Part One of this 3 part series was a look at the question: Do you suffer? using the First Noble Truth from Buddhism: Life is suffering, or dissatisfaction. Part Two was an exploration of the question: Can suffering/dissatisfaction end completely? Part Two and a Half had to be written, and it briefly addressed the idea that the end of suffering = the end of the mind, which is a highly problematic view, in my view. (For more on that, please see ‘Sanity’ by James Wood.)
I don’t claim to know anything. I’m happy to debate, respectfully. What I offer in this blog is the understanding of The Teaching on freedom from suffering that I have arrived at by asking my primary Teacher lots of questions and studying my secondary Teachers.
That brings us to Part Three: truth and Truth. It is useful to be able to discriminate between relative truth and Absolute Truth.
For example, if someone is thirsty and he asks me for water, I do not say, ‘oh, nah, you’re confused, ‘water’ is just a word.’ Yes, ‘water’ is just a word, in an Absolute sense, but it refers to something in the world of relative experience that can help the person who is thirsty. I know what ‘water’ refers to. I don’t know what it ultimately is.
This gets a bit trickier when we talk about ‘spiritual’ stuff. ‘Truth’ is just a word, but it refers to something that helps. Awake teachers encourage us to find and express what is true in our relative experience, (are you dissatisfied?) while pointing us to the Absolute Truth of freedom that is beyond what words can capture.
Absolute Truths are statements made from the perspective of awakened (enlightened) consciousness about the nature of Reality – statements like ‘Truth is all there is’ or ‘the world is an illusion’. Liberated individuals speak like this because they are firmly planted in the awake state, out of the nightmare of dissatisfaction. Absolute Truths are helpful because they lead us somewhere. (The map is not the destination.)
True Teachers are able to switch between speaking from the perspective of Absolute Truth (it’s just a dream you’re having) and the perspective of relative truth (are you thirsty? would you like a glass of water?
Absolute Truths are used dishonestly quite often.
What I mean by that is – if I were to use statements of Absolute Truth it would be dishonest because I am not spiritually awake.
[I can say, honestly, that I have a strong intuition and I accept, intellectually, that the end of all dissatisfaction is possible. I can repeat what True Teachers say or discuss my interpretation of what they say.]
When I am angry, for instance, that is the (relative) truth, in that moment. It would be dishonest for me to react to the anger with an Absolute Truth like ‘Truth is what I am’ or ugh, ‘This anger is the truth. I am already free’.
No. For me, anger is an (level of the nightmare) issue, so I employ relative truth. I find the source of the anger – thoughts about what I want that I’m not getting, usually.
Then, I recall the Teaching – anger is fueled by attachment to ‘what I want’ and then, deeper, attachment to thoughts like ‘I shouldn’t feel angry. I don’t want to feel angry now or ever again.’
Until judgment of What Is does not drive me, I’m not free and I cannot speak as if I am.
3 Part series summary:
- It’s useful to notice if you are dissatisfied.
- Dissatisfaction is unnecessary – it can end it, completely.
- Absolute Truths are statements made from the perspective of Awakened consciousness and are sometimes mistakenly used to deny what is true in relative experience.
When a seeking mind finds what it seeks, it feels its reward. This means that if you have a seeking spirit you want to find something other than your present level. That very right sincere wish will lead you to the recognition of that higher state when it appears and presents itself to you. Because there is a matching of your wish and the fulfillment of that wish, there is what we commonly call an inspiring feeling. Just like when you’re thirsty and have a drink of water there’s a certain satisfaction there. You wanted the water. you had the water and there is the reward. However, when you have this experience of feeling good when having met a truth, you also feel that it’s not enough. Let’s go very carefully into this now because the point is enormous.”
from a talk given 6/22/1988 Vernon Howard’s Higher World – Volume 21, talk 507
Svaha 
Aly,
You are so sincere, hard working, and you really care about people.
I know you don’t do ‘this’ for yourself exactly and I love you for your inexhaustible intelligence.
You help me see more clearly and use my mind rather than being used by it. How refreshing.
I celebrate your contribution to consciousness in our…ahem…culture!
Just in case I forgot to tell you lately.
Your friend,
Me
your quote – “Dissatisfaction is unnecessary – it can end it, completely” and this Buddhist Quote, some contribute it to Dalai Lama “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” go hand in hand.
Also about awakening, I feel very much the same, while I am able to notice my dissatisfaction now, i also am able to work with it, to find the believe that I am attached to. The believe which prevents me from being in the moment from loving what is.
I think Tolle summarized it perfectly here:
“When you drop your expectations that a person, a situation, a place, or an object should fulfill you, it’s easier to be present in this moment because you’re no longer looking to the next one. Most people want to get what they want, whereas the secret is to want what you get at this moment.” – Eckhart Tolle
Anyway, thank you again, as your writing makes me feel like for the time being I do not have to write my own thoughts and experienced down, I can just come here and read it in your words. You speak of what I am living.
@ Elena, thank you! I’m so happy you’re here. I love the Dalai Lama and Eckhart Tolle quotes you shared and your reflections. It is so nice to feel you as a friend in this work, un-doing the argument with what is :)
@Adrianne. not quite inexhaustible. ;) and how much of this comes from knowing you, dear friend?
Well, I disagree.
I know from experience that if you become fully aware in an angry state, 100% aware, then that is the absolute best you can do in that situation, and therefore you are completely free.
Doing your best is freedom.
I just don’t buy into the intellectualizing, pseudo-psychology.
Just be aware.
Maybe this is the difference between the schools of gradual vs. sudden enlightenment.
Just be aware.
You said: It would be dishonest for me to react to the anger with an Absolute Truth like ‘Truth is what I am’ or ugh, ‘This anger is the truth. I am already free’.
I say: I just don’t understand… if you are angry, that is what you are! When you realize that, that’s what you are. When you intellectualize it, that’s what you are. It’s a constantly flowing river of awareness.
In regards to “This anger is the truth. I am already free”. Okay, yeah, I agree, that’s bullshit. There’s another word for that: nihilism.
I’m not endorsing nihilism.
I am endorsing awareness… we have to do what we think is right and good in this life. We have to live by our moral fiber.
This gets us into tricky situations. We just have to understand that no matter how embarrassed we may be in our life, there is something greater than our small self.
Our greatest spiritual strides occur during periods of strife.
But to be aware, during this strife… what a victory. What freedom. You can get NO freer than that.
You can imagine you can. Oh, I’ll be enlightened, and then I’ll REALLY understand.
You can get NO freer than the most aware you can be in this moment. No matter what moment this is. BECAUSE THAT’S ALL YOU HAVE!
I don’t know how else to say it… you awareness in this moment counts the most!
Not some distant state of Godliness you may imagine.
If you can be free RIGHT NOW, then you are free RIGHT NOW.
Not just when you’re properly Enlightened and “officially one with the cosmos”.
One moment at a time!
Don’t desire some future God state. It’s no better than wishing you had more money in your bank account.
Look at your life. As it is.
Sorry to string a bunch of comments together, but, in summary:
This is the mind of bodhicitta.
Bodhicitta is 100% dedication in this very moment to be fully aware, to do 100%. No matter what. With no thought of reward.
It is total dedication to awareness.
It is the full engagement of one’s heart… both the hurt and the joy.
The true mind of Bodhicitta, is the true mind of freedom. Even if you’re not “Enlightened”.
You can only do your best in this very moment. And that is the best it gets right now.
And right now is all that matters.
Okay, signing off.
Hi Harley, what exactly do you disagree with?
Hi again Harley, I haven’t heard back from you about what specifically you disagree with in the post. I appreciate your perspective and the comments you made, however, in order to dialogue properly, I wanted to know specifically which piece you disagreed with.
Here are some thoughts on some of your comments:
When you say, ‘Doing your best is freedom’, I have to say, that sounds like pop-psychology, intellectualizing to me.
The Buddha, the name itself means ‘one who is awake’. The Buddha is the Buddha not because he did his best, but because he woke up to reality.
For the Buddha, there was a ‘before’ and an ‘after’, and there seemed to be a ‘process’ – he went out and observed the world, he tried some lifestyles, and he inquired deeply into the true nature of things.
There is a difference between running in a race and crossing the finish line. Yes, I advocate doing our best to be aware in each moment. Present moment awareness brings us into alignment with compassion and truth, and that is useful and powerful training practice. But applying the practice is not the same as actually crossing the finish line.
I have heard that it’s all an illusion, a dream, the whole race and the runner, is a farce, but I cannot know that (‘innerstand’ that) for sure until I go out and start running. I cannot take a shortcut, or stop part way there.
(Have you seen the movie The Thirteenth Floor?)
When I am aware of (non-judgmentally present with) anger, when I inquire into the attachment to thoughts that aren’t true, the anger is no longer anger. Inquiry does not bring me to ‘anger is what I am’.
I would not say that applying practices I have been taught is 100% awareness. To me, 100% awareness means being awake. It does not come and go because it’s 100%.
Awakening happens gradually and suddenly. There are people who have woken up after years of practice and study (i.e. Buddha), but the awakening itself was sudden. The rules of time and effort that applied in the dream-state do not apply beyond it. It is a complete reorientation. It doesn’t matter if it’s gradual, sudden or seemed to be both. The point is, let’s go!