Working Backwards -

Hi  Folks !

I have been in a 3 month - residential course learning Pali through English.

It keeps us really busy but it is great !

More about it next time, what I am posting today is the project I worked on.

We were asked to speak on any topic of our choice and you know how I love -

the roots and the ' very beginnings ' !

A   very good place to start !

So this is what I spoke on -

WORKING  BACKWARDS TO THE 1ST NOBLE TRUTH

It was in the 5th Standard that the Buddha first helped me to get full marks for a question in the History paper.

Remembering the dates of various battles and matching them with Kings and Queens and eras was as complicated then, as are the Aorists and Participles and Causatives and Gerundive Paradigms now..

The question was -

What were the Buddha's 4 Noble Truths?

1. There is Sorrow.

2. There is a cause to the Sorrow.

3. There is a way out of Sorrow.

4. It is called The 8 - fold Noble Path.

That was 1/2 into 4 = 2 full marks !

What was the 8 - fold  path, why was it called Noble was not asked because it was not taught in 5th Std, and in later classes when it was touched upon, it was one of the many optional questions to answer.

So I had to live with my sorrows with all their causes, merrily multiplying them with impunity born of ignorance or with helpless resignation.

I had forgotten that there was a way out of it, because it was optional.

Hundreds of moons later, I did my first Vipassana and The Buddha slipped in quietly right back into my muddled life and has been here ever since.

The books available about 25 years ago were very few and made heavy reading. 

There was neither kindle nor google nor amazon nor flipkart.

The bookshops were dark and dingy and uninspiring.

I plodded on with my practice, being  more of a Patipatti person.

( That's the practice )

Anyway it was the practice which was more important, wasn't it?

In short and long courses a lot of baggage went out and more and more showed up.

I wondered how many ice bergs were there, the tips kept popping up regularly and I kept working on them.

But was I doing something wrong ?

The benefits were there for me to experience.

I knew there was ' kaalam aagameyya ' --  let the right time come , yet the doubts persisted.

If I just knew for sure that I was not sowing new seeds, Kaalam would be easier to pass.

Sometimes, the world got scary when it resembled Ratthapala's  'The Four Summeries ' -

Upaneeyati loko - the world is gradually brought to an end,

addhuvo - it is unstable,

ataano loko - it has no refuge, no shelter,

anabhissaro - there's no one in charge,

assako loko - nothing belongs to anybody,

sabbam pahaaya gamaneeyam - having abandoned everything, one has to go,

uuno loko - it is lacking, 

atitto - dissatisfied and insatiable

tanhaa - daaso'ti - a slave of desire.

I agreed with everything.

And plodded on with my practice.

Then, while serving a Long Course at DhammaBodhi in Bodhagaya, Dhamma handed me this very slim book by Ajahn Sumedho, of barely 75 pages on the 4 Noble Truths.

It zapped me with its lucid and humorous language and I read it over and over again.

Now while sitting courses, since  very early on, I had found a way to calm my mind when it got mad or agitated.

I would talk to it once, tell it, that if such a situation arises again in future, for you to be calm and unruffled then, working backwards, be calm in this moment, now.

It helped and I did not have to remind it every now and then.

Now, to resolve my doubts, I worked the Noble Truths backwards and got my crock of gold.

There are 4 Noble Truths and each has 3 insights.

There is a statement, a prescription and then the result if it is followed.

1.Dukkham

2.Dukkha samudaayam,

3.Dukkha nirodham,

4.Dukkha nirodha gamini patipadaa

Working  backwards, the 1st insight of the 4th Noble Truth is that there is this 8 - fold path leading to Cessation of Suffering.

In its 3 groups, it covers all aspects of body, speech and mind.

Samma Ditthi, a part of Pannaa states that 'All that is subject to arising is subject to ceasing '.

Samma Sankappo is about having Aspirations which is beneficial for ourselves and others.

Similarly  with Samadhi and Sila.

Am I aware of these at an experiential level ?

Yes, I'm okay, can do better.

The next one ,The 3rd Noble Truth.

It is about Cessation of Suffering.

So, what is called the Cessation of Suffering?

( tanhaa - craving )

tanhaaya ( of craving, )
1. asesa - remainderless

2. viraagaa - fading away

3. nirodho - cessation of that very tanhaa

4.caago - abandonment

5.patinissaggo - relinquishing

6.mutti - release

7.anaalayo - non harbouring of tanhaa

This does not come from wrestling with an adversary as clever as Tanhaa.

To quote from the book, ' the whole aim of Buddhist teaching is to develop a reflective mind, to let go of delusions by contemplating.

A mind willing to be receptive, pondering, considering such a mental state, is the way out of suffering.

Such a mind will lead to Cessation.

Hmn.

I need to work on this.

If I have not  been in a reflective mood before I sit, my meditation becomes mechanical.

The important aspect of the 2nd Noble Truth is that is identifies the culprit.

Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering and it is this that should be let go of.

The 3 tanhaas are-

1. for sensual pleasure

2. to be

3. to not to be !

Shakespeare must have been a very wise bhikkhu and must be meditating in rupa loka now, to have given this amazing insight 400 years ago !

To  quote from Ajahn Sumedho's book, '  When you see the origin of suffering, you realize that the problem is the grasping of desire, not desire itself.'

It means being deluded by it, thinking it is really me and mine.

Okay, some intricate stuff.

I  do cling and I need to let go.

I analyze too much about the how's and why's without coming to any resolution

I  need to work on this.

And now for the 1st Noble Truth.

It simply states  that  - There is suffering.

I  have read this innumerable times and dwelt on it even more often.

But it was in the introductory part of this book that I got my 'aha!' moment  which was more like a 'oh shucks !' moment.

The 1st Noble Truth is not  'I am suffering and I want to end it '.

The insight is that 'There is suffering ''.

When one does this, one looks at pain or anguish, not from the perspective of ' It's mine ', but as a reflection:  
There is suffering, this Dukkha.

It comes from the reflective position of ' the Buddha seeing the Dhamma '.

He did not go around looking for an antidote for his own or anyone's personal suffering.

The spectrum he chose to work on and cleanse was vast.

And all he said, very succinctly, was 'There is misery.'

Whether it is relatives or friends or colleagues or strangers - there are times when we feel manipulated, used, hurt, angry, sad, helpless - the list of our whines can be long.

The moment I step back from ' I am so hurt / angry / sad / confused ,,, 

I get space to reflect, to go deeper and allow the thoughts to become more comprehensive.   

What do I do ?

I'm so confused, so hurt, angry -

This is anger.

This is not me.

Do I want it?

No I don't, really, but do I have an option?

Yes, now I have!

I don't want to be anger.

I don't want this anger.

Let me, instead, watch it.

Then, from I, I can move to It.

I is just a stupidly, pig-headedly carried seesabhaaro of khomam -     (   headload of flax ) or worse (9 dry dung ) !!

Having understood this 1st Noble Truth correctly that there is misery and I am not misery personified or I am so confused, we can abandon that which is not ours.

Kincha na amhaakam ?

So what is not ours ?

roopam,vedanaa, sannaa, sankhaaraa, vinnaanam.

The body, sensation, perception, reaction and consciousness.

no paheenam deegharattam hitaya, sukhaaya  bhavissati.

With these abandoned, there will be long lasting pace and happiness.

So this to me was the working backwards to the 1st Noble Truth.

The Buddha, having expected lay  people like me ' with a lot of dust in the eye ', gives the  medication right along with the diagnosis.

What does one do with the 4 Noble Truths?

The 2nd  Insights of all 4 give the precise prescription.

1. - dukkham - parinneyyam - dukkha should be understood.

2. - Samudayam - pahaatabbam - its cause should be abandoned.

3. - nirodham - sacchikaatabbam - it should be witnessed.

4. - maggam - bhaavetabbam - it should be cultivated.

Let there only be seeing, with less of the seen and even less of the seer.

Thokam, thokam, khane, khane -

Little by little, moment by moment -

Now hurry up and do a 10 - day course !

Take care -