Basics of Buddhism - 2 - The Four Noble Truths

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"The Four Noble Truths" was the first teaching given by the Buddha after his enlightenment experience under the Bodhi Tree in what is now Bodh Gaya, in northern India.  But first, let’s explore how he ended up sitting under a tree trying to get enlightened in the first place.  2500 years ago, this young man named Siddhartha Gautama was raised in the lap of luxury—his father was the leader of a small kingdom in Northern India.  The story is told that he was given whatever he wanted—the best clothes, food, women and entertainment.  He lived the first 29 years of his life as a life of excess.  Then, one day he traveled outside the palace walls, and discovered that people were suffering—from accidents, sickness, old age and death.  He realized that he had led a very sheltered life and decided to leave behind the luxury and go forth to find an end to suffering. 

He made friends with a group of men who were living in the forest and practicing a spiritual lifestyle called asceticism.  Ascetics eat very little, have no possessions and sleep on the ground.  They believe that taking away all the comforts of life will lead to enlightenment.  So, Siddhartha went from excess to asceticism in search of the “cure” for suffering.  After six years, he found that he was no closer to enlightenment, but was close to dying.   Isn’t this often the way we view the world?  Hoping for a black and white answer to our own suffering?  He was bathing in the river and almost drowned when he passed out from lack of food.  A woman named Sujata saw this and gave him milk and rice, which he accepted gratefully.  So, if not for that woman, there may never have been a Buddha or Buddhism! (Go Sujata!) At that moment, it’s said that he realized that there must be a middle way, between the extremes, that would end suffering. 

I'll interject a great question from Joseph who added that Siddhartha's experience as an ascetic and learning yoga in those six years prepared him for his awakening, by training his body and mind to become more focused and highly tolerant of uncomfortable experiences.  I'm sure this training was very supportive of his awakening.  Is it truly possible for us, here in the 21st Century, with our flabby focus and avoidance of discomfort, to become enlightened?  Although we might be ready for the spiritual Olympics, I have found that we can create major change in our experience by starting with a program of meditation, focused awareness and positive imagery (more on that next week).  These simple tools can help tone and tighten our focus and ability to tolerate discomfort, enough to transform our perspective quite a lot.  As Joseph added, we can change over time, like water wears down rocks.  

Back to the story of The Buddha--When his friends found him eating, they were disgusted that he had given up asceticism and left him.  He walked a few miles and decided to sit down under a peepal tree, determined to sit until he discovered the “cure” for suffering.  The folklore varies about how long he sat there, but he experienced what we all here experience when we simply sit in silence.  Our minds create a never-ending display of stories and drama and restlessness and boredom and feelings and sensations, trying desperately to distract us.  Siddhartha decided to sit with it all.  When he quit responding to every whim and whisper of his mind and body, he realized he could create a gap between stimulus and response, and that precious gap enabled him to be awakened to the possibilities that life has to offer.

The whole trajectory of his life changed when he discovered that GAP.   It is said that he walked around for weeks in bliss, no longer held hostage by his thoughts, emotions and sensations.  The Buddha had discovered that we can pro-actively manage our experience of life by creating a gap between stimulus and response, by going beyond conditioned reactions and old ways of experiencing ourselves and the world around us.

He went and found his five ascetic friends so he could teach them what he had discovered.   They could see that something tremendous had happened to him, so they sat down and listened. Siddhartha, who then became known as the Buddha, meaning “The Awakened One”, began to teach, and his first talk was called, “The Four Noble Truths”.

•        There is suffering in life.

•        There is suffering because we seek to satisfy ourselves in inherently unsatisfying ways.

•        The possibility of liberation from suffering exists for everyone.

•        The way to free ourselves is to practice the Eightfold Path that results in enlightened living.

The first Truth is that life includes suffering.  The word in Pali, the original language used to write down the teachings, was dukkha. Dukkha can be translates in three ways:  suffering, insecurity or just feeling unsatisfied.  The Buddha realized that most of us live life with some sense that things, or we, are just not quite right.  Sometimes, this feeling lingers in the background, or sometimes it slaps us in the face.  We might a passing sense of pleasure, by achieving a goal, or feeling successful for a bit, then we often go right back to feeling that there is something more to be done, that something is missing.  Our culture encourages this sense of “never enough”, encourages doing over being.  In fact, “doing” can be confused as the thing the only thing that gives us value as a person.

The Buddha also recognized that there is unavoidable pain in life--we get old, we get sick, we die.  Those that we love get old, get sick, and die. This is the reality of living, and we often suffer because of it.  The First Noble Truth is to face this reality honestly. Buddhism is sometimes misunderstood as having a very negative perspective on life.  I offer the exact opposite perspective.  Buddhist practices encourage us to face the facts!  Be honest!  And out of that honesty, comes a starting place for real joy, real happiness. 

Another misconception about Buddhism is that we are trying to trying to STOP our thoughts or emotions.   Many of us may have probably tried denying our true thoughts and emotions in order to avoid being hurt.  Sometimes, this method seems to work for awhile.  But in the long run, we lose the most precious gift of life—being fully and completely engaged in living. 

We are encouraged to get to know ourselves in a deeply honest and compassionate way, to become aware of what we are thinking, feeling and sensing.  The Buddhist concept of “non-attachment” is to realize that thoughts, emotions and sensations are NOT who we truly are. But FIRST, we learn to SEE them more clearly in order to transform our response to them.  Compassionate awareness and honesty are key ingredients to the Buddhist path. 

THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH IS that life includes suffering because we seek to satisfy ourselves in ways that are inherently unsatisfying.  We keep trying to rearrange our external world and respond with clinging, aversion or ignorance to our thoughts and emotions, hoping to create a sense of happiness.  It might work for a short while, but never for the long term.  THESE METHODS ARE INHERENTLY UNSATISFYING and also a whole lot of work.  It takes so much energy to constantly be trying to rearrange things and people and places to make them make us happy. 

Here’s the good news:  The Third Noble Truth is that the possibility of liberation from difficulties exists for everyone.  We each have within us the incredible potential to be happy, to have a deep sense well-being REGARDLESS OF OUR EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES OR WHATEVER MIGHT BE OUR RANDOM THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS.  This realization is what catapulted the Buddha into a radically different life.  This is what caused people to flock around him to listen to his every word, to follow him wherever he went.  He taught to anyone who would listen:  kings and paupers, men and women, anyone who might have a glimpse that his teachings might true.  He was egalitarian at a time when solely supporting your tribe was seen as the safest bet for safety.  He threw out the idea that some people were better than others.  He realized that we all have this great potential within us.

The Fourth Noble Truth became the Eightfold Path, eight ways to see and experience yourself and the world differently to create this inner happiness and peace.  For today, we’ll stop here, and talk in more depth about the Eightfold Path next week.  For now, we can delight in this realization that we can change the way we see ourselves and the world by first getting fully honest with ourselves.

The question we can ask ourselves this week is:  What is it in my life right now that is causing me a sense of suffering, insecurity or dissatisfaction?  What makes this moment feel like something is quite right or not enough?

 

Basics of Buddhism - 1 - The Five Hindrances

(For Podcast, click here.  For ITunes version, click here) 

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I used to begin the Basics of Buddhism with the good stuff—how it will change your life and make everything wonderful, and that may be true, but I realized that it was most important to begin with the importance of intention versus expectation.  We can set our intention to be dedicated to exploring and experimenting with Buddhism and meditation in the next few weeks, but also I encourage you to be aware of any expectations you may have. 

For those who know me, you are probably aware that I have tendency toward irrational exuberance.  I’m so passionate about sharing how Buddhism and meditation has transformed my life, and this might lead you to having several unmet expectations! My Buddhist teacher, Lama Surya Das, said once that I sometimes seem like a televangelist for Buddhism.  I think he might be right…I was a little too enthusiastic which might incorrectly imply that this practice is all lollipops and laughter.  There’s some of that, but also some difficulties, some obstacles that arise, and it’s good to know about these potential obstacles so they won’t end up making you swerve  off the path of practice altogether.

I learned this the hard way.

I have a dear friend who has cut my hair for many years, and she was slightly interested in meditation, and I of course sang its praises.  She talked about coming and learning to meditate for a couple of years before she finally showed up one Sunday morning.  Our main meditation is at 9 am on Sundays, so I appreciate that’s a little early for many people.  I was so excited that she came—now she would realize how awesome this is! Instead, when I called her to find out how she liked the experience, she proceeded to tell me, “It was awful!  There all these people around coughing and sneezing, and I could hear other noises from the other rooms, other things going on in the building.  I expected it to be nice and quiet, and I found it annoying and frustrating. I can never be a meditator.”  She never came back.  I was completely deflated, but also realized that I had set her up for failure.  If I had better set her expectations about what she would experience at first, then she might have been willing to stick with it a little longer.  Yes, there are some wonderful experiences to be had with this practice, but perhaps it’s best to know what obstacles might arise so that we can acknowledge them and perhaps even make friends with them as we go along.  It’s important to be aware of our expectations…

To begin, beginning these practices comes with some uncomfortable feelings—anything new usually creates a sense of being uncomfortable.  We are exploring seeing ourselves and the world in a very different way.  The Buddha realized this 2500 years ago, and identified five potential obstacles (hindrances) to awakening.   

•         Craving

•         Aversion

•         Laziness or boredom

•         Restlessness or worry

•         Doubt

Craving: sensory desire. The particular type of wanting that seeks for happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical feeling.

One common misperception about Buddhism is that we are not supposed to have any desires.  Desire is not all bad.  We may desire to be enlightened.  We may desire to help others. We may desire to be a good person.  But how much of our desire is focused on pleasing our senses?  The Buddhist teachings aren’t against pleasure, but they help us examine how focusing solely on our personal pleasure often leads us to numb out or distracts us from the greater “pleasure” of a happiness that can be found within ourselves, regardless of whether or not our sensual desires are being fulfilled.  We can learn to fully savor the different sensations of living, such as tasting a delicious bite of cake or watching a well-made movie, and still be awake and aware in each moment. The Buddha realized that suffering arises when we are focused solely on trying to relieve our cravings.  After the fourth piece of cake, are you still getting that same zing of pleasure you got from the first bite?  Is it really bringing you all that much pleasure, or is it standing in the way of a deeper happiness that is beyond succumbing to every whim and whisper of your mind and body? It helps to explore the distinction between what we crave and what we really desire.

It’s also helpful to better understand exactly what exactly it is that you desire.  When we think we want some new thing in our life, some new possession, it is possible that what we really want is the feeling that we expect to get from having it/owning it?  What if you could create that feeling without buying anything?  The Buddhist practices might be a more cost effective solution.  Making money and having money isn’t “bad” in the Buddhist way of thinking. Instead, it is the constant craving for more and fear of never having enough that causes suffering.

Aversion:  thoughts and emotions about pushing away, including feelings of hostility, anger, resentment, hatred and bitterness.

Aversion is also not all bad.  We should be averse to and avoid situations, people and habits that harm us or others.  However, when we examine all our aversions, we might find that much of the aversions in life are about trying to create a completely comfy, cozy world within and around us, so we don’t have to deal with any unpleasant feeling or situation.  We avoid tough conversations that we know we need to have.  We avoid identifying our unskillful actions and the results that they cause. We can explore what we might be avoiding that needs to be identified and examined?  These reflections will help prepare us for being more fully present.

Restlessness or worry: the inability to calm the mind or the tendency towards being anxious about the future. Often when I sit down to meditate or throughout the day when I want to practice being fully present in each moment, I’m so restless that it feels uncomfortable to just be, much less sit still; my mind is racing. I’m easily distracted by any outer noise or inner dialogue. Sometimes, I’m physically uncomfortable, or I start to worry about all sorts of stuff.  My mind seems to be addicted to making “to do” lists (oh, the pleasure of checking things off that have been accomplished…) Most minds have been trained to be constantly entertained, and when we take away that entertainment, the mind continues to try and busy itself.  When we realize these thoughts/emotions/sensation of restlessness and worry, we can then make more enlightened decision on how to respond

When I was sixteen, I had been dating a boy for two years, and he cheated on me.  I was devastated!  I still recall sitting on the black vinyl couch in our family room, trying to distract myself by watching TV.  I had a stabbing pain in the pit of my stomach as if someone had kicked me there.  It was the actual pain of heartache.  I was craving a feeling of being loved and special.  I was trying to avoid that awful feeling of being hurt.  I hated that feeling so much that I built a wall around my heart so that no one would ever hurt me like that again.  Of course, by trying to avoid that feeling, I ended up having disastrous relationships.  It was only when I was willing to be hurt again, that I was able to truly love and be loved.

Boredom or laziness:  Good old sloth and torpor. A heaviness of body and dullness of mind which can drag one down into disabling inertia and perhaps depression.  Sometimes, I sit down to meditate and immediately feel like I want to take a nap.  I might be actually tired and need more sleep, but often it is really just boredom.  Our minds have been trained that if we’re not busy doing something, it must be time to sleep.   Assess what is the real issue—really tired or really bored?  We can start to recognize these games that the mind plays and recognition helps us overcome them. 

Doubt:  •   lack of conviction or trust.  This last hindrance is often the most challenging.  As noted above, The Buddha taught that we are not supposed to take these teachings at face value.  We are not supposed to blindly believe them.  It’s helpful to have a healthy dose of skepticism.  But doubt can also be a mental process used to avoid any change, even good change. When we question things just to keep from changing, then doubt itself becomes an obstacle, a hindrance to happiness. When you experience doubt, I can’t tell you whether it’s healthy skepticism or change avoidance.  Only you will know which kind of doubt it is, and only you know if you’re willing to examine your doubt more closely. 

How would you finish this sentence?  If I were deeply honest with myself, I would….

When you start to recognize these obstacles arising, you can add some playfulness to the process.  “Oh, here comes restlessness again. Hello! I recognize you!”  Make friends with these silly games that the mind plays with you.  “Here comes aversion.  I realize that I’m pushing this thought or thing or person away.”  Then, reflect upon the obstacle.  “What’s up with that? “ Ask questions about why these obstacles may arise.  Try creating a sense of curiosity, and see what comes up.

I want to offer one more encouragement—we don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to get it right every time. The only requirement is to give it a try, invest some time. Don’t wait for the perfect time, the perfect book, the perfect moment to begin.  This moment is the perfect moment, as is every new moment.  Most likely you will try and fail, just try again.  Begin again in the next moment. 

In order to tease out these potential hindrances, I encourage you to try this visualization practice based on equanimity. Equanimity is about seeing all people as worthy of kindness and compassion.  We can practice looking for the good, in ourselves and in others.  We are worthy of love and compassion because of our humanity, which goes beyond any actions or judgments.  

First, we can practice silently and sincerely say to ourselves, “I am worthy of love, compassion, joy and happiness.” Then, move on to others around you:  “You are worthy of love, compassion, joy and happiness.”  Bring to mind someone with whom you find it difficult to be with, perhaps a co-worker or a family member. Imagine that they are in front of you at this very moment. Explore silently and sincerely saying to them, “You are worthy of love, compassion, joy and happiness.”  Lastly, imagine being able to say it to every single person on the planet.  “We are all worthy of love, compassion, joy and happiness.”