altogether. This may do as a stop-gap to buy us time, but ultimately we must embrace life and face up to our cravings. And whether we employ disillusionment, transference or cessation, there is a seed of wisdom whose contemplation is at the heart of the Third Noble Truth: in the fullness of time, all that arises will also cease.

In the game of intent, we must surrender the battles that fuel our drunkenness – neither win them nor lose them, but realize their cessation – in order to win the war. Only when our desire aligns perfectly with our intent, when all other cravings are vanquished or by transference replaced by our true desire, all mind-addictions ceased or replaced by the addiction to Dhamma, and all our love unified in the name of Love, then are we truly on our way to the city of our choice!

For the third time I ask, which are these battles which fuel our drunken state and waste our energy?

I would say: all that does not belong to the city of our choice, all that is not of Truth, all that is not of the Heart, all that is not the drink of the Beloved. Could I be less abstract? More practically useful? I will think more on it… how about you? The questions I’ve been sizing up in this blog may be summarized as follows:

1. What is the city of your choice?

2. What leads you away from the city of your choice?

3. How do you vanquish that which leads you away from the city of your choice?

Let the real work begin! Buddha’s Third Noble Truth encourages us that absolute success is possible and may we set about realizing it. May all answers that you seek come to you, and may they be an expression of “heart”.

I pass the blog over to you! As always, your criticism and feedback is dearly welcomed, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on these questions.

Second Noble Truth (Interactive): why does life suck sometimes?

The Four Noble Truths form the basis of Buddha's philosophy. The purpose is purely ethical, grounded in subjective experience, so instead of studying the nature of life and reality objectively (in terms of scientific laws, random phenomena, natural selection etc.), we study our experience.

The First Noble Truth (discussed earlier here) is about understanding imperfection and suffering. The Second Noble Truth asks us to look into the causes of imperfection and suffering… So let us explore the roots of suffering. I've included my answers, and am continuing to investigate... The hope is that we can arrive at our own understanding independently of our knowledge of what the Second Noble Truth says and then compare and drill deeper. 

1. What makes you mad?

What makes me mad is human stupidity and lack of consideration for the lives of others. Thoughtless selfishness I can forgive because we all need to become more mindful, learn from our mistakes and do our best not to repeat them, but at least the intention must be there to be acting for the best. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but I’ve always believed that every road is. Ok, so we need to learn to be more mindful, but also forgive ourselves and others when we err. What makes me mad though is the intentional setting up of “us and them” which is a betrayal of the belief in equality, often motivated by power and greed, and accompanied by the restrictions of people’s freedoms and the treatment of individuals as statistics to be labelled and quantified and their approval maximized. Yes, what makes me mad is the betrayal of the three cornerstones of the democratic ideal, of equality, freedom and compassion, and of those who sow seeds of fear and hate that contribute to their degradation.

2. What makes you sad?

What makes me sad is that through the prolonged exposure of things that make us mad, we have developed a tolerance for them, almost become immune. This would make me mad also if it weren’t for the fact that I see it in myself and I find it completely understandable. What makes me sad is how children always have such high ideals and when they become adults they betray those ideals. What makes me sad is the powerlessness of the individual in the face of cruel reality, the short-sightedness of collective humanity, the inevitability of death and the loss of that which we hold dear.

3. What makes you frustrated?

What makes me frustrated is lack of “flow”. When life flows, what does that word “frustration” mean? It doesn’t exist! What obstructs the flow? It is difficulty, tiredness, uncertainty, confusion, helplessness, shame, distraction. And what keeps the river of life flowing over and around these obstacles of frustration with harmonious music. It is calm, energy, wisdom, understanding, power, love, intent. With greater mindfulness, perhaps we can catch the frustration before it arises. With less mindfulness, perhaps we can catch it after it arises. But if we do not catch it, then in time it sets and becomes a tributary of the river of life itself. I don’t even know why I’m frustrated this very instant, but I know that I am! It is my frustration of not understanding the Second Noble Truth, wanting to understand it better, that has driven me to write this blog. So perhaps frustration serves a purpose after all… 

4. What is your response to frustration?

Avoidance! Escape into thinking about something else without frustration, listening to music, reading, sleep, in the hope that the mind can rest, and return to find the state of flow that was lost. Sometimes this can work. Resting too long, the frustration can be forgotten, but it hasn’t necessarily gone away. Sooner rather than later, it must be actively addressed or it will become like a silent sadness never spoken or a gnawing pain whose cause of suffering to our life we fail to even recognize.

5. What is bothering you that you do not want to talk about?

I don’t want to talk about it! For sure there are plenty of things, but what is the fundamental issue at the core, not something external, but something which lies within, something perhaps deeply buried about which everything revolves? What is the source of your shame and your pain? What do you not want to talk about? Do you even have a clue? Perhaps this is something to meditate on, in stillness find the answer and contemplate how to address it. It would sure be useful to know…

6. What should the next question be?

I hand the blog over to you! You can answer any way you like, but let it be an expression of "desire"... oops, did I spill the beans there? I want it to come from you!

First Noble Truth (Interactive): what is the nature of our experience of life?

The First Noble Truth is the first of four Truths that the Buddha taught in his very first discourse after enlightenment, now known as the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, literally “the discourse that sets the vehicle of teaching in motion”. These four truths seek to awaken us to an understanding of (1) the nature of life, (2) the origin of life, (3) the purpose of life, and (4) the way of fulfilling life’s purpose. 

This quartet of nature, origin, purpose and way is thus a paradigm of Buddhist philosophy. The first object of enquiry might have been “the world”, but Buddha like Descartes two thousand years later saw the need to ground his philosophy in subjective experience, in “life”.

1. What, in your opinion, is the foundation ground of knowledge that, through its understanding, all else will fall into place? 

God? The universe? Life? 

Unlike traditional Western philosophy, Buddha’s epistemological quest is intensely spiritual both in its purpose and its process. Buddha showed little interest in metaphysics or speculations in general except where they were of use in helping accomplish the difficult and personal process of awakening to the truth of life. The Four Noble Truths are found not in the statements themselves, but in our meditative contemplation and understanding of them. This is described in the teaching as a threefold process, though there is actually a zeroth stage that is taken for granted: (0) the opening the heart to the discovery of truth, (1) knowing or at least believing that we know the truth, (2) acting on the truth, putting into practicing what we know, and (3) awakening, for once we are fully awakened to a truth, then the truth acts on us. 

This quartet of being open to, knowing, acting on and being truth thus forms a paradigm for Buddhist ethics. So, the ethical quest is founded by truth, and conversely, we shall see on reading the Four Noble Truths that the seeds of truth are planted in the noble ground of ethics. The Four Noble Truths are so-called because the process of engaging with them is ennobling. And this is the purpose of this blog.

2. What, in your opinion, is the nature of our experience that we call life?

Consciousness? Growth? Unpredictability? Imperfection? Insubstantiality? Fun?

I pass the blog over to you! You can answer in any way you like, but let it be an expression of "life"... I want it to come from you.

Second Noble Truth (Interactive) follows here:
http://itsokei.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/second-noble-truth-interactive-why-is.html