So we've been spending some time kind of steeping in the first insights that the historical Buddha had of the Four Noble Truths.
The truth that life has stress and that stress is caused by holding on by clinging to our experiences and resisting change.
So the path opens up to us with the Third Noble Truth.
There's a way out of this sort of stress loop and it's what I referred to last week is kind of stepping into a stream.
So instead of resisting the movement of change,
We step into it.
We move toward the uncertainty and change.
And so last week I talked about these two streams or currents in the flow of our practice.
One stream is the stream that we're meant to go against.
We're going against the stream of our cultural conditioning,
You know,
The norms which are institutionalized greed and aversion and delusion.
They're in our institutions.
So we go against the stream of that addiction and that compulsion.
And the other current is the current of the Dharma.
And it's said that someone who has tasted this first,
Like the taste of liberation has entered the stream,
But not the stream of greed and hatred and delusion,
But the current that leads to liberation.
And I take this to mean in our daily life,
In our daily life,
That which got us to practice,
You know,
Something happened,
Perhaps an experience that you had,
Or someone introduced you to this practice,
Or you read something,
But you're here and you're doing this the first thing in the morning because you tasted something or a bell rang in you and you stepped into the stream that leads to liberation.
So to kind of stick with this simile for a bit,
Many of you know,
When you step into a mountain stream,
The first step can be like a little shock to the system,
You know,
Your foot enters and it's brisk and cold from the mountains from the snow runoff.
But it's also refreshing.
And the,
The step into this path can be a little bit like that.
It's a little brisk,
Sort of like,
You know,
There's an adjustment,
But the body does adjust.
You know,
When we're standing in the current,
After like a winter runoff,
It's cold and the force of the water can knock you over,
You can lose your footing pretty easily.
And I want to talk about that a little bit.
It's like practice.
And also just to say that I am,
I'm aware that I spend a bit more time in our gatherings,
Looking at the challenges and the difficulties that come with the practice.
And maybe some of you would prefer to steep more into the awakening factors.
But my reasoning for this sort of deeper look,
The second look into challenges is that letting go isn't easy for people.
So the intent is to find a way of letting go that's trustworthy that we can rely on.
I think it's pretty common that when people come to practice,
They taste that peace that's available through the meditation practice,
The practice of meditation.
You know,
There's that ease when the bell rings at the end of practice,
And there's a bit more clarity.
And so the habit pattern of the mind is,
I want more of that,
You know,
So that the wanting mind is activated almost immediately,
Because it's like,
Ah,
It feels good,
Right?
And that can be a rabbit hole of striving for,
You know,
Striving for some enlightenment experience,
And the fantasy of transcendence.
Is that relatable?
Yeah.
So what follows from the awareness of sort of that measurement of progress is often a story that there is somewhere to get to.
And you and me with all of our imperfections will never get there.
I mean,
This is just part of getting our footing on the stream in some way.
And we start to see the habits of our life,
You know,
As we enter this practice,
The habits of our mind,
And we can get swept back into those currents.
And it can knock us off balance.
I've had practice periods where I was just holding on,
You know,
Holding on to the breath,
Lost in my regrets,
Back to the breath,
Lost in the ways that I've hurt myself and other people,
Back to the breath,
Painful sense,
Physically painful,
Agitated sense,
Wanting to squeeze out,
You know,
Wanting to scream in the oppressively silent meditation hall,
And then back to the breath.
And then we go out into our life,
You know,
After that painful sit,
Or that agitated sit,
Something happens,
And it doesn't go your way.
And instead of reacting with the habit pattern,
That's highly reactive,
You respond in a way that's productive,
And supportive of your well being and authentic.
And in that moment,
You're sort of like,
Aha,
There is progress on this path.
There is progress on this path.
At some point in practice,
We have to come to terms with how gradual the changing of habits and mind can be.
It's a gradual path.
The Dharma,
The truth that was taught by the Buddha,
It's uncovered gradually through sustained practice.
And this is said many times in the teachings,
That awakening doesn't occur,
Like a bolt of lightning,
In an untrained or unprepared mind.
Rather,
It is like the culmination of a long journey,
And many stages.
I've had friends who have had these sudden awakening experiences during long meditation practice periods.
And the understanding is,
It's known as sudden enlightenment.
And how it works is the practitioner kind of awakens,
Has a moment in practice,
Where they awaken to the fundamental understanding that if this present and ordinary mind is free from any effort,
Or pretension,
Any clinging,
That it's the very mind of the awakened ones,
And all of us have it,
No one is left out.
Then with this understanding,
So that sense of like,
Non duality,
Really,
It's an experience of no separation.
Then with that understanding,
What the practitioner continues to perfect,
After that experience,
Is their actions,
Is the eightfold path,
And that is gradual.
So gradual cultivation and sudden enlightenment,
They come about differently,
But they're very interrelated.
And so in a society that values kind of high speed internet and hyper productivity,
Allowing for anything to unfold slowly,
It's against the stream,
Right?
It's a radical act.
It's a radical act.
And it wasn't so long ago that a new term was introduced into our society,
Known as FOMO.
FOMO,
The fear of missing out.
It's an acronym for the fear of missing out.
So if we're not moving at the fast pace,
We'll fall behind,
We'll be left out.
It's a form of deep comparison,
And causes significant stress.
And if you're aware that this habit exists in you,
I strongly suggest getting off of social media,
You know,
All those sites like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter,
What they do,
Maybe directly or indirectly,
It's not that clear,
But they certainly attach like,
They're designed to attach a hierarchy.
And those,
You know,
And the desire is not to be on the bottom.
So comparing your life to the highlights of others,
You know,
That's what you're,
That's what we're doing when we like go and do the social media thing.
It's a sure way to get knocked down and continue the cycles of stress.
So this stepping into the stream,
It entails stumbling and falling and backtracking and big leaps forward and finding our balance and recognizing when we're caught in perfection and comparing and then cutting ourself a break over and over and over again.
I can only say from my own experience,
That it's a that it's a worth worthwhile way to live.
I'll close this reflection with something from Mary Oliver,
Who wrote,
The dream of my life is to lie down by a slow river and stare at the light in the trees to learn something by being nothing.
Thank you for your kind attention this morning.
