December 2021
Greetings from summerly Wat Buddha Dhamma, 10 Mile Hollow, Wisemans Ferry, NSW 2775, Australia; www.wbd.org.au
Another Rains Retreat has passed, extra peacefully this time since we were in lockdown for the whole three months. This year, eight monastics and five laity resided for the retreat. Similar to last year, Ajahn Khemavaro gave the weekly Saturday evening talks and I gave the weekly Sutta Class. The Sutta Class theme was 'Beyond I-making', following the outline of my forthcoming book. The video talks can be viewed at:
Fortunately, some lockdown restrictions were eased in time for the Robe-offering ceremony on November 7th.This was offered by the three Anagarikaas, of three different nationalities: Thai, Sri Lankan and Australian. The ceremony was thus multiethnic with the offering announcement in five languages, including Pali and Vietnamese.
Ajahn Sudhammo, unfortunately, was not able to attend the Robe-offering ceremony as he returned to Nigrodharama Monastery, near Seymour, Victoria as soon as the border was opened. He had been expecting to spend the Rains Retreat there but was locked out due to the resurging Covid pandemic. Then the initial lockdown kept being extended, eventually for 100 days! Nevertheless, his calm and steady presence here was much appreciated. Also, his carpentry skills enabled the fitting out of the two new shipping containers as comfortable lodgings, and the new laundry shed took shape.
At the time of writing, Australia has just opened its borders to international travellers. However, due to the uncertainties still surrounding international travel, and my own inertia from staying here for several years, I am not planning any travels at present.
Gamia lilies in blossum.
One of the insights which has become clearer to me while working on my book is just how programmed human beings are by feeling. At its simplest, human beings' whole life is directed to pursue and maintain pleasant feeling, and avoid or escape unpleasant feeling. The development of civilization is simply the development of more and easier ways to fulfil this fundamental human drive.
Then, if we investigate feeling, what we discover is that most people experience the most pleasant feeling when they can escape, forget or lose their everyday (painful) selves in some form or other. The worst method, of course, is in intoxication, since one not only loses one's sense of self but also one's self-control, and both physical and mental health also suffer. Slightly less deleterious is losing oneself in art, music, dance, theatre, movies and other forms of entertainment. While sometimes this can expand one's sense of self it can also bring up very strong emotions which maybe cannot be properly processed. Much less deleterious is losing oneself in nature or some form of healthy sport (extreme sports perhaps excluded). This is usually a very calming, relaxing and refreshing experience allowing a releasing of one's excessive focus on self. On a more positive note is losing oneself in spiritual exercises such as prayer, chanting, meditation, etc. (However, if this becomes too obsessive it can lead to fanaticism.) The only major problem with all these methods is that they are all only temporary – one eventually returns to one's old self again, hopefully at least somewhat more healthy and/or wiser.
The Buddha, of course, had a very unique answer to this universal human dilemma – ultimately, there is no self from which to escape. The escape from self is actually an escape from unpleasant feeling embedded in specific experiences; and if dealt with skilfully, unpleasant experiences can be successfully resolved to give the complete ending of unpleasant feeling and a new experience of well-being.
Of course, while the theory is very straightforward, putting it into practice can be somewhat more challenging. The main thing to keep in mind is to apply a step-by-step approach, the pleasure of peace dawning in stages. The first step then is to clearly observe the nature of the unpleasant feeling which we are attempting to flee. This, of course, is the key step in unlocking the whole backlog of unresolved negativity and ignorance wrapped around suffering.
Purple invasion.
Fortunately, the Buddha provides us with a wide range of skilful means to deal more wisely with difficult issues. The most useful of all the skilful means is the development of friendliness or metta bhavana. While this practice is usually taught as a way of spreading universal well-being or kindness throughout the world, most practically it is first necessary to develop friendliness towards one's own unpleasant experiences. Only when we are truly openly friendly towards our selves in all of its aspects can we really share well-being with others.Thus, we start by developing friendliness towards our own aches and pains, our annoyances and irritations, our anger and frustrations, etc., etc. How friendly can you be to these experiences? This is, of course, a developing process. Can you really be openly friendly, welcoming and accepting of all the unpleasant aspects of your self?
At the very least, this practice allows us to come a bit closer to our unpleasant experiences, which we have turned into our enemies and then avoided, ignored or actively fled from for so long. With this new attitude you may notice that perceiving unpleasant experiences as enemies actually makes them more unpleasant! By fighting with unpleasant experiences your body becomes more painful through contraction and toxic chemicals in the blood, and the mind becomes more painful through the toxic effects of hostility, negativity, frustration, fear, etc. However, responding with kindness and friendliness changes the rules, and thus the results, of the game. Try it out.
Coming closer to unpleasant experience allows the possibility to see it more clearly. And often just the act of being more aware of the basic issue, takes away its sting (not to mention that it can even be pleasantly interesting). At other times, maintaining some consistency of awareness reveals its inconsistency – the issue is actually a fluctuating series of events, memories, emotional reactions, ideas, etc., etc. Where is this thing we are turning into a monster out of fear?
Sometimes, of course, there is some obvious issue which is causing us suffering. This can benefit from some deeper, contemplative investigation directed towards revealing its root cause. Thus, from a calm state of mind we investigate how it manifests in the body, as an emotion, as a state of mind. Can it be sensed as an image, a sound, a texture? When does it arise and cease? How does it arise and cease? Can we allow it to cease?
Gradually, our ignorance and fear of unpleasant experiences eases and we can more peacefully see them as unstable, impersonal processes, which are part and parcel of the on-going web of life. The compounded fear and hostility around unpleasant feelings gives way to a receptive and peaceful well-being.
Wishing you all good health, well-being and the peace of Liberation.
One more great post with a good timing! Thanks and wishes to you too.
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