The first noble truth and dukkha

[Jundo]

Hi

Dukkha, the suffering of dissatisfaction, arises in connection with the big and little things and events in life that bother us ... from annoying bird tweets to losing someone we love. Of course, the things and events are just "what they are", and it is really our mental reaction to them that is the ultimate source of Dukkha ...

The circumstances of everyone’s life will include unpleasant experiences. But these are not in themselves what the Buddha meant by dukkha dukkha. It’s the aversion to the unpleasantness that is dukkha dukkha. And so, the origin of dukkha dukkha is tanha – that craving or longing for the circumstances of our lives to be different. That craving is like hitting our heads against a wall because this is how things are: we were born and so are subject to injury, illness, old age, and loss. Our loved ones are subject to the same conditions and so we will experience unpleasant feelings of separation and loss.
The only way to keep dukkha dukkha from arising is to change our response to unpleasant experience.
http://shambhalasun.com/sunspace/?p=21250

But Dukkha also arises in connection with happy and pleasant things ... joyous moments — such as happiness and good news, treasure or pleasant times — can be a source of suffering if we cling to them, if we are attached to those things.

Viparinama dukkha: Whereas dukkha dukkha arises in response to unpleasant experiences, viparinama dukkha arises in response to pleasant ones; it is tied to impermanence or change. (Viparinama means “changing.”) As with the other two kinds of dukkha, the origin of viparinama dukkha is craving. When we’re enjoying a pleasant experience, we crave for it to continue. In fact, we’ll go to extremes to keep it going (driving too fast, eating too much). Viparinama dukkha arises when, inevitably, the universal law of impermanence leaves that craving unsatisfied.
More profoundly, it can be present during a pleasant experience There’s often an underlying unease or dissatisfaction even when we’re happy or joyful because, at a gut level, we know it won’t last.

Furthermore, the Buddha pointed out a kind of existential Angst Dukkha (sankhara-dukkha) simply inherent in the human condition and the feeling of mortality, separation from the world and such. It is the basic unsatisfactoriness pervading all existence, all forms of life, because all forms of life are changing, impermanent and without any abiding core or substance. The medicine for this is to transcend all that ... which is what is undertaken in Shikantaza.

Gassho, J

[Ishin]

Yes

I am currently in a situation where I have lost 2 friends recently through no fault of my own. One was a misunderstanding and one was a friend of a family member that unilaterally decided to end the relationship. I do find myself clinging to these situations, wishing they were different, and yet I have absolutely no control over ANY of it. Impermanence indeed reigns. Good or bad I don't know. But I do know I still feel sadness and longing for things to stay the same.
Gassho
C

[Jundo]

The medicine for this is to transcend all that ... which is what is undertaken in Shikantaza.

How? Elegantly simple really.

Shikantaza sits, allowing bird chirps to be chirpy, the breeze to be breezy, stinky garbage to be just that, lovely flowers to flower, yesterday yesterday and tomorrow tomorrow ... placing aside all judgment and resistance, analysis and plans, dreams of "what if" and regrets for "what was". All is as it is, and a vibrant flowing wholeness is all things.

Rising from the cushion, we can and should still clean up the stinky garbage, water the flowers and pick the weeds, learn from yesterday and plan for tomorrow (we are not complacent) ... yet the sensation of "flowing wholeness is all things" simultaneously pervades. Beyond good or bad, clean vs. dirty yet, hand-in-hand (like seeing out of two eyes at once) bad is yet bad and in need of fixing, dirty is still dirty in need of cleaning ... we should get on the clean-up job, and realization happens in our every choice and action in life ... while simultaneously all is as it is, not a thing in need of fixing.

As to the Dukkha of good things ... one can learn to appreciate and savor them while they are present, but appreciate and savor their parting too. One is not their prisoner, does not cling. Rather, one embraces ... yet also embraces their departing. If one has assets or a bit of treasure, one learns to appreciate them for what they are, not be overly attached like a sickness, and use them for good and healthful purposes. One is at Peace of One Piece with the happy times and sad/scary times too (even as the sad times make us fearful or cry with a broken heart ... there is the Heart which Cannot Be Broken). All is as it is, flowing wholeness ever changing.

And thus Shikantaza closes the gap on the existential Angst of the human condition, our mortality, feeling of separation from the world, basic unsatisfactoriness due to change and impermanence. The reason is that we come to now flow along (and feel ourselves as the flow) of change and impermanence, taste something timeless and whole as the mind drops human measures of "beginnings and endings, births and deaths" and "me and you, this vs. that" in the wholeness of Shikantaza.

The frictions drop away and the gap is closed. In fact, there never was a gap all along. All flowing flowing.

Thus the simple elegance, the power of the medicine of Shikantaza.

Gassho, Jundo

[Heion]

I love this thread and Jundo's many words of wisdom! haha The more I notice that suffering is the same as non suffering and the more I put my worries into perspective, the more at peace I become. I have noticed that when we realize that the friction is just caused by us, and all of it are just useless divisions by the mind. The more my though process 'simplifies', the clearer I see.

Gassho,
Alex

[Jundo]

I love this thread and Jundo's many words of wisdom! haha The more I notice that suffering is the same as non suffering and the more I put my worries into perspective, the more at peace I become. I have noticed that when we realize that the friction is just caused by us, and all of it are just useless divisions by the mind. The more my though process 'simplifies', the clearer I see.

Gassho,
Alex

Dear Clarinet Man,

The Buddha's Music is always Harmonious, never off tempo (all things in their time) or off key. All notes and melodies are held within, both allegro and doloroso and every other emotion. There is never a bad performance.

And yet, and yet ... standing on this stage of life, we do what we can to avoid being flat and off key, missing the beat.

How to get to Buddha's Carnegie Hall? PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!

Gassho, J

[Joyo]

Yes

I am currently in a situation where I have lost 2 friends recently through no fault of my own. One was a misunderstanding and one was a friend of a family member that unilaterally decided to end the relationship. I do find myself clinging to these situations, wishing they were different, and yet I have absolutely no control over ANY of it. Impermanence indeed reigns. Good or bad I don't know. But I do know I still feel sadness and longing for things to stay the same.
Gassho
C

Clark, much metta to you. As I posted before, I do understand how much this hurts. I hope things turn around and you find peace.

Gassho,
Joyo