“What is there to be concerned about? There’s nothing to be concerned about because there’s no one to be concerned over.”
Category: Dissatisfaction
Ritual of Dependence
“We’re not really dependent on anyone or anything. We’re engaging in a ritual of dependence and making our happiness depend on various relations.
Happiness is inherent in the self position or in our real condition of life. When we begin to notice this, this is the beginning of renunciation. This is the beginning of the expression of true understanding. It doesn’t dissociate us from relations, it simply associates us with a higher principle.
If we depend on relations for this feeling of happiness, that feeling will always be corrupted, threatened and so forth, and will always be associated with the mechanism of dependence. And likewise we’ll always be moved to get independent because we don’t like the feeling that happiness is dependent on someone else, something else, some condition, some object, some circumstance. So we don’t really settle, even in these dependencies. We rebel against them, even. Therefore we become dissociated in relations that we depend on. We corrupt our own happiness in a circumstance in which we do have the option to be happy.
We make our happiness depend on relations and therefore are always suffering in the context of relationship – suffering dependence, manufacturing independence, corrupting relationships, going from object to object, relationship to relationship – struggling all our lives in a circumstance in which we ritually make happiness depend on relationships. And then also struggle with that very fact, resist that very ritual…
Being dependent on relations and conditions, you only feel free to magnify that happiness under certain conditions. So people feel a kind of modest state of well-being, or pleasure, at best, in the ordinary moments of existence. But it’s really clouded over by doubt and dis-ease,  unhappiness, threat, fear, anxiety, physical, emotional, mental reactivity and all the rest of it.
It’s only in the million dollar moments – great occasions, great successes, great meetings, great newness and so forth –Â that you give yourself the liberality to fully feel happy, to be expanded, to be magnified without containment, without limitation, without contraction. These moments pass and the rest of your life is spent seeking a similar moment.
Wisdom is to observe the mechanics of that whole affair: of, basically, unhappiness, in which happiness is an occasional incident within the framework of ritualized relatedness. And to observe the mechanics, and to understand them and to be able to penetrate them to the point of understanding their law, their source condition, is the essence of the beginnings of the spiritual process.
Find the virtue in the self position, prior to a ritualized dependency. This is the beginning of the spiritual process. Until it begins there isn’t any spiritual process, you see.”
-excerpts from the talk Ritual of Sorrow, by Adi Da, 1983
Reflections on meeting the Teacher
I had been practicing Zen for a few years. Many of the folks I sat zazen with had been at it for decades and thinking about that terrified me.
When I heard from a friend that James was ‘awake’ – as in, enlightened, free of dukkha – I had to check it out. Could it be? Someone, living, not far away, but across town, in Tucson, Arizona, had done what it seemed so impossible to do? I was all doubt, skepticism and Zen-snobbery.
I had to meet him. I had questions.
The rest is history, you could say. Things sped up.
Shortly after I started working with James, an answer to the Mu koan appeared. I had been chewing on that one, and giving ridiculous attempts at answers to my Zen teacher, for about 3 years. I started to see more translation of in-zazen-realizations into the rest of life.
For me, teachers of spiritual awakening are access points, way-pointers, nudging me toward what’s possible. James’ perspective and friendship help keep me going in the right direction, like the breadcrumbs that lead out of the deep dark forest.
Here is a beautiful piece in which Richard Moss writes about meeting Franklin Merrell-Wolff.
Joel S. Goldsmith on the function of the spiritual master:
In some religious teachings, there are those known as masters, just as in ancient days Jesus was called Master. A master is one who has achieved some measure of spiritual freedom, which means some measure of nonattachment to the things and thoughts of the world. People often get the idea, however, that the function of a master is to take over another’s mind and life and to govern and manage them for that person, but a master is one to whom a person can go and through whose help and co-operation he can be lifted up into a state of spiritual consciousness and discernment where he himself realizes the Master in his own consciousness. The Master is not a man: the Master is a state of unfolded and developed consciousness.
– Joel S. Goldsmith. The World is New (1997).
Description or Value Judgment?
James Wood:
“A description and a value judgment are not the same thing. If I see a cup on the table, the statement “The cup is on the table,” is an accurate description of my experience, a basic truth. If I say, “The cup shouldn’t be on the table. It should be in the dishwasher,” I am making a value judgment, because I am implying that my experience should be other than it is now or would be better if something else were happening. This is also true if I say “The cup is ugly,” “You’re an idiot for owning such an ugly cup,” or “I hate myself for being so careless as to leave a cup out on the table again.” A value judgment implies that something is wrong or bad about my experience. In this case, the badness or wrongness – the “shouldn’t be-ness” – can be attributed to the cup, to its owner, or to myself. You can judge anything or anyone for any reason. Descriptions are useful because they convey information about the world. Value judgments are confusing because they conflict with Reality. Notice the difference.”
–James Wood, The Path of Awakening (2007) p. 19
Problems?
Ultimately, there is no such thing as a problem. The mind generates the appearance of problems to maintain a sense of self. Practically speaking, a problem is a painful situation. The only way out of a painful situation is to take appropriate action. This does not require value judgment and stress. Conscious action dissolves judgment and relieves stress.
–James Wood Stelzenmuller, The Path of Awakening 2007, p.88
Resistance
James Wood:
“The unawakened state is characterized by resistance or this shouldn’t be happening. Suffering is caused by a split between Reality and what you think it should be. When what is happening and what you think should be happening are different, you suffer. To the degree that you energize what you think should be happening in opposition to what is happening, you experience the pain of unconsciousness, like steel plates grinding against each other.
How do you know what should be happening? Look around; it’s happening.
There is nothing you can do about it.
In addition to a should, resistance can also be expressed as a want or a need: this shouldn’t be happening then becomes I want this not to be happening or I need this not to be happening. If what I want to be happening or what I need to be happening is different from what actually is happening, I generate pain and unconsciousness. For example, consider the following statements: “It should be raining.” “I want it to rain.” “I need it to rain.” If it’s not raining, attaching to these thoughts hurts. In the awakened state, I recognize that what should be happening, what I want to be happening, and what I need to be happening are all the same thing.”
–  Ten Paths to Freedom by James Wood
Part Three: truth and Truth
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 6/22/1988Â Â Â Vernon Howard’s Higher World – Volume 21, talk 507
Part Two: Can suffering end completely?
The last post was about the First Noble Truth in Buddhism: life is suffering. ‘Suffering’ is the commonly used English translation of the Sanskrit word dukkha. I agree with Triangulations blogger that dukkha is more accurately translated as ‘unsatisfactoriness’ or ‘dissatisfaction’.
In my experience, dissatisfaction occurs when I attach to the thought, ‘this shouldn’t be happening’ in reaction to whatever is happening.
Can suffering end completely? Here is what I have learned about that:
While I don’t claim to know anything, I offer a synthesis of what IÂ have learned from personal conversations with my teacher, and from studying other sources I trust.
When an individual becomes fully awakened spiritually, that individual stops generating dissatisfaction for him/herself. Awakening means there is no attachment to ‘I, me and my story’, and dissatisfaction stops. Completely.
That does not mean that suffering stops for other people. There are terrible, horrible abuses and injustices happening in the world all the time. The awake person is not blind to the suffering of others or immune to physical pain. The awake person is simply not contributing to the incessant noise of dissatisfaction, and therefore is able to help other people who are still dissatisfied.
True awakening, true and complete freedom from dissatisfaction, is extremely rare. The end of dissatisfaction is possible, but if it ends for you, chances are, it will continue for others, so in that sense, it is not over.
The awake person lives for the purpose of helping people who want to wake up. In order to relate to others, depending on the context, the awake person may seem to be very ‘normal’ or very ‘eccentric/otherworldly’.
Finding a True Teacher can be the end of seeking and the beginning of the end of dissatisfaction if you allow yourself to be guided.
Svaha 