Book: Pema Chödrön - No Time to Lose.

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

Hi

I don't think I mentioned "forever"...

I know. I was just highlighting the idea that anything is permanent factors into Dukkha.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

I know. I was just highlighting the idea that anything is permanent factors into Dukkha.

OK.

s.

[Snoopy]

Taming the Mind (Ch. 5 verses 1 – 47).

There are six practices (paramitas) that characterise the Mahayana path; they are generosity, patience, exertion, meditation, wisdom and discipline (taming of the mind). The specific method used to tame the mind is shamatha (calm abiding) meditation. It uses the breath as an object of attention, to which one repeatedly brings the mind back when it wanders. Mindfulness is the means by which the mind is tethered to the present.

Taming the mind is not just an activity to be done during meditation, in our everyday life we can tame the mind by nurturing awareness (trenpa) and mental vigilance (sheshin).

In verse 12 Shantideva refers to the primary antidote to aggression: the paramita of patience. Chödrön says “Again, Shantideva points to the interdependence of our states of mind and our perceptions of the world around us. Thus, without anger, there is no enemy.”

Everyone wants to have true happiness but it will elude us for as long as we stay stuck in biased, dualistic thinking. “The deepest ignorance is our misperception of reality, our dualistic perception. This is the illusion of subject and object, self and other.” This creates the tension that leads to like and dislike, for and against and all our other sufferings. This is the second kind of ignorance, the ignorance of the kleshas. “Thus the ignorance of dualistic perception predictably leads to turmoil.” And so the kleshas need to be disarmed, like a band of robbers, before they can grow and cause harm:

“Defilements are a band of robbers
Waiting for their chance to bring us injury.
They steal our virtue, when their moment comes,
And batter out the life of happy destinies.”

- 5.28

I found this a particularly interesting chapter, which I have of course only briefly outlined.

s.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

The specific method used to tame the mind is shamatha (calm abiding) meditation. It uses the breath as an object of attention, to which one repeatedly brings the mind back when it wanders. Mindfulness is the means by which the mind is tethered to the present.

Have you ever noticed how your heartbeat is directly tied to your breathing?

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

Have you ever noticed how your heartbeat is directly tied to your breathing?

As in: calm down...take long slow breaths?

s.

[Snoopy]

The Three Disciplines (Ch. 5 verses 48 – 109).

Chapter 5 continues with the “three disciplines”: not causing harm, gathering virtue and benefiting others, focusing on the skilful ways that we can use our body and the proper way in which to regard our body. He speaks of the good fortune to have had a human birth, to have a human body. However, he then goes on to say that it is pointless to obsess over our bodies as we cannot prevent the process of dying and it can also make us vain and self-absorbed. Verse sixty says:

Why, O mind, do you protect this body,
Claiming it as though it were yourself?
You and it are each a separate entity,
How can it be of use to you?

Chödrön says that “When you die, you leave your body behind.”

This idea of the body and mind being separate entities seems to me to be contrary to Nāgārjuna and Dogen, thus:

“Body and mind were so inextricably interwoven that it was impossible to separate them…Dogen argued:

You should consider carefully that the Buddha-dharma has always maintained the thesis of the non-dual oneness of body and mind. And yet, how can it be possible that while this body is born and dissolves, mind alone departs from the body and escapes from arising and perishing? If there is a time when they are one and another time when they are not, the Buddha’s teaching must be false indeed.

It was fundamentally un-Buddhist in Dogen’s view to treat the body and mind as if they were separable and consequently to regard the former as perishable, changeable, accidental, and the latter as altogether otherwise. The permanence of mind or soul independent of the perishability of body was an illusion….The mind, body and world interpenetrated one another so inseparably that a hard and fast demarcation between them was altogether impossible.”

-Eihei Dogen Mystical Realist by Hee-Jin Kim.

...and…

“Nāgārjuna explains that having separate concepts coexisting as a unity is not a complete description of reality. Take for example the issue of body and mind. From the Buddhist standpoint there is something that is originally one, is never separated, and thus to try to do away with the separation by forming links between a mind and a body that coexist is, in the end, to emphasise their separateness. From the Buddhist viewpoint we can only experience oneness, we cannot construct it. Reality is neither the separate existence of things, nor their coexistence as a unity.

Buddhism believes in the oneness of body-and-mind. Nāgārjuna explains that oneness is not a combining of different things, but an original state where there is no difference, and therefore no sameness. Nāgārjuna points us away from our conceived combination of separate things into “oneness” towards a preconceptual undivided wholeness, where there is neither “one” nor “many.”

Dogen says: “We should realise that living-and-dying is just nirvana” and “How could we divide this one reality into body and mind, or into life-and-death and nirvana?” Echoing Nāgārjuna, Dogen is saying that everyday life (life-and-death) is identical to nirvana, the balanced state of body and mind in the state of action, when intellectual discrimination and sensual perception have been “snuffed out.” "

- Between Heaven and Earth From Nāgārjuna to Dogen –

A Translation and Interpretation of the Mulamadhyamakakarika

by Michael Eido Luetchford.

It is not until verse 102 of chapter five that Shantideva refers to the Mahayana path, the “great vehicle.”

As Chödrön says, “It emphasizes compassion and the wisdom of emptiness, the ultimate unfixated nature of everything.”


s.

[Netti-Netti]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

This chapter has a lot about sin and confession in it, which in my ignorance of Tibetan Buddhism, I was quite surprised by. So a note of comparative religion there!

Interestingly, in Buddhism the business of confession has no intrinsic moral significance to it. The reason to avoid "sin" is mainly to avoid the distracting effects of shame and remorse. These negative emotions interfere with clarity of mind and thus hamper spiritual progress.

Obviously, this is very different from the idea of forgiveness/absolution of sins in Christianity, which emphasizes the need to be cleansed in order to become acceptable to the L-rd.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

Interestingly, in Buddhism the business of confession has no intrinsic moral significance to it. The reason to avoid "sin" is mainly to avoid the distracting effects of shame and remorse. These negative emotions interfere with clarity of mind and thus hamper spiritual progress.

Yes, guilt about being basically bad and sinful is baggage that just isn’t an issue. It is simply about trying not to repeat our mistakes by using our inherent goodness (that has been covered up).

s.

[Snoopy]

Working with Anger (Ch. 6 verses 1 – 51).

The klesha of anger is the subject of chapter six, verses 1 to 51. Shantideva presents the paramita (practice) of patience as being the most effective means of combating it. He begins by pointing out that one episode of anger can destroy countless amounts of virtuous life. Chödrön gives the example of one blazing argument that can sour a relationship indefinitely and all the past happiness of the relationship may be effectively lost. The worst kind of anger is not simply anger that we then regret but anger that with hindsight we still condone to ourselves and to others. Shantideva says that “No evil is there similar to anger” and so he passionately encourages us to “Steep yourself, therefore, in patience”.

Anger is triggered by getting what we don’t want and by not getting what we desire. Full-blown destructive anger begins with uncomfortable feelings that things aren’t going our way but can quickly build if we do not recognise the signs and find the patience, not to speak, or not to act, in anger. At any point in the process, one can pause and practice patience. But the earlier we spot the signs and “nip it in the bud” the easier it is to defuse.

It is also important not to identify with anger. Anger is not “me”. It is dynamic psychological energy which we can deal with - as long as we don’t let it escalate based on our “wants” and “don’t wants.”

If you associate yourself with your anger, you are (by definition) moving towards being an angry person. Angry people see causes of suffering everywhere, they are easily provoked and the older they get the worse they get. The world is not as it should be to an angry person and this is expressed through angry words and actions. But in reality it is not the situation that is “angry” in some way but the perception and the response. Another person in the same situation would not react with anger.

Shantideva then goes on to classify patience: the patience that comes from reframing our attitude towards discomfort, from understanding the complexity of all situations and from developing tolerance.

Shantideva also asserts the three values of suffering: it humbles us, it helps us to feel compassion and it assist us in understanding karma.

The chapter ends with a recap of the essential message: it is Shantideva’s attempt to undermine the “common sense” view, the knee-jerk view, that retaliation makes the most sense when the world doesn’t seem to be giving us what we want, or is giving us what we don’t want:

“If I repay them harm for harm,
Indeed they’ll not be saved thereby;
And all my noble actions will be spoiled,
Austerity of patience brought to nothing.”

-6.51

s.

[Snoopy]

Specific Situations for Practicing Patience (Ch. 6 verses 52 – 134).

Shantideva next moves on to various scenarios where we have the opportunity to practice patience rather than give in to anger; for example when we are scorned, criticised or treated in a condescending manner.

The attachments in our mind are held together by the story lines that we weave. The storylines that involve anger and hatred Shantideva says can be addressed by the practice of shamatha meditation discussed earlier (Chapter five). Each time our mind wanders in such meditation, Chödrön says that we can further the practice by labelling our thoughts simply as “thinking” to gently dissolve the stream-like storylines that we generate.

With verse 99, Shantideva begins a section on the value of the troublemakers in our life:

“Those who stay close to me, then,
To ruin my good name and cut me down to size
Are surely there protecting me
From falling into ruin in the realms of sorrow.”

As is often the case, this may not at first sight seem to be the common sense view or logical. But Shantideva explains that such “troublemakers” are the very people who show us where we are stuck in our practice, they perhaps show us aspects of ourselves that we would rather not see. So rather than obstacles, such people are essential to providing opportunities for practicing patience.

“So like a treasure found at home,
Enriching me without fatigue,
All enemies are helpers in my bodhisattva work
And therefore they should be a joy to me.”

- 6.107

s.

[Snoopy]

Enthusiasm (Ch. 7 verses 1 – 76).

Chapter seven is concerned with the paramita of enthusiasm (or exertion). Chödrön calls it heroic perseverance. Shantideva contrasts it with laziness: laziness per se, not being willing to make an effort and the despondency of self-contempt.

After examining laziness, Shantideva considers two major causes of suffering: creating negative karma and having a closed, compartmentalising mind, which then leads to false views.


“The forces that secure the good of beings
Are aspiration, firmness, joy and moderation.
Aspiration grows through fear of suffering
And contemplation of the benefits to be attained.”

- 7.31

This verse begins a teaching on the four strengths that support enthusiasm.

The final verses of the chapter present various attributes of enthusiasm, such as lightness and urgency.

s.

[seattlegal]

Originally Posted by Snoopy

Specific Situations for Practicing Patience (Ch. 6 verses 52 – 134).

Shantideva next moves on to various scenarios where we have the opportunity to practice patience rather than give in to anger; for example when we are scorned, criticised or treated in a condescending manner.

The attachments in our mind are held together by the story lines that we weave. The storylines that involve anger and hatred Shantideva says can be addressed by the practice of shamatha meditation discussed earlier (Chapter five). Each time our mind wanders in such meditation, Chödrön says that we can further the practice by labelling our thoughts simply as “thinking” to gently dissolve the stream-like storylines that we generate.

With verse 99, Shantideva begins a section on the value of the troublemakers in our life:

“Those who stay close to me, then,
To ruin my good name and cut me down to size
Are surely there protecting me
From falling into ruin in the realms of sorrow.”

As is often the case, this may not at first sight seem to be the common sense view or logical. But Shantideva explains that such “troublemakers” are the very people who show us where we are stuck in our practice, they perhaps show us aspects of ourselves that we would rather not see. So rather than obstacles, such people are essential to providing opportunities for practicing patience.

“So like a treasure found at home,
Enriching me without fatigue,
All enemies are helpers in my bodhisattva work
And therefore they should be a joy to me.”

- 6.107

s.

Hey, I enthusiastically push the buttons of those who like to cut me down to size and keep me honest! (It goes along with the Christian ideal to "love your enemies.")
{I've always thought that finding an ethical and honest skeptic is like finding a great treasure.}

[Netti-Netti]

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by seattlegal

Hey, I enthusiastically push the buttons of those who like to cut me down to size and keep me honest! (It goes along with the Christian ideal to "love your enemies.")
{I've always thought that finding an ethical and honest skeptic is like finding a great treasure.}

Hey, sg, you enthusiastically push buttons, period. (as I believe you folk say)

s.

[Snoopy]

Originally Posted by Netti-Netti

N-N, this image reminds me...

in my current book juggling I'm also reading The Best Buddhist Writing 2007, edited by Melvin McLeod. There is a piece called Letting Go by Judith Lief. In it she talks about this basic practice and alerts us to not thinking we've done so well and "let go" when actually our sneaky ego has converted it into a concept which we are still clinging on to. So as well as letting go, we have to (incrementally and gently with good humour) let go of the concept of letting go.

s.