Commitment To Enlightenment

In this talk, Shaila Catherine explores the purpose of meditation practice. By knowing the goal of the Buddhist path, we can avoid becoming satisfied with deceptive attainments such as mere joy, calmness, and concentration. These pleasant states are not the aim of the liberating path. If we become attached to these temporary states and initial attainments, they become impediments on the path and can prevent the realization of the ultimate goal of awakening.

Transcript

So I've titled this talk commitment to enlightenment.

And I think it's important to consider what we want in our spiritual lives.

Because what we want is what we tend to move toward.

In insight meditation groups,

We tend to not encourage a lot of specific goal setting,

Because people can very easily slide into the more common worldly patterns of trying to envision what we want and making it happen,

Grasping after some kind of future experience that we've already imagined,

Already conceived us of.

We might expect some specific spiritual gain or then start to compare where we're at with where we think we should be.

And usually our timeline of development is rather unrealistic.

It backfires.

If we get involved in comparing it backfires and we end up discouraged,

We end up judging ourselves,

We end up doubting our practice.

But it is possible to reflect upon our commitments,

To reflect upon our aspirations without fueling insecurity without it leading to doubt and comparing and conceit and envy.

We can nurture instead an energetic inspiration by reflecting upon the noble aims,

Perhaps an aim of awakening,

Awakening from the patterns of ignorance,

Purifying the heart from greed,

Hate and delusion,

Ending chronic misperceptions that create a kind of resistance to how things actually are in our lives,

Or just having the inspiration to continue to learn,

To continue to grow,

To continue to improve our experience and ourselves and the way we meet life,

So that we meet it with increasing sense of virtue and clarity and mindfulness and wisdom.

The Buddha described the aim of practice in a number of different discourses and in a number of different ways of saying what the purpose of his teachings were.

And in one discourse in the Middle-Ink Discourses,

Sutta number 29,

It's called the Simile of the Heartwood and it refers to,

It uses a simile that describes a story where somebody needs heartwood,

They need that strong inner wood in order to make a chair or a table or a bench or a pillar or a post.

And so this person who needs the heartwood goes into the forest in search of heartwood and comes to a tree that actually possesses heartwood.

But that person really doesn't know what heartwood is and so they get excited that they found this tree and they leave with the twigs and the leaves.

Another person comes also seeking heartwood to do a building project and they find a tree that has heartwood,

But they also don't know what it is,

So they leave carrying away only the branches.

Another person looking for heartwood does the same thing,

But leaves carrying away the bark.

And another one takes only the soft inner wood.

Each of these people needs heartwood and they feel pleased with what they found because they believe that their purpose has been fulfilled.

In fact,

They praise themselves for their discoveries and for their attainments of these twigs and these branches and this bark.

And then they disparage others.

And they really,

It's said they become intoxicated with their gains,

Their attainments and grow negligent.

But because they didn't know the aim,

They didn't actually know what the heartwood was,

Though they're unaware of this,

Their purpose is not going to be fulfilled.

And this simile is used to describe the many valuable things that happen in the course of our spiritual practice.

And in this discourse,

The Buddha then goes on to describe four things that are gained in the course of our practice,

But should not be mistaken for the goal.

And a fifth thing that is considered the noble aim and the heartwood of the path.

So he considers first popularity,

Fame,

A sense of gaining prestige or social respectability.

And he does not praise this.

Yes,

It happens,

But he does not praise it at all.

And then there are three things that he praises,

Virtue,

Concentration,

And knowledge and vision.

These are attainments that develop in the course of our practice.

They happen and they're praiseworthy.

And then there's the fifth,

Which is the final,

What's called the perpetual liberation that does not fall away.

And so the simile of the heartwood reminds us to reflect upon what are our aims for practice and what is the highest aim?

What is the heartwood of the path so that we won't be satisfied with deceptive attainments,

Even praiseworthy accomplishments that develop in the course of our mindfulness training and our meditative development.

When we are engaged in a sincere and deep meditation practice,

We're going to encounter periodically some very lovely experiences.

We might experience some joy and bliss,

Some calmness and tranquility.

Perhaps the mind might become luminous and bright,

Flexible and wealty.

We might experience very refined states of concentration or deep states of clarity and wisdom.

These are great.

Don't complain if they occur.

You don't need to fear them.

You don't need to avoid them.

You don't need to resist them.

But they're not the heartwood.

They're not the aim.

They're not the ultimate goal of this path.

In the Vasudhi Maga,

It's a fifth century meditation manual,

We find a very important list of 10 corruptions of insight.

And these corruptions of insight occur very naturally in the course of our meditation practice and they become impediments only if they are mistaken for the goal,

Only if we become attached to them and therefore stop short of the goal.

And so these corruptions of insight include light and luminosity of the mind,

A radiance of mind.

The second is knowledge of matter and mind to really have a very clear,

Vivid and genuine understanding of the nature of body and mind.

The third is rapturous bliss,

Happiness,

Joy.

The fourth is tranquility.

The fifth is pleasure and happiness.

The sixth is resolution,

Determination.

The seventh is exertion,

Right striving,

Right effort.

The eighth is mindfulness and the ninth is equanimity.

They don't really sound like impediments to the path,

Do they?

I mean,

In a way,

These are the things that we are cultivating.

These are practices that we nurture,

Certainly mindfulness,

Equanimity,

Energy,

Resolution,

Joy,

Tranquility and knowledge of matter and mind.

What's corrupt about these?

Well it's the tenth that tells us.

The tenth item is attachment.

And if we are attached to any of these,

Then it will become an impediment to the development of our practice.

It will prevent us from reaching the ultimate goal of realization.

Not all of these experiences are going to occur for every meditator,

But this list of these nine items does describe the kind of positive experiences that can arise in our practice and have the potential to distort our perception of the path if we neglect to see them as conditioned,

As impermanent,

As not I,

Not me and not mine.

Just as a villager who goes into the forest looking for heartwood would be more successful if that villager knew what heartwood was and at least knew some of the defining features of it perhaps or what it wasn't.

As we explore the depths of our minds,

As we explore how we encounter experience,

How perception operates,

We could benefit by perhaps having a sense of what we're looking for,

Having an understanding of what the Buddha was teaching,

Of what he was teaching for,

Of the purpose that motivated his ministry.

So we can first reflect individually,

What are we seeking?

What brought you here tonight?

What brings you to your meditation seat?

What inspires you to pick up a Dharma book instead of a comic book?

What are you interested in developing?

What are your goals?

And are you committed to enlightenment,

To inner peace,

To wisdom,

To calmness,

To living with greater love and compassion,

To being more present for the encounters that you experience in a day?

What motivates your practice?

What do you want?

One of the classic definitions of enlightenment is the ending of greed,

Hate,

And delusion.

Does that motivate your practice?

Is that something that you want?

Are you committed to putting an end to the movements of greed and hate and delusion as they arise within your own minds and your own life?

How strong is that commitment?

I think these are very noble goals.

They require dedication,

They require effort,

They require earnestness.

The Buddha urged his disciples to abandon the defilements of mind as earnestly as a man whose turban or hair was on fire would attempt to extinguish those flames.

There's no complacency thinking,

Ah,

Maybe I'll get around to it later.

I've got other things to do.

No,

When your hair is on fire,

You don't think about the long list of other possible distractions.

You take care of it.

It's the business at hand.

It's what calls your attention.

If we're complacent,

We might allow the fires of greed,

Hate,

And delusion to smolder within our own minds.

We might not bother to address them until they burst into flame,

Causing panic and suffering until we act on them.

And then in a way,

It's too late.

It's caused a bit of harm.

So we need the effort to align our energies with our commitments to maintain a steadiness of attention on our aim and to do the work that develops wisdom and brings inner peace.

Even just to sit every day in meditation,

Even just to watch the mind and bring it back to the present moment as we're showering,

Brushing our teeth,

As we're interacting,

As we're driving,

As we're doing all the various things that we do in a day,

To watch the mind in those encounters and to see inactivity is greed,

Hate,

Or delusion,

Determining our engagement with activity.

If so,

Can we find an option out?

Can we shift to non-greed,

Non-hate,

Non-delusion?

Whether we're sitting in meditation or bringing mindfulness to daily life,

Each moment requires some degree of diligence,

Of non-complacency.

Having a sense of an aim can bring the inspiration and the sense of urgency to our practice.

But even if we have a sense of urgency,

Very often it might appear as though our practice doesn't develop very quickly.

Suzuki Roshi said in Zen Mind Beginner's Mind,

After you have practiced for a while,

You realize that it is not possible to make rapid,

Extraordinary progress.

The progress you make is always little by little,

Not like going out in a downpour when you know you're getting wet.

Rather,

Like in a fog when you do not know that you're getting wet.

If your mind has ideas of progress,

You will be disappointed by the pace.

So we need patience,

We need trust in the gradual unfolding of the path.

I like the term commitment,

But the term commitment sometimes might sound forceful or too strong,

Perhaps even restrictive to some people.

But what's the emotional tone behind our commitments?

I think that emotional quality,

That feeling quality,

The sense of that way we make a commitment varies at different times in our lives.

For me,

Sometimes my commitment to the spiritual life has felt like just a deep but kind of niggly sort of curiosity,

A sense of just chewing on something,

Wanting to know something,

Kind of sense of not being satisfied with the current state of knowledge and understanding,

A sense of having my interest perked.

And sometimes my sense of commitment has felt so urgent that it felt as though I would have sacrificed anything to pursue my practice,

That nothing could stand in my way,

That my very life depended upon my practice.

And it's probably not surprising that it was during that sense of incredible,

Almost agitated urgency that I flew off to India on a one-way ticket and spent the better part of a decade abroad there.

I left school,

I left family,

I left work,

I left all my worldly aims behind.

I even left my name behind and accepted a new name.

I endured typhoid,

Dengue fever,

Giardia,

Hunger,

And quite uncomfortable situations.

But I didn't want to let anything stand in my way.

And it didn't feel difficult because of the energy of that sense of urgency.

And there were other times,

Periods of my practice,

When that sense of urgency didn't feel so agitating.

In fact,

It felt more like a loving devotion,

A sense of being deeply devoted to the possibility of awakening,

A kind of smooth,

Deep,

But earnest commitment.

I just had the sense of loving the possibility of awakening more than I loved doing anything else,

To love liberation and that potential with my whole heart,

And to feel a deep caring and appreciation for the Dharma path.

And sometimes this sense of commitment feels to me like just a deep calm,

A gradual dedication,

A gradual inclination,

And a sense of a very gradual training.

I often say that the meditator's mascot is the tortoise,

The tortoise that just plods along and keeps on going.

Sometimes it retreats into its shell,

Goes on retreat,

Enters into silence for a few moments,

Sits in meditation,

And then it stretches out into the world again,

Enduring whatever comes on its path and just not giving up,

Continuing to plod along and continuing to go.

Whatever that sense of energetic flavor is,

Emotional flavor might be,

Whatever the style,

We still need perseverance,

We need patience,

We need commitment,

We need dedication,

Because our development takes time.

This isn't about snapping our fingers and having instant enlightenment.

We're cultivating profound qualities that lead to a potential transformation that is a radical transformation,

A deep transformation.

But usually we must nurture conditions for a long time before those conditions ripen and we can taste the fruit of our practice.

So as you consider,

What are you committed to?

Please be careful that you're not committing to some kind of institutional form as your ultimate goal.

I think it would be a mistake to put our commitments into social structures such as thinking,

I have to attend long retreats to develop my practice.

I have to ordain as a monk or a nun in order to pursue this path.

I don't think we need to make a commitment to a particular technique for the duration of our practice or our lives.

And we don't need to identify with or become committed to particular teachers or communities.

Yes,

There's value for loyalty,

For trust,

For gratitude.

Those are virtues,

For discipline,

For steadiness.

If we shop around and are always changing our practices and going from this teacher to that teacher every two seconds,

We're never going to really get the depth in one.

But our deepest commitments I think need to be to something profound,

The heartwood of the path.

It is a movement of energy and intention and it does not require any special costume,

Any special custom or any special association because it's broader than any particular method.

At different times in our lives we might emphasize one meditation technique,

But then at another time in our life we might emphasize another meditation technique.

It doesn't make the second one better than or more important than the first one.

There are times when we might work with mindfulness of feelings.

There are other times when we might focus on mindfulness with breath.

There are other times when we might deepen our samadhi and try and strengthen our concentration and other times we might be focused on the deepening and the enriching of compassion and loving kindness.

Sometimes we'll focus on virtues and really work with the ethical precepts or cultivate our capacity to give or to let go.

There are so many different dimensions of the Dhamma path and at different times in the course of our practice we may be involved to a greater or lesser extent with different modes of practice.

So perhaps what we dedicate ourselves to is something rather profound,

Perhaps something we can't even define or limit to a specific image or understanding.

Like really what is freedom?

What is peace?

What is the end of ignorance,

Craving and hatred?

We might have an inkling of it,

We might have a sense of it,

But each of these ideas are worth spending a lifetime getting to know what the deepest meaning of that is.

Can we have a goal that is worth exploring for a whole lifetime so that the meaning of it becomes rich and profound?

The commitments that we make are powerful,

They set a direction,

They have an effect.

And so please reflect.

What are you committed to?

What are you committed to in your spiritual life?

I'd like to meditate for a few minutes and contemplate that question.

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Reviews

Wonderful guidance and inspiration to understand the source of our individual commitment to practice.

Oh what delight to listen to your soft voice at 3 am. Thank you

This reflection spoke to me in a deeply personal way. Many thanks.

Important reflections about the importance of reflections. The core. So much worth to be remembered.

Thank you ♡ At the beginning of this talk I had some resistance and nearly discarded the session. I chose to listen anyway and the message could not have been more timely, and the ending time for contemplation was perfect :) thank you again

Thank you for your teaching. Despite the list of “corruptions” it seems we must develop those things before seeing the “heart wood”. I will listen again, I’m sure.

Returning, coming back, seeing with new eyes.

Thank-you - this is valuable. I have lots to reflect on after listening. 🙏💛

Wonderful inspiring insight. Looking deeper. Just being. Grateful 🙏🏼

A profound talk. I usually listen to talks while doing routine chores, but as this talk began, I felt the need to drink deeply of this one. I sat and listened, and some clarity was revealed to me I had never had before regarding certain details of my practice and my goals. I realized my long-term goal was actually a middle-term goal, and that what I thought of as a purpose was actually a quest for an achievement. This was a huge eye-opener for me. There were other similar experiences scattered throughout this talk. I will most assuredly be re-visiting this talk as my journey continues.

Thank you so much for sharing this with me and the world. I see the light in you. 🤲❤️🤲

What a podcast! So thought provoking. In the wee hours of this morning when I was unable to sleep, a thought popped into my head...."What is your purpose in meditating, Gina?" After contemplating that question my strongest answers were Inner Peace, Love and Learning My Life Lessons. I'm unsure if those should be my ultimate "goals" but at least I'm on the right path. Thank you so much. Bless you. ❤️🙏❤️🙏

Insightful- will come back to this.

Excellent observations and interesting teachings throughout. Love the heartwood simile. Thank you.

Thank you . So many ideas, reflections, deep concepts....pretty interesting, all. to listen again.