Karma_4

So this is the final talk on the theme of the karmic stream and the dharmic stream. We have spent a great deal of time with the Karma teachings, teachings about action. And then there’s a whole other line we can take, which is the dharmic stream. And there are two primary ways that we enter into the dharmic stream; one is to let go and the other is to know. To let go and to know. Simple but not easy.

Transcript

So this is the final talk on the theme of this week,

The past two weeks of the karmic stream and the dharmic stream.

And we spent a great deal of time with the karma teachings,

About action.

The actions we take have ongoing repercussions in our lives.

Actions which conditioned us or influenced us.

The way that our actions have conditioned us and how past actions have influenced us or imprinted within us.

And then there's a whole other line that we can take,

Which is the dharmic stream.

And there are two primary ways that we enter into the dharmic stream.

One is to let go.

And the other is to know.

To let go and to know.

Simple but not easy.

So these are core practices.

Letting go tends to produce the most happiness.

And knowing.

Knowing is like clear seeing.

It produces the most clarity.

But this happiness and this clarity is not something that we will.

It's not something that we're creating.

It's not coming from a constructed action that we're doing.

It's not part of the karmic stream.

It's almost like we're getting out of the way.

We're not interfering.

We're not pushing.

There's no compulsion to act and to do.

So letting go is about getting out of the way.

Allowing something to move through us.

Not compulsion but inspiration.

We're not pushing something but something is flowing rather than being pushed.

And we're not caught in our agenda and the reactivity that is how we often move through the world.

What we want,

What we don't want,

What we're looking forward to,

What we're trying to understand,

What we're trying to fix.

We're just knowing in a very simple way that we're in a flow that's changing and moving.

And that produces clarity.

And clarity has space for things.

So the Dharmic stream involves a whole paradigm shift about how we live our lives.

A shift about what motivates our lives and where the center of our lives is.

And most people only live in the karmic world and that's what they're navigating and negotiating and moving around.

It's been described as a little bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

The Dharmic stream is like learning how to float,

To swim.

How we float,

How we swim is we learn how to let go.

You have to be relaxed to float.

So we have to let go of reactivity,

Let go of clinging,

Let go of wanting.

We learn a very simple and clear way of knowing that letting go brings clarity.

Clarity that's not agitated by a mind that's wanting.

So much of the Dharmic stream in my experience is sort of getting out of the way.

Trusting that something supports us.

Something begins moving through us.

Something is waking up.

And clarity and letting go makes available for a lot of wisdom.

It's that clarity about what's happening here within ourselves,

Within ourselves in this moment and the world around us.

If you watch your own mind stream,

You can watch and track what you're thinking about and you can see is your thinking involved with something to do with creating comfort or is it created,

Is there discomfort that you're trying to avoid?

Is your thinking about making something more pleasant?

Is your mind stream kind of asserting an identity,

This is me,

To be seen in a certain way,

Recognized in a certain way?

The Dharmic stream is not like a dualistic,

You know,

Radically different way of living.

It's not radically different than what we do ordinarily.

You might be doing many things in your ordinary life.

Shopping and cooking and caring for your family and your yard or your friends.

Going for walks and walking your dog.

All kinds of things that we do.

But the Dharmic stream,

It's done without attachment.

On our way to the Dharma stream we learn how to let go of our attachments.

How to care for our friends and family and go to work and take care of ourselves,

All of the ordinary things we do without attachment,

Without clinging to any of it.

The Buddhist reference point for this is there's freedom when we do the ordinary things that we do when we're not attached.

There's freedom.

And it sort of manifests as ease.

There's peace.

There's an absence of agitation or contraction that pretty much always exists in the karmic stream.

Remember the karmic stream is action so there's a lot of doing.

To be in the Dharma stream is to begin appreciating how it's possible to live in the world without clinging and attachment.

You can feel it in the meditation that we just did.

When there's no greed,

When there's no hatred,

When there's no delusion and you're just being.

Maybe you can let go of a little bit of the attachments.

Back in,

I think in the early 90s there was a book called Don't Sweat the Small Stuff and it's all small stuff.

So the Dharma stream begins by learning how to meditate and be still in your body.

For some people it's really eye opening to begin meditating and realize how much of our ordinary preoccupations in our minds,

How it translates into this tension in the body.

And when we sit and we get still for that period of time we can just put it down and relax and be quiet.

It can be a life changer to realize how much extra preoccupation the mind is spinning and churning and ruminating on and that you can put it down.

You can relax.

And so when we sit we begin to see well where is that possible?

The Dharma stream is like a door opening.

And we can relax and we can let go and we don't have to act with our attachments.

There's an absence of clinging and resisting and the door that opens is sort of like an invitation.

You can come through this door.

The Dharma stream is found by stepping through the door into that new stream.

And in the teachings of the Buddha reality is always inviting you in,

Welcoming you into this new stream and to the Dharma stream.

It's always just right there and you can sort of put down your burdens,

Put down your attachments and your clingings,

Walk through the door and sit and be.

And this is not a judgment about what people do in their lives.

It's just an idea to do whatever you do without clinging.

You just try it on.

If what you're doing in your life is completely dependent on clinging,

You're doing it because you cling,

Then how you live your life might change if you let go of clinging.

And there's a way of putting this down and experiencing profound peace which will help us live life peacefully and happily and wisely.

But it requires kind of putting down our attachments,

What we hold as I,

Me and mine.

And when you do put them down,

Even in the moments of just practice and you enter the Dharma stream and you really trust it,

Then when it's your turn to die and if you're dying in a conscious way,

Chances are you won't be afraid.

Chances are it won't be a difficult thing to do because you've learned to put down your attachments.

You're not attached.

So the Dharma stream and the Karma stream,

This has been our inquiry.

And if you're going to do the Dharma or the Karma stream,

You know,

Which is what we mainly do,

Do it well,

Do it beautifully,

You know,

Bring beauty to the world.

And the beautiful stuff that we do just gets done better when it's done from this Dharma extreme,

Which is without attachment.

So hopefully this has been an interesting distinction to explore and understand in your life.

And one of the primary points I'd like to suggest for you to really study these two streams is in your moment to moment experience.

Tracking your thought stream,

What you're thinking about,

And right there,

You know,

Right there and tracking that you'll see all you need to see,

To see if you're in the Karma stream or in the Dharma stream.

You know,

So you might even try it today.

See,

As you go about your day,

What's going on with your thought stream.

See if there's a mood or a place that the thoughts are coming out of.

And just,

You know,

Perhaps just knowing,

Oh,

It's like this and that just knowing will support you to let go and relax,

To know clearly what's here.

Thank you for your kind attention in this topic.

I hope it's been beneficial and I'd like to hear from you as to how it's moving in your life.

Where you're at.

Reviews

Thank you. 🙏🕊️

Excellent talk, Lisa! Sophisticated, yet simple.

Very good series about Karma, thank you. Very clear grounded teaching.