Dharma As A Refuge - Coronavirus & The Support Of The Dharma Part 3

An exploration of how dharma teachings and our practice of them can be a reassuring refuge and promote skillful warm responses to meet the reality of a global pandemic. This talk reflects on what ancient wisdom can teach us today and how this flexible ever-appropriate knowledge has supported wise responses through out time: right up to this present moment. May our practice cultivate wisdom and compassion for the benefit of all beings everywhere.

Transcript

Welcome wherever you are right now in the world,

In your situation,

Internal and external.

I'd like to offer some more reflections today around the support of Dharma practice in challenging times,

You know,

Particularly in relation to the challenging times that we find ourselves in now as a planet or as the human species.

And just as I say that,

I really get a sense of how unique this time is in the fact that we are all affected,

Yeah,

All humans are affected by this current crisis,

Emergency,

Time of uncertainty,

We can say.

And that is actually,

There's something actually very beautiful about that feeling,

Our shared reality,

Our shared experience as humans.

So today,

I'd like to share a model that came to me,

Actually many years ago,

At least 10,

I can't remember exactly probably more than that,

Closer to 12 or 15,

Which is a model of how Dharma practice can support us,

The ways in which Dharma practice can support us in times of challenge,

Whether it's inner turmoil,

Inner difficulty,

Or external challenge.

And that external challenge,

Again,

Either personal,

Social or global on all these levels.

And so I hope this model can be useful to you also.

And I just wanted to also say,

You know,

When I use the word Dharma,

Sanskrit,

Pali word in Pali,

Dhamma.

And it literally the usage that I am making of it has many meanings is teachings,

Dharma,

As teachings,

Teachings of wisdom,

And compassion.

So the model that I'd like to share to offer has three parts,

Three threads,

We can say that are interwoven with each other.

And yet there is value to also see them as distinct from each other.

It makes it more,

In my experience,

More usable,

User friendly,

We can say.

So these three threads or aspects or parts of how Dharma can support us in times of challenge,

Challenging times.

So the first thread is Dharma as refuge.

And if you're familiar with with Dharma,

Buddha Dharma,

Dharma in the Buddhist tradition,

And refuge is very primary aspect of the teachings.

But I think that word in itself,

Even if you're not familiar with Buddha Dharma,

Gives us a sense of what we're talking about refuge,

A place of safety,

A place of rest,

Place where we feel held and supported.

And as I was reflecting on their sense of refuge this morning,

I got I got this image or an image came of sheltering and a large ancient tree,

A tree that has deep roots,

And a wide trunk and a wide canopy,

You have the branches reaching out and around and creating this safe sheltering space.

And this tree in itself gives the sense of it's seen so many comings and goings of life over the years that it's been standing there,

Growing with life.

It's part of the elements of life.

And yet it also shelters us shelters us from too much sun or too much rain.

Yeah,

But it shelters us in a way that doesn't isolate us that doesn't separate us.

It keeps us connected and in touch in contact with the elements of life.

So again,

If you imagine yourself sheltering under a tree in the rain,

You can still feel the rain around you.

And if it rains long enough,

Then it starts dripping on you.

But you still have that sense of shelter.

And sometimes we may need the tree to actually,

And we can imagine this to have a large space,

Open space in its trunk,

The way ancient trees sometimes have a space that we can actually get into and sit and be more fully sheltered.

Yeah,

The rain cannot reach us there,

We can feel sheltered and safe.

And as I was playing with this image of refuge,

And the tree today,

I remembered a story or a teaching from one of my teachers called Baba Amte.

And he once told us that for him,

When he thinks of meditation practice,

It's like a cave that he knew when he was a young man in central India.

And he described this cave,

Which was actually a tree that was so mighty,

That was so mighty,

And ancient and old,

That the roots of the tree had carved a cave-like space into the earth.

And this space was so safe,

And so potent,

And so beautiful that the wild animals would come to rest there.

And when he told us this story,

He said,

And when we meditate,

We do the same thing.

We create a space that is so safe,

And so potent,

And so rich,

That the wild animals of our own being,

And the wild animals of the world can come to find rest.

There's such a beautiful image for me.

I hope it is for you as well.

So I'm using images here to really give us a sense,

A feeling of this refuge aspect,

This refuge quality of the teachings and the practices.

And when we bring it into the practice,

The practicalities,

We can see,

We can use meditation practices as a refuge.

If we feel overwhelmed,

Or we feel confused,

We can use practices that calm and regulate our system,

Like grounding in body sensations,

Or using a body scan and relaxing the body,

Or using the breath to regulate through how we breathe.

We can use practices that increase well-being and resilience,

Like practices of gratitude or compassion,

Or practices that bring a harmonization of the body and the mind.

And of course,

You know,

Many of these practices are available to us as guided meditations on this site that you're using right now.

So remembering to use them,

That's part of the refuge practice,

Is remembering what is here that I can use,

Remembering what is here that I can use,

And then making use of it.

So one part of the refuge aspect is practices that we can use.

And the second part is the teachings themselves that we can take shelter in,

Find safety and support within.

And so for each of us,

This may be a little different,

You know,

What are the teachings that support this sense of rootedness,

Of safety,

Of shelter?

I'm just going to give some examples.

For example,

The teachings around equanimity,

Finding balance and steadiness.

You know,

Someone,

A student reminded me yesterday,

Today,

About the image that I often use for equanimity is the image of bamboo.

Yeah,

Bamboo is one of the strongest materials in the world,

And yet it's very flexible.

That's part of its strength.

So having that image of the equanimity is balance,

Steadiness,

Flexibility,

Being able to move through the storms of life,

Finding steadiness within the eye of the storm.

And so this image of bamboo,

It's very much rooted in the wisdom of the teachings.

Now that's what we're rooted in.

So equanimity can be one example of a teaching that is really there to support us and to give us shelter,

Or to give us a ground to root in.

Another teaching is the teaching of interconnectedness or the teaching of dependent arising.

That we are not separate and not independent beings.

They are part of a web of conditions that come together to create every aspect of our experience.

And sometimes I have the image for this,

Which is really helpful in this refuge sensor,

Is if I'm plugging in to that network,

That web of life,

And I really have this image of plugging back into this enormous web of interconnectedness.

Or it may be that I'm just a little bit too much of a word of interconnectiveness.

Or it may be that teachings of impermanence are helpful or of renunciation.

Maybe that it's the teachings around wholesomely opening to ill health and death and aging as inevitable aspects of being alive.

And actually as an integral part of the wholeness of our lives.

You know that there is death and there is birth and there are two sides of the same life.

There's endings and there's beginnings.

So seeing that might be the kind of support and shelter that works for you.

And at this stage of the model,

I really want to emphasize we're not going into too much intellectual exploration necessarily.

It depends on your wake makeup,

Your personal makeup.

But it's really more feeling the teachings as a ground we can rest into and root into.

Like the roots of that giant tree that are surrounding us and holding us in safety.

Giving us a context that brings understanding,

That brings wisdom.

And doing that,

Giving us shelter within the elements of life.

In my own experience,

This has been so helpful.

So helpful,

Both with personal challenges in my life and things have been difficult.

Also in my social and political environmental activism.

And huge support to keep things in context,

To resource,

To shelter.

So that's the first thread of the refuge of the safe place.

Place of shelter.

And the second thread is dharma as a resource when we think about it as cultivation.

I'm going to say more about this word in Pali,

The word is Bhavana and it very much is translated as cultivation or bringing into being.

Yeah,

Bringing into being of qualities that are wholesome and skillful.

Qualities such as compassion,

Generosity,

Patience,

Integrity,

Wisdom,

Contentment.

It's a really long list,

But we can kind of just keep that can be part of the play,

Part of the exploration of all these wholesome qualities that we can cultivate.

Another way of saying that is cultivation as giving birth to wholesome qualities and attitudes.

And one of the beautiful things about this is as we give birth to these qualities in ourselves,

As we nurture them in ourselves,

We're also nurturing them in the world.

Because we are mutually dependent and interconnected,

As they grow in our own hearts and minds,

They grow in the world because we manifest them.

We bring them into being in our actions,

In our speech,

In our choices,

In our thoughts.

And you know,

We all know examples of this.

I was remembering again this morning,

This movement that was very alive a few years ago,

Of pay it forward,

You know,

And people really getting into it and having these,

I think this was in the US,

Like times when maybe more than a hundred people took part and every person paid the bill for the car behind them in a drive-through.

A drive-through for fast food or something,

You know.

And we kind of know the impact of us sometimes when someone is being generous towards us and then even like the impact on someone we don't know is being generous.

It impacts us in the same way when we are generous or compassionate or patient,

That impacts the world around us.

So that can in itself really support us just that knowing of another cultivation,

The bringing into being of qualities and attitudes that are wholesome and skillful and aligned with the goodness in the world.

And there's so many examples of that in the world right now.

I know in the UK the number of small community support organizations is growing by hundreds every day in this time of crisis.

So this brings us to this cultivation aspect of Dharma support can also be divided into two threads.

One is recognizing the cultivation already happening in ourselves and in others.

So we can do this,

You know,

As we wake up each morning and we wake up to what feels like a less reliable,

Less known reality.

And we have to let go of habits and ways of being in the world,

Like maybe for some of us like me now and still in self-isolation,

Freedom of movement and freedom of choice of what we can do.

So we recognize what is the cultivation that's already happening right now when I wake up into this,

You know,

I'm,

I'm cultivating renunciation and letting go.

That's a wholesome quality.

I'm cultivating patience.

Yeah,

Because I can't just walk out the door and go for a run.

It is what I might want to do.

I even feel I need to do.

I'm cultivating contentment and gratitude by intentionally saying,

Okay,

What is good enough in my experience?

What can I be grateful for?

I'm cultivating creativity.

Yes,

I can't go out for a run.

How can I exercise?

Yeah.

How can I take that love for something and adapt it to the present circumstances?

Or maybe I can't leave the house or I choose not to.

And,

You know,

For some of us,

There's really many of us,

We're making really difficult choices.

No,

Maybe we're choosing like in my family.

I am one of four siblings and three of us cannot see our parents right now because we would be potentially endangering them.

And that's a really hard choice to make.

And I think that's a really important thing.

And I think that's a really hard choice to make.

Yeah.

So many of us are making these kinds of choices.

And can we see that as we're doing that,

We're cultivating particular qualities of compassion,

Of care,

Of discernment and wisdom,

Of trust,

You know,

So many.

So recognizing the cultivation that's already happening,

What positive qualities and attitudes are being strengthened?

What am I already giving birth to in the world and in myself?

And the second thread is,

How can I intentionally align and cultivate wholesome attitudes and qualities?

So there's a fine balance there between the two.

Yeah.

Recognizing what is actually already happening.

So we're turning the attention to see what's actually happening that I haven't noticed.

And then how can I intentionally align and cultivate wholesome attitudes?

And so it might be that we decide for today or for this week or for this hour,

We're going to intentionally cultivate patience.

So when I feel buzzy or restless or impatient,

What would help me cultivate patience?

And I can be really working with the breath and with the body again to ground and open.

It might be working with the teachings.

Yeah.

Remembering impermanence.

Okay.

This is like this right now,

But it won't be like this forever.

Can that support the cultivation of patience?

It might be just repeating to myself,

Gently,

Just patience,

Patience.

And we might use inquiry and questioning towards ourselves.

Or if we're practicing with someone else,

We can actually have a little dialogue about this.

How can I see this through the lens of impermanence,

Whatever that this is right now,

My personal agitation,

The state of the world?

How can I see this through the lens of impermanence?

How can I see this through the lens of dependent arising or interconnection?

You know,

One reflection that I find really helpful with this is that whatever I'm experiencing right now is part of the human condition.

It's not just mine.

It's ours.

And particularly,

You know,

For most of us probably listening to this right now,

These limits that we may be experiencing right now externally around not having freedom of movement,

Not having freedom of choice in what we do and how we spend time being concerned perhaps about the quality of medical care that's accessible to us.

All these limits are actually how most of the human population lives.

Most of the time,

What happens when we open to that?

For most people in the world,

This uncertainty around livelihood,

Around health care,

Around the capacity to go where I want when I want to,

That's they live without uncertainty.

And noticing what happens when I open to this experience right now that I'm having which might be unpleasant as an opportunity to know the experience of others,

To increase my understanding of the lives of others,

Feeling it as a way of connecting.

And Gandhi,

Mahatma Gandhi,

One of my,

So considering one of my teachers,

Used to say,

You cannot understand someone until you walk in your shoes.

You cannot really understand someone until you walk in their shoes.

So what happens when we see this period that we're in right now as an opportunity to increase our understanding of others through walking in their shoes?

Just noticing what happens.

And with all of these suggestions of cultivation that I've offered,

It's not that they're right,

There's a right or wrong,

That we should be experiencing things in a particular way.

The question we're interested in is what brings more ease and well-being?

You know,

The Buddha's often quoted as saying,

You know,

What I teach is the ending of suffering.

What brings less suffering?

More ease and well-being.

What can I learn from that?

Now,

What relaxes and reduces a sense of contraction in the body and the heart and mind?

What changes the experience of fear or overwhelm?

That's what we're interested in.

For each of us,

It might be slightly different at different times.

So remembering that creativity and playfulness in attending to our experience,

Trying things out and seeing how does this impact my experience right now?

I mentioned Baba Amte earlier,

And I'd like to share a little bit of his story and why he was such a significant teacher for me.

So he grew up in India in the 30s and 40s and was active in the struggle against the British Controversy.

He was a very strong,

Large,

Physically strong man and emotionally strong,

Considered himself and was considered by others as fearless.

And he was a student both of Gandhi and of Tagore,

He was very interested in social change.

He himself grew up in a very privileged and rich family.

But he aligned with the poor,

The untouchables,

Those without rights in India from a young age,

And was very active.

So one night,

He was walking home from his work,

And he came across what he thought was a bundle of rags on the road.

It was raining.

And when he looked closely,

He saw that that bundle of rags was not indeed just a bundle of rags,

It was a human being,

It was a man.

He was dying from leprosy,

From the byproducts of leprosy.

And he felt an incredible degree of fear.

And he ran away and went back home.

He didn't stay with that man.

And he lay in bed that whole night not being able to sleep because of his own fear.

He had seen himself,

As I said,

As a fearless person,

And suddenly he came face to face with his fear,

His fear of contracting leprosy.

There was no cure at that time.

This is the late 40s.

His fear of contracting leprosy and then passing it on to his wife and to his two sons who were less than two at the time.

Yeah,

It was fear,

Not unfounded fear,

But it was fear.

And as morning came,

Clarity came also to him.

This is how he used to tell the story.

And he realized that what he was interested in was facing his fear.

Yeah,

Finding ways of transforming his fear.

So the thread of cultivation.

And he went back to that bundle of rags,

That man called Tulsiram.

And he built a shelter and he cared for him and he nursed him until he died in his arms.

And when I met him decades,

Decades later,

He was in his 90s.

He had founded a community for people with leprosy.

And he spent his whole life supporting,

Serving,

Creating opportunities.

And he used to say to us,

He used to say,

People call me fearless,

But I am not fearless.

I've done all of this because I was afraid.

And I was interested in turning towards that fear,

Allowing it,

Acknowledging it,

Acknowledging that it was there,

Not suppressing it,

Not pretending that it wasn't,

But seeing what is possible as a human being for myself and for others.

And so the community that Baba Amte and his wife together,

Thay,

Sadanath Thay,

They founded,

Founded,

Which is now being run by their grandchildren,

Is 5,

000 people strong and is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in.

And when I met Baba Amte in his 90s,

He used to look out his window and say,

I can die at any moment,

A happy man,

Because I've given happiness to others.

So through facing his own fear,

In an ongoing way,

Not expecting it to disappear,

But being willing to work with it,

To acknowledge it as part of his humanity,

Part of our humanity.

This man brought happiness to so many,

Gave inspiration to so many,

Created a community where the qualities and attitudes of generosity and compassion and wisdom are so powerful,

So palpable.

And so this brings us this story of Baba Amte and facing his fear,

Being willing to renounce his own safety,

Being willing to renounce his own privileged heritage.

And the happiness that unfolded from that for himself and for others brings us to the third thread,

Which is dharma as action.

That's actually one of the meanings of dharma,

Action.

Dharma as action.

So we take dharma as refuge,

And we take dharma as cultivation.

And then we take dharma also as action.

The action of caring for ourselves,

Yeah,

For our body.

And it's so important in times like this not to forget to look after the body,

To pay attention,

To exercise,

To sleep,

To diet.

I'm going to put out another recording around this,

Just this,

Caring for the body in these times.

Just this,

Caring for the body in these times.

Caring for the heart and mind,

Yeah,

Remembering there is a body here that we can rest in,

That we can take refuge in.

There is the teachings that we can take refuge in.

There are practices that we can do.

There is cultivation that we can do.

So taking action and caring for ourselves.

And then taking action also in caring for others.

Many of us are in situations where others are dependent on us.

There might be children or family members that are more vulnerable,

Emotionally or physically,

Or friends,

Or strangers,

Neighbors,

Strangers,

People that we haven't had much contact on.

So many of us are taking on these roles of caring for others,

Offering physical care,

Offering emotional mental care,

Yeah,

Through making sure that our children exercise and sleep and have a good diet,

Of phoning others that may be needing support.

You know,

So many stories now of people putting phone numbers,

Their phone number through letterboxes on their street saying if you need someone to do your shopping,

You need to phone you and have a chat,

Call me.

So many of these things that we can do,

Caring for others during these times.

And we know the effect that it has on our beings.

The movement of generosity,

The movement of connection to others is something that we all need as humans.

So we're creating a cycle,

I'm making a movement of cycle with my hands as I'm speaking here.

And so many of us think oh gee,

If we anyplace can do ourok before we forget,

By walking on a bus we don't know how to,

We don't know how to run,

We don't know how to cope to get Maybe you noticed,

How does it play out Korean Chamorro?

And we really want to thank each other.

We really want to thank each other.

I want to thank each other every day for doing a God emergencies.

Thank each other for Cordelia.

Remember the importance of our actions and our speech and our choices.

How I hold others in my heart is an action.

How I speak to others is an action that has impacts.

My thoughts themselves have an impact because they impact the habits of my mind and then the speech and action that will result from that.

So the importance of our actions not as a way that puts pressure on us but as something that opens possibilities.

Caring for the world,

Just that,

As we go through our day,

As we care for our own body,

Opening out the vista,

Opening out the perspective,

Washing these hands as an action of care for the world.

What happens when we do that?

Remembering the big view,

Yeah,

Of us as part of the network of life,

Life on earth over time and over species.

So maybe I'm having to renounce things now like,

You know,

Flights or travelling and I can think,

Ah,

But this is actually for the planet,

This is good.

Yeah,

Planet is breathing more freely now as there's less pollution.

But planet,

This is good.

And what happens to our experience when we play with these perceptions?

And we can nourish this sense of caring for the world,

Caring for others,

Caring for ourselves.

We can nourish that and explore it.

In these times,

What is the teaching or what are the teachings here about the priorities we have as a species?

What are the teachings here for me about what I really need or what we really need?

What are the teachings?

What can I take away?

What are the teachings about what really matters to me,

To us?

And what commitments and vision can I explore,

Can I make now that will keep me in touch with this even when things get back to how they were or back to normal or whatever it is that the phrase that we use for that,

When this ends?

What will keep me in touch with what really matters?

What will keep me in touch with what I've learned and I'm learning and I'm cultivating here,

Now,

These opportunities?

So these three threads,

Yeah,

Dharma as refuge,

As cultivation,

As action,

Not separate but interwoven with each other,

Really creating a tapestry of support for us.

And as we engage with them,

Doing this with a lot of kindness,

Compassion,

Gentleness towards ourselves,

Towards others,

And also a lot of creativity and inquisitiveness with our interest.

Yeah,

So what matters is,

Okay,

What happens when I practice in this way?

What happens when I relate to experience in this way?

And what happens when I relate to experience in this way?

How does that impact me?

And over time,

We cultivate the sensitivity to see,

Ah,

When things are like this,

Yeah,

When there's this overwhelm or this degree of agitation in the body and mind,

Then this is helpful or I can allow myself to explore in this way.

And when there's this degree or that degree,

Then this is helpful.

So we're learning our practice,

Our aliveness.

The essence of what is possible for us does not need to change because circumstances are challenging.

Can we remember the opportunities and the possibilities?

So thank you for your listening.

Thank you for your practice,

And I hope this will be of use and a value to you.

Real deep wish that you and your loved ones are safe and well and that our practice continues to nourish and support us in cultivating and bringing into being the qualities and attitudes that will support the wellbeing of all beings of the whole planet.

May our practice,

May our understanding be for the welfare and the benefit of all beings everywhere.

Thank you.

Reviews

The best dharma talk in times of crisis I have ever heard

Thank you for this enriching and compassionate talk. I will listen again. Stay safe and well too. 🙏

Thank you so much for this dharma model which is so helpful and inspirational at this critical time. I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well. I should add, I love all your teachings that I've listened to so far. 💚

Thank you Zohar. I am grateful for your sharings. Sending good wishes.