Category Archives: Eastern Teachers

Teachers primarily of Japanese, Chinese, Korean cultures

Unknown's avatar

ceasing the conditional

by

Waiting patiently has never been my strong suit.  After I laid down the larger viridian circle, I panicked at the tone which to my eyes ground into the neighbouring sap green with the ear-splitting sound of colliding metal.  Luckily, I was distracted away before I could “fix” anything and when I returned the wide swath of eye-ache had softened.

The capacity to simply pause or to attend without acting – wu wei – is a tough skill to cultivate.  I’m starting to see, however, that it is the heart and soul of the Third Turning of Wheel in practising the Second Noble Truth.  To realize the truth of the cause of my suffering requires me to step back from the sensations that drive me to act impetuously.  It’s a hypnotic process and I can really feel it in my breath.  Well, I can feel that I’m holding my breath as I fall into a desperation to “get it over with.”  The Second Noble Truth however is not just a recognition and clarification of what causes and sustains suffering, it is also the first step to the breaking the links of the damaging cycles.

Thich Nhat Hanh says that the Third Turning of the Wheel can be summarized as “When I’m hungry, I eat.  When tired, I sleep.”  Practice is not just the recognition and knowing of the roots of my suffering but also cultivation of the appropriate response.  Hungry -> eat.  Tired -> sleep.  These are good psychological tactics; we only ever restrain a bad habit but it helps to have a good one to fill the space left behind.  I can tell when I’m hungry or when I’m tired… mostly.  And usually “cranky” points to hungry or tired anyway.

The tough practice is with the more fine-grained sensations that underlie “disappointment,” “uncertainty,”  “loss of faith,” or the Big One, “breakdown of belief systems.”   Usually it goes something like “when I’m disappointed, I shut down.”  Or it may be “when I’m uncertain, I push your buttons.”  Or “when I lose faith, I wipe the hard drive clean.”  And this Big One: “When my belief systems breakdown, I want you to fix it.”

Realization of the cause and maintenance of suffering is in the willingness to wait in that space between “I am <fill in the blank>” and “I <fill in the blank>.”  But I want to push it further (No!  Really?).

Cease the conditional.

“I am disappointed.”

“I am shut down.”

“I am uncertain.”

“I am pushing your buttons.”

“I am losing faith.”

“I am wiping the hard drive clean.”

“I am feeling a breakdown of my belief systems.”

“I am wanting you to fix it.”

“I have laid down a swath of viridian.”  “I am walking away.”

Let’s see if that works.

Thank you for practising,

Genju

Unknown's avatar

growing sustenance

by

In her comment to yesterday’s post, ZenDotStudio offered to adopt my suffering from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Suffering.  This got me thinking about the rather disparaging way I treat my suffering.  Of course, the cause of my suffering is that I don’t think anything I do is good enough.  Like the paintings you see this week.  Not good enough.  Yesterday’s was too dark, today’s is too washed out, tomorrow’s will be too obvious.  So it’s no surprise that even my suffering is really not up to snuff.

Like a good little Buddhist, however, I’m taking a shot at (so much for ahimsa) looking into the true nature of my suffering before I truck it over the ZDS and sign off on the adoption papers.  Two weeks ago we checked out the First Noble Truth – the reality that suffering exists and our responsibility to examine the shape of that suffering.  The Second Noble Truth faces us with the way that suffering germinates, the roots of suffering.

Conventionally, cravings is the identified culprit for the cause of suffering.  Thich Nhat Hanh, however, points out that the Buddha didn’t say only craving is the cause.  It’s just first on a long list of things that cause suffering but for ease of recitation it stands as the exemplar of causes.  That helps clarify my own examination because when I look at the causes of my suffering, they are multi-dimensional.   It’s not just wanting more, better, bigger, stronger, prettier, steadier (fill in the blank).  It’s also “anger, ignorance, suspicion, arrogance, and wrong view…” that pours fuel on the fire.

Take these paintings.  I hold this assumption of how they should look, what green, red, ochre look like to someone else, and I forget that I can’t know how someone else’s sense consciousness will consume the painting.  Or perhaps, it’s more a case of being afraid that I really don’t and can’t know how someone will perceive the colours.  I have no control over their desires which also are born of beginingless “greed, anger and delusion.”  And therefore, I have no control over their likes or dislikes of what I put out there.  I know this  but the fear is powerful and the judgemental mind is compelling.

The Second Noble Truth refers to the power of mind.  Suffering is caused by the mind’s ability to generate story lines of desire, rejection, and denial.  And the first step – the first turning of the dharma wheel of the Second Noble truth – is to look at how the mind gains and sustains that debilitating power (rather than a beneficial power).  In practice, I’ve been noticing how I feed my mind with a constant stream of comparative thoughts and a push-pull of grasping.  In fact, I’m beginning to realize I have a whole farming industry that produces these twisty little roots, salty greens, and bitter herbs that I serve myself in generous heapings.

Well, I’m happy to recognize how I sustain my suffering.  Just wish I had realized it before I “fixed” these paintings…

Thank you for practising (and try not to fix anything your mind insists needs tweaking).

Genju