You Hey,
Everybody.
It's Judy.
This is Wake Up Call 549.
I hope you had a good couple of weeks.
I missed you.
And it was the final week of the 2026 Mindfulness and Latitude Training.
So it was a week of being with our 2026 community of new teachers and seeing their remarkable presentations,
Which was so inspiring.
And if anybody,
I know there are people here who are from earlier cohorts.
And so,
You know,
I say this every time.
Because it's the most inspiring part of MLTT.
And yeah,
The people who come through are just extraordinary.
So I debated about today because I was tempted to share some of the wisdom our students shared last week,
But.
You know,
It's their work.
And they're already sharing it.
We have two new mindful lawyering classes already,
One big law presentation,
And more things happening,
And they've only been out a week.
And also I wanted to come back to the Dharmapada.
So let's do that.
We're on Chapter 16.
In some versions,
The chapter is titled Joy,
And in Gil Fronsdale's version,
The title is The Deer,
The Deer.
And he opens the chapter with,
Practicing what one shouldn't,
Not practicing what one should,
Having abandoned the goal,
Clinging to what is dear,
One comes to envy those who practice.
Don't get entangled with what you long for or dislike.
Not seeing what you long for is suffering.
So also is seeing what you dislike.
Therefore,
Do not turn anything into something longed for,
For then it's dreadful to lose.
Without longing or dislike,
No bonds exist.
Then it offers examples,
It says,
Longing gives rise to grief,
Longing gives rise to fear.
For someone released from longing,
There is no grief.
From where would there come fear?
And then it offers the same logic with respect to affection,
Infatuation,
Sensual craving,
And general craving.
So it says,
Each of these gives rise to grief and to fear,
And that for someone released from each of these,
There is no grief.
And it asks the rhetorical question,
From where would come fear?
So personally,
I find this very inspirational,
But also very aspirational.
The aspiration to not get entangled with anything at all,
Not the things I want,
Not the things I don't want.
I love it as an aspiration.
And we live in the world.
And it's amazing to me how persistent the messaging is in the world,
Also in the law.
To long for things,
To seek out sensuality,
To crave affection,
To entangle ourselves in the business of trying to get what we want and push away what we don't.
And as lawyers in some ways and in some fields,
We're in the business of achieving that for our clients,
Right?
If that's even the right word.
Well,
Maybe it isn't the right word.
So now we have this verse that says longing,
Affection,
Infatuation,
Sensual craving,
All craving,
Give rise to grief and to fear and we should disentangle from them.
So the grief and fear part feels true to me.
And if I'm being honest,
I spend a lot of time,
A lot of my life really wanting things,
Wanting things to be a certain way.
Or to not be a certain way.
Being infatuated with.
Wanting people or status or objects,
Craving sense pleasures like a massage or a hot tub or a second helping of a meal or another cookie or touch or a glass of wine,
Right?
So many things.
And also just craving in general.
Which we know is not a recipe but the recipe for suffering.
It's the second noble truth,
Right?
That the cause of suffering is craving.
And we could also say the cause of suffering is longing and infatuation.
Because the three all point in the same direction.
They all point in the direction of wanting things to be other than they are.
Because we're under the mistaken belief that then we'll be happy.
So disentangling from craving,
Longing,
And infatuation.
And you'll notice I'm leaving affection aside for a moment.
Given the messaging,
Given the profession,
Given the world.
I feel like it takes quite a bit of courage.
Or it does for me.
Alright,
So remembering that happiness exists in the present moment.
Remembering to be present for whatever is actually happening even when it's not what I want.
Whether it's because it's something I don't want or because it's something I crave or long for or I'm infatuated with.
You know,
I feel like it takes a lot of courage.
And without that courage,
It's not hard to see.
How craving and longing and infatuation lead to grief,
Right?
Because they're subsets of those big buckets of greed and hatred,
Right?
And so they cause us to say and do unwise things or to act and work in ways we probably know on some level aren't right,
Maybe aren't even ethical.
And they foment the mind,
Right?
They foment states of mind.
They foment states of heart that are almost by definition unquenchable.
And then they also lead to fear.
There's something or someone I long for or I'm infatuated with or I crave.
And I either do or don't get it or get them.
And if I don't get.
.
.
I'm afraid I never will.
The craving and longing and infatuation become part of a mindset of,
Oh no,
What if I don't?
Then what will my life be like?
Then who will I be?
So that's if I don't get,
I'm afraid.
And if I do get,
I'm afraid too,
Because I'm afraid I'm going to lose it.
The thing or lose them,
The person.
So this chapter is saying give give all that up disentangle summon the courage to do that to disentangle from craving and longing and infatuation and let it all go which is of course the third noble truth right that there's an end to craving and that the end is letting go.
When I'm paying attention,
When I'm practicing,
I can feel the possibility of that courage in my body.
Of letting go and of the peace that follows.
And one of our students last week in their final presentation,
I know I said I wouldn't share,
But this is an old story that they shared and you've probably heard it and it's the story of the monkey trap,
The coconut monkey trap.
So there's a coconut.
And it's a monkey trap.
And the reason it's a monkey trap is because there's something inside,
The coconut's hollowed out and there's something inside that coconut that the monkey really wants,
Craves,
Longs for,
Right?
And that they're infatuated by.
So the monkey,
She slides her little hand into the trap like this.
And she grasps the thing,
But now her hand is in a fist and the hole in the coconut is only big enough for her hand.
Big enough for her hand to come back out while it's grasping the thing.
So she's stuck.
She's entangled.
And all she has to do is let go of the thing and she can get her hand out.
Right,
But it's not easy.
Takes courage.
Maybe it takes heart,
I don't know.
So I said I left affection out.
Affection is in the verse.
I left it out because I have a question about affection.
I'm not sure how affection makes it onto this list,
Actually.
I looked it up,
I looked up all the commentary,
I still can't figure it out.
When I consider the first three Brahma Viharas,
Love,
Compassion,
Appreciative joy,
It seems like we're cultivating those and it's really all about cultivating affection or that affection arises as a result,
Right?
So,
You know,
I looked at the commentary doesn't say the word affection is common throughout the translations that I've seen.
So I'm thinking maybe the Dhammapada is speaking to affection that's rooted in desire and attachment and is unbalanced which those first three brahmaviharas are not.
They're not unbalanced.
They're balanced by the fourth one which is equanimity,
Right?
I don't know.
So I'll leave you with that as an inquiry.
And if you have ideas,
Send me a note.
I'd love to hear it.
All right,
So let's sit.
You So finding your seat.
Whatever is supportive for you today.
If it's accessible to you,
Sit up straight.
If your body isn't supporting that right now,
Be relaxed.
Well,
Be relaxed either way.
But lean back.
And take a few grounding breaths.
And then invite the attention to begin following the breath.
And just follow each breath from the beginning of the in-breath.
To the top of the in-breath and then the flow as it flows back out of the body.
And as an exploration.
Just see if longing Grasping.
Craving infatuation.
See if any of those arise.
And if they do,
Just treat them like a guest,
As Rumi tells us to do.
About them.
Let them go.
And if you are Feel a sense of entanglement.
Some thought that there's something that is really important.
To crave or to long for.
And that thought is really persistent.
Just see if you can let that go.
And.
If not,
Just turn towards it with courage.
And right now it's like this.
You know,
I'm tangled.
Sometimes the body is the first signal where there's tightness in the body.
There's some kind of.
Clenching or craving or longing.
And can that be let go?
Just keeping things very simple,
The letting go in the moment,
Not some big concept.
Thanks,
Everybody.
Good to see you.
Take good care.
