The Truth Of Suffering

This is a talk given on a retreat in Thailand. I am addressing the 2nd noble truth and living in accordance with the 5 precepts as a means to heal from the past and avoid future suffering. I felt it might be useful for those who are interested in the four noble truths and the teaching of Thai Forest Buddhism. although the audio is quite good. I am speaking to a group that is on a retreat so some reference is made to the context of the environment.

Transcript

So I thought tonight I would unpack a little bit more of the Four Noble Truths maybe something that we're working with today talked about the Four Noble Truths kind of in brief in the second Noble Truth and then last night I spoke about the basically suffering and the different kind of aspects of suffering hopefully you know to set some scaffolding or some framework to our experience this retreat and retreats like it,

They're rarefied experiences where we're able to really enter into the laboratory of our minds and take a look and we can free most of the distractions that pull us at least externally it's a little more challenging here but it's still totally possible so tonight I'm going to expand on the second Noble Truth expand on the second Noble Truth last night I basically said the second Noble Truth is selfish and self-centered craving so my hope tonight is to talk about the second Noble Truth,

Give a little bit more context to how it plays itself out and then also to really end up talking about the precepts that we took on the first night the precepts that are really the container the assurances or the safety net for this rarefied experience I'm going to start with a quote this is a quote,

Well this is an adaptation from Ajahn Amaro who is an elder teacher in the Thai forest tradition and he's kind of re-giving his definition of the Buddha's teaching on the second Noble Truth this monks is the noble truth of the cause of suffering it is that craving,

Compelling,

Intoxicating which causes us to be born into things again and again ever seeking fresh delight,

Now here,

Now there,

It is namely the craving for sensual delight the craving to be something and the craving to feel nothing the craving to be something and the craving to feel nothing I feel that the Buddha Dharma is so important that I'd like to ask you all to sit up that this,

The respect of the Buddha,

The respect of the Dharma it's pretty important,

If you want to sit in a chair,

Great so this,

I appreciate that this craving,

This compelling,

This intoxicating,

This is what the Buddha called Tanha and Tanha can be broken down in many different ways craving,

Thirst,

Attachment,

Grasping and desire basically the reason we suffer,

Last night I talked about the five aggregates craving,

Thirst,

Attachment,

Grasping and desire to the five aggregates is the cause of suffering now the Buddha didn't just say this,

He gave instruction as he did with many of his teachings he wasn't just making a statement,

Oh this is so,

Matter of fact they're noble truths because they're to be understood,

They're to be penetrated,

They're to be investigated this is the understanding of the noble truths another way to talk about them is that they're ennobling allow us to sit in nobility so there's three aspects to be understood that there is the origin of suffering,

Which is attachment and craving and then that craving should be let go of and you know,

In the little ways and the big ways and craving has been let go of,

So almost every one of the Buddha's teachings has the basically the before,

The middle and the after and there's this other teaching from the Buddha,

Well actually it's not from the Buddha but there's this teaching of the Buddha that is the Dharma is good in the beginning it's good in the middle and it's good in the end and so the understanding that there is an origin of suffering this investigation,

This is good,

This is really helpful,

It doesn't feel good all the time so then,

That this craving we can learn to let go,

Should be let go so there's action to be done and there's all different kinds of ways that we can do that and then that the craving has been let go of and really the kind of the seeing that,

The understanding of that so from the Buddhist perspective,

There's three kinds of desire also craving for sense pleasure,

Craving to become someone and craving to get rid of something or some feeling,

Some experience we'll begin to investigate a little bit more in this area tomorrow so the craving,

So this is what we investigate the origin of suffering is attachment to desire or craving seems pretty simple,

It is fairly simple we crave,

We cling and we suffer when we can let go or let be craving then we can ultimately end suffering and the attachment in some ways like the identifying with the craving the desire,

But this is just who I am with this I,

Me and mine,

We'll touch on that in a little bit so some of the main areas,

Sense pleasure,

You might have noticed this we've been investigating the here and now,

We've been investigating breath and body and smelling and seeing and touching and tasting,

Hearing and thinking that which is pleasing is this attachment or craving for sense pleasure have you noticed some of that today?

This kind of attachment or craving for sense pleasure?

Or wanting pleasant smells or sights,

Sounds,

Bodily sensations I was definitely feeling that yesterday when I was feeling we couldn't go in the pool and it was really hot and I was like,

Ahh,

I was craving some pool time right when it's nice and then today,

It wasn't actually as good it was pleasant,

But it wasn't as pleasant as I felt,

I built it up in my mind it would be so true with craving so reflect on eating,

This is one of the things we've been doing reflecting on the kind of sense pleasures involved with eating it's a good way to kind of begin to fine tune our preferences so this is sense pleasure becoming we get caught in the realm of ambition and attainment the desire to become if only I was,

Then I would be,

If only I had we get caught up in the movement or striving to become happy one day I'll be happy,

It's just right there we can get caught up in that,

That becoming and we're missing the moments of happiness that are present this Buddhist Nan several years ago was giving a Dharma talk in my home Sangha in Santa Cruz,

California and she gave this one,

Just this one little quote and it was so,

It's stuck with me ever since this happens she said,

Form by its very nature is imperfect form by its very nature is imperfect so this perception of perfection is false from the Buddhist perspective and if you think about this form,

Is the body perfect?

Usually not,

Society perfect,

The planet perfect?

What form is perfect?

Perfectly imperfect,

Okay so some acceptance in that Tara Brach wrote a book called Radical Acceptance Marisha read some of it today,

Right?

So much of this practice is about radically accepting what is in all its imperfection,

Warts and all,

As one of my teachers says so seeking to become,

Become wealthy or to make our life feel important by like endeavoring to make the world right this is one of the ways I really see people get caught and not to say that there's nothing wrong with actually making money or there's nothing wrong with activism or fighting the good fight but when it becomes consuming and we become identified and obsessed and not happy and not content this is where the Buddha is pointing to craving and attachment so to note that this is all an attempt to become something other than what we are right now so much of this practice and this here and now and this being present with what is is like,

Okay,

Can I just be comfortable with the way things are?

Even when they're unpleasant,

Even when the back hurts or the knee is sore or the mind is yelling at me,

It's bad advice like the poem I read the first night,

The Journey we went forward even though the voices were shouting their bad advice some of the other ways we can get kind of attached or cling to craving of becoming I want to practice meditation so I can become free from pain I want to become enlightened I want to enjoy the sense pleasures without having to give up anything and still become enlightened this was one of my favorites I don't want to give up anything but I want the benefit or my cake and eat it too so we can get attached to these ideas of becoming and maybe these examples aren't the ones that are right for you but the investigation of how do I self?

How do I create?

How do I attach to the idea of when I,

If I this becoming one of my teachers calls selfing we create layers and layers of identification as self the not self,

The anatta is not so much about getting rid of as much as just recognizing when we're kind of layering more on that there's something here that's just,

That's actually not enough that's my investigation in working with folks there's a core belief of not enough the Buddha is pointing that this is that kind of addiction to becoming so the next layer or level of craving is getting rid of we're not kind of becoming and kind of grasping to or trying to push away and get rid of when we get disillusioned with trying to become something then there is the desire to get rid of things oh if I just could get rid of that bad habit or that mind state or that mole on my head then I'll be happy if I can just get rid of that or this extra weight or this whatever the cause of suffering that teaching formed by its very nature is imperfect can be very helpful in this kind of radical acceptance of what's here so I want to get rid of my suffering too,

This is a pushing away I want to get rid of my suffering,

I want it to go away,

Disappear I want to get rid of my anger,

My jealousy,

My fear,

My anxiety what if these things are here to teach you and the pushing away is actually keeping them here,

Keeping the anxiety,

The fear the suffering I see this a lot with depression,

Anxiety and depression I want to get rid of my depression,

Of course but what if the pushing away is the actual kind of way of holding onto it that which you resist persists instead of trying to get rid of,

We are acknowledging it's like this suffering is like this mental anguish is like this,

Feeling not enough is like this it feels like this is to want to get rid of something it's like this,

This is what wanting to get rid of something feels like so it's turning toward the experience versus pushing it away or avoiding I don't know about you but I'm an escape artist I've been trying to avoid painful feelings,

Painful situations,

Even pleasant feelings and pleasant situations almost my whole life I got very good at it I talked a bit about that last night around distraction maybe it's the first night,

I can't remember I have to get rid of or conquer all my desires,

This is just another craving,

Another wanting this kind of smashing out desire,

There's nothing wrong with desire desire isn't the problem as long as we're human,

We have desire there's actually nothing wrong with pleasure either it's the craving,

The attachment,

The thirst one of the translations from Tanha is the unquenchable thirst as an alcoholic I really like that term because it really fit that idea of one is too many and a thousand never enough this unquenchable thirst for becoming or for pleasure so letting go of desire is a process of seeing it clearly and allowing it to be a part of ourselves without rejection or grasping so letting go of the kind of clinging to desire not pushing it away,

Not stamping it out but allowing that desire can arise and pass away and we can begin through this investigation,

This mindful investigation to see what's wholesome and what's unwholesome what's skillful and what's unskillful this was a huge insight from the Buddha before his awakening he began to,

But as it's kind of like as his mind was becoming collected and clear and calm preparing for the final battle he began to discern between kusala akusala,

Wholesome and unwholesome states,

Mind states,

Mental states and as he began,

He began to basically as he's retelling the story to his disciples,

To his monks and nuns he's saying I began to see this is no longer useful,

This is useful this is going to lead to desire,

To attachment,

To clinging,

To craving,

To becoming this is going to lead to freedom,

To acceptance,

To ease,

To peace so he began to kind of untangle the knots it's not helpful to beat ourselves up for our desires,

It's not helpful as a matter of fact even if we kind of succumb to keep mindful awareness,

Kind awareness there's the beginning,

The middle and the end,

It's good whenever we can have awareness sometimes we don't have awareness until the karmic momentum hits us in the face and then oh yeah,

Maybe that wasn't so skillful and we can learn there too,

We don't have to go into self pity or shame spiral we can use this practice as a way to lift ourselves up dust ourselves off,

Try again so it's not about identifying with the craving,

It's about recognizing desire so if we can begin to see as desire arises and we'll be,

Like I said,

We'll be working a little bit more with this tomorrow then we're dis-identifying with the craving we have to be careful,

Not to get into the hell fire and brimstone,

Desire is bad and we must get rid of it so something that I think our minds maybe get kind of,

Depending on our upbringing,

Depending on our training our minds get kind of attached to,

Just the idea of getting rid of,

Smashing out,

Good,

Bad this is the line,

The craving to feel nothing,

More grasping,

More suffering this craving to feel nothing,

This numbness I was working with somebody not that long ago,

We were working with Vedana,

We were working with the feeling tones which we'll be kind of discovering and working with tomorrow and he was basically like,

Yeah,

I see this kind of desire,

This attachment for pleasure,

This craving and I want that,

And I also see the aversion and the neutral,

The kind of neither he was like,

I actually really like that,

I like to be numb go figure he was an opiate addict,

I really liked the idea of comfortably numb and I asked him,

Is that really neutral,

Because it sounds like it's pleasurable and so this idea of investigating what is neutral when there's not the kind of pull towards pleasure or the push towards unpleasant,

Or away from unpleasant grasping is suffering,

So learning to let go,

Letting go if we can learn,

If we can listen to our desires with wisdom not craving,

It can lead to great insight,

Actually we can listen to craving too we can listen to desire and we can listen to craving,

We don't have to act on it it's interesting because I've been working with this on the,

With cigarettes long time smoker,

I mean,

Long time nicotine user,

Short time smoker it's like six months I've been,

Pretty much got off the plane the memory of past smoking in Thailand just wafted right into my brain I've been kind of working with this kind of craving,

Succumbing to it and then the unpleasant,

And then the feeling of the craving again and then not succumbing to it,

And then feeling the desire grow and then just the riding the wave it's helpful for us to investigate this,

And not just blindly feed our cravings of course you can do that,

Maybe some of you have been really good at doing that and then not so good,

Like fun,

Fun with problems,

And then just problems so learning to change our relationship to craving,

Our relationship to desire you can do it even just right here,

Right now so working with kind of the desire,

The wave,

One of my former colleagues created a relapse prevention called mindfulness based relapse prevention where he calls urge surfing,

He called,

He's dead now,

He died of a heart attack but urge surfing is this basically feeling the craving and then allowing it to pass without indulging it and it feels very,

It can be painful at first and there's little ways like this,

Like scratching,

Like the itch,

Or the moving in the cushion or the not wanting to walk,

All of the little ways that we can do throughout the day or the desire to have two plates of food,

When really one is good so there's all kinds of ways that we can begin to work with this here and then even to notice what happens in the mind when we're not feeding the desire do we get agitated?

When things aren't going our way?

What happens in the mind?

And not with judgment,

Just with actually kind awareness oh the mind,

It has so many stories this is not intellectual,

It's experiential letting go is like this,

Bringing in the same awareness right now it's like this,

It's such a good instruction present time experience,

Right now it's like this you've probably heard Frank say that before this present time awareness letting go moment to moment,

In the dance,

This is the dance of selfing versus not selfing sometimes we personalize our problems,

We just take them on all the way this is me,

This is mine,

This is who I am,

We obsess on them I can't just let them go,

Really?

Is grasping to them helpful or hurtful?

Is this entangling the mind with judgment,

Analyzing?

If you haven't already been doing that,

It's coming we begin to kind of see through the veil as we investigate the mind is it freeing?

Is this grasping,

Is this clinging,

Is this craving,

Is it freeing?

Relieving as if a burden had just been removed from you?

Usually not when we are really calm and peaceful,

Then we will find that there is no attachment to anything remember the first time I really heard that,

It said so much in some of the Buddhist scriptures language,

Free from fear and attachment,

No attachment to anything,

That sounds a little scary if I'm not attached to anything,

Then like who am I,

What am I?

I think that question is above my own pay grade one of the things I love about the Buddhist teaching,

He gave a few similes one is that this is a gradual awakening,

That we can talk intellectually about some things but until we can experience it,

Until it's experiential,

We don't fully understand like the way that the ocean comes from the shore and then gradually gets deeper and deeper and darker to depths that are unknown,

Few have seen,

Few have gone to another way I've heard the dharma described is like,

And this has been true for me it's like going to a foreign country not knowing the language and little by little you pick up a word or two and you're trying to understand but it's just hard but the more that you practice,

The more that you engage,

The more you begin to understand,

It becomes clear does that make sense?

It's one of my favorites,

Especially being here when we're not caught up in trying to get something or get rid of something well-being is just knowing things as they are without feeling the necessity to pass judgment upon them the more we contemplate and investigate desire and craving,

The more insight arises,

Desire should be let go of then through actual practice and understanding we can let go,

Really this is when we can gain kind of the third insight,

Desire has been let go of,

It's not a theoretical letting go,

It's a direct insight we see the uselessness in clinging and craving so one of the ways in which on retreat and in our lives I feel like this can be really helpful is in using these precepts,

Like I had said the first night,

These precepts are really a way for us to guard our experience and to ultimately end suffering in our life,

To the degree in which we follow the precepts is to the degree in which we can lessen suffering so we said on the first night,

Seeing how deeply our lives intertwine,

Seeing how deeply,

Of course you see that here,

The interdependence even within the other group that's up the hill,

Intertwined,

Even though there's separate things kind of going on for now seeing how deeply our lives intertwine,

Even with the animals,

The cows are sick,

How does that affect us?

What happens when the rain washes out some of the vegetables,

Or there's no water,

How is this kind of system connected?

I undertake the precept to protect life is another way in which I like to think about it's generally ahimsa,

Meaning non-harming,

Which is kind of the overarching,

Like it's the roof,

Ahimsa,

Non-harming but I like to think about it in the positive,

I'm going to protect life,

That little bug that maybe I would squash because it's annoying,

Or flick,

Because it's somehow threatening me,

I'm going to let go seeing how deeply our lives intertwine,

I undertake the precept of not stealing,

Or taking that which is not offered how often can we feel these opportunities here,

Here probably,

Just right in this retreat?

These are protections,

I undertake the precept of noble silence so this kind of keeping that attention inward and then protecting others,

You're all in this together and you're all doing really well,

You're all very engaged in this practice I'm very impressed with you and your level of engagement and let's keep going,

Day two seeing how deeply our lives intertwine,

I undertake the precept of being celibate during this retreat I think it's so useful to just see what that's like,

Just in the same way,

The desire,

The craving,

Even if it's just subtle oh I wish I could talk to that person,

Oh I miss talking to that person,

Maybe there's some validation that I'm not getting or I'd like to get,

Just to kind of watching the leaning or the pulling away I remember the first time I really went on a long retreat with the no eye contact thing it was really hard for me,

I kept thinking everyone was mad at me all the time why is that person,

They're not even making eye contact with me they're not even smiling,

They're grimacing,

It was just all about me,

All in my head,

Me me me and yet it was what the teacher said to do,

It was what everyone was doing,

But I was still personalizing it and that's when I actually started to,

I made the shift of just smiling instead of the grimace and the why,

Anytime that there was an interaction,

To just smile and send that kindness,

That kind of awareness oh maybe happy,

Maybe there were,

They were really in some dukkha,

You know,

And then oh maybe free from suffering it's kind of where this kind of kind awareness began to naturally come out,

In the silence and in my own,

From my own judgement,

Of myself,

And my practice,

Am I not good enough and am I better than,

I'm definitely a better meditator than that guy and like oh wow,

That person,

Just the judgement,

The comparing mind,

Baffling we say we're being silent,

But we all know it ain't silent in there is it maybe there's moments,

Moments,

My experience is it can get quieter you know the opposite of what the noble silence,

There's some people who maybe are socially anxious or awkward or have it,

It's hard in communication and just kind of chit chat,

And then the silence is like heaven,

They're like yes I don't have to come up with stuff to say,

I don't have to make eye contact with people I just get to just be in my experience,

This is great and then when the idea of like breaking silence,

We're a long way off from that,

But still,

Then there's the oh no so how do we engage with this practice,

These precepts seeing how deeply our lives intertwine,

Oh I already said that one,

Celibate during the retreat seeing how deeply our lives intertwine and take the precept to not harm myself or others with intoxicants this is a slightly different version I'm going over,

It's the one I intended to give you the first night but I gave you the wrong one what does it mean to not intoxicate ourselves who are we without the intoxication,

And even the intoxication of these things,

These gadgets and social media what does it mean to renounce,

What does it mean to re-engage and also be mindful of our consumption,

These precepts,

These training guidelines are put in place so that we can have the rarefied experience,

But we all have to kind of collectively hold it and we're doing that,

I'm just bringing it up as a way,

It's using the precepts as a way to really see the kind of pushing against desire and craving and wanting or the getting rid of and seeing our relationship,

It's so useful to see our relationship on some other retreats,

The intention is to actually stop beautifying the body too so I just want to throw that in the mix,

Jewellery or makeup or shaving,

Still wash please,

Protection for the rest of us I think this is what I have for us tonight,

This kind of exploration of the second noble truth actually I want to read that again this monks is the noble truth of the cause of suffering,

It is that craving,

Compelling,

Intoxicating which causes us to be born into things again and again,

Ever seeking fresh delight now here,

Now there,

It is namely the craving for sensual delight,

The craving to be something and the craving to feel nothing so we'll sit with that for a moment,

Just sitting comfortably,

Allowing the eyes to close this is the noble truth of the cause of suffering,

It is that craving,

Compelling,

Intoxicating which causes us to be born into things again and again ever seeking fresh delight,

Now here,

Now there,

It is namely the craving for sensual delight,

The craving to be something and the craving to feel nothing

Reviews

Excellent talk. I love how he keeps it real.

Thanks for this clear explanation and tying the precepts along with the second noble truth

Very insightful. Will be revisiting 🙏🏾 #gratitude