If we allow it, life can seem like an endless rollercoaster of emotions, conflict, sorrows and disappointments. All of these things create suffering. I'm sure there would be little disagreement on this point; yet how many of us have given consideration to the possibility that the moments of pleasure, accomplishment, harmony and laughter might somehow contribute to our suffering as well?
Don't get me wrong, I consciously choose laughter over tears, accomplishment over failure, pleasure over pain, and I encourage you to as well. What I do not do, however, is to place emotional "value" or weight on either of those experiences. I recognise that none of those things is capable of bringing me lasting happiness, only temporary satisfaction. I accept and embrace temporary satisfaction as being, well... satisfying. But I do not allow myself to get worked up over the moments when things are "less than satisfying".
Many of you know that I was in the final interviewing process for a position as the program director for an organisation working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community, in Philadelphia. Clearly, my interest was not about the small and relatively insignificant stipend that would be paid to the program director, or I would not have been applying with such a small, grassroots program. During the first three interviews, it was apparent to me that this was the kind of position that would be rewarding in terms of what I could do for the youth and young adults in the program, and since I would have the free time to dedicate to such work, I was very interested in pursuing it.
At that final interview, my on-going frustration with the inadequate communication among the board members about the three previous interviews was topped by an offensively rude, aggressive and apparently very wounded, militant lesbian, who quite seemingly decided that she didn't like me from before I entered the room. She was only able to participate via conference call, and was apparently able to control and manipulate the board's president, who allowed this woman to behave in a manner that was so unprofessional and astounding that I nearly got up three times and walked out of the room.
In the end, it was clear to me that I would not have accepted the offer to work with this group, and that it was unlikely that the board would choose me from the two finalists being considered for the position. The other candidate had none of the prior experience, education or qualifications for the position, but she was a woman, and the agenda of the separatist-disguised-as-feminist agenda of the couple dissenting board members would be better served with someone younger, more easily manipulated and endowed with the proper genitalia.
You can imagine that it was not only frustrating, but completely unsatisfying to have taken a day away from my consulting business and the hermitage, to drive two and a half hours in a downpour for what amounted to a complete and utter waste of my time. But I attached no emotional value to that unsatisfying waste of time. It was what it was. Nothing more. Nothing less.
That is the difference between going through life mindfully (awake) and going through life "conditioned" by our environment, up-bringing and culture.
There is a formula I like to teach my monks, which takes a simple Buddhist and Aristotelian precept and phrases it in a postmodern, scientific context: T x E = R -- Thought times Emotion equals Reality.
Thoughts will always arise. Some thoughts will be more accurate in their perception than others. When a limiting thought arises, we can allow that thought to control us, or we can use it for fuel by simply acknowledging it as "a thought". Thoughts have creative capacity to the extent which we empower them or charge them with our emotions.
One person wakes up and sees an overcast and rainy day and perceives the day as dreary and "bad" weather. Another awakens to the same conditions and says, "What a wonderful day... the trees, grass and water table will benefit from the needed precipitation! (And now I won't have to wash my car!)" It's all a matter of the emotions we consign to a particular circumstance, thought or experience.
Brian Tracy teaches, "The greatest enemy in our lives are our self-limiting beliefs."
If our belief system is one in which all of the "divine power" that exists within us is consigned to some magical heavenly being(s), and in which there are demons, monsters and devils who have the power to injure us, then our reality will be one in which we are quite limited, controlled and often disappointed.
Suffering exists in life. But it is optional, and is nothing more than the result of our response to pain and disappointment. There is a way to beyond the limiting experience of suffering, and that way is expressed in a simple eightfold path... namely:
- Maintaining a complete or ideal view
- Maintaining an ideal intentionality
- Maintaining ideal speech
- Engaging in right or ideal action
- Engaging in right livelihood
- Making complete and ideal effort
- Maintaining mindful awareness
- Maintaining ideal concentration
One who observes the Noble Eightfold Path will always be someone who is dedicated wholly to non-violence, honesty and integrity... who does not steal, abuse the body with harmful intoxicants, harm other sentient beings, mislead others with lies, or engage in inappropriate sexual activity.
In the Abhisandha Sutta the Buddha said that undertaking the precepts is a gift to oneself and others:
- "... In [undertaking the five precepts], he gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the ... gift, the ... great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & priests. This is the ... reward of merit, reward of skillfulness, nourishment of happiness, celestial, resulting in happiness, leading to heaven, leading to what is desirable, pleasurable, & appealing; to welfare & to happiness." (cf: Abhisanda Sutta 8.39)
You see, my friends... it is unnecessary for one to become a Buddhist to achieve freedom from suffering, just as it is unnecessary for one to become a Christian in order to truly embrace the teachings of the Dharma Master, Jesus the Nazarene. What is necessary is that one live according to the Five Precepts, and chooses to follow the Eightfold Path.
When so doing, one's religion, if indeed one finds need for such superstitious pursuits at all, is inconsequential.
My objective remains not to make Buddhists, but to inspire the creation of Buddhas -- Enlightened Ones. It will never be me who gives birth to an enlightened one, but the Dharma itself, which nourishes and sustains and brings life to the once suffering individual.
~ Excerpt from the Great Discourse of 2008, by Gurudas Sunyatananda, O.C., Ph.D. -- a biannual dharma talk given by the spiritual leader of the Contemplative Order of Compassion and the Contemplative Monks of the Eightfold Path, at the beginning of the two week-long fasting period that leads up to the General Assembly of the American Society of Buddhist Contemplatives. This dharma talk was given on Saturday afternoon, 20 September 2008, via webcast, from the Lojong Ladrang in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
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Copyright © 2008 The Office of Lama Gurudas Sunyatananda/Lojong Monastery. (Lojong Media Publications) All rights reserved.
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