Golden Buddha in a Wat (temple) in Ayutthaya, Thailand (nattapan72/flickr.com) |
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Sri Lankans and Westerners sat on cool ergonomic meditation seats listening to the urbane Ven. Chandananda's talk on how our cravings lead us to being dissatisfied.
I always thought "desire = suffering" in Buddhism, but that's not right at all. It is on account of not seeing things as they truly are -- falling away, unable to satisfy, and impersonal -- that we crave and cling to them. This disappoints, leaves us miserable, even when we get what we thought we wanted. When we don't get it, we cry. What are we crying about? It wouldn't have satisfied us anyway!
Setting in motion the Wheel of the Dharma |
(Ajahn Brahm) What does Dependent Origination mean, and what does it have anything to do with me being happy, meditating better, and becoming enlightened?
If only I were in S.F., I could meditate! (John Gillespie) |
Dependent Origination sounds crazy hard, but how many people knew that that's how the prince became enlightened?
Ask this: Why am I suffering? The answer? I must be suffering because I was born. I must have been born because of [12 causal links that include] karma. That was because this had been; when this ceases, that will also cease. This is the universal law of conditionality. All things depend on conditions. What are the conditions for my suffering? Karma (actions), engaged in because of ignorance, led to my being here and to things happening and all the rest of it.
Why do I crave? I crave because of pleasing sensations (pleasant feelings). Why is there feeling? Because there are senses. The eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, and mind crave -- all on account of pleasant feelings. We reject unpleasant feelings and are bored by neutral ones, and we cling to anything pleasurable. Only it isn't, it isn't, it isn't at all what it seems.
Ask this: Why am I suffering? The answer? I must be suffering because I was born. I must have been born because of [12 causal links that include] karma. That was because this had been; when this ceases, that will also cease. This is the universal law of conditionality. All things depend on conditions. What are the conditions for my suffering? Karma (actions), engaged in because of ignorance, led to my being here and to things happening and all the rest of it.
Why do I crave? I crave because of pleasing sensations (pleasant feelings). Why is there feeling? Because there are senses. The eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, and mind crave -- all on account of pleasant feelings. We reject unpleasant feelings and are bored by neutral ones, and we cling to anything pleasurable. Only it isn't, it isn't, it isn't at all what it seems.
Here, Eve, it's really good. Now you take a bite. |
Then we ate great, exotic island fare. Sri Lankan cuisine is the best with so many flavors. Then a nun led us in meditation, and the Westerners gobbled it up. There's a way to walk to develop insight or vipassana. Very interesting. Anyone can visit the L.A. Buddhist Temple at the corner of Mountain Ave. and Summit, two blocks east of Fair Oaks in Pasadena. It's easy to spot with the giant Indian Buddha in the front and all the Buddhist flags.
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