Tag: karma

Inherent Existence Part 2

We discussed inherent existence last week. Let’s continue on that topic to make sure we have a good understanding of this topic before we move on to the next subject. Most people take all phenomena as inherently existent. As we discussed last time, there is no inherent existence. All phenomena are imputed existence. During our discussions, we talked about examples of a flower and a car. We tried to find both of those objects within their parts or a combination of parts. To our amazement, we could not find either object. So today, we will try to find something different from scratch to bring this point home.

We all have a good understanding of what a forest is. I think we can say, we will know when we see one. Say one of our friends bought a house on a large tract of land – say 35 acres. They start planting some trees say 5 trees on their property. They call and ask us to come over to see their forest. We go there and see 5 trees and say well, this is not a forest. I have five trees in my backyard. It does not make a forest. So he gets disappointed. He starts planting more trees. Now he has maybe 40 trees. He calls us and says now I really have a forest, check it out. We go take a look and say still not a forest may be a grove but definitely not a forest. So he goes back to work and keeps calling us every few weeks to see. Every time, we see more trees but disappoint him when we tell him it is not a forest. A year or so goes by. He calls us and we go this time. We can’t count the number of trees on these 35 acres of land. We can’t figure out where the trees begin and where they end. We say this is a forest, my friend. You did it! When did this group of trees become a forest? Can we point to one tree that made this a forest? No, of course not. So forest we all agree that it is an imputed existence. It is a forest because we all agreed to call it a forest.

In some schools of thought, they call this a dependent existence because it depends upon the sense perception of the person who experiences the phenomena. Let’s look at things we see for example The images we see are made up of light reflected from the objects we look at. This light enters the eye through the cornea, which acts as a window at the front of the eye. Because the front part of the eye is curved, it bends the light, creating an upside-down image on the retina. The brain eventually turns the image the right way up. In other words, what we see is on our mind and not out there. Without the interpretation, there is no object. Similarly, when hearing music, we are hearing music in our mind and not out there. This is called dependent existence. So there is no inherent existence.

I know it is a profound subject and will take some time to get clarity on the subject but once that clarity comes, life becomes simple. We no longer grasp on anything and take things as they come without any attachment towards these objects. If we look at things that we grasp on a daily basis, it is insane. For example, some of us are attached to our cars, our homes, our computers, our 50 pairs of shoes, our money, and whatnot. But if we start looking at this and realize that there is no inherent existence our attachment towards these objects will gradually reduce. And at some level, we know the fragility of all this but we just are not ready to accept it or do not have the awareness to see it at the moment. Something to think about.

Temptation – Sensual Desire

I want to talk about temptations today. I am sure you all heard the story about Buddha was visited by Mara just before he was enlightened. Mara is not some evil creature. Mara is the temptation in our hearts. Buddha knew it was temptation and ignored it so he was enlightened. We, on the other hand, do not recognize temptation.

We always say we are supposed to enjoy so if it feels good, it must be good for us. Not true. A lot of things feel good at the moment. For example, we all want to meditate on a daily basis. How many of us actually take the time to do it? We don’t because we prefer that last piece of news or show or sleep or game or what have you. One of the biggest obstacles for us is sensual desire. We have five senses and they are physical in nature. There is nothing wrong with enjoying what you see, what you taste, etc. The problem comes when we try to want what we are sensing. For example, if there is a beautiful flower, by all means, we should enjoy it. But if we want to take the flower from the plant, that is when we must stop.

Sensual desire actually also affects your meditation sessions. It is a sensual desire that wants to move this way or that way to be just a little bit more comfortable. Nothing wrong with being comfortable but if you are not, please don’t keep adjusting. When you start adjusting you lose concentration. If you actually do let go of that sensual desire to adjust, you will have a peaceful meditation session. The joy that comes from that meditation session far outlasts the sensual gratification from the physical world.

Let’s take the example of food. Say you love pizza. You begin to eat pizza from your favorite pizzeria. You are taking down a few slices. Now you are full. Can you continue? No. If you did, you will eventually throw up. You lose the pleasure of anything that lasts too long. So sensual gratification wants something else as soon as it is satisfied. It is a momentary enjoyment that does not last beyond that moment.

Buddha gave a few solutions to overcome this. The first solution is to let go of the want. If we recognize the sensual desire and decide to ignore it, we will have a lot more joyful time. For example, sitting in a position that may not be comfortable, will allow us the opportunity to learn about sensual desires. Because moving around to find a comfortable position is no different from people working 80 hour days or getting bored when there are no live sports on TV or looking for constant excitement. Once you get out of one situation the next one will start bothering you. Just like during meditation if we move our right leg when it bothers us, a few minutes later left leg will begin to bother us.

Another solution Buddha gave to keep sensual desires in check was moderation in eating. Stop eating after a certain time. In those days they used to start their day around 4 in the morning so he suggested stop eating afternoon. In our times, we should try and stop eating say latest by 6 pm. It allows us to control ourselves and also gives us intermittent fasting that is supposed to be good for our body.

Another solution was to not seeing the whole and seeing just the parts. What does that mean? Say you like someone and have a lust for that person. Instead of seeing the whole person, if you only see their hair or their teeth, the lust actually goes away. Similarly, if there is a luxury car you are drooling for, instead of seeing the car, if you only see the tires your desire will actually reduce.

Q: When I meditate, before I can even label the thought, the next one comes in. So there is this constant flow of thoughts that does not allow me to concentrate.

A: This happens when our mind is agitated and we have not settled down in our hearts. The best way to approach this is to stop and go back to the sensation of our breath. If your mind is muddled for some reason, spend more time on breath sensations. This will allow the mind to settle down. Just like when you have a muddy water glass, you need to let it sit for the soil to settle down at the bottom and the glass to be clear.

Stress Less

As the holidays are fast approaching, we are getting into the most stressful season of the year in the Western world. So today let’s discuss how to keep the stress at bay and more importantly, how to make sure that you keep your mental peace amid all the chaos.

Before we talk about tackling stress, let’s discuss how stress originates in our body. Stress comes from trying to control people and situations. Getting other people to behave our way is not really working and is never effective. The only thing we can control for sure is our mind. There will be always things to worry about. So if wait for things to settle down, we will be waiting for eternity. Our thoughts carry us all over the place and they bring stress in our lives. If we gain mastery over our mind and thoughts, we find deep peace. Our mind is like a crazy wild elephant. It destroys everything on its way, it thinks about scary thoughts that will most likely never materialize. Someone put it nicely, anxiety and worries are misuses of the imagination.

But we live in the real world so there will always be things out of our control. If we learn to control our reactions to situations, we will be able to avoid stress and bring happiness and peace. In that spirit, I found this stress handling quadrant. I am going to share this document on the screen. This document is courtesy of Tashi Nyma a Buddhist Monk out of Dallas, Texas. No need to copy this document – I will email you a copy at the end of this session. Those of you who are watching this on our YouTube channel or on LinkedIn, please email meditatedenver@gmail.com and I will email you a copy of this document.

As you can see, this is called the Four Quadrant Practice. The first quadrant is Avoid. We want to avoid as many situations as we can that can create stress in our life. For example, is looking at our phone 10 times an hour really necessary? Once people start looking at their phones, all kinds of stressful situations arise. They say an average American looks at their phone 96 times per day. That is insane!! Going on social media all day is another one of those things that we can avoid. What I found helpful was to limit my social media interactions to twice a day. And I am trying really hard not to get into an argument on social media. I limit checking my emails three or four times per day. Again, it is different for everyone but no one expects you to respond within minutes.

The next quadrant is Adjust. Let’s adjust our behavior to avoid stressful situations. For example, because I am in a High-Risk COVID group, I started getting stressed out when COVID increased in the last two months about shopping. So we adapted to a 100% online or curbside pickup model for the last 6 weeks. It eliminated all the unnecessary stress. You might want to limit the duration of meetings if that stresses you out.

The next quadrant is to Adapt. We adapt to the situations that we can avoid or adjust to. For example, you may not be able to avoid a meeting with that annoying coworker. Take some deep breaths before you begin the meeting. Go for a walk if you have an option.

The last quadrant is Accept. This is if all fails kind of category. Accept that you have to take that meeting and it may go bad. Prepare yourself and change your attitude towards it. There is no reason an external situation should give you stress. Train your mind. Essentially, this is what we started the session with.

So as you can see, there are ways to stay out of stressful situations. We must make sure that what the world brings does not need to disturb our internal peace. Hopefully, with some practice, we can all experience that peace within. I would like you to do this exercise as homework with the worksheet. It would certainly make you think if nothing else.