June Newsletter

Registration is available for the final online Meditation Course of this year. It will begin on September 2nd 2003 and will last for 90 days. The course has been offered several times each year since 1997 and seeks to provide a structured programme of meditation for beginners and experienced meditators. We draw from both the vipassana (insight) and samatha (tranquillity) traditions of Buddhist Meditation and relate them to the teachings found in the Pali Canon and its commentaries. The course is available as a downloadable Windows program or on a CD-rom that contains additional audio guided meditations and traditional chants. Participants have access to a support web site and the September course will be facilitated by Andrew Quernmore.

I have had relatively minimal experience with any form of meditation in past years. Due to several emotional, physical and interpersonal circumstances, I have increasingly in the last several years spent lots of time in a determined effort to get my thoughts totally off myself. Through several methods, I am usually successful in these attempts. .... Is there any possibility that through my efforts toward mindfulness, I would eventually lose the ability to deliberately escape my consciousness of my self when I need to do so?

The Buddhist way of meditation relies on looking, with clarity, at what is present at any given moment. Currently, we are working with the samatha techniques. One of their most basic functions is to equip us with sufficient concentration skills to enable one-pointedness upon a single object. This is not 'just for the sake of it', but because this provides a reliable tool we can use later (in vipassana meditation) to examine the more existential questions: who are we? what is pain? what is our relationship to it? When we come to know something of the reality of these questions (through meditative insight) we can begin to be liberated from the most debilitating effects of the incorrect views most of us cling to. We can't do this by suppression or by willfully ignoring reality (for example, by trying to constantly find new entertainment to keep the mind occupied). This will be hard work - for everyone - but the Buddha reassures us that liberation is entirely possible for those who are dedicated to finding it.

The samatha techniques have other uses too: they can bring about blissful states that cause the arising of faith to occur. This can bring great beauty and warmth to what might otherwise seem a fairly arid path. We will shortly be working with a series of these techniques which seek to cultivate the sublime states within us. These are socially-directed meditations, which can work (even in the short term) on improving the relationship we have with ourselves and the other sentient beings with whom we share this world. They rely on developing an understanding of the commonality we share and of re-orientating our attitude to 'self' and 'other'. This happens gradually, of course, and is not something we take on through belief in doctrine. There is a straightforward methodology that brings us to an appreciation of the bases on which our relationships are founded. Again, we are dealing with reality rather than with suppression of anything.

Later in the course we will look at the central core of the Buddha's teaching. This is what is know as the Four Noble Truths. It diagnoses the problem: the suffering that is endemic in this conditioned world (and in any other in which we may take birth). It then proposes a sure way to liberation from all such forms of suffering. This cannot come through escapism or evasion; it must come through building the skills that are necessary to strengthen us for the task. Fortunately, we are not left to work out how to do this for ourselves. We come as we are, and get down to work in the way that the Buddha recommended. There is a complete structure to support and nurture us at every stage if we will allow ourselves not to be sidetracked.

All of this takes place in an environment that is free from extremism of any kind and where we will only ever be asked to work with balanced effort. The Path needs to walked with determination, but that can always be gently applied. There is no place for animosity (for oneself or others); there are no recriminations if we need to step back or work at a slower pace. As progress is made, there will be mundane qualitative benefits that make some practices easier. Some realities which may have seemed too hard to face will become less frightening. We will also develop the confidence (through the evident positive changes that arise from our practice) that, indeed, everything can be addressed. There can be liberation from all kinds of suffering. That is the only purpose of this Path.

Henri van Zeyst was born in Utrecht in 1908. He spent his final years meditating at Nilambe Meditation Centre in Sri Lanka. His posthumous publications include 'Of Matter and Mind' and 'Awareness in Buddhist Meditation'. In this extract, he discusses the importance of awareness in understanding dukkha.

Of all mental phenomena (dhamma) the most outstanding one is the mind's reaction to conflict (dukkha). The religious attitude to conflict has been expressed in many ways. It is shown as the constant fight between the spirit and the flesh, as temptation, as sin, as the struggle for life, evolution in existence, sorrow, grief, loss, suffering - all expressing an internal opposition, a constant striving to overcome, to outgrow, a desire for a new start in a new life through salvation, grace, transmigration or rebirth.

The stress is always on escape, on renewal, on reward in a better life for those who won the battle. The mind and the heart are so much preoccupied with this battle, that few ever think of what this conflict is. No system of religion or philosophy has been able to solve this problem satisfactorily, because the search is always on for a solution rather than a dissolution. Thus the search itself ends in delusion, because it has begun in ignorance.

What is conflict? Are we aware of conflict? or are we just feeling the unpleasant effects, the undesirable outcome of being in conflict? and are we not concentrating exclusively on the cause and the effects thereof?

When facing conflict within ourselves, what is our attitude? Is it not an attitude of repelling, of opposition, of escaping, of conquest? What is it that we want in this life of strife? To be free from conflict. And we have given many names to that freedom: eternal bliss, beatific vision, the supreme good, divine love, union with God, emancipation, deliverance, Nirvana. But do we know the meaning of those words; they are not even concepts, because they are beyond thought. They are ideals, mere ideas of a supreme escape from sorrow, from loss, from conflict. We know the effect of loss, the loneliness, the desolation, the lack of support, the fear of standing alone. But that is not conflict; that is the effect of conflict, and we are fighting to get rid of those consequences.

But what is conflict? This is the ultimate question of the mind with full awareness. Conflict must be seen as a phenomenon with bare attention, not with the intention to overcome but with the need to understand. Without understanding conflict, there can be only a desire to run away from conflict, and many are the ways and methods of escape. Self-indulgence in food, in comfort, in sex, in drugs, can make one forget that there was conflict, but the very search for such an escape shows that conflict is still there. Self-denial in sacrifice, in prayer, in renunciation, in abstinence of what others indulge in, can focus the mind on a sublime ideal, and thus by sublimation forget there was a conflict to cause the escape. But none of those methods give a solution. Conflict is still with us.

What is the problem? There is conflict everywhere, between nations, between races, between ideologies, between religious, between families, between individuals .... ; there is conflict within the individual. It is not so much between the haves and the have-nots, because even the haves have their problems and their conflicts. With all demands satisfied, there still remains the conflict of finding security for the endurance of satisfaction. With all comfort and ease there still remains the discomfort of disease and also the final and only certainty that this does not last. It is the conflict between the desire for permanent security and the knowledge of impermanence.

This very knowledge of impermanence has made man seek his security elsewhere. Many seek it in an everlasting life hereafter, and they are prepared to surrender the joys of the present life as a sacrifice and a payment of guarantee for a better life hereafter.

Many others seek it in the perpetuation of their name for future generations and they pay for it with the labour of their lives to leave behind a name which will be remembered for ages to come, a name of honour and achievement.

But the actual conflict remains in the present between the desire for permanence and the actual fact of impermanence.

Why this search for security and continuance? There is obviously, lurking in the background of the unconscious the spectre of fear of insecurity, which becomes all the more menacing in view of the apparent impossibility to build up a fortress of safety. Within living memory we have been through two devastating world wars, several unprecedented economic world-crises, revolutions and catastrophes of earthquakes and famine. ... And we continue our search for happiness.

It is clear that this search is but an escape from the problem of insecurity. All striving, and that means all progress, is an indication of this uneasiness, which is the driving force of action, of all effort to achieve. Thus we chase and are being chased round and round in a circle, because we have not paused to investigate the actual problem. A search for happiness is an escape from sorrow; and a continued search indicates that the goal has not been reached.

What is that goal of happiness, the goal of all striving? The feeling and the knowledge of satisfaction and ease are so short-lived that they contain in themselves a source of un-ease. In the very moment of satisfaction there is the fear of its discontinuance and of the insecurity of the next moment. And so the most intensive effort is not directed to the satisfaction of the moment, but to the continuation of that satisfaction.

Now can continuation be achieved? There is obviously one way to enjoy the continuation of happiness, and that is by the continuation of myself. And thus, all striving and effort are directed towards the extension and projection of the ego. Without the ego there can be no lasting satisfaction. But with the strengthening of that ego there arises the conflict with other egos, with other interests. Thus, the problem of conflict lies within the 'self'; the problem lies in the approach.

Any positive approach is idealistic. Any kind of striving has an end in view; and because it is viewed idealistically even before an attempt is made, the goal remains within the 'self', which is the source of the conflict. Thus, the very attempt of a search for happiness contains the seed of its failure, because it continues the very cause of the conflict within the ego.

Dukkha, therefore, which is frequently translated as sorrow or suffering, is actually much more than that, as it forms one of the three chief characteristics found in everything that is a composition (sankhara) or a conditioned event. The intrinsic unrest, imbalance, disharmony of whatever state that is dependent on conditions for its arising, continuation and cessation, is the inherent conflict, innate in every complex. This applies most of all to the psychological complex which forms an individual. Every complex is a conflict (sabbe sankhara dukkha).

In the natural stream of life where everything is impermanent, the misconception of continued activity gives rise to the thought of a continued 'self'-entity, underlying this activity as a substance or a soul. This misconception of a 'self' as a permanent ego obviously places the natural impermanence of the total process of life in direct opposition. This opposition between an illusory 'self' (which in a struggle for survival must oppose all that is impermanent) and the actual process of life and thought constitutes the conflict which thereby forms an essential part of every complex.

The conflict, therefore, is natural and even essential, so long as this opposition is maintained, the opposition between the actual impermanence of all that is, and the ideal permanence which is the object of all strife and striving. An ideal, however noble and sublime, finds its source in the human mind itself as an idea or concept, and can, therefore, never surpass its limitations and can never become actual.

It is this constant frustration of the limitations of the impermanent process of life and thought, endeavouring to surpass those boundaries in a fruitless attempt to surpass itself into a self created ideal world, it is that frustration which constitutes the problem of conflict, the first Noble Truth, which must be seen and lived to be understood.

Truth, not only appears sometimes, but actually is so ridiculously simple that one can hardly expect anybody believing it. And that is a fact. People do not believe in truth; they can only believe in their own images or imaginings, which are the images of themselves. People in general only believe in themselves!

A refusal to recognise the truth of conflict merely leads to an attempt at escaping, which can only create a further conflict. The minimum requirement for the solution of a psychological problem is the direct recognition thereof. But this is also the most difficult part of the problem, because the self-created concept not only refuses to, but even cannot recognise the core of the problem which is itself, just as nobody can cure himself through self-analysis.

This is the blind alley from which there is no escape. And until the mind becomes aware of the impossibility of escape, it will continue in its attempt, for in continuance lies its only salvation. The ego cannot sacrifice itself. But in increased activity (of which our modern restlessness is so typical) it will explore new avenues of search as well as of escape. Politics, business, social service, religion, are not essentially different from the more crude escapes of carnal pleasures.

For many it will be a struggle for survival through many lives, till one day, one moment, the perspective will change completely, when it will be seen that the very effort to escape constitutes the problem, that the search for peace is the cause of war, the search for 'self' is the cause of conflict. That is the second Noble Truth, when it will be understood that the fight against conflict is a mere dream, because the conflict itself is only mind-made.

There is no permanent 'self', substance, soul, ego, for whatever constitutes that delusion is but a desire for continuation, for stability and security in that universal stream of impermanence. But once, when it is understood (not just intellectually, not only emotionally, but in a complete experience) that this very impermanence of evolution is the real life of a constantly new birth, in which every experience is fresh, in which every event is a new discovery, in which every occurrence is a challenge for immediate action, "then at the same moment the mind will be free and unfettered, free from the burden of psychological memories which prevent one from seeing things direct as they are, free to approach with the innocence of a new mind the apparent problem, which is no problem anymore, because there is no conflict, no 'self', no opposition, no burden of the past, no worry of the future. That is the realisation of the third Noble Truth, the truth of the ending of conflict.

Such discovery can come only to a mind which is calm without thought, which has ceased to agitate, to be disturbed by desires of achievement and attainment. For, only a mind which is calm can be aware, can see things as they are, can act freely and honestly without being influenced. Only such a mind can see that there is no problem where there is no conflict, where there is no opposition, where there is no 'self'.

In that peace of mind there is no restlessness, no search for happiness and satisfaction, but the peace of completeness which has solved all problems in the realisation that there is no conflict. In that realisation there cannot arise further desires and thus there will be no more becoming, no more escaping, bhava nirodha, which is Nibbana.

Such are the noble truths of the nature of conflict, its arising and cessation. Does the mind still ask for a method to overcome conflict? The question does not arise in a mind which has realised that there is no conflict.

Still, there is a path that leads nowhere:
It is the path that shows not How: but Why?
It is the path the bird flies in the sky.
It is the path that stars go in the night.
It is the path the thought goes in its flight. It is the path the wind lists when it blows.
But on that path no walker ever goes.

And that is the noble path which lead to the ending of conflict, a conflict which exists only in a deluded mind. It is the path of understanding (samma-ditthi) and of seeing things in the right perspective (samma-sankappa). It is the path of action (samma-kammanta) which does not want results, but which has truth for speech (samma-vaca), and love for living (samma-avija), and effort without desire (samma-vayama). With right awareness (samma-sati) and right meditation (samma-samadhi) the path, the walker, action and actor are all one. Just as 'I' am the conflict, so 'I' am the path, and with the cessation of that 'I' there is the end of the path.

The society was founded in 1956, by Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita, and has a number of important projects that merit support. One of the most important of these is the training of Bhikkhus at the Mahabodhi Monastic Institute, a relatively new project that seeks to revive the Buddha's dispensation in India, the land of its origin. Young trainees are now being admitted from all over India to become monks in the Theravada tradition. If you would like to support this work, further details of how to do so can be found at the society's web site: http://www.mbodhi.com

Ven. Ajahn Khemadhammo Mahathera, spiritual director of the Forest Hermitage (UK) and Angulimala, the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Organisation, has been appointed an OBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The honour was given in recognition of Ven. Khemadhammo's service to prisoners. It is believed that this is the first time that such an honour has been bestowed on a Buddhist monk. http://www.foresthermitage.org.uk

The Vipassana.com Newsletter is published about 10 times each year and is sent only on request and to previous participants of our courses. You can join or leave our Newsletter mailing list by following the link on our web site (or by writing to us at subs0603@vipassana.com). Our next mailing will be in mid-July.