My Resolve is Firmly Fixed

Periodically, I receive a letter or an email recounting something that has happened and the individual's reaction to that event. Like the following, such correspondence often shows remarkable clarity and dedication in spite of much personal pain.

In painful times, we realize again that the wish to alleviate the suffering of all beings is the underlying source of strength for our practice. 

Dear Venerable,

Amituofo. My father was rushed to the hospital today. He has contracted a virulent, drug-resistant staph infection. I fear for his life. Life has conspired, along with sundry books, to teach me living, breathing lessons about karma, impermanence and no-self, attachment and aversion. Death is our constant companion from birth; patiently walking beside us, watching and waiting. Lord Yama cares not for our plans, our schedules, our level of preparedness.

Events of late have prompted a thorough inner inventory-taking. I've observed my faults, frailties and failures; witnessed the lack of compassion and wisdom, the surplus of selfishness, self-absorption and lack of empathy, of charity, of genuine concern for the well-being of others. The result of this insight is a strengthening of my commitment to strive for, not simply rebirth in the Pure Land, but the manifestation of enlightenment, of mind-only Pure Land, here and now.

Toward that end, the number of morning and evening recitations (liturgy) will be increased to 1,008 (10 malas) per sitting, with additional chanting, sans mala, throughout the day when possible. I will continue my study of sutras and AMTB [Amitabha Buddhist Societies] center books regularly, hoping and praying that my resolve remains firmly fixed. With Amituofo's irresistible power, my Faith, Vows and Practice must flourish; growing from a small seed into a magnificent Bodhi tree, for my sake and the welfare of all sentient beings. By Amituofo's 48 vows we are liberated, through 9 lotus stages we reach the other shore.

Caught Again...and Again...

The Buddha often spoke of the poisons of greed, anger, ignorance, and delusion. These poisons are still very much with us today.

Greed is our endless craving, and anger is what arises when our greed is unfulfilled. Ignorance is our lack of understanding the truths that underlie what is happening to us and around us. Delusion is mis­taking wrong ideas for the truth. Due to our ignorance and delusion, we believe in ideas that are wrong and reject those that are correct and beneficial. But we do so not because we are bad people. Lazy? Yes. Easily dis­tracted? Yes. Impatient and judgmental? Yes.

But because we are bad people? No.

Lacking the ability to clearly discern right from wrong, we automatically react out of our bad habits and, consequently, we are impatient and inconsiderate. In most instances, our intentions are not to harm others. We are just so easily caught up in our desires, wishes, and expectations. When these are unfulfilled, in our impatience and disappointment, we give in to anger, which rises from within us, uninvited and unnoticed.

So easily, so automatically, we feel resentment and irritation, if not outright rage. And in so feeling, we are again immersed in our greed, anger, ignorance, and delusion.

The Solution to Our Unhappiness

After attaining enlightenment, the Buddha explained that what he had learned was not the result of any analytical thinking, but of having seen reality. Those who seek the Way should neither immerse themselves in sensual pleasures nor deprive their bodies of essential needs, but follow the path of moderation. He explained that all beings who live in this world are subject to four basic truths.

The first three are that suffering exists, it is caused, and it has an end. The fourth truth explains how to end suffering through the proper practice of discipline, concentration, and wisdom.

It might seem pessimistic for the Buddha to say that in life there is much unhappiness. But he did not leave it at that, for like a good doctor, he diagnosed the fundamental problem of life and declared it: Life involves suffering. Like a good doctor, he wanted to help all beings so that they would attain the understanding that would lead to awakening and, thus, obtain permanent release from this distress. He was not concerned with worldly or spiritual speculation but with how to help all beings achieve liberation.

And like a caring doctor, he optimistically determined that a cure exists, and prescribed the requisite treatment as embodied in the Four Noble Truths: right understanding and proper practice. The Four Noble Truths provide the solution to our unhappiness. We need to understand and abandon suffering and its cause, and embrace the proper way of living. This statement is surely one of optimism, not pessimism.

Let it Flow Into Your Heart

 

When you listen to the Dhamma you must open up your heart and compose yourself in the center. Don't try to accumulate what you hear or make a painstaking effort to retain what you hear through memory. Just let the Dhamma flow into your heart as it reveals itself, and keep yourself continuously open to its flow in the present moment. What is ready to be retained will be so, and it will happen of its own accord, not through any determined effort on your part.

Similarly when you expound the Dhamma, you must not force yourself. It should happen on its own accord and should flow spontaneously from the present moment and circumstances. People have different levels of receptive ability, and when you're there at that same level, it just happens, the Dhamma flows.  The Buddha had the ability to know people's temperaments and receptive abilities. He used this very same method of spontaneous teaching. It's not that he possessed any special superhuman power to teach, but rather that he was sensitive to the spiritual needs of the people who came to him, and so he taught them accordingly.  

~ Ajahn Chah

As If Struck by Two Darts

One time the Buddha spoke to the monks about how both those who had no knowledge of the teachings and those who were knowledgeable experienced pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. What was the difference between the untaught person and the well-taught student?

The Buddha explained that when a person who did not know the teachings underwent painful feelings, this person would become sad and extremely upset, and lament what had happened to him. So this person would feel the pain both physically and mentally. It would be like throwing a dart at someone and then immediately throwing a second. Struck by both darts, the untaught person first would feel the bodily pain and then would become upset and grieve. Thus, he would experience two kinds of feeling: the physical pain and the mental realization of pain.

Feeling pain, this untaught person resents and fights that pain. Seeking to end the pain, he seeks to overcome it with sensual enjoyment—his only known way of relieving painful feelings. But the enjoyment of sensual happiness leads to further craving for such happiness, because he does not understand the feelings or the dangers of his habitual way of reacting to these painful feelings. Such a person also reacts out of ignorance to feelings that are neither painful nor pleasant. So whether the feeling is pleasant, painful, or neutral, this person acts out of, and is thus bound by, ignorance. Birth, aging, death, pain—all suffering binds one who is untaught.

But the well-taught student does not react with sadness and despair, does not bemoan his condition or become upset. This student understands the suffering is physical, not mental. Such a student is like one who is struck by the first dart, but not the second. Experiencing the physical pain, but not the mental pain, this person does not feel despair or grief, does not lament what has happened.

This well-taught student knows the physical pain is there but does not resent it. So he does not fight that feeling in his mind. He does not need to seek sensual happiness to alleviate the painful feeling because he knows a better way to react to such bodily feelings. By not seeking sensual happiness, he does not fall prey to craving. Such a student understands the dangers of reacting imprudently to painful feelings. He does not even react out of ignorance to neutral feelings. So whether the feeling is pleasant, painful, or neutral, this person is not bound by them. Whether birth, aging, death, or pain—the well-taught student remains unfettered.

The Buddha said that this was the difference between the untaught person and the well-taught student in regards to pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings.