Jnanavaca - The Four Myths of the Spiritual Life (1)

um but yeah just just by way of introduction a little bit of introduction uh to the university maybe he needs no introduction maybe uh you've been on three Buddhist audio before and seeing probably one of the highest uh uh number of talk talks uh under his name but um yeah just I was just uh meeting up for coffee uh with the art of Archer um uh roughly just to go for coffee um talking about the sanctuary I'm getting on my life but in a way the best bit was hearing about hearing a bit from yarn of Archer's solitary recent solitary retreat it was kind of electric actually yeah we were just in a cafe doing something quite ordinary over coffee but it was actually it was electric uh it was sort of unsettling and fascinating and uh enthralling um and I think um what really came to mind is actually two different two very different aspects of the olive Archer um he's got a sort of um sort of slightly sort of mystical uh side his meditation is very very important to him he's been on Long Retreats a six-month Retreat um a few years back um so there's a kind of um there's a kind of something of a yogi uh in there um uh with neon of Archer um but then he's also been a chairman chairman of the biggest Buddhist center in the movement for eight about eight years nine years um he's very very involved with the College of public preceptors um so I was just really struck by this actually how uh how fortunate we are to have uh neon of Archer uh with us as president uh because um well we do need to uh be organized in a Buddhist center uh we need to kind of work out how to come together uh don't we um uh but anyway we sort of organize ourselves can and fall into habits we can actually lose sight of why we're organizing ourselves uh as a sort of institution um uh very very easy to do that and it's not possible to avoid that simply by um changing everything all the time that's just another habit a sort of restless habit um what instead you need is a sense a direct sense of what a Buddhist center is about which really means a direct sense of what the Dharma is about and that can only be discovered in personal experience so uh nyanov Archer I find frequently uh does that for me he brings me back into contact uh with that living stream that Living spirit of the Dharma so he's able to sort of um uh sort of include these diff these two uh aspects uh in his life of kind of very uh involved with people creating Sangha but also stepping completely out of that into a radical renunciate life and going deeper into the Dharma and actually we all need that we need those too um in our lives we need to be intensively engaged with other people um in a world that's very very easy to live a comfortable isolated life um but we also need to sort of step away we need that actually as a sentiment as a sangam in order for what we do at the center to be a liberative um um activity yeah so I um that's what came to mind actually with me on about show all right and it was there over coffee uh in that moment slightly unsettling and fascinating moment of hearing a bit about massage so uh yeah just a bit by way of by way of um introduction to the Amazon show uh very much looking forward to hearing what you're about to say thank you thanks so much yeah very lovely to be back here actually amongst amongst you uh each time I come I feel more and more like I'm just coming to another home uh another home uh in in Sundown uh and it's a real pleasure really lovely lovely to be here so yeah thanks for coming it's interesting what you say artistically so I will be talking about these myths as they're called as the booty derived them um but just something about you saying uh uh you know you're rejoicing in me I think that bantake has given us a complete World a complete life so this this um uh sort of renunciative uh um uh um or meditative life and a fully engaged life where we're in relationship with each other there are organizations institutions uh work uh Etc I think that is part of banty's um Vision uh that we he's created for us or he's given us at least a template that we can then engage in a complete life that's kind of what I want to uh do with my life I don't always throw myself in as completely as perhaps I'd have liked to or liked to but uh uh it's not for want of opportunity um it's there it's there it's very it's a privilege so yes I want to explore over these three nights uh for myths um uh or it's like three and a half myths so we'll decide maybe we'll decide between us whether it's three or four and it was inspired by a talk that cebuti gave in 2003 that I was at maybe some of you were at it was an order convention I was relatively newly ordained I think I'd been in the order of four years or so and I was mesmerized by what he was saying and um the little next sort of I don't know nearly 20 years I didn't hear very much about these myths and then um uh microbanda and I kind of started talking about them more and um and now yes we're in the process of writing a book I say we're in the process a bit of a cheeky thing because actually he's doing the writing I I talked to him about it and then he goes away and writes it uh but I I will have my name on the cover it will be a kind of joint book um I'll have to scrap that from the recording if you're watching uh so um yeah these myths I guess um uh uh what sabuti was trying to get at what I'm trying to talk about are uh it should say the Buddhist equivalent is drushti or views um uh views we all have views uh all the time about everything and we bring views to our Dharma lives and views from a Buddhist perspective are not uh necessarily a good thing they're not necessarily a bad thing they can be both they can be helpful and they can be unhelpful uh this side of Enlightenment we will need to approach our experience we will be approaching our experience through the lens of one or more views it's simply the enlightened mind is um free of views uh uh and so that might be something that we can also talk about and I say we because I I hope that these three sessions will be a bit interactive let's see how we go so views are one way of talking about this but I I think myth is a slightly more resonant word because view model that's another word that we could use they're quite they they have sort of connotations of being reasonable and rational and um uh I want to suggest that some of what we're talking about is um uh Beyond or beneath the the the scope of reason they're not always consciously held these myths by myth I don't mean something that's uh false um I mean more Mythic uh something that's perhaps more true but beyond just the reasonable world or reasonable sense yep uh that's that's kind of what I mean Buddhism of course you you know this I'm I'm talking to people uh many of you who um uh have been in the sang along and I but we we know that Buddhism is well it begins with the Buddha and an experience that the Buddha had of complete Liberation from all all mind made uh suffering it begins with that experience uh that transcends all ways of talking we can we can talk about it but the experience itself transcends all ways of talking it's said to be atacavachura which is beyond the sphere of Reason actually all experience transcends ways of talking uh you know I'm just having a sip of water here and I can talk about it but it transcends ways of talking experience itself is beyond that the Buddha's experience seems to be even of a special of a higher order before that uh beyond beyond that because it seems to transcend the very Assumption of a of a self and the world a real self in a real world uh so Buddhism begins with this experience of the Buddha but it also begins with uh us uh or at least us who are not yet enlightened because Buddhism you should say is a communication between the enlightened mind and the unenlightened mind uh if if it was just the enlightened experience that nobody to communicate with we wouldn't have Buddhism the Buddha would just sit there I guess and uh and and actually he he when he first becomes enlightened we're told that that was his inclination to uh um well if not just sit there certainly not to teach uh whether that's fact or or apocryphal I think it says something about the fact that well one of the things it says is that the experience was complete in itself but another thing I think it says is that it was very very subtle and the Buddha doubted whether he would be able to communicate it to the unenlightened mind and then of course it said that uh he's urged by Brahma sahamati this Mythic figure that uh he will be able to teach that there were some people in the world who will be able to understand uh what he's saying and communicate he will be able to communicate his experience and the Buddha himself has a vision he has a vision of human beings Humanity as a bed of lotuses uh do you remember that Vision it's the vision that's um sees us all with equal potential for enlightenment in different stages of development of growth just like this bed of lotuses with some lotus flowers or merely seeds actually embedded in the mud some emerging as plants but still in the water some with buds that are still fully immersed in this Lake some with buds that have started to open uh some with flowers that are still submerged in the water some that have cleared the surface of the water and are starting to open fully in the Sun and and flowers of different colors lotuses that were blue and white and red he has this vision of human beings as as plants as the Lotus plants and lotus flowers in different stages with unfoldment the the it's a profound image because it's an image that's saying look we have equal potential each flower has the potential to open into the Sun and fully open it's an image that says um growth growth towards Enlightenment of course is somehow natural just as a plant its natural urges to grow our urge towards Enlightenment isn't something added on to us it's not something um I don't know just for Buddhists that's what I'm trying to say yes it's not added onto us and it's not it's not just um arbitrary uh it's innate in human Consciousness this urge to grow you could say it's innate in all life actually that there is this urge to grow and let that um uh growth um we've reached different stages of that different people will have um not just grown differently but at different stages so this growth model is part of you should say it's part of the first myth that I want to talk about which is the myth of self-development the myth that the Buddha is outside of us Enlightenment is outside of us that we uh are potential Buddhas but that in order to reach Enlightenment we need to grow towards it uh that's this first myth it's the myth of gross the myth of development uh that we have potential to be comforters and that that journey to buddhahood will be um a pass and it'll be a part of growth that's that first Miss it's the classic Buddhist myth it's the myth that the Buddha talked about time and time again in different terms for example when he talked about the threefold path or the noble Eightfold Path any path model is a model of growth it's saying look you you can tread this path and grow the threefold path the classic path when the Buddha was um uh dying when he was he knew that he was dying uh the para nibana Sutter talks about him going from uh uh place to place he knew that he didn't have long to live and he didn't want to leave this Earthly life this body before trying to revisit all the people all the places that he'd taught and and see the Sangha one more time and he is very very moving he goes from place to place and again and again we're told that he teaches Sila samadhi pragnya ethics meditation wisdom uh he teaches the path in that most um uh in sort of um uh condensed and um uh intensified way Sila samadhi pragnya in a way it's a very simple kind of model this myth of development is um shot through in the Pali Canon the Pali Canon shot through with it yeah it's the model of groves um it was very struck when bante died um how many of you were at his funeral yeah yeah about a third of us were at his funeral um on his coffin was and and banti had had you know he will have um directed how he wanted his top and painted it was a cardboard coffin he wanted to be buried in a cardboard coffin at adishtana which is what happened he's still there in under the burial mound his body is sending me or what's left of it but coffin um was painted with uh well plants and flowers plants and flowers of all different colors and shapes and sizes uh with um rain falling down on them and the rain is a symbol in that image of the Dharma it comes from a parable in the White Lotus Sutra in the sudama uh um pradipa Sutra where the Dharma is likened to rain falling on a parched land and all these plants grow from the same grain and they grow in their own way they grow in their own way uh so it's very striking that that was the image that banty wanted on his coffin that was painted on his coffin I think it's very close to his heart I think the Sangha that Bandy has created us this the the vision behind it is that the Dharma will rain down on us and we will each grow in our own way and yet we'll be linked United in in this community uh with a common vision uh but we will become more individual and he talked about the individual the true individual it's not a vision where we all grow uh in the same way and and become more and more alike it's a vision of individuality nourished by the same reign of the Dharma beautiful image and it's from the White Lotus Sutra anyway that's the first myth the myth of growth and development and path and it's the classic Buddhist myth but sabuti talked about then another myth which um is also conceives of Enlightenment as outside of us but the myth here is one of surrender of opening up to the influence of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas uh uh the influence of Enlightenment Enlightenment is conceived as of being as it were ever present like sunlight radiating down and all we have to do is open up to it it's a myth of devotion of um uh not so much of striving as of becoming receptive uh and that's the surrender myth and I want to come on to that tomorrow more and then well uh Buddhism as it's developed particularly later Buddhism particularly tantric Buddhism but not just Centric Buddhism um it's there in Zen Buddhism as well and and maybe other forms of Buddhism some forms of Buddhism talk about Enlightenment as being within the Buddha is not as some some uh being outside of us but Enlightenment somehow being our deepest truest nature somehow it has to be discovered within uh and and again in the White Lotus Sutra there are Parables that uh point to this and bantes commented on them that um the myth of the return journey is a parable where somebody has just lost their way and forgotten who they really are and they ReDiscover their true nature their true identity uh only after um lots of effort and um Adventure but really they were always the true heir to very rich person the rich man they were true their true nature was always enlightened uh or the jewel in the Garment is a parable where somebody has this Jewel sewn into a cloak into their garment and they wander around and it's a good Jewel that's priceless and they wander around thinking that they're a poor man and have all sorts of endures of that sorts of hardship when actually uh a friend of theirs has sown in this Priceless Fuel and they only discovered that after uh many many uh years of striving uh that sort of parable is saying look we're already in possession of this Priceless gift of Enlightenment that that is our true nature and we've forgotten it uh or we've covered it over with um delusions uh uh and we're wandering around in sansara lifetime after lifetime as it were needlessly because our true nature is Enlightenment is buddhahood so the myth there would be one of discovery of self-discovery of discovering who we really are and that's the third myth uh the fourth myth in case I don't get to it I might as well say what it is uh is um that yes Enlightenment is within uh buddhahood as it were is within our uh uh our mind it's the the deepest level of our mind uh but rather than have to discover it have to uh dig for it having to like in the midst of the return Journey the young man has to uh shovel this huge mound of Earth or dirt for seven years uh for no particular reason but anyway that we're different but rather than dig for the truth you allow it to emerge you relax into uh uh um your true nature it emerges if you if I if we let go of holding on so tightly to the story of me than something uh uh very very beautiful will emerge trusting in that so emergence is the fourthness so you've got these four myths two of them envisage Enlightenment buddhahood uh the role as outside of us and two of them envisage as Within two of them view the path as one of effort yeah development and Discovery we have to do something we have to use our will our effort and and and uh either grow towards or discover the goal and two of the myths are more about receptivity surrender is about opening up to the goal uh to put a hood from without and emergence is allowing the goal buddhahood to emerge from within so that makes sense so you've got these kind of this symmetrical if I could draw you know it's a it's a grid or whatever yeah reactivity receptivity the goal being outside or within now the truth of course is that none of those are true yeah none of that's true uh because motherhood Enlightenment doesn't it transcends ideas like outside and insight within and without if if you were realized now you would see that actually this notion of inside me or outside of me is part of the delusion of the unenlightened Mind yeah we create this sense of inside and outside so so that that that's done and then if self has gone this notion of self who is it that is making the effort anyway or who is it that's relaxing this whole notion of inside outside uh will or uh receptivity uh all of that breaks down all we've got is uh uh models because the The Experience itself transcends all ways of talking all ways of conceiving all ways of knowing but these models or myths are well um essential they're necessary to guide us along the way we do need some sort of working models uh the the thing with these myths or models that's all the myths I I like that word the thing with these myths is that um they all have um a front and a back that's how somebody talks about them they all have uh uh positive qualities uh advantages you could say if approached in the right way and they all have their um back side which is all the disadvantages if you grasp this myth in the wrong way all the pitfalls um it's a bit like um she's got a landscape of mountains a range of mountains you will also have valleys you cannot have mountains without valleys you can't have a mountain range without valleys these myths will have a front and a back uh and what microbanda and I are it's flooring what's the booty uh began exploring is the front and the back of each of these myths because what he's saying I think crucially is that the more awareness that we can bring to the front and back of each mirrors the more likely we are to not fall down the pit or pitfalls not get stuck in an unhelpful way in the back of one of the myths the other reason why it's helpful is that I think a different well different people with different temperaments May respond to different myths but also each of us May respond to different myths at different times in our life Dharma life unfolds it's very likely that you will respond to different myths at different times certainly that's been the case with me and then thirdly I respond to different myths in different situations in my life so for example uh oh I don't know what what to say oh yeah well when I was um um when I was chair of clbc uh much of the time I was doing things that I wasn't really inclined to do yeah I was um I don't know managing people chairing meetings looking at finances worrying about whether we could build vajrasana or not uh you know trying to manage that project was it was effort um it was it went against the grain of my temperament and I knew that it was a good thing to do yeah and I want to serve the Dharma and I want to serve our sander and I want to try and spread the Dharma I believe in manthu's Vision very very deeply and um I was in a I was the right person to do that or probably the only person at that time to be in that position so I said yes to it and I did it now that took effort now as a result I grew I definitely definitely grew and I definitely definitely didn't want to actually definitely didn't want to do that job and I definitely benefited from it so I do so I could see that in terms of the development myth did you see to me now all that time that I was chair and my inner life my meditative life I'm more inclined to uh in my meditation think in terms of devotion and opening up to the Buddhas uh um you know so I would do myself another mantri Dosha sadhana uh uh or I was doing the voucher sat for practice or whatever practice I was doing inwardly the dynamic was uh uh please come through me uh I I want to open myself up to whatever it is and I still do that it's the it's a sort of religious attitude you couldn't even say it's like prayer uh and I still kind of do that um uh if I'm about to give a talk like tonight um you know uh I confessed I wasn't actually doing all six stages of the mecca bavner what I was doing was my own thing which was opening up and praying to the Buddhism lady staffers to help me to articulate what I want to articulate does that make sense so so there you go so I've got two at least two of those myths actively working in my life in different situations um and then yes probably the other two as well maybe I'll come on to those so each of us may have more than one myth at play temperamentally we might favor one of them uh and the different stages of our Dharma life that might change now the fact that we're a Sangha of diverse people a growing Sangha uh and and banned his vision has been that we grow individually in our own way it means that different people will be in our Sangha responding to different myths at different times in different ways and I think this model helps us understand each other because sometimes we've got into particularly in the order rather conflicted and polarized um uh discussion even um debate and even argument about what the right way of practicing is um what practices work what practices don't work and uh sometimes that debate has been helpful but a lot of the time and I've sometimes been part of this a lot of the time it's not been very helpful it's not been very pleasant it hasn't been very empathic hasn't been very understanding and uh um somehow what we've been doing is uh I think are arguing from uh the point of view where somebody has say the growth myth in mind and they are talking to somebody who has a discovery myth in mind and the the person with the gross miss the development myth argues from the best bits of their myth and addresses the worst bits of the discovery myth and the discovery Miss person has the best bits of their Miss and has a straw man for the development myth and uh and then we just get into polarized debate which actually there were pros and cons to each way of thinking about the damn life that's what I'm trying to do yeah that's fine okay so that's all a bit of uh background and what I'd like us to do is look at this development myth because it is such a foundational myth not just for banty and free Ratner but for the Buddha it is the classic way of talking about uh uh what we're doing in in our Dharma lives um but it's not the only way although interestingly I think winter booty talked to Bandy about I think banty was really pleased when saruti gave this talk on on the four myth three myths uh he was very very pleased um I think I think that's right uh but I think later on bante did say look there's only one miss uh Bandit would be like that contradictory uh and even uh contrary at times there's only one miss it's the development miss that is the enemies yeah and uh so I've been thinking about this material tried to bear that in mind somewhere and the way that I bear that in mind the way that I make sense of what Banting meant by that is that if you take the development myth in its best and broadest way it could be the only myth that you need but you do have to take it very very broadly very very intelligently so let's look at this development myth because it is so foundational and then tomorrow and the subsequent Dale I'll I'll see if we can look at the others so what I'd like us to do together rather than we just tell you I'd like us to think together about what are the front and backs what are the advantages and disadvantages the pros and cons what works about this myth and what can be a pitfall what doesn't work about this myth so I'd like us to think about that together so I'd like us to start off with the Positive like what is good about this way of conceiving of the Dharma life that that we're on a path growing towards buddhahood what works about that uh and what are the implications but anyway I'll just sort of open it up and see if supernatural has got something to say yeah yeah can you say taking responsibility for what right for one's own I think that's so good taking responsibility for one's own life and one's own practice and one's own mind uh it's such a key principle in Buddhism that we are responsible for our own mind and our own mental States we're not necessarily responsible for everything that happens to us in our lives because we're not in control in that way but we are ultimately responsible for how we respond in our minds and through our through our actions for every situation uh and that's such a key teaching and after uh I I I've you know probably about 30 years of practice I'm still learning that I'm still learning that teaching I mean I'm learning how to apply it I've probably talked about it you know dozens of times and told other people to take responsibility for their own lives I'm still learning to apply I'm going to tell you the story that I was telling out to City uh uh it's a bit of a um uh Side Story but anyway I hope it illustrates something so I've just come off solitary Retreat recently I was at vitrus and now on solitary Retreat and um uh I'm out for a walk and um suddenly I I hadn't had lunch and I come over very hungry I've got a weird kind of digestive thing so I can be very full and then suddenly really hungry and also my blood sugar can drop so I was sort of very hungry something like this and um slightly woozy with my blood sugar dropping and I was still probably about half an hour to 40 minutes away from uh my heart uh on this walk and I started having um uh thoughts and images of food croissant came to mind and you know I didn't have any question in the heart but they were what came to mind and other things that I was gonna eat and wanted to eat uh as as soon as I could it was all this and inside my uh stomach in my belly there was this kind of um slightly well uncomfortable kind of pangs you know uh uncomfortable tightening and sort of uh not exactly sort of cramps but not pleasant kind of tightening feelings uh and there was a certain sense of anxiety that oh goodness I'm I'm really hungry uh I'm feeling a bit woozy and I'm a half an hour 40 minutes away from whatever from them being able to so there was a tightening uh emotionally and physically anyway I caught myself after a couple minutes and thought right now this is an opportunity and uh let's look at what is actually happening so as I'm walking I decide to look at these thoughts of food that are in my mind and just see them for what they are and actually all they were were some images and some words and as soon as I looked at them they dissolve if you look at a thought it dissolves it sort of Pops like a bubble law first or dissolves or so these thoughts were um mind made and they didn't have any reality substance substantial reality to them they're mind made they dissolved I was still left with Sensations in the stomach that were unpleasant but now I didn't have any uh sort of graspy creepy thoughts as I started to do this I also sort of the anxiety the tightness just dissolved so now I'm just left with some discomfort as I'm walking and it's kind of fine and uh in a way I could leave it there but I'll go on so then next what I decided to do so I'm I'm now sort of all right and I decide to I I just thought I just thought of all the people in the world that are starving that are that are really hungry and aren't just half an hour away from eating their their next meal so I just brought to mind that there are millions probably of people who are starving right now and they deal with this sort of uh pain um uh multiplied many many many times many many times and they live with that and and then I started to well I actually brought manjudosha to mind my yidan well I started to into inwardly charm is Mantra and started to do something like the body chitter practice of trying to imaginatively see if I could breathe in the suffering and have manjulation transform it into love into into radiant light for all the people that were starving uh it was an imaginative exercise it was still mind made it was still mind made yeah but they were mind-made thoughts and now um well yeah some image of manjidosha that was very very different from the graspy gravy I must have kind of thoughts my heart opened I felt this this love uh and um uh uh yeah I felt love I felt connected with with life uh I felt uh very grateful I felt grateful first of all that I have the life that I have uh and I felt grateful that you know well a that I'm not starving I've I'm so so fortunate I'm not one of the hungry hunger is the worst disease that's the time apart at the Buddha says uh and then I felt grateful that I've got these teachings where I can start to at least work on my mind so there was gratitude there was open-heartedness there was sense of connection there was still this discomfort in the belly which was now reading very minor and not really relevant it was held within a much more positive context and the world looked beautiful I mean it was a sunny day and I was walking in a beautiful place and suddenly there was just Beauty and love and connection and gratitude and do you see that that was a choice and it's all mind made so so what then I was reflecting on is that I create my world out of yeah I'm not in control of the the physiological stuff that was going on but I can respond out of craving and anxiety or I can respond in a very different way and each of us can do that because we've all got a mind we have that choice every time I don't always catch myself unfortunately but we have that choice so that just comes and that's part of this massive responsibility of development that we have responsibility yeah really really key anyway so that was a long aside that um you're very right about that that point so any other prose advantages of this myth yes tell me your name Sheila Clarity and purpose can you say more about Clarity clarity about what yes yes exactly so so how else are we going to make choices unless we've got some sort of uh um aim that we're orientating by so it gives you that sort of clarity that's really good and purpose which is related I think having a purpose and a name that we're trying to move towards is um uh so important for a sense of agency and meaning in our lives uh yeah yeah really good thank you anybody else any other advantages there's lots yeah Jeremy yeah yeah next it's practices I'm pregnant it's pragmatic in every situation there's something that we can do that we can we we have not just responsibility but we have agency and uh that is so so important and it's particularly um I think particularly needed uh at the start of one's Dharma life and and by start I might mean 10 15 years uh it's so so important to have uh practices that we can learn that we can apply uh in our everyday lives that we can actually do so that you know how religion can just become oh no I must believe something that somebody has told me but it's difficult to know exactly what that means for my everyday life well no buddhism's saying No this is practical you do the mindfulness of breathing you do the metabolism they really will change your response in everyday life to situations they will help you be more uh considered creative uh um empathic etc etc fulfilled so so it gives you actual tools actual practices practices like ethics for example it says look you practice these precepts and you will find you have better relationships with yourself and with others and it will lead to uh overall a greater sense of living a worthwhile and fulfilled life yeah so practices and it's practical and there are things you can do so so cute and and and you don't have to have a great belief system you don't even when you start off with meditation and the precepts say you don't have to believe that the Buddha experienced Enlightenment but Enlightenment is real and true you can actually practice these practices without some huge metaphysical uh structure or belief system and they'll still work guess what they'll still work and if you keep practicing uh your faith I think well this is certainly my experience shradha will grow that the Buddha was teaching the truth yeah and and you will start to experience for yourself uh changes and maybe intimations of something of the Buddha's Enlightenment and then when you do you'll know for yourself that oh yes it's true it's possible it's a practice it's really good here yes tell me your name I don't know your name Sarah hi yes yes everyone is on the past can be on the path that's really good because the past comes to us actually what Bandy is clear about is that we are the past it's not like the past is outside of us so thoroughly it's more like we are the plant growing um not not we don't remain the same as we as we tread the path we grow we change but that sort of the implication is that all of us are on the path there's no one that can't uh practice and change and grow and and Buddhism doesn't um condemn anybody it doesn't condemn every anybody I I'm one of the things I'm um uh I feel sad about sometimes is uh uh our current culture in in the West in maybe it's worth more than the West anyway our current culture particularly exacerbated by social media is so easy to blame it's it's a culture of condemnation very very easy to to say you are Beyond The Pale because of what you do or have done or something Buddhism doesn't do that it says yeah sure we're not perfect we do make mistakes and we have to take responsibility for that doesn't let us off the hook either but on the other hand it's saying you whatever you uh alike can grow and wherever you are and nobody is um uh incapable completely incapable of moving towards Enlightenment and indeed reaching enlightenment so that's really quite something it's inclusive in that way yeah Sarah yes [Music] yeah yeah well if any of these myths are going to work it they will lead to a glimpse of Transcendence of Enlightenment of something beyond all words a realization of truth of a glimpse of vision perfect vision maybe we've even had those and we've started with those so because many people have Vision experiences that then lead them to practice Buddhism so yes these myths will will if you practice Buddhism and and you're doing it in a in an intelligent way not in a sort of one-sided way that we might come onto then they will lead two glimpses of vision the actual glimpse of vision will probably Beyond be Beyond any framework in the in the in the moment of vision it's not like there are words or myths or models that you can put that into it's beyond me and you subject and object inside and outside even it's said to be Beyond time and space depends how how deep that vision is or how lofty it is but it is said to be beyond all ways of conceiving on the other hand what happens typically is that we have those glimpses of vision and then they go they fade we come back to our more uh ordinary experience and then we will interpret that vision according to the myths that we have we will interpret one way or the other those myths and we'll work out you know so if you're if you're if you are um if this myth of development is the myth that is primary for somebody and they have a glimpse of vision then when they when that Vision sort of dissolves or Fades and they come back they it what it will have done hopefully at least is strengthen their shradha uh in in in the goal and in the past and strengthen their commitment to to that path it may have shifted some some uh um perspective and it might be that other myths have opened up as well uh but it will they'll they'll they'll interpret it in those developmental terms so the the vision I'm trying to say is beyond the myths and any of the myths can lead to it yeah and then when division fades we'll in interpret that Vision in our lives according to the Views that we have so for example if you were a a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu you know a theistic practitioner and you had uh uh perfect vision experience chances are you would interpret that when you when the vision left faded you would interpret that in terms of God uh you would interpret that in terms of being touched by God the grace of God the grace of the Divine because that's the framework that you have does that make sense so the Frameworks will be really key for how we interpret the vision and then how we how we interpret the vision is really key for them what we do with the vision yeah so if you're part of if you're in a if you're if you're this uh in atheistic tradition and um um you believe that you've been blessed by God and presumably you'll uh um pray more and and and and surrender more to that to the grace of God um God might even speak to you and tell you what to do with your life uh and you might open up to that and that might be benign but sometimes God seems to have spoken to people and told them to do the most horrendous heinous things to those that don't believe yeah uh and uh and and you look at the when when when theistic religions go wrong I.E when they become uh literalized and and you get fundament religious fundamentalism this is the back end of the surrender myth by the way then then then that can really lead to huge um cruelty but the development myth let's come back to the development myth and let's look at uh we've got a little bit of time let's look at what are some of the disadvantages of the development myth or the or the back end of it can anybody think of what yes create doctor um I'm gonna go from here to there and I'll be there yeah and what's wrong with that because you're right sorry I'm still there you're still there the same me that's right that's right so kind of literalizing of the path is that yeah I enlightenment is something I will get if I do all the right things practice The Meta partner and mindfulness reading every day or do myself an interview I will get Enlightenment and somehow Enlightenment will be then added on to me it'll still be me and now I'll be enlightened and so it'll be like a really shiny version of me and people will love me finally maybe that's just my interpretation you weren't saying that people will finally adore me and I'll I'll be able to dispense uh wisdom and compassion to the world because I'll have added on enlightenment do you see that the literalizing of that and and when I put it like that it sounds um uh silly uh but it's actually quite a subtle uh um an almost Insidious trap to fall into uh and um very very easy to fall into hard to really conceive of ourselves as changing isn't it it's hard to even think of ourselves in five years time do you know what I mean and and yet yeah so so it's hard to think of ourselves as really changing to the point where we're in line uh so it's very Insidious this trial yes yeah yes yes yes ticking Buddhist boxes that's right uh not not really internally changing you know I I don't know if you've done this but you can um if you're if we're meditating together you can sort of be drifting off but you look good and you're worried about your posture not because you're trying to get more but but how do I look to others and then it's sort of competitive meditation have you ever had that you get that on Retreat somebody wants to sit there longest and be the one that you know blows out the candles that's the candles not because they're that absorbed but because anyway you can tick all the Buddhist boxes I'm not revealing too much about my own flaws or something you can you can tickle the right boxes you can even want to fix other people in a Buddhist way make them the beneficiaries of your matter in a way that they don't necessarily need or want uh so so we can do all of that in a rather literal minded I am doing this kind of way it isn't very um intelligent or open or receptive uh very sort of strong-willed and um uh in a way what that does and it also links to what you were saying credit doctor it actually can strengthen egotism yeah so now I'm I've got a caser do you do what I mean it can just strengthen egotism this this myth if it's working well for you but the flip side also is that if it's not working well I mean say that you you've been meditating for years trying to do the mindfulness of breathing matter partner and you just feel I can never do this or you look at the precepts and you think do you know I can't practice any of these precepts not really uh what can easily happen with this myth is that when you become disheartened and despondent so on the one hand you can be really striving and then you can feel I'm never going to do it they can go hand in hand this sort of uh I'm great I'm gonna do it and oh I'm rubbish actually I can't do you recognize that like this threefold path of Sila samadhi pragnar I've known people who think actually look you know my Essex just isn't good enough and and you know I'm I'm doing all this stuff but I'm not actually able to you know I'm still full of greed actually or hatred and no wonder I can't get into Diana and and the Buddha said look if you're if you really want to get into Diana look at your ethics so then you think oh you know it's pretty rubbish isn't it and I couldn't have it in the diarlo and every and bante says Diana's really good and in fact needed for insight to arise for wisdom to arise you'll need some experience so wisdom frankly you know that's not for me uh this lifetime forget it so all I'm going to do is um what I don't know it just becomes a very um uh we can set ourselves up to succeed in some way then feel that we've failed and then we become very disheartened and despondent so that's the back end of this Miss yeah it's not it's each myth the way the way that we've been exploring and where saluting its flaws it has metaphysical consequences about what you think you believe it has psychological consequences like um uh strengthening egotism or feeling rubbish or whatever uh uh or on the positive like you feel agency I can take charge of my life and do something that's a psychological consequence a positive one it can have social consequences so in this myth what's emphasized is the need for good conditions the need for good conditions so we will seek out good conditions like Retreats and uh Collective practice and maybe community living and friendships kalyana mitratar will will put ourselves in good conditions because that's part of the growth path yeah so so that's a real positive that it has that going for it um it emphasizes Karma and the consequences of our actions uh so that's really helpful because karma is part of the fabric of things uh so they're sort of uh social um consequences uh the way that we practice um and moral consequences like Karma that their uh consequences so and and then there's finally there's sort of methodological consequences so we will value with this myth well value meditation practices or any other practices that are developmental so mindfulness of breathing in metabavna help us develop more more awareness and loving kindness and and they're orientated towards this mess so we'll value those practices yeah so you can see that it'll color a whole Dharma lives but yes there are some pitfalls to this Miss uh uh egotism despondency uh are two of them um it can also be like related to despondency as you practice this myth for longer and longer you can start to think well enlightenment's just impossible I'll never get there it's related to Planet despondency there's one more sort of that I want to point out which if we had time we could just Explore More which is that if you lose heart or faith faith in a transcendental goal or if you if you never had faith in a transcendental goal like a goal that transcends subject and object and time and space if you if you lose faith that Consciousness is capable of an experience that transcends our normal five physical senses and our normal ordinary uh mind that there's some other way of experiencing and being that is completely beyond all of that if you lose faith in that then this myth becomes self-development in a narrow sort of health and well-being sense yeah so I can become you know kinder great I can become more mindful great I mean that's not bad but it's not it's not going to be Enlightenment lots of people are kind and mindful in the world more so than than I am you know many who aren't striving for enlightenment uh and and then I think what can happen is that we we we think that this life is all there is you know it's it's based in kind of materialism there isn't some scientific materialism that is there isn't some other Transcendent doll this life this body is all there is and so what I've got to do is try and live my best life be my best self and Buddhism gives you some tools to do that that's that's sort of all right but grossly shrinks the Buddhist Vision down to a health and well-being one and then what you do what we do is we think oh I want to help other people also live their best lives you know it's just kindness is part of that and compassion is part of that but then the goal becomes more about trying to fix this life and this world and this world is full of problems uh uh but uh you know the climates going haywire we're polluting the planet uh uh there are Wars breaking out still now in Europe there there's Injustice social injustice in this country and elsewhere uh there's as I said millions of people starving um uh all sorts of horrible things are happening in this world right now and what can happen is we can think that being Buddhists our main purpose is to help solve those problems in in whatever way we can why why that's a mistake is not because we shouldn't be helping the world but it's it's it's a mistake if we've lost a Transcendent ideal does that make sense it becomes like let's just fix this life in this world so Beauty calls it adjustment therapy and Buddhism becomes just about let's make samsara a better place whereas the Buddha was saying no sansara never works there is something Beyond sansara and you try and you when you realize that and you you embody that and you experience that then sure you come back with wisdom and you help in the world so this is where for example activism can go wrong if it becomes an end in itself does that make sense yeah so so I think there's all sorts of things that can be distorted if we lose uh a sense and the possibility of transcendence of Enlightenment as a Transcendent goal then this myth becomes the myth of self-development in a narrower sense of health and well-being and Buddhism is increasingly pray to that in the west increasingly I think people are seeing it as a sort of psychological tool of adjustment therapy with the underlying scientific materialist views still intact that this life is all there is this body is all there is there's nothing more anyway I'll leave you on that I've done over time uh there's more probably to explore about the front and back of this myth but I also want to sort of move on and as you as we explore the the other myths what you'll see is that they complement each other so the the back end of this development myth will be compensated for if that's the right word by the front of the surrender Miss you see how the surrender myths will answer some of the issues of the development myth and you see how you need them both and then you see how the discovery myth can also add something an emergence myth can add something and you see how everything well actually we need to be alive to different myths and models at the same time so come back tomorrow because otherwise you won't realize that so tomorrow is uh surrender I hope to see you then thank you

Channel: Cambridge Buddhist Centre

Views: 405

Keywords:

Id: uPuDb2rOLT8

Length: 68min 17sec (4097 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 19 2023