Dear Selfs (who are not Selfs),
We will read Chapter 3 up until the middle of P. 31 (stopping at "WHEN THE TEN THOUSAND DHARMAS ... ). However, I think we will spend a couple of weeks here before moving on, in order to let folks catch up. Also, because this part is rather important stuff and a little heavy, man.
There is no "self" to read this week's chapter! (But, in that case, who is gonna read it!?)
I happen to think that the teaching this week is --the-- central teaching of Buddhism. It is right at the heart of what the Buddha is believed to have realized under the Bodhi Tree according to about all the various schools of Buddhism from Thailand to Tokyo to Tibet (although, of course, folks quibble abut the exact meaning somewhat).
There is no "self." All things are impermanent. Sounds scary, but it is actually the key to Liberation for Zen folks and others. In a nutshell, "no self" sounds bad ... until you realize that, by dropping the hard borders between your small "me, myself, i" and the rest of the world outside you, all the friction between you and the world vanishes too. The little "self" is always judging the world, running from the things it fears, worried about this or that. So, when the borders between self and other drop, so does all that judging, fear, worry etc.
"Impermanence" sounds bad, because the things we love (including our life) are all impermanent, until we learn to totally "go with the flow" of that impermanence. When we find that we are just the world flowing ... and are ready to allow it to flow ... we flow too. In fact, when we realize the world is us and we are the world ... we are the flow, and have been all along!
I have a simple definition for Dukkha as follows ...
The sickness, the apparent death (of the part that feels separate from the world anyway), the other events by themselves are not "Dukkha." They are what they are. Our reaction between the ears is "Dukkha."No one English word captures the full depth and range of the Pali term, Dukkha. It is sometimes rendered as “suffering,” as in “life is suffering.” But perhaps it’s better expressed as “dissatisfaction,” “anxiety,” “disappointment,” “unease at perfection,” or “frustration” — terms that wonderfully convey a subtlety of meaning.
In a nutshell, your “self” wishes this world to be X, yet this world is not X. The mental state that may result to the “self” from this disparity is Dukkha.
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Shakyamuni Buddha gave many examples: sickness (when we do not wish to be sick), old age (when we long for youth), death (if we cling to life), loss of a loved one (as we cannot let go), violated expectations, the failure of happy moments to last (though we wish them to last). Even joyous moments — such as happiness and good news, treasure or pleasant times — can be a source of suffering if we cling to them, if we are attached to those things.
As you notice, that includes the happy if we cling to the happy. Obviously, dropping the self/other friction ... and learning to totally "go with the flow" of impermanence ... is a big treatment or cure for such Dukkha.
Questions -
In Zazen, have you experienced the hard borders between self and not self (the rest of the world) soften a bit or drop away?
Have you ever had times when you stopped resisting, and totally "went with the flow" of events ... thus dropping the "Dukkha" from a hard time in your life? Even felt that you were the flow and the flow just you?
Gassho, J
STLah
