Four Noble Truths As Elements: Air

The particular simile that I offer on the four noble truths corresponds to the four elements of Earth, Fire, Water & Air known as the great elements from the Buddhist perspective. Today, the fourth noble truth is there is a practice leading out of suffering, leading to the end of suffering and that practice has to do with Air, the air element. The breath.
Our breath is so intimately connected to everyone else.

Transcript

So good morning. This will be our final talk on the Four Noble Truths as elements. And this particular simile that I, I offer on the Four Noble Truths, As they correspond to the elements, To my knowledge hasn't been done before. But the elements of earth, Fire, Water and air are known as the great elements from the Buddhist perspective. And they describe the world that we live in. And just as the Four Noble Truths describe the world that we live in, You know, There is suffering, Or stress in this life, In this earth element of the body, In this form and structure. And the stress we experience is caused by the fire element, The fire element of clinging of holding the fire of our wanting the fire of our not wanting. And the good news is, There's a way out of this stress, This suffering. There is the element of water that extinguishes the fire of greed, Of aversion, Of ignorance. And we only have to enter the stream to cool the fires and put them out. And today the Fourth Noble Truth, There is a practice leading out of our stress and suffering, Leading to the end of suffering. And that practice has to do with air, The air element, The breath, Our breath is so intimately connected to everyone else. And in spite of how we are all appearing as these little boxes on zoom, Some of us are near and others are far away. We're all still breathing together. And this breath is so important in our practice. The Buddha started his instructions on the four foundations of mindfulness by directing us to notice the breath. How does it move? How does it feel? Is it long? Is it short? And when there's constriction in our breathing in our body, The instruction is to go to where there is ease and pleasure in the breath. The word spirit in the ancient Greek is breath, Wind. This connection in our language is kind of intuitively known to us, The spirit, The air, There's a there's a level of mystery in the breath, The movement of breath, Unseen, Yet there's still this intimate intimacy. The spirit is moving in us and around us. There's this play between the scene and the unseen in the breath. You know, We can watch the wind blow and see the results of that in like the quaking leaves. Or when the clouds blow off the mountains, We see how it becomes tangible as snow or storm. We live in this world of breath and air. It represents vibration, Vibration. And what's so interesting about this understanding is that the more scientists look at at matter, The more that they see, It's entirely made up of vibration, Of vibrating energy, Prana in the Sanskrit, Chi in Chinese. And we can feel that vibration when we feel into our body. It's the aliveness that we experience, In particular, After exercise, When you stop and settle in that vibration. And how I understand it as the practice that leads out of suffering is that the air element represents the cyclical quality of our life. The changing of seasons, Night into day, Arising and ceasing. So the air element represents the quality of change, Anicca in the Pali. When the Buddha described the three primary characteristics of experience, The first is anicca, Change. The way things are always changing. It's the clarity of just seeing things coming and going without getting involved. So the interpretation that I'm sharing is a deep understanding of the practice that leads to the end of suffering. And that practice is the insight into impermanence. This is the practice that leads to the end of suffering. I want to read something from Ajahn Amaro. He's a Thai forest monk and his been the abbot of a by a Gary and now in England. He writes the wise mind that sees uncertainty is the Buddha mind. So when we recognize, Oh, Everything changes, Everything is uncertain. How could it not be that way and relate to that from a place of wisdom from a place of clarity, Then we're bringing the heart into alignment with reality. We're bringing the heart in alignment with reality in the four foundations of mindfulness. The instructions are I shall breathe in contemplating impermanence. I shall breathe out contemplating impermanence. So being with the breath and watching the qualities of change draws our attention to change as our essential aspect of experience always changing the way the breath arrives and passes the way sensations come and go the way thoughts move in and out. So I offer this perspective for your consideration and your questions and I'll end with a poem from Rumi. He says it all so beautifully in every breath. If you're the center of your own desires, You'll lose the grace of your beloved, But if in every breath you blow away your self claim and claim the ecstasy of love, It will soon arrive in every breath. If you're the center of your own thoughts, The sadness of autumn will fall on you, But if in every breath you strip naked just like a winter, The joy of spring will grow from within. All your impatience comes from the push for gain of patience. Let go of the effort and peace will arrive. All your unfulfilled desires are from your greed for gain of fulfillments. Let go of them all and they will be sent as gifts. Fall in love with the agony of love, Not the ecstasy. Then the beloved will fall in love with you.