Wise View: Meaning

So as we look at these path factors, the first is wise view. And I would like you to consider as we reflect on this first step that our view is closely related to the meaning we ascribe to it. Our view of the direct experience is also imbued with the meaning that we give it. So the path is both about meaning and the path is about stepping out of thought putting down all meaning, that compulsion to know and to make meaning.

Transcript

So we are starting this week looking at these path factors,

The eightfold path factors.

And the first is wise view.

And I'm going to take a kind of a little pivot on this.

We've talked about wise view many times.

We've reviewed this path factor many times together.

And I'd like you to consider as we reflect on this first step that our view is closely related to the meaning we ascribe it.

And I explained this a little bit.

I gave you an example last week.

And I'll use the same example.

So I can I can look at the sunset as it mingles with storm clouds that have been moving in and out and the way that the light touches the mountains.

And I can say,

Oh,

Look,

There's my mom.

I see my mom in this.

And just to see that I can categorize it in some way that this is beautiful,

Or maybe the clouds are dark and this is ominous.

So then just then there's meaning.

I've just ascribed some meaning to it.

So our view of direct experience is also imbued with the meaning that we give it.

And it's interesting to see ourselves do this.

You know,

When I attribute a beautiful sunset to my mother's presence,

Right after that,

I can also see Oh,

Look at the meaning that I just made.

So this there's a kind of a dichotomy the path is both about meaning or creating meaning.

And it's about stepping out of thought like putting down all of the ways in which we create meaning,

The compulsion to know and make meaning.

The mind goes wise view,

What does that mean?

Right.

So in that making meaning,

There is this squeeze on the heart.

You know,

There's a there's a unsatisfactoriness to it.

So to include this dialectic from meaning making and stepping out of meaning is in part wise view.

Sometimes called right view,

But not right in some sort of empirical way.

Like this is the right path for all beings.

But sort of like if you were looking at a map,

It's okay,

So there's a clear way to get to the next path factor.

And it's by following this kind of right or wise path.

And the word in Pali is Diti.

D I T T H I Diti.

And it's similar in meaning to the word in English for view.

We look it's understood as to see or to look.

And we all have our way of looking.

And mostly we're looking from again,

Our conditioning,

That's kind of the default way of seeing.

But in the context of this word Diti,

The word can be understood as kind of like going to a vista or a mountaintop and seeing this great view of the town below from high up.

So it's like an overview.

And I find this meaning quite helpful to have an overview.

So sometimes when we're out in the world and we're maybe at a gathering to sort of step back,

I tend to stand at the side of a gathering for a while to take it in.

It's kind of this idea of zooming out and stepping back.

But it also means this Diti is used to mean an orientation a person has towards something.

A perspective or a frame of reference.

So this meaning gets a little bit foggier because we then assert some meaning.

This is where our meaning making begins,

Right?

When we fold in our perspective into how things are and to look a second time,

You know,

Is this view clear?

And can I step back enough with my perspective to see clearly?

So to maintain clarity and not add anything additional.

And the frame of reference for understanding our experience of right view is very ordinary.

It's really deeply ingrained in just how we live our life so deeply that we don't even see it most of the time.

And that that is that our view,

Our actions,

The things that we do have impact have consequences.

Have you noticed that?

So we want to take care of our actions.

We want to understand and be responsible for our actions.

And being responsible.

I think Tara Brock defined responsibility as the ability to respond,

To respond to life in a wise way,

To respond to the things we do in the world in a wise way.

So when we look at our life in this area of action and consequences,

We can see how the contraction of suffering happens when our actions are self serving,

Are selfish,

Are all about me.

And we can experience the expansion,

The joy when we are coming from generosity and helpfulness.

So if we're really going to grow in practice,

This practice of seeing clearly,

Then we need to get interested in the ways that we are contracted.

The ways our actions have caused pain and the ways that those actions have contributed to our suffering and our unhappiness.

And the Zen tradition,

They call it taking the backward step.

So most people don't take that backward step.

We'd rather sort of avoid looking because it's uncomfortable.

And it's totally understandable.

When our actions haven't been helpful or beneficial to others,

What generally happens,

It's like the parable of the arrows.

The first arrow is what happens,

The action that causes pain or suffering.

And instead of addressing that first arrow,

We habitually fire more arrows into ourselves.

I'm not a good person.

I've hurt someone and now they hate me.

I'm unlovable.

I don't matter.

All this meaning we ascribe to who we are,

Given the action that we took.

You know that with all the arrows,

We just keep shooting ourselves.

It's a miracle,

Quite honestly,

That I'm sitting here talking with you.

But I've taken the backward step.

So the fundamental purpose of this practice is to bring an end to suffering,

Right?

So we go to the vista or the mountain top.

And sometimes we do this literally.

Sometimes we sit on the cushion and we're still and that's also going to the vista.

It's just in the opposite direction most of the time.

It's like Pemi Chodron said,

You're going down instead of up.

But it's still a backward step.

The seeing.

And we can drop in a couple of questions when we're in pain,

When we're experiencing that contraction,

That dissatisfaction,

Like what is my contribution to this?

And you may find that the contribution is actually just conditioned.

It's conditioned responses based on really old stuff from childhood.

What actions on my part have led to this pain?

And you might not actually be too involved.

Well,

I learned this behavior from my parents and my grandparents and my ancestors.

That's where they learned it.

And if you can't point to anything,

Which is sometimes the case when you drop this question in,

What is my contribution to this pain?

Let's say you got COVID or a loved one that you know,

Your loved one died.

Then the question changes.

Then the question is,

What am I holding on to?

Where am I attached?

And not like it's some negative thing that's happening.

We all hold on.

But it's in the seeing.

And then the letting,

You know,

It's like,

Oh,

I just miss this person.

I'm holding on to the memory of my mom.

My heart hurts.

It's not like it's a problem.

So in the moment asking these questions is a challenge.

I find I can't always ask the question,

But I can feel the contraction,

That squeeze on my heart.

And that can help me look within to find the attachment or that contribution.

You know,

What's bringing on that squeeze that I'm experiencing?

This is where the practice is so embodied.

You know,

Often there's this compulsion and habit pattern that I'm living under.

There's this conditioning and we'll talk a little bit about that tomorrow.

Our conditioning.

You know,

Sometimes there's a conditioning to be seen or to be right or to be a victim.

All this meaning.

You know,

Historically conditioned the meaning and it clouds the seeing.

It clouds seeing rightly,

Seeing wisely.

Another example is like,

Just maybe you can relate to this.

If you wake up from a poor night's sleep,

There's a tendency of the mind to say,

Oh,

It's going to be a tough day.

I'm going to be tired and grumpy.

So now the concept of grumpy and tired,

The idea,

The meaning,

I repeat this to myself and I hold onto this.

And when I interact with those close to me,

Guess what?

I'm pretty grumpy and I'm tired.

But then I,

Maybe I get outside,

You know,

I go sit by the river or make a cup of chai.

And in those moments I get more finely attuned to what's happening moment by moment.

You know,

Having that nice sip of warm liquid,

It's like,

Ah,

Where's the grumpiness now?

You know,

When I look carefully,

That grumpiness has a lot to do with my evaluation.

My predictions of the way the day will go,

The meaning I give it to a poor night's sleep,

Right?

And this kind of critical thinking about myself,

That's a pretty well-worn path for me to see all the ways in which I predict and evaluate my experience.

But this taking this backward step and seeing that those kinds of thoughts are coming and going and changing all the time.

I may be having a negative thought about myself,

And then all of a sudden I get really hungry and I start thinking about what I'm going to cook or make for myself.

And then I have negative thoughts about others.

And then I make a cup of tea and then I'm enjoying the tea.

And then I'm not thinking negatively.

And so it's sort of like watching that wave,

That changing wave.

It's that zooming out.

If as long as we're not caught in our thoughts and our concepts and the meaning that we give it,

There's space.

But quite often habitually we're seeing our life through this filter of a particular perception.

And in that,

It's pretty easy to go down the road of thinking things are not going to change.

This is how it is for me today.

But things are changing.

We're changing all the time.

And when we align with that,

When we become attuned to the changing nature of really all of the phenomena that goes on inside of us and around us,

There's some space there and some freedom there.

So let's say I'm really upset at my husband or I feel misunderstood by someone in my life.

And I practice attuning to the nature of change.

It's like my grip to my view keeps opening and opening.

It's more like a breath than a hold.

It's like holding,

Releasing.

Maybe I can go for a walk,

You know,

And then that release happens.

I see a bald eagle or red tail hawk and I run into a neighbor and then whatever I was upset about,

I'm free from those thoughts for the moment.

And maybe by the time I get back after my walk,

There's a little bit of space where I can go and maybe I'll pick those thoughts up again and be stuck and angry and misunderstood and grumpy.

But if I can see that they're in constant and see how,

Oh,

Look at that,

I had this bit of space and I see how they're coming and going,

I might not pick them up again.

The thoughts might return.

There might be a squeeze on the heart,

But I don't pick them up.

I don't get involved with them.

And this is how I learned to be free.

It's gradual.

There's no magic bullet.

And so the right view of the Buddha is talking about is the view of change,

The view of impermanence in such a way that we don't hang on to things so much.

When we really let go and to seeing change in this way,

I can only speak from my experience,

But we start to really experience more freedom.

And it sort of leads to these other factors of the Eightfold Path.

It leads to us changing how we want to live our life,

How we behave.

We begin changing our priorities and what drives us and motivates us.

So in a kind of natural way,

Our intention on the path flows out.

That next path factor and this will be the topic for our next time together.

So thank you for your kind attention.

Reviews

Excellent reflections as always, Lisa. Thank you 🌟