Ross- my Skillful Practices
OPEN MINDED REFLECTION VS TAKING A PERSONAL POSITION
“To let go of suffering, we have to admit it into consciousness”
The Reflective Model
A Noble Truth is a truth to reflect upon; it is not an absolute; it is not The Absolute.
* 1 st The theory/statement, ‘There is discontent (suffering).
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2 nd The solution/practice used to understand.
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3 rd The outcome/result of the practice.
This is what we call a reflective pattern; you are actually developing your mind in a very reflective way. A Buddha mind is a reflective mind that knows things as they are. We use these Four Noble Truths for our development. We apply them to ordinary things in our lives, to ordinary attachments and obsessions of the mind.
With these truths, we can investigate our attachments in order to have the insights. Through the Third Noble Truth, we can realise cessation, the end of suffering, and practise the Eightfold Path until there is understanding.
Even though this sounds complicated - four truths, three aspects, and twelve insights - it is quite simple. It is a tool for us to use to help us understand suffering and non-suffering.
The Four Noble Truths are a lifetime’s reflection. It is not just a matter of realising the Four Noble Truths, the three aspects, and twelve stages. They require an ongoing attitude of vigilance and they provide the context for a lifetime of examination
Now the Four Noble Truths are:
* Discontent-
There is suffering;
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Attachment- There is a cause or origin of suffering;
* Contentment- There is an end of suffering;
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Awareness- There is path out of suffering which is the Eightfold Path.
Each of these Truths has three aspects so all together there are twelve insights.
The first aspect of the First Noble Truth is: ‘There is suffering’w/o taking it personnel. The insight is, w/o making it into anything grand; it is just the recognition: ‘There is suffering’.
The ignorant person says, ‘I’m suffering. I don’t want to suffer. I meditate and I go on retreats to get out of suffering, but I’m still suffering and I don’t want to suffer.... How can I get out of suffering? What can I do to get rid of it?’ But that is not the First Noble Truth; it is not: ‘I am suffering and I want to end it.’
Now you are looking at the pain or the anguish you feel - not from the perspective of ‘It’s mine’.
Reflection:
But as a reflection: ‘There is this suffering, this is dukkha’. It is coming from the reflective position of ‘Buddha (awaken) seeing the Dhamma (the way things really are)’ The insight is simply the acknowledgment that there is this suffering without making it personal.
This acknowledgment is an important insight; just looking at mental anguish or physical pain and seeing it as dukkha rather than as personal misery — just seeing it as dukkha and not reacting to it in a habitual way.
The 1 st insight is, ‘There is suffering’w/o taking it personnel
The second aspect of the First Noble Truth is: ‘Suffering should be understood.’ The second insight or aspect of each of the Noble Truths has the word ‘should’ in it: ‘It should be understood.’ One should understand dukkha, not just try to get rid of it. We can look at the word ‘understanding’ as ‘standing under’. It is a common enough word but, in
Pali, ‘understanding’ means to really accept the suffering, stand under or embrace it rather than just react to it. With any form of suffering — physical or mental - we usually just react, but with understanding we can really look at suffering; really accept it, really hold it and embrace it.
The 2 nd insight is, ‘dukkha is something to understand’, through the experience of connecting and accepting it
The third aspect of the First Noble Truth is: ‘Suffering has been understood.’ Through understanding and developing the insight in day to day experiences. When you have actually practised with suffering - looking at it, accepting it, knowing it and letting it be the way it is.
The third aspect, ‘Suffering has been understood’, or ‘Dukkha has been understood.’
The First Noble Truth with its three aspects is:
'There is suffering, (dukkha)’
Dukkha should be understood.
Dukkha has been understood.'
This is a very skilful teaching because it is expressed in a simple formula which is easy to remember, and it also applies to everything that you can possibly experience or do or think concerning the past, the present or the future.
Everybody everywhere suffers. It is a bond we have with each other, something we all understand. When we talk about our human suffering , it brings out our compassionate tendencies. But when we talk about our opinions, about what I think and what you think about politics and religion, then we can get into wars.
The First Noble Truth is not a dismal metaphysical statement saying that everything is suffering. Notice that there is a difference between a metaphysical doctrine in which you are making a statement about the Absolute and a Noble Truth which is a reflection.
You can see that the First Noble Truth is not an absolute statement because of the Fourth Noble Truth, which is the way of non-suffering. You cannot have absolute suffering and then have a way out of it, can you? That doesn't make sense. Yet some people will pick up on the First Noble Truth and say that the Buddha taught that everything is suffering.
The Pali word, dukkha, means 'incapable of satisfying' or 'not able to bear or withstand anything': always changing, incapable of truly fulfilling us or making us happy.
The sensual world is like that, a vibration in nature. It would, in fact, be terrible if we did find satisfaction in the sensory world because then we wouldn't search beyond it; we'd just be bound to it. However, as we awaken to this dukkha, we begin to find the way out so that we are no longer constantly trapped in sensory consciousness.