Road To Here - #32 The Monkey's Fist

Reflection on the cause of suffering and discontent, and on the way to release from that. From Road to Here, a comprehensive guided collection of teachings and music by Jaran de Los Santos Olsen, and quotes from various teachers and traditions. This track contains quotes by Bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā, Eckhart Tolle, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Ajahn Chah.

Transcript

You you you to Zen monks tanzan and a kidu We're traveling on a pilgrimage It was raining heavily and the streets were muddy As the two monks neared a bend they saw a beautiful maiden dressed in silk and finery standing by the bend Being unable to cross the muddy intersection.

She stood there staring forlornly at the road ahead without hesitation tanzan lifted the maiden in his arms As a shocked ekido watched tanzan carried a young girl over the mud and put her down at the end of the intersection ekido did not speak about the incident and the monks continued their journey in silence At nightfall they reached a lodging temple Unable to restrain himself anymore ekido blurted out How could you tanzan we are monks?

We are sworn to purity We do not go near women Especially not such beautiful young maidens It is risky for us monks.

He reprimanded tanzan Why did you do that?

My friend replied tanzan I put a girl down at the intersection.

However,

It seems you are still carrying her You You You The four noble truths are the framework in which the Buddha chose to summarize his teachings They are structured in much the same way a doctor would comprehensively describe an illness and prescribe a treatment The first noble truth is the diagnosis the description of the problem as it is experienced The second describes the cause of the problem The third the mechanism by which the problem can be cured or solved and fourth the practical steps one has to follow in order to activate the curative mechanism They are called noble truths not because they are some doctrinal dogmatic tenets given to the Buddha They are called noble truths not because they are some doctrinal dogmatic tenets given to us from some authority for us to just blindly believe in But because they are reflections or suggestions that might point us in a beautiful direction A direction towards inner peace rippling out into the world The first noble truth the diagnosis the problem of the human condition is that of discontent That is our problem both for the individual but also as a collective It is due to individual discontentment that all kinds of trouble happen It's the one thing that we all have in common There are many nice and happy things about life but inherent in existence there is also tragedy,

Loss,

Grief,

Fear and countless other variations of this Painful feelings are unpleasant while persisting and pleasant when they change Enjoyable feelings are pleasant while persisting and painful when they change In meditation we practice looking at what's going on under the hood Shifting attention from what we think is wrong with the world and the people in it To realizing that suffering is an internal state conditioned by but not determined by the external situation It becomes evident that there must be internal causes for suffering too Given that the quest for freedom from discontent and suffering is one that every human being is on You would think that such things would become a knowledge but in my experience it's really not When we explore the state of suffering or discontent and I encourage you to do that right now to the extent that you notice even subtle hints of this It's quite clear that an inherent part of the experience is a wanting to add or subtract Suffering is wanting something to be the way it isn't This is the second noble truth,

The reflection on the cause of discontent and suffering Look for yourself,

Study your own experience of dissatisfaction Most likely you will come to see that here there are external influences but the determining factor is inside It is your resistance to the way reality is right now I want more of this or more of that I don't want to feel this,

I don't want the world to be this way I should be more like her I shouldn't be so selfish I should stop being so hard on myself I wish I didn't think so much Some pain comes inherent with the human condition and will continue also after awakening Physical discomfort is one such pain But discontentment is optional It comes as a result of resistance to reality We can even make an elegant mathematical equation describing this relationship Pain multiplied with resistance equals suffering Say we can experience some minor pain like a mosquito bite Let's say it's a 3 on the pain scale If we experience massive resistance to it,

Say a 9,

The resulting suffering will be quite a bit 3 times 9 is 27 If we're at peace with the pain however,

That is low resistance,

Say a 2,

The resulting suffering will be much more bearable 3 times 2 equals 6 It's the same external condition but in one mind state it results in a 27 suffering And in a more accepting mind state only a 6 suffering If it's as simple as this,

Why on earth do we resist that?

When I say that discontentment is optional,

I invite a common misunderstanding Namely that whether we suffer or not are options we are free to choose from but it's all under our control That is not so Craving and clinging is part of our conditioning We keep at it because our system judges it to be the best course of action I myself suffered gravely from this misunderstanding I thought I could force or convince myself to stop wanting things Not realizing that that in itself was wanting I tried to live as an ideal Telling myself and others that everything was okay That I didn't mind,

That I didn't want things because that would just be a cause for suffering But I lied to myself It was just a story I told myself and others disconnected from the reality inside Because wanting was there,

I had merely suppressed it I didn't listen to it All in all,

It was just another craving,

Another cause for suffering I wanted to be enlightened I didn't want to experience the human condition That's why I suffered I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition I didn't want to experience the human condition In India,

They constructed a very clever monkey trap They took a coconut,

Hollowed it and drilled a hole big enough for the monkey's hand to enter But small enough so that the clenched monkey fist couldn't get back out Then they put a piece of food inside and attached the coconut to a tree or something And waited The monkey would come along,

Smell the food and try to get it out of the coconut Of course,

It couldn't The hand would go in,

But when it clenched the food,

It would be too big to get back out Because the monkey's craving for the food was so strong,

And because it was unable to let go of that craving The hunter could simply walk up to the monkey and grab it This is true,

You can see examples of it on the internet Often we are more advanced versions of the same It's so easy to tell the monkey,

Hey come on,

Just let go of the banana But as long as the monkey deep down believes that the banana is going to make him happy He can't let go Even if he can understand in his thoughts that he'll be caught We are like that too When people say,

Let it go,

What they really mean is,

Get over it And that's not a helpful thing to say It's not a matter of letting go,

You would if you could Instead of let it go,

We should probably say,

Let it be This recognizes that the mind won't let go,

And the problem may not go away And it allows you to form a healthier relationship with what is bothering you When we truly realize in our gut that wanting something or wanting to get rid of something causes suffering Letting go happens naturally And suffering dissolves with it This is the third noble truth This is why we meditate Not to force anything,

But to see clearly To feel it in our guts If you let go a little,

You will have a little peace If you let go a lot,

You will have a lot of peace If you let go completely,

You will have a lot of peace You will have a lot of peace You will have a lot of peace

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Calm, helpful and interesting