Monday, March 31, we will meet online.
Dear friends,
This week, we will meet Monday evening, March 31st, from 7-8:30PM EDT online; Wednesday morning, April 2, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); Thursday morning, April 3, from 7-8AM EDT in person at our meditation space (3812 Northampton Street NW); and Friday, April 4th, 12-1PM EST online.
On Monday night, Marie will facilitate, and we will continue to explore the Buddhist sutra, the Eight Realizations of Great Beings. According to the podcast, The Way Out Is In, the Eight Realizations were important to Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay), who said that using them as practical tools in our daily life could help us generate more understanding and compassion in our bodies, thoughts, perceptions, minds, and motivations. I’m finding this to be true, as the events of the world and country vibrate through my system, and I sometimes struggle to respond skillfully.
This week, we will focus on the Second Realization: “The awareness that more desire brings more suffering. All hardships in daily life arise from greed and desire. Those with little desire and ambition are able to relax, their body and mind free from entanglement.”
When I first read these lines, I had difficulty digesting or accepting the second and third lines. Then, after listening to the commentary of Br. Phap Huu and Sr. True Dedication in an episode of The Way Out Is In, the whole of this realization began to resonate. Their words continue to help me understand the teaching, hence I will share some of their words in the following paragraphs and invite you to pause now and then to reflect on your own experience.
I found it helpful to understand the context for this sutra, which they said was largely about suffering and how to be with it. What’s represented in the sutra is the “mind of running after.” As Br. Phap Huu says, “[W]hen I see suffering in myself, I want to look for happiness outside of me. I have created this perception like oh, let me look at something that I can then work towards, but then that becomes a hook in itself. So, the desires are all baits for us that can drag us away from the present moment…”
Sr. True Dedication continues on the topic of intention and ambition: “These things start from super pure noble intentions … and then get kind of corrupted by the world. This is exactly what the sutra is talking about, which is how [to cultivate] right desire. How do we keep it on the right track in a world that’s full of wrong desire? And not being on the right track in a world that is also eating us up? And in systems and organizations that exploit our right desire… So how [can we] have a relationship to this energy of aspiration and desire?
“Basically, what our teacher was saying is there’s wholesome aspiration and intention and then there’s sort of unwholesome ambition. It’s a kind of dance for each one of us when we’re crossing that line. And before we know it, like sometimes inadvertently, we say, oh, this has become an ambition. So for each one of us, ambition can kind of creep up on us. And with collective insight, good friends and family [can] help us challenge ourselves and not become a victim of striving for success.”
As you reflect on your own life, intentions, and aspirations, are there times when ambition has crept in? I’m smiling as I write these words, recognizing that, yes, this has happened to me and breathing with the discomfort. Hmmm–my mind is not running away! Perhaps because we’ve been practicing together…
I look forward to Monday night.
With a warm bow,
Marie