'May you be happy, may your dreams come true'

Stanford Report, June 15, 2005
Sylvia Boorstein's keynote speech: 'May you be happy, may your dreams come true'

This speech was delivered without a text or notes and is a transcription of Dr. Boorstein's spoken words at the Multifaith Baccalaureate Celebration on June 11, 2005.
"It's so great. I got so excited while that was happening.
One of my meditation teachers used to end each of our interviews actually, I'd have my hand on the door ready to leave, and she'd say to me, "Remember, Sylvia, be happy," and I'd go out and I actually for a long time thought it was a salutation, like "have a good day" or something that you say just in a routine kind of a way, and it took me a long time to realize that it was an instruction, "Be happy," and not only that it was an instruction but that it was a wisdom transmission, that happiness was a possibility. I understand that happiness to mean the happiness of a mind that's alert, that's awake to the amazing potential of being a person in a life, with a mind that's opened, that sees everything that's going on, that sees my own life drama and the drama of life, and realizes what an amazing possibility this is, and with a heart that's open, the heart that responds naturally as hearts do, in compassion, in connection with friendliness, with love, with consolation when it needs to, that that's the happiness of life, a mind that's awake, a heart that's engaged, and that what I want to do this morning is share with you two practices, three practices, really, that are my current practices, that help me keep my mind in a shape where I remember that that's a possibility.
But, the first thing I want to say is congratulations, to everybody—to the graduates, of course, but to their families and the faculty and the administration and the founders of Stanford and everyone and everything else that has gone into making this event merge at this very moment. I have photos in a very old photo album of my father graduating from the City College of New York in 1934, and there are pictures of him posing in his cap and gown, but also my grandfather and my grandmother and my mother to whom he was engaged at that time, also posing in his cap and gown, and the truth is, when I was young, I was a little embarrassed about that. I felt a little bit shy about the fact that my grandparents, immigrants to this country who didn't speak English and hadn't gone to school at all, were presuming to wear a cap and gown. But you know, now I look at those photos and I think that they're exactly right, that everyone should have been wearing the cap and gown, that my grandparents each did whatever jobs they needed to do in order for my father to be able to not take a job, to go to school instead. The fact that they were all there at that graduation, trying on the cap and gown, had to do with the fact that my mother insisted that my father, who did not like ceremonies, go to that ceremony. It also has to do with the fact that the immigration laws into the United States in the early 19th [sic] century allowed my grandparents and many, many other people to come and start new lives here. That photo also depends on a free education at City College being available to everyone. If I look at that photo I not only see my father's efforts; I see everyone's efforts and everything that was part of the world at that moment conspiring to make those photos possible. Just as, everything thing morning is possible because of a zillion myriad causes. The thing that I find most exciting to remember is that no one does anything alone. Everyone does everything with the help of everyone who has ever been in his or her life and supported them in all the ways that we support, and with the help of a culture that supports. Everything makes every single moment. That's so amazing to me. I think to myself, wow, the scripture line that came to me this morning as I looked out at all of you is wow, mana ra hama comaza. It's Jacob waking up from his dream and saying, "How amazing, how awesome is this world."
In my life, when I think about what's happening, it's sometimes tedious and sometimes wonderful, but when I think about life that is happening, that's amazing, so what I want to do with you right now is I'd like to do a mini-meditation. You don't need to close your eyes. It used to be when you said let's meditate, everybody would close their eyes and folded their legs in a certain way, sat up straight. You can sit exactly the way you are. In fact, I hope you keep your eyes open and look at this glorious day, look at the people around you. You can look just for a minute; look at the people around you. This is a looking meditation.
Look at the people around you. Some of them you know. Graduates probably most know each other. The parents and family, you can look at other people and not know them personally but in this moment, know that you are sharing this celebratory moment of passage, this moment that could only happen because of zillions and zillions and zillions of causes of which you are all a part.
You know, if everybody could discuss with another, if we had a lot of time, what's in your mind at this moment, what are your mind states, people would say, I'm sure, delighted and joyful and relieved and maybe a little sad, actually, to be finishing, and maybe parents and family are feeling nostalgic about when they were young people starting out into their lives. Maybe you're feeling anticipatory nostalgia about leaving Stanford before you leave, if you're leaving. Everyone's got a mind full of an extraordinary array of human emotions, and if we look at each other, we don't even have to have little discussion groups to say how you are feeling. We know that that person, like me, is celebrating this moment together with me. We are human beings awake to this moment. It's a gorgeous day that supports awareness.
I want to say that really what I think about when my teacher said to me, "Be happy," is be awake, be alert, stay in your life, stay present to it. She said at another point, "It's your life, Sylvia, don't miss it." That's been a very important thing.
Now I want—that, by the way, was the warm-up meditation. This is the real meditation.
Just for a moment, you could even close your eyes if you want to, and this one is not a requirement, just for a moment; think about some challenge in your life at this point. Maybe you're about to start a new job or a new school or a new program or everyone, you know, it's not just for graduates. I think our life, my life is a continuing series of new challenges, new things to do, and among them always something that seems perhaps a little difficult, and I'd like you to be aware of the fact that when the mind is alert and expansive, present as it is in this moment, something that seems like a challenge seems workable. My mind is helpful. It says, well, this seems like a hard thing to do, but I can do it, I'll do that. Well, this is a difficult time in my life but it'll pass. I'll do that. When my mind is buoyant, it can carry the challenges of my life in a more hopeful, inspired way.
One last meditation. I'd like you to think for a moment, in this expansive and I hope hopeful and joyful moment, about the world and its difficulties. It's a very complicated world. It needs a lot of help. In the moments when my mind is inspired, I think about the readings from Abraham Heschel, the readings from Father Merton, the readings from the Dalai Lama, and I think yes, yes, that's right, that is the potential of human beings. We can in fact arise above our personal, trivial needs. We can, as Dr. Heschel said, really make a new world. We can, as Father Merton said, really find that our basic nature is lovingness and kindness and we can live n the awareness of that, and we can express that in the way we are with people. And we can, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, really meet people as friends. Imagine a world where we met everyone as sisters and brothers.
In moments when my mind is blank, like this one, I think to myself, I know that's true, yes, yes. And I can be a part of it. I'm inspired to make a difference. When I realize that every moment is the result of every single thing that's ever happened, I can even think about the world and its difficulties now and think about it in this way. I can say the world is full of difficulties but they didn't get there by accident. The way the world is the result of all the actions of everybody up to now, but the actions of me and everybody else now will make a different world. Everything is always the lawful consequence of causes and conditions, and I and all of you are always for all of our life part of the causes and conditions of the emerging world. That's so exciting for me, when I remember, when my own story of my own life has not captivated me so much that I am bewildered or beleaguered or too tired to remember what I know what's true.
So here are the three practices that I know, that help my mind, picked itself up and remember, there's a world out there and I could make a difference in it, and the difference making would make me happy.
The first practice is a practice of mindfulness. It's a practice of the Buddha ** but it is not a parochial practice. It has no dogma. It's the practice of paying attention, really paying attention. It's a fancy word for paying attention. The point of paying attention, which means in every moment of my life trying to make myself aware of how do I feel? What's going on inside of me? What's going on outside, but what's going on inside? And, from that, getting to see what's always true. The point of it is wisdom. This is the wisdom that we're meant to see. There are three wisdoms. The first is that everything passes. This moment, like every other moment, passes. It's a great piece of wisdom to have in mind when my life is difficult, it's wonderful to remember that it won't be that way forever. I had a very difficult time come up in my family recently. Some incident happened and I was so upset about it, and one of my daughters came by me and said, "Mom, get a grip, its 12 minutes out of a whole life." That was a really important wisdom transmission. It's just this time out of a whole life.
The other part is not only that every experience passes so that when difficult ones are here, they're supportable, but every moment passes so I shouldn't miss this one. This is the only chance I get to do this one. Every moment is precious. Everything that I do makes a difference so I want everything that I do to be inspired by kindness.
The second thing that's important to know is that things are the way they are because of so many causes. Some of the things I can change in my life, and some of them I cant, but the wisest way I can respond to my life is by accommodating it and responding to it and not fighting and struggling with it, that are the things that I can change and I'd like the courage to change them. There are things that I can't change. I'd like the serenity to accept them. I'd like to keep the wisdom to know the difference.
And the third thing, again, is the recognition that no one does anything alone, that is, all causes and conditions. It relieves me personally of worrying too much about praise or blame. If I do something good, I think to myself, well, great, this is my teacher's and my parents' and my whole life speaking through me at this moment and acting through me, and I am very, very grateful for all of my teachers and all the people that make me who I am today, and I figure I share the merit with them. They're part of it. And when I don't do so well, when I don't do as well as I wish, I can also distribute the dismay and say this is not my fault. All of my committee did not show up in exactly the right proportions today, but they will another time, so thank you, committee, and we carry on. I don't have to carry the whole burden myself. I'm part of the committee but I'm not the whole committee. That's a great piece of awareness. That's what's supposed to happen from paying attention. That's my first practice.
Second practice is a practice of kind expression. The Buddha word for it is meta practice, kindness practice. Actually meta means friendliness practice, and in the reading from the Dalai Lama, you heard about meeting every moment as a friend, every person as a friend. It's easy to meet people and it's easy to meet experiences in your life as a friend if they're pleasant. It's not so easy if they're unpleasant and if you don't like them, so it's really important to know that this is a practice not for the benefit of the other person. It's a practice for the benefit of myself, that what I'm actually trying to do is to keep my heart an enmity-free zone. There's so much enmity in the world. I don't want any of it in my heart. If I can meet this person at least with a good intention for them, my grandfather used to say about everybody, because that was just an Eastern European thing to say, "My daughter, Miriam, may she live and thrive; my cousin Murray, may he live and thrive. I like to think about people as they come along—here comes so-and-so; may they live and thrive. I can like them or not like them, but if I think 'may they live and thrive,' it picks me up and it keeps me from thinking my stories about why I might not like them, which will condition how it is when I meet them. It's actually a safeguard for myself, so I hope as you meet people through the day, you might say to them, "May you live and thrive," and they'll never know actually, except other than that you wish them well. And your heart will stay in a very good zone.
There's a third practice that I have. This is not a practice of the Buddha could have taught, because it involves having a computer and doing e-mail. And it's a practice that I have been doing for two years with my friend, Carol. Carol lives in Massachusetts, I live in California, we decided while we were teaching somewhere together having heard from a friend of ours that this was a good practice, I looked over at Carol and said, "You want to do this?" and she said, "yes." We went home. We e-mail each other every single day and I write to Carol what I am grateful for that day, and she writes to me. It's not a letter. I don't even write "Dear Carol." I say, "I am grateful today for" this and this and this. She writes the same. I don't have to respond to her, she doesn't have to respond to me. When we started, it was easy. She went back to Massachusetts, she said, "I'm grateful the snow is melting." I wrote to her, "I am grateful I live in California, we already have crocuses and daffodils."
But after a while, after the excitement and the novelty of being friends used up all of our great stuff, we inevitably came to the truth of our lives, and sometimes there are really difficult days, and I would find myself at the end of the day in front of my computer writing to Carol and saying, "I am grateful for your presence at the other end of this e-mail because I've had an absolutely terrible day. I am up to here with my colleagues. I'm upset with this and this with my family. I am trying to get a grip about this because I'm trying to be spiritual about it and it's not working, and I'm very happy that you're out there so I can tell you I'm in a really desperate mood, and in truth, as I'm telling you and as I'm writing you, it doesn't seem so bad, and actually there's a little space around the edges of it, and actually as I'm writing to you I see that I've made more of a mountain out of a mole hill than I needed to do and it becomes workable, and so and so." And Carol and I over these two years that we've been doing it have become as a result of this, very dear friends, because we've come to really tell each other what the really challenged parts of our lives are, and it's extraordinary to feel that I am held in loving compassion by someone out there, that I don't have to see, that I don't have to meet, that somewhere in the world there is someone waiting for her e-mail from me every day saying my gratitude. What it does for me, because it obligates me to make a space of gratitude in my mind, is I have to find some frame around my story large enough to hold the story, even if my story is one of woe and difficulty, I can say I'm still so happy that you love me and you're out there and you'll read this and you'll care about me. If the frame gets bigger, it allows me to see different possibilities in my life and when the frame is bigger, it allows me to remember that there is a life outside of mine, that there are other possibilities not only in my life but in the world. I get reconnected to myself in affection, and I get re-inspired to make a difference in the world.
You know, the Buddha said, the Ananda, the principal disciple of the Buddha, said to him at one point, "Is it true that noble friends are half of the holy life?" And the Buddha said, "No, it's not true. Noble friends are the whole of the holy life." So I would like you for a minute to look around at your noble friends, people that have helped you through all these years. Think about it your family back there who are, all of them, your noblest friends from the beginning. Think about the people who couldn't be here today who are part of your life who are your noble friends. And I'd like us to do this meditation together. You can look at the noble friends so you can think about the noble families. I'd like you to think, you don't have to say this out of your mouth, but you can think it in your mind. May your life go well, may you be happy, may your dreams come true. Think of somebody else now. May your life go well, may you be happy, may your dreams come true. Think of somebody else. May your life go well, may you be happy, may your dreams come true.
Now let's change the—we're all doing that, right? We're all doing that. Think of people. Now change the pronoun. We'll all change the pronoun. We'll change the pronoun from "you" to "we." May our lives go well, may we be happy, may our dreams come true. May we stay awake and alert, may we stay friendly, may we stay amazed.
Thank you very much."

Krishnamurti Jiddu: Unutrašnja revolucija - 3 dio

Pitam se kako vidite smrt; ne teoretski, već što ona zbiljski za vas znači - ne kao nešto što će neizbježno doći kao ishod nesreće, bolesti ili starosti. To se događa svakome: starost i težnje koje prate starost, da se pokuša biti mlad. Sve same teorije, sve nada, što znači da ste u očaju. Bivajući očajni, okrećete se nečemu što će vam dati nadu. Jeste li se ikada zagledali u svoj očaj da biste vidjeli zašto postoji? Postoji zato jer se uspoređujete s nekim drugim, jer želite zadovoljiti, postati, biti, postići.
Jedna od čudnih stvari u životu je naša uvjetovanost glagolom 'biti'. Jer u njemu je prisutna prošlost, sadašnjost i budućnost. Svo religijsko uvjetovanje se temelji na glagolu 'biti'. Na njemu se temelji svaki raj i pakao, sva vjerovanja, svi spasitelji, sva pretjerivanja. Može li ljudsko biće živjeti bez tog glagola? Što znači živjeti i nemati prošlosti, nemati budućnosti. To ne znači 'življenje u sadašnjosti' - vi ne znate što znači živjeti u sadašnjosti. Da biste u potpunosti živjeli u sadašnjosti, vi morate znati što je priroda i struktura prošlosti - koja ste vi sami. Vi morate sebe poznavati toliko potpuno, da ne postoji skriveni ugao; to 'sebe' je prošlost, i to sebstvo raste na tom glagolu 'biti', postati, postići, zapamtiti. Pronađite što znači živjeti bez tog glagola psihološki, iznutra.
Što smrt znači? Zašto je se tako strahovito plašimo? Po čitavoj Aziji ljudi vjeruju u reinkaranciju; u njoj postoji velika nada - ne znam zašto - i ljudi nastavljaju pričati i pisati o tome. Kada pogledate tu stvar koja će se inkarnirati, što je ona? - sva prošlost, sva vaša bijeda, sva vaša zbrka, sve ono što ste vi sada? I mislite da je to 'vi' (vi ovdje koristite riječ 'duša') nešto postojano. Ima li išta u životu što je postojano? Vi biste željeli imati nešto postojano i tako pomičete smrt daleko od sebe, nikada ne gledate u nju, jer ste uplašeni. Tada imate 'vremena' - vremena između onoga što jest i onoga što će se neizbježno dogoditi.
Ili projicirate vaš život u sutrašnjicu i nastavljate kakvi ste sada, nadajući se da će nastupiti nekakvo uskrsnuće, inkarnacija, ili umirete svakoga dana. Umrite svakoga dana samome sebi, vašoj bijedi, vašoj patnji; otklonite taj teret svakoga dana da vam um može biti svjež, mlad i nevin. Riječ 'nevinost' znači 'ne moći biti povrijeđen'. Imati um koji ne može biti povrijeđen ne znači da je on izgradio veliki otpor - baš suprotno, takav um umire za sve što je znao, a u čemu je bilo sukoba, užitka i boli. Tek tada um je nevin; što znači da može voljeti. Ne možete voljeti sa sjećanjem. Ljubav nije stvar pamćenja, vremena.
Tako ljubav, smrt i življenje nisu odvojeni već potpuna cjelina, i u njoj je razumnost. Razumnost nije moguća kada postoji mržnja, ljutnja, ljubomora, kada postoji ovisnost koja rađa strah. Gdje je razumnost, život postaje svet; postoji velika radost i možete činiti što hoćete; ono što tada učinite je krijeposno, istinito.
Mi ne znamo sve to - mi znamo samo našu bijedu - i ne znajući, pokušavamo pobjeći. Kada barem ne bismo bježali, već mogli zbiljski promatrati, nikada ne uzmicati čak ni djelić od onoga 'što jest' imenujući to, osuđujući ili sudeći o tome - već mogli naprosto gledati to. Da biste nešto gledali, potrebna je briga - briga znači suosjećanje. život koji je življen tako veličanstveno i potpuno može tada zaći u nešto o čemu ćemo razgovarati sutra, a to je meditacija. Bez polaganja takvog temelja, meditacija je samohipnoza. Postavljanje tog temelja znači da ste razumjeli ovaj izuzetan život, pa imate um u kojemu nema sukoba i vodite život suosjećanja, ljepote i stoga reda. Ne reda nekog plana, već reda koji nastupa kada razumijete što nered jest - a to je vaš život. Vaš život jest u neredu. Nered je proturječje, sukob suprotnosti. Kada shvatite taj nered u vama, tada iz njega proizlazi red - red koji je precizan, matematički, u kojemu nema iskrivljavanja. Sve to zahtijeva jedan meditativan um, um koji je sposoban da gleda u tišini.

Preveo s engleskoga:
Domagoj Orlić

The Teachings of the Buddha: The Four Noble Truths

"To refrain from evil, to do good, to purify the heart." In a nutshell, this is the core of Buddhism, which it shares with the perennial philosophy expressed expressed by other religions around the world. The teachings of Buddhism, however, are more detailed than this and rather systematic.

After he attained enlightment, which amounted to achieving a remarkable insight into the human condition, Siddartha was unsure what to do with this tremendous wisdom he had gleaned. At first, he thought of teaching it to others, but then doubted that it could be truly communicated in words, that others would be unable to comprehend what he was getting at. Perhaps this wisdom was for him alone to realize and use. Fortunately for us, however, a sense of duty prevailed and while then as now, in terms of great truth most people metaphorically have too much dust in their eyes to fully see, there are some whose sight is obscured by only a little dust. The Buddha hoped that his teaching might be of benefit to the. So, he set off to teach. The Buddha gave his first lesson at Deer Park, Sarnath (near Varanasi, in India) to a group of wandering ascetics he knew. In it, the Buddha explained the human condition in terms of a framework called the Four Noble Truths. Noble Truth 1: There is suffering. (Or more precisely, unsatisfactoriness.)Noble Truth 2: There is a cause of suffering. That cause is desire and attachment.Noble Truth 3: There is a way to eliminate the suffering, which is to eliminate the cause.Noble Truth 4: The way leading to the elimination of suffering is the eightfold noble path. The first noble truth, that there is unsatisfactoriness, is founded on a fundamental characteristic of being noted by Buddhism, which is that all things are impermanent and changing. Remember the Buddha's pre-enlightenment glimpses of old age, sickness and death in which he first confronted human suffering. Most people would not dispute that human life entails a certain amount of sorrow and loss and that this is in the nature of living. There is suffering and we cannot keep things forever and the same. The Buddha believed that this was the fundamental problem of existence. But, it is not a hopeless situation, for the Buddha, like a good doctor, examined the disease and identified the cause. This, he said, is craving. Thus arose the second noble truth.We are always desiring what we don't have. We want things to remain the same and in our possession, a form of attachment. This is futile, though, because of impermanance. This causes us to suffer.Having identified a cause, there is a possible solution, simply the elimination of the cause. This is the third noble truth. It is very important. Get rid of desire and attachment (or reduce it) and suffering will disappear (or be reduced). That seems quite clear, but the question is how. The Buddha then explained the fourth noble truth as his elegant eight-fold noble path to the elimination of suffering by eliminating the cause of suffering.The Buddha recognized further that craving was rooted in three fundamental types of defilement or imperfection: 1) ignorance, 2) greed and 3) hatred. He designed his noble path to attack and eliminate this three hindrances to happiness.The Eightfold Noble Path1. Right understanding. 2. Right thought.3. Right speech. 4. Right action. 5. Right livelihood. 6. Right effort. 7. Right mindfulness. 8. Right concentration. Everything you need to know about Buddhism to achieve enlightment is here. Elements one and two have to do with wisdom, which combats ignorance. Elements three, four and five are about morality, which combats hatred. The last three elements are about concentration, which combats greed. The path is thus broken into these three parts. The Buddha taught the eight points in different ways depending on the character of his student. For someone overwhelmed by greed, he emphasized concentration, while for someone full of hatred, he would focus on morality. The three sections are to be studied as is appropriate to the student. Right understanding is the foundation of wisdom and the cessation of suffering. If you don't understand or misunderstand, the Buddha's teachings, then you will surely encounter problems. Right thought entails using right understanding in order for your mind to aspire to thoughts which are free of greed, hatred and ignorance. With right thought, you achieve a mind which is largely still and full of loving-kindness.The next three steps underlie all the rest, for without morality, wisdom or concentration are difficult if not impossible. One should be truthful and moderate in speaking and similarly in behavior. The five precepts of Buddhist life refer to 1) not killing (the converse:preserve life) 2) not stealing (the converse:preserve and respect things) 3) not lying (the converse: be truthful) 4) not being sexually indulgent (the converse: be moderate and true in sexual matters) and 5) not consuming intoxicants (the converse:have a healthy diet and care for your body and mind). This says so much. I might addthat one should not harm the universe around you, but be kind to all and everything. A right livelihood is important too, as one's job should not entail violation of the five precepts. Such jobs as butchers, executioners or thieves do not incline one to a moral life. With wisdom and morality in place, it is then time to train the mind. Mental training, also called meditation, is critical to Buddhist practice and sets it apart from western religions. Suffering really originates in our mind as it is our response to situation and circumstance that creates sorrow and pain. So, it is through the mind that we can finally follow the third noble truth. One begins by making the effort to concentrate the mind and this effort is made towards achieving mindfulness. One should be aware at all times of one's thoughts, words and deeds and be cognizant of cause and effect. The Buddha taught that live in a realm of conditioned things called "samsara" (the cycle of suffering) that are fueled by karma which is fueled by ignorance and a lack of mindfulness. When one is mindful, one is more apt to refrain from doing bad and to do good. Concentration means focussing the mind (making it calm and one-pointed) and maintaining that mindfulness at all times in everything you think, say and do. When all eight elements of the path work together, one will truly find a happiness that is strong and enduring. The four noble truths of which it is a part are the foundation of all forms of Buddhism and a philosophy and religion not so difficult to understand or apply. The Buddha taught this lesson in many forms for the next forty-five years until his death. Their truth still rings true.

Krishnamurti Jiddu: Unutrašnja revolucija - 2 dio

Što je ljubav? Mnogo o njoj govorimo - ljubav prema bogu, ljubav prema čovječanstvu, ljubav prema domovini, ljubav prema obitelji - a ipak čudno, s tom ljubavi ide mržnja. Volite svog boga, a mrzite tuđeg boga. Volite svoju naciju, svoju obitelj, ali ste protiv druge obitelji, protiv druge nacije. I sve više i više, u čitavom svijetu, ljubav se povezuje sa seksom. Mi ne osuđujemo, mi ne sudimo, ne vrednujemo; mi naprosto promatramo što se zbiljski događa; a ako znate kako promatrati, to vam daje ogromnu energiju.
Što je ljubav i što je suosjećanje? Riječ 'suosjećanje' znači osjećanje za svakoga, briga za sve - uključujući i životinje koje ubijate da biste ih jeli. Pogledajmo prvo što zbiljski jest - ne što bi trebalo biti - uviđajući što zbiljski jest, u dnevnom životu. Da li znamo što znači voljeti ili samo znamo užitak i želju, koje nazivamo ljubavlju? - naravno da uz užitak, uz želju ide nježnost, briga, osjećajnost i tako dalje. Pa je li ljubav užitak, želja? Očigledno je da za većinu nas jest. Čovjek ovisi o svojoj ženi, voli svoju ženu, a ipak pogleda li ona koga drugog, on se razljuti, postane frustriran, jadan -i konačno tu je brakorazvodni sud. To je ono što nazivate ljubavlju! - a ako vam žena umre, nađete drugu. Toliko je velika ta ovisnost. Čovjek se nikada ne pita zašto ovisi o drugome (govorim o psihološkoj ovisnosti). Zagledate li se u to, vidjet ćete koliko ste usamljeni, dolje u dubini, koliko frustrirani i nesretni. Vi ne znate što uraditi s tom usamljenošću, tim osamljivanjem, koje je oblik samoubojstva. I tako, ne znajući što da učinite, vi ovisite. Ta ovisnost vam pruža veliku udobnost i druženje, ali kada se to druženje malo poremeti, postajete ljubomorni, bijesni.
Da li biste poslali svoju djecu u rat kad biste ih voljeli? Da li biste im dali obrazovanje kakvo sada imaju, obrazujući ih samo tehnološki, da biste im pomogli da dobiju posao, polože nekoliko ispita, a zanemarujući ostatak cjeline ovog čudesnog života? Brižno se brinete za njih negdje do njihove pete godine, a poslije toga ih bacite vukovima. To je ono što nazivate ljubavlju. Ima li ljubavi ako postoji nasilje, mržnja, antagonizam?
Pa što ćete učiniti? Unutar tog nasilja i mržnje nalazi se vaša vrlina i vaša moralnost. Tek kada ih opovrgnete, postajete kreposni. To znači uviđanje svih implikacija onoga što ljubav jest; tada stojite sami i sposobni ste za ljubav. Slušajte ovo, jer to je istina. Ako ju ne živite, istina postaje otrov. Ako čujete nešto istinito i zanemarite to, time uzrokujete još jednu proturječnost u životu i stoga više bijede. Zato ili slušajte svojim srcem i čitavim svojim umom ili uopće nemojte slušati. Ali pošto ste ovdje, vi slušate, nadam se!Ljubav nije suprotnost ničemu. Ona nije suprotnost mržnji ili nasilju. Čak i ako ne ovisite ni o kome i živite vrlo kreposnim životom - bavite se socijalnim radom, demonstrirate gore-dolje po ulici - ako nemate ljubavi to nema nikakve vrijednosti. Ako volite, tada možete činiti što hoćete. Jer čovjek koji voli ne čini greške - ili ako se greška pojavi, on je odmah ispravlja. U čovjeku koji voli nema ljubomore, nema grižnje savjesti; u njemu nema praštanja, jer ni u jednom trenutku se ne javlja nešto što bi trebalo oprostiti. Sve to zahtijeva duboko istraživanje, veliku brigu i pažnju. Ali vi ste uhvaćeni u zamku modernog društva; sami ste stvorili tu zamku, a ako vam netko na to ukaže, vi se ne obazirete. I tako se ratovi i mržnja nastavljaju.

NOW IS THE KNOWING – AJAHN SUMEDO

Happiness, Unhappiness and Nibbana

The goal of buddhist meditation is Nibbana. We incline towards the peace of Nibbana and away from the complexities of the sensual realm, the endless cycles of habit. Nibbana is a goal that can be realized in this lifetime. We don’t have to wait until we die to know if it’s real.
The senses and the sensual world are the realm of birth and death. Take sight for instance: it’s dependent on so many factors — whether it’s day or night, whether or not the eyes are healthy, and so on. Yet we become very attached to the colours, shapes and forms that we perceive with the eyes, and we identify with them. Then there are the ears and sound: when we hear pleasant sounds we seek to hold onto them, and when we hear unpleasant sounds we try to turn away. With smells: we seek the pleasure of fragrances and pleasant odours, and try to get away from unpleasant ones. Also with flavours: we seek delicious tastes and try to avoid bad ones. And with touch: just how much of our lives is spent trying to escape from physical discomfort and pain, and seeking the delight of physical sensation? Finally there is thought, the discriminative consciousness. It can give us a lot of pleasure or a lot of misery.
These are the senses, the sensual world. It is the compounded world of birth and death. Its very nature is dukkha, it is imperfect and unsatisfying. You’ll never find perfect happiness, contentment or peace in the sensual world; it will always bring despair and death. The sensual world is unsatisfactory, and so we only suffer from it when we expect it to satisfy us.
We suffer from the sensual world when we expect more from it than it can possibly give: things like permanent security and happiness, permanent love and safety, hoping that our life will only be one of pleasure and have no pain in it. ‘If we could only get rid of sickness and disease and conquer old age.’ I remember 20 years ago in the States people had this great hope that modem science would be able to get rid of all illnesses. They’d say, ‘All mental illnesses are due to chemical imbalances. If we can just find the right chemical combinations and inject them into the body, schizophrenia will disappear.’ There would be no more headaches or backaches. We would gradually replace all our internal organs with nice plastic ones. I even read an article in an Australian medical journal about how they hoped to conquer old age! As the world’s population keeps increasing we’d keep having more children and nobody would ever get old and die. Just think what a mess that would be!
The sensual world is unsatisfactory and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. When we attach to it, it takes us to despair — because attachment means that we want it to be satisfactory, we want it to satis-fy us, to make us content, happy and secure. But just notice the nature of happiness how long can you stay happy? What is happiness? You may think it’s how you feel when you get what you want. Someone says something you like to hear, and you feel happy. Someone does something you approve of, and you feel happy. The sun shines and you feel happy. Someone makes nice food and serves it to you, and you’re happy. But how long can you stay happy? Do we always have to depend on the sun shining? In England, the weather is very changeable: the happiness about the sun shining in England is obviously very impermanent and unsatisfactory.
Unhappiness is not getting what we want: wanting it to be sunny when it’s cold, wet and rainy; people doing things that we don’t approve of; having food that isn’t delicious and so on. Life gets boring and tedious when we’re unhappy with it. So happiness and unhappiness are very dependent on getting what we want, and having to get what we don’t want.
But happiness is the goal of most people’s lives; in the American constitution, I think, they speak of ‘the right to the pursuit of happiness’. Get-ting what we want, what we think we deserve, be-comes our goal in life. But happiness always leads to unhappiness, because it’s impermanent. How long can you really be happy? Trying to arrange, control and manipulate conditions so as to always get what we want, always hear what we want to hear, always see what we want to see, so that we never have to experience unhappiness or despair, is a hopeless task. It’s impossible, isn’t it? Happiness is unsatisfactory, it’s dukkha. It’s not something to depend on or make the goal of life. Happiness will always be disappointing because it lasts so briefly and then is succeeded by unhappiness. It is always dependent on so many other things. We feel happy when we’re healthy but our human bodies are subject to rapid changes and we can lose that health very quickly. Then we feel terribly unhappy at being sick, at losing the pleasure of feeling energetic and vigorous.
Thus the goal for the Buddhist is not happiness, because we realize that happiness is unsatisfactory. The goal lies away from the sensual world. It is not rejection of the sensual world, but understanding it so well that we no longer seek it as an end in itself. We no longer expect the sensory world to satisfy us. We no longer demand that sensory consciousness be anything other than an existing condition that we can skilfully use according to time and place. We no longer attach to it, or demand that the sense impingement be always pleasant, or feel despair and sorrow when it’s unpleasant. Nibbana isn’t a state of blankness, a trance where you’re totally wiped out. It’s not nothingness or an annihilation: it’s like a space. It’s going into the space of your mind where you no longer attach, where you’re no longer deluded by the appearance of things. You are no longer demanding anything from the sensory world. You are just recognizing it as it arises and passes away.
Being born in the human condition means that we must inevitably experience old age, sickness and death. One time a young woman came to our mona-stery in England with her baby. The baby had been badly ill for about a week with a horrible racking cough. The mother looked totally depressed and miserable. As she sat there in the reception room holding the baby, it fumed red in the face and start-ed screaming and coughing horribly. The woman said, ‘Oh, Venerable Sumedho, why does he have to suffer like this? He’s never hurt anybody, he’s never done anything wrong. Why? In some previous life, what did he do to have to suffer like this?’
He was suffering because he was born! If he hadn’t been born, he wouldn’t have to suffer. When we’re born we have to expect these things. Having a human body means that we have to experience sickness, pain, old age and death. This is an important reflection. We can speculate that maybe in a previous life he liked to choke cats and dogs or something like that, and he has to pay for it in this life, but that’s mere speculation and it doesn’t really help. What we can know is that it’s the kammic result of being born. Each one of us must inevitably experience sickness and pain, hunger, thirst, the ageing process of our bodies and death it’s the law of kamma. What begins must end, what is born must die, what comes together must separate.
We’re not being pessimistic about the way things are, but we’re observing, so we don’t expect life to be other than it is. Then we can cope with life and endure it when it’s difficult, and delight when it’s delightful. If we understand it, we can enjoy life without being its helpless victims. How much mis-ery there is in human existence because we expect life to be other than what it is! We have these romantic ideas that we’ll meet the right person, fall in love and live happily ever after, that we’ll never fight, have a wonderful relationship. But what about death! ? So you think, ‘Well, maybe we’ll die at the same time.’ That’s hope, isn’t it? There’s hope, and then despair when your loved one dies before you do, or runs away with the dustman or the travelling salesman.
You can learn a lot from small children, because they don’t disguise their feelings, they just express what they feel in the moment; when they’re miserable they start crying, and when they’re happy they laugh. Some time ago I went to a layman’s home. When we arrived, his young daughter was very happy to see him. Then he said to her, ‘I have to take Venerable Sumedho to Sussex University to give a talk.’ As we walked out of the door, the little girl fumed red in the face and began screaming in anguish, so that her father said, ‘It’s all right, I’ll be back in an hour., But she wasn’t developed to that level where she could understand ‘I’ll be back in an hour.’ The immediacy of separation from the loved was immediate anguish.
Notice how often in our life there is that sorrow at having to separate from something we like or someone we love, from having to leave a place we really like to be in. When you are really mindful you can see the not-wanting to separate, the sorrow. As adults, we can let go of it immediately if we know we can come back again, but it’s still there. From last November to March, I travelled around the world, always arriving at airports with somebody meeting me with a ‘Hello!’ — and then a few days later it was ‘Goodbye!’ And there was always this sense of ‘Come back’, and I’d say ‘Yes, I’ll come back’... and so I’ve committed myself to do the same thing next year. We can’t say, ‘Goodbye forever’ to someone we like, can we? We say, ‘I’ll see you again,’ ‘I’ll phone you up,’ ‘I’ll write you a letters or ‘until next time we meet’. We have all these phrases to cover over the sense of sorrow and separation.
In meditation we’re noting, just observing what sorrow really is. We’re not saying that we shouldn’t feel sorrow when we separate from someone we love; it’s natural to feel that way, isn’t it? But now, as meditators, we’re beginning to witness sorrow so that we understand it, rather than trying to suppress it, pretend it’s something more than it is, or just neglect it.
In England people tend to suppress sorrow when somebody dies. They try not to cry or be emotional, they don’t want to make a scene, they ‘keep a stiff upper lip’. Then when they start meditating they can find themselves suddenly crying over the death of someone who died fifteen years before. They didn’t cry at the time, so they end up doing it fifteen years later. When someone dies, we don’t want to admit the sorrow or make a scene because we think that if we cry we’re weak, or it’s embarrassing to others. So we tend to suppress and hold things back, not recognizing the nature of things as they really are, not recognizing our human predicament and learning from it. In meditation we’re allowing the mind to open up and let the things that have been suppressed and repressed become conscious, because when things become conscious they have a way of ceasing rather than just being repressed again. We allow things to take their course to cessation, we allow things to go away rather than just push them away.
Usually we just push certain things away from us, refusing to accept or recognize them. Whenever we feel upset or annoyed with anyone, when we’re bored, or when unpleasant feelings arise, we look at the beautiful flowers or the sky, read a book, watch TV, do something. We’re never fully consciously bored, fully angry. We don’t recognize our despair or disappointment, because we can always run off into something else. We can always go to the refrigerator, eat cakes and sweets, listen to the stereo. It’s so easy to absorb into music, away from boredom and despair into something that’s exciting or interesting or calming or beautiful.
Look at how dependent we are on watching TV and reading. There are so many books now that they’ll all have to be burnt — useless books everywhere, everybody’s writing things without having anything worth saying. Today’s not-so-pleasant film stars write their biographies and make a lot of money. Then there are the gossip columns: people get away from the boredom of their own existence, their discontent with it, the tediousness, by reading gossip about movie stars and public figures.
We’ve never really accepted boredom as a conscious state. As soon as it comes into the mind we start looking for something interesting, some-thing pleasant. But in meditation we’re allowing boredom to be. We’re allowing ourselves to be fully consciously bored, fully depressed, fed up, jealous, angry, disgusted. All the nasty unpleasant experiences of life that we have repressed out of consciousness and never really looked at, never really accepted, we begin to accept into conscious-ness — not as personality problems any more, but just out of compassion. Out of kindness and wisdom we allow things to take their natural course to cessation, rather that just keep them going round in the same old cycles of habit. If we have no way of letting things take their natural course, then we’re always controlling, always caught in some dreary habit of mind. When we’re jaded and depressed we’re unable to appreciate the beauty of things, because we never really see them as they truly are.
I remember one experience I had in my first year of meditation in Thailand. I spent most of that year by myself in a little hut, and the first few months were really terrible all kinds of things kept coming up in my mind — obsessions and fears and terror and hatred. I’d never felt so much hatred. I’d never thought of myself as one who hated people, but during those first few months of meditation it seemed like I hated everybody. I couldn’t think of anything nice about anyone, there was so much aversion coming up into consciousness. Then one afternoon I started having this strange vision — I thought I was going crazy, actually — I saw people walking off my brain. I saw my mother just walk out of my brain and into emptiness, disappear into space. Then my father and my sister followed. I actually saw these visions walking out of my head. I thought, ‘I’m crazy! I’ve gone off!’ — but it wasn’t an unpleasant experience.
The next morning when I woke from sleep and looked around, I felt that everything I saw was beautiful. Everything, even the most unbeautiful detail, was beautiful. I was in a state of awe. The hut itself was a crude structure, not beautiful by anyone’s standards, but it looked to me like a palace. The scrubby looking trees outside looked like a most beautiful forest. Sunbeams were streaming through the window onto a plastic dish, and the plastic dish looked beautiful! That sense of beauty stayed with me for about a week, and then reflecting on it I suddenly realized that that’s the way things really are when the mind is clear. Up to that time I’d been looking through a dirty window, and over the years I’d become so used to the scum and dirt on the window that I didn’t realize it was dirty, I’d thought that that’s the way it was.
When we get used to looking through a dirty window everything seems grey, grimy and ugly. Meditation is a way of cleaning the window, purifying the mind, allowing things to come up into consciousness and letting them go. Then with the wisdom faculty, the Buddha-wisdom, we observe how things really are. It’s not just attaching to beauty, to purity of mind, but actually understand-ing. It is wisely reflecting on the way nature operates, so that we are no longer deluded by it into creating habits for our life through ignorance.
Birth means old age, sickness and death, but that’s to do with your body, it’s not you. Your human body is not really yours. No matter what your particular appearance might be, whether you are healthy or sickly, whether you are beautiful or not beautiful, whether you are black or white or whatever, it’s all non-self. This is what we mean by anatta, that human bodies belong to nature, that they follow the laws of nature: they are born, they grow up, they get old and they die.
Now we may understand that rationally, but emotionally there is a very strong attachment to the body. In meditation we begin to see this attach-ment. We don’t take the position that we shouldn’t be attached, saying: ‘The problem with me is that I’m attached to my body. I shouldn’t be. It’s bad, isn’t it? If I was a wise person I wouldn’t be attached to it.’ That’s starting from an ideal again. It’s like trying to start climbing a tree from the top saying, ‘I should be at the top of the tree. I shouldn’t be down here.’ But as much as we’d like to think that we’re at the top, we have to humbly accept that we aren’t. To begin with, we have to be at the trunk of the tree, where the roots are, looking at the most coarse and ordinary things before we can start identifying with anything at the top of the tree.
This is the way of wise reflection. It’s not just purifying the mind and then attaching to purity. It’s not just trying to refine consciousness so that we can induce high states of concentration whenever we feel like it, because even the most refined states of sensory consciousness are unsatisfactory, they’re dependent on so many other things. Nibbana is not dependent on any other condition. Conditions of any quality, be they ugly, nasty, beautiful, refined or whatever, arise and pass away — but they don’t interfere with Nibbana, with the peace of the mind.
We are not inclining away from the sensory world through aversion, because if we try to anni-hilate the senses then that too becomes a habit that we blindly acquire, trying to get rid of that which we don’t like. That’s why we have to be very patient.
This lifetime as a human being is a lifetime of meditation. See the rest of your life as the span of meditation rather than this ten-day retreat. You may think: ‘I meditated for ten days. I thought I was enlightened but somehow when I got home I didn’t feel enlightened any more. I’d like to go back and do a longer retreat where I can feel more enlightened than I did last time. It would be nice to have a higher state of consciousness.’ In fact, the more refined you go the more coarse your daily life must seem. You get high, and then when you get back to the mundane daily routines of life in the city, it’s even worse than before, isn’t it? Having gone so high, the ordinariness of life seems much more ordinary, gross and unpleasant. The way to insight wisdom is not making preferences for refinement over coarseness, but recognizing that both refined and coarse consciousness are impermanent conditions, that they’re unsatisfactory, their nature will never satisfy us, and they’re anatta, they’re not what we are, they’re not ours.
Thus the Buddha’s teaching is a very simple one. What could be more simple than ‘what is born must die’? It’s not some great new philosophical discovery, even illiterate tribal people know that. You don’t have to study in university to know it.
When we’re young we think: ‘I’ve got so many years left of youth and happiness.’ If we’re beautiful we think, ‘I’m going to be young and beautiful for-ever,’ because it seems that way. If we’re twenty years old, having a good time, life is wonderful and somebody says, ‘You are going to die some day’, we may think, ‘What a depressing person. Let’s not invite him again to our house.’ We don’t want to think about death, we want to think about how wonderful life is, how much pleasure we can get out of it.
So as meditators we reflect on getting old and dying. This is not being morbid or sick or depressing, but it’s considering the whole cycle of existence; and when we know that cycle, then we are more careful about how we live. People do horrible things because they don’t reflect on their deaths. They don’t wisely reflect and consider, they just follow their passions and feelings of the moment, trying to get pleasure and then feeling angry and depressed when life doesn’t give them what they want.
Reflect on your own life and death and the cycles of nature. Just observe what delights and what depresses. See how we can feel very positive or very negative. Notice how we want to attach to beauty or to pleasant feelings or to inspiration. It’s really nice to feel inspired, isn’t it? ‘Buddhism is the greatest religion of them all’ or ‘When I discovered the Buddha I was so happy, it’s a wonderful discovery!’ When we get a little bit doubtful, a little bit depressed, we go and read an inspiring book and get high. But remember, getting high is an impermanent condition, it’s like getting happy, you have to keep doing it, sustaining it and after you keep doing something over and over again you no longer feel happy with it. How many sweets can you eat? At first they make you happy — and then they make you sick.
So depending on religious inspiration is not enough. If you attach to inspiration, then when you get fed up with Buddhism you’ll go off and find some new thing to inspire you. It’s like attaching to romance, when it disappears from the relationship you start looking for someone else to feel romantic towards. Years ago in America I met a woman who’d been married six times, and she was only about thirty-three. I said, ‘You’d think you would have learned after the third or fourth time. Why do you keep getting married?’ She said, ‘It’s the romance. I don’t like the other side but I love the romance.’ At least she was honest, but not terribly wise. Romance is a condition that leads to disillusionment.
Romance, inspiration, excitement, adventure, all these things rise to a peak and then condition their opposites, just as an inhalation conditions an exhalation. Just think of inhaling all the time. It’s like having one romance after another, isn’t it? How long can you inhale? The inhalation conditions the exhalation, both are necessary. Birth conditions death, hope conditions despair and inspiration conditions disillusionment. So when we attach to hope we’re going to feel despair. When we attach to excitement it’s going to take us to boredom. When we attach to romance it will take us to disillusion-ment and divorce. When we attach to life it takes us to death. So recognize that it’s the attachment that causes the suffering, attaching to conditions and expecting them to be more than what they are.
So much of life for so many people seems to be waiting and hoping for something to happen, expecting and anticipating some success or pleasure — or maybe worrying and fearing that some painful, unpleasant thing is just lying in wait. You may hope that you will meet somebody who you’ll really love or have some great experience, but attaching to hope takes you to despair.
By wise reflection we begin to understand the things that create misery in our lives. We see that actually we are the creators of that misery. Through our ignorance, through our not having wisely understood the sensory world and its limitations, we have identified with all that is unsatisfactory and impermanent, the things that can only take us to despair and death. No wonder life is so depressing! It’s dreary because of the attachment, because we identify and seek ourselves in all that is by nature dukkha: unsatisfactory and imperfect.
Now when we stop doing that, when we let go, that is enlightenment. We are enlightened beings, no longer attached, no longer identified with anything, no longer deluded by the sensory world. We understand the sensory world, we know how to co-exist with it. We know how to use the sensory world for compassionate action, for joyous giving. We don’t demand that it be here to satisfy us any more, to make us feel secure and safe or to give us anything, because as soon as we demand it to satisfy us it takes us to despair.
When we no longer identify with the sensory world as ‘me’ or ‘mine’, and see it as anatta, then we can enjoy the senses without seeking sense-impingement or depending on it. We no longer expect conditions to be anything other than what they are, so that when they change we can patiently and peacefully endure the unpleasant side of exist-ence. We can humbly endure sickness, pain, cold, hunger, failures and criticisms. If we’re not attached to the world we can adapt to change, whatever that change may be, whether it’s for the better or for the worse. If we’re still attached then we can’t adapt very well, we’re always struggling, resisting, trying to control and manipulate everything, and then feeling frustrated, frightened or depressed at what a delusive, frightening place the world is.
If you’ve never really contemplated the world, never taken the time to understand and know it, then it becomes a frightening place for you. It becomes like a jungle: you don’t know what’s around the next tree, bush or cliff — a wild animal, a ferocious man-eating tiger, a terrible dragon or a poisonous snake.
Nibbana means getting away from the jungle. When we’re inclining towards Nibbana we’re moving towards the peace of the mind. Although the conditions of the mind may not be peaceful at all, the mind itself is a peaceful place. Here we are making a distinction between the mind and the conditions of mind. The conditions of mind can be happy, miserable, elated, depressed, loving or hating, worrying or fear-ridden, doubting or bored. They come and go in the mind, but the mind itself, like the space in this room, stays just at it is. The space in this room has no quality to elate or depress, does it? It is just at it is. To concentrate on the space in the room we have to withdraw our attention from the things in the room. If we concentrate on the things in the room we become happy or unhappy. We say, ‘Look at that beautiful Buddha image,’ or if we see something we find ugly we say, ‘Oh, what a terrible disgusting thing.’ We can spend our time looking at the people in the room, thinking whether we like this person or dislike that person.
We can form opinions about people being this way or that way, remember what they did in the past, speculate about what they will do in the future, seeing others as possible sources of pain or gratification to ourselves.
However, if we withdraw our attention it doesn’t mean that we have to push everyone else out of the room. If we don’t concentrate on or absorb into any of the conditions, then we have a perspective, because the space in the room has no quality to depress or elate. The space can contain us all, all conditions can come and go within it.
Moving inwards, we can apply this to the mind. The mind is like space, there’s room in it for everything or nothing. It doesn’t really matter whether it is filled or has nothing in it, because we always have a perspective once we know the space of the mind, its emptiness. Armies can come into the mind and leave, butterflies, rainclouds or nothing. All things can come and go through, without us being caught in blind reaction, struggling resistance, control and manipulation.
So when we abide in the emptiness of our minds we’re moving away — we’re not getting rid of things, but no longer absorbing into conditions that exist in the present or creating any new ones. This is our practice of letting go. We let go of our identification with conditions by seeing that they are all impermanent and not-self. It is what we mean by vipassana meditation. It’s really looking at, witnessing, listening, observing that whatever comes must go. Whether it’s coarse or refined, good or bad, whatever comes and goes is not what we are. We’re not good, we’re not bad, we’re not male or female, beautiful or ugly. These are changing conditions in nature, which are not-self. This is the Buddhist way to enlightenment: going towards Nibbana, inclining towards the spaciousness or emptiness of mind rather than being born and caught up in the conditions.
Now you may ask, ‘Well if I’m not the conditions of mind, if I’m not a man or a woman, this or that, then what am I?, Do you want me to tell you who you are? Would you believe me if I did? What would you think if I ran out and started asking you who I am? It’s like trying to see your own eyes: you can’t know yourself, because you are yourself. You can only know what is not yourself — and so that solves the problem, doesn’t it? If you know what is not yourself, then there is no question about what you are. If I said, ‘Who am I? I’m trying to find myself,’ and I started looking under the shrine, under the carpet, under the curtain, you’d think, ‘Venerable Sumedho has really flipped out, he’s gone crazy, he’s looking for himself.’ ‘I’m looking for me, where am I?’ is the most stupid question in the world. The problem is not who we are but our belief and identification with what we are not. That’s where the suffering is, that’s where we feel misery and depression and despair. It’s our identity with everything that is not ourselves that is dukkha. When you identify with that which is unsatisfactory, you’re going to be dissatisfied and discontented — it’s obvious, isn’t it?
So the path of the Buddhist is a letting go, rath-er than trying to find anything. The problem is the blind attachment, the blind identification with the appearance of the sensory world. You needn’t get rid of the sensory world but learn from it, watch it, no longer allow yourselves to be deluded by it. Keep penetrating it with Buddha-wisdom, keep using this Buddha-wisdom so that you become more at ease with being wise, rather that making yourself become wise. Just by listening, observing, being awake, being aware, the wisdom will become clear. You’ll be using wisdom in regard to your body, in regard to your thoughts, feelings, memories, emotion, all of these things. You’ll see and witness, allowing them to pass by and let them go.
So at this time you have nothing else to do except be wise from one moment to the next.

Unutrašnja revolucija - 1 dio

Krishnamurti Jiddu (1895-1986) suvremeni je indijski mislilac čija je misao izvršila veliki utjecaj na europska duhovna kretanja između dva rata. Indijskoj je misli vratio njeno istinsko značenje, koje je pomućeno pomodnim sektama i neprekidnim pristizanjem gurua. Krishnamurti - mislilac slobode - u svojim djelima iznosi jasne uvide o bitnim problemima čovjeka, o mogućnosti unutrašnje revolucije i njenoj nužnosti ukoliko čovjek hoće egzistirati kao čovjek.
Tekst koji donosimo preveden je na temelju izdanja: Jiddu, Krishnamurti. Beyond Violence. India: BI Publications, 1973, pp. 35-44.


Krishnamurti Jiddu

Unutrašnja revolucija


'Promjena u društvu je od sekundarnog značaja; ona će se dogoditi prirodno, neizbježno, kada ti kao ljudsko biće izvedeš tu promjenu u sebi.'


Razmatrali smo izuzetnu složenost svakodnevnog života, borbu, sukob, bijedu i zbrku u kojoj se čovjek nalazi. Dok on doista ne shvati prirodu i strukturu te složenosti, kako je uhvaćen u tu zamku, nema slobode - kako slobode da se istražuje tako ni slobode praćene velikom radošću u kojoj postoji potpuno sebe-napuštanje (self-abandonment). Takva sloboda nije moguća ukoliko postoji strah u ma kom obliku, bilo na površini bilo u dubinama čovjekovog uma. Ukazali smo na odnos između straha, užitka i želje. Da bi razumio strah, čovjek također mora razumjeti prirodu užitka.
Ovoga jutra razgovarat ćemo o središtu iz kojega nastaje naš život, naše djelatnosti, te da li je uopće moguće promijeniti to središte. Jer promjena, preobrazba, unutrašnja revolucija je očigledno nužna. Da bi se izvršila ta preobrazba, čovjek mora vrlo pažljivo ispitati što naš život jest, ne bježati od njega, ne upuštati se u teoretska vjerovanja i tvrdnje, već vrlo pažljivo promatrati što naš život zbiljski jest i vidjeti da li je moguće potpuno ga preobraziti. Preobražavajući ga, mogli biste utjecati na narav i kulturu društva. Mora biti promjene u društvu, jer postoji tako mnogo zala i društvenih nepravdi, postoji zastrašujuća izopačenost obožavanja i tako dalje. Ali, promjena u društvu je od sekundarnog značaja; ona će se dogoditi prirodno, neizbježno, kada ti kao ljudsko biće bivajući u odnosu s drugim, izvedeš tu promjenu u sebi.
Ovoga jutra razmatrat ćemo tri suštinske stvari: što je življenje? - život koji vidimo svakodnevno; što je suosjećanje (compassion), ljubav? i treće, što je smrt? Ovo troje je usko povezano - razumjevši jedno, razumjet ćemo i drugo dvoje. Kao što smo vidjeli, ne možete uzeti odlomak života, izabrati dio života za koji mislite da je vrijedan ili koji vam se sviđa, ili koji odgovara vašim težnjama. Ili uzmete cjelinu života - koja uključuje smrt, ljubav i življenje - ili uzmete puki odlomak života koji se može učiniti zadovoljavajućim, ali koji će neizbježno uzrokovati veću zbrku. Tako moramo uzeti cjelinu života i razmatrajući što življenje jest, moramo imati na umu da raspravljamo o jednoj cjelovitoj, razumnoj i svetoj stvari.
Čovjek uviđa da u dnevnom životu odnosâ postoji sukob, bol i patnja; postoji neprestana ovisnost o drugome, u kojoj ima samosažaljenja i uspoređivanja; to je ono što nazivamo življenjem. Molim vas, dozvolite mi da iznova ponovim: nas se ne tiču teorije, mi ne propagiramo nikakvu ideologiju - jer očigledno je da ideologije nemaju baš nikakve vrijednosti; upravo suprotno, one uzrokuju veću zbrku, veći sukob. Mi se ne upuštamo u mnijenje, u vrednovanje, ni osuđivanje. Mi se isključivo bavimo promatranjem onoga što se zbiljski događa da bismo vidjeli da li to može biti preobraženo.
Čovjek može vrlo jasno vidjeti u svom dnevnom življenju koliko je ono proturječno, koliko je zbrkano; čovjekov život kako ga se sada živi, apsolutno je besmislen. Čovjek može izumjeti smisao; intelektualci to i čine, a ljudi slijede taj izumljeni smisao - koji može biti jedna vrlo domišljata filozofija, ali proizvedena iz ničega. Nasuprot tome, ako je čovjek zaokupljen samo s onim 'što jest', bez da izumi neko značenje, ili bijeg, ili da se upusti u teorije ili ideologije, ako je izuzetno svjestan, tada je čovjekov um sposoban da se suoči s onim 'što jest'. Teorije i vjerovanja ne mijenjaju čovjekov život. Imao ih je tisućama godina i nije se promijenio; one su mu, možda, dale površinski sjaj, on je možda manje divlji, ali je još uvijek brutalan, nasilan, hirovit, nesposoban da bude ozbiljan. Mi živimo život ogromne patnje od trenutka kada se rodimo pa sve do smrti. To je činjenica. Bez obzira koliko bilo spekulativnih teorija o toj činjenici, one na nju neće utjecati. Ono što utječe na ono 'što jest' jest kapacitet, energija, intenzitet, strast s kojom čovjek gleda tu činjenicu. A čovjek ne može imati strast i intenzitet ako njegov um trči za nekom obmanom, nekom spekulativnom ideologijom.
Mi se udubljujemo u nešto vrlo složeno za što vam je potrebna sva vaša energija, sva vaša pažnja. Ne samo za vrijeme dok ste u ovoj dvorani, već i kroz čitav život, ako ste uopće ozbiljni. Ono čime smo zaokupljeni jest promjena onoga 'što jest', patnje, sukoba, nasilja, ovisnosti o drugome - ne ovisnosti o prodavaču, liječniku, poštaru, već ovisnosti u našem odnosu s drugim, kako psihološke tako i psihosomatske. Ta ovisnost o drugome neprekidno rađa strah. Sve dok ja ovisim o tebi da bi me podupirao, emocionalno, psihološki ili duhovno, ja sam tvoj rob i otuda strah. To je činjenica. Većina ljudskih bića ovisi o drugome, a u toj ovisnosti postoji samosažaljenje koje nastaje kroz uspoređivanje. Dakle, gdje postoji psihološka ovisnost o drugome - o vašoj ženi, ili o vašem mužu - tu mora biti ne samo strah i užitak, već također i bol koja iz toga proizlazi. Nadam se da to promatrate u sebi, a ne da samo slušate govornika.
Znate, postoje dva načina slušanja: slušati ležerno, čuti niz ideja, slagati se ili ne slagati se s njima; ili postoji drugi način slušanja, koje nije samo slušanje riječi i značenja tih riječi, već također i slušanje onoga što se zbiljski događa u vama. Ako slušate na taj način, tada je ono što govornik kaže u odnosu s onim što slušate u sebi; tada vi ne samo da slušate govornika - što je nevažno - već čitav sadržaj vašeg bića. I ako slušate na taj način s intenzitetom, u isto vrijeme i na istom stupnju, tada mi oboje učestvujemo u onome što se zbiljski događa, dijelimo to zajednički. Tada imate strast koja će preobraziti ono što jest. Ali ako ne slušate na taj način, svim svojim umom, svim svojim srcem, tada jedan ovakav susret postaje potpuno besmislen.
Razumijevajući ono 'što jest', ono zbiljsko, užasan život koji čovjek vodi, on uviđa da vodi jedan osamljeni život - i mada može imati ženu i djecu, u njemu se ipak odvija proces samoosamljivanja (self-isolating process). Žena, djevojka ili mladić, svi zapravo žive osamljeni; iako zajedno u istoj kući, svi su osamljeni, s vlastitim ambicijama, vlastitim strahovima, vlastitom patnjom. Takav život naziva se odnosom. I ponovo, to je činjenica: vi imate svoju sliku o njoj, a ona ima svoju sliku o vama i vi imate svoju vlastitu sliku o sebi. Odnos se zbiva izmeðu tih slika i nije zbiljski odnos. Tako čovjek prvo mora pronaći kako se te slike konstruiraju, kako ulaze u biće, zašto uopće postoje, te što znači živjeti bez takvih slika. Ne znam da li ste ikada razmotrili da li je moguć život u kojemu nema slike, formule i što bi život bez slika mogao biti. Otkrit ćemo.
Mi imamo mnoga iskustva cijelo vrijeme. Ili smo ih svjesni ili nesvjesni. Svako iskustvo ostavlja trag; ti tragovi se gomilaju dan za danom i postaju slika. Netko vas uvrijedi i vi ste u tom trenutku već oblikovali sliku o toj osobi. Ili vam netko laska i slika je ponovno oblikovana. Tako svaka reakcija neizbježno gradi sliku. I pošto je stvorena, da li ju je moguće dokrajčiti?
Da bi se slika dokrajčila, prvo moramo pronaći kako ona ulazi u biće; i vidimo da, ako ne odgovorimo primjereno na bilo koji izazov, on mora ostaviti sliku. Ako me nazovete budalom, odmah postajete moj neprijatelj ili vas prestajem voljeti. Kada me nazovete budalom, moram biti intenzivno svjestan u tom trenutku, bez izbora, bez osuđivanja, naprosto slušati ono o čemu govorite. Ako nema emocionalnog odgovora na vašu izjavu, tada ćete vidjeti da se ne oblikuje nikakava slika.
Tako čovjek mora biti svjestan svoje reakcije i ne dati joj vremena da pusti korijen, jer onoga trena kada ta reakcija pusti korijen oblikovala je sliku. Dakle, možete li to učiniti? Da biste to učinili, potrebna vam je pažnja - ne tek sanjivo lutanje kroz život - pažnja u trenutku izazova, svim vašim bićem, slušanje vašim srcem i vašim umom, tako da možete jasno vidjeti što je rečeno - bila to uvreda ili laskanje ili pak mišljenje o vama. Tada ćete vidjeti da se slika uopće ne javlja. Slika je uvijek o onome što se dogodilo u prošlosti. Ako je slika ugodna, držimo je se. Ako je bolna, želimo je se osloboditi. Tako želja ulazi u biće, jednu stvar želimo zadržati, drugu odbaciti; a želja uzrokuje sukob. Ako ste svjesni svega toga, posvećujući tome pažnju bez ikakvog izbora, naprosto promatrajući, tada možete otkriti za sebe, tada ne živite prema nekom psihologu, svećeniku ili liječniku. Da biste pronašli istinu, morate biti potpuno slobodni od svega toga, morate stajati sami. A stajati sam znači okrenuti leđa društvu.
Ako ste se pažljivo promatrali, vidjeli ste da je dio vašeg mozga, koji je evoluirao tisućama godina, prošlost - prošlost koja je iskustvo, sjećanje. U toj prošlosti postoji sigurnost. Nadam se da sve to gledate u sebi. Prošlost uvijek odgovara neposredno; a odgoditi odgovor prošlosti kada se susretnete s izazovom, tako da postoji vremenski razmak između izazova i odgovora, znači dokrajčiti sliku. Ako se to ne dogodi, uvijek ćemo živjeti u prošlosti. Mi jesmo prošlost, a u prošlosti nema slobode. Dakle, to je naš život,neprestana bitka, prošlost modificirana sadašnjošću koja prelazi u budućnost - što je još uvijek kretanje prošlosti, mada modificirano. Sve dok to kretanje postoji, čovjek nikada ne može biti slobodan, uvijek mora biti u sukobu, u patnji, u zbrci, u bijedi. Može li odgovor prošlosti biti odgođen, tako da ne bude neposrednog oblikovanja slike?Mi moramo vidjeti život kakav jest, tu beskrajnu zbrku i bijedu i bijeg od nje u neko religiozno praznovjerje ili u obožavanje države, ili u različite oblike zabave. Moramo vidjeti kako čovjek bježi u neuroze - jer neuroza nudi izuzetan osjećaj sigurnosti. Čovjek koji 'vjeruje' je neurotičan; čovjek koji obožava sliku je neurotičan. To su neuroze u kojima ima mnogo sigurnosti, a to ne donosi korjenitu revoluciju u čovjeku. Da biste to izveli, morate promatrati bezizborno, bez ikakvog iskrivljavanja željom, užitkom ili strahom - morate naprosto zbiljski promatrati što vi jeste ne bježeći. I nemojte imenovati ono što vidite, naprosto promatrajte. Tada ćete imati strast, energiju da promatrate, a u tom promatranju zbiva se ogromna promjena.

Karma

Severe Traps
The subject of karma is deep, and explicated in both Hinduism and Buddhism. "As you sow you shall reap" is of the Bible. Many overlook that if you sow the wind, you may reap the whirlwind. It suggests that some repercussions may escalate. One grain of corn may yield a hundred more. The severe consequences of one single bad deed may grow with time, and that is karma too. The repay may not be a one-to-one thing, in other words, but a one-to-five-thousand thing, in grave cases. Just be alerted to it and drop vile conduct as soon as you can and as best as you can. That is golden ore to get to in this. Teachings on karma yoga are found in Hinduism. Parts of those teachings seem to be traps. Some gurus hope to get you under their sway by teaching others to dedicate their lives and resources to God through serving the guru, the cult, and so on. Nice-looking teachings may not be nice all the way anyway, and nice teachings may be distorted and abused. It often happens. Naive or gullible ones are influenced to forgo human rights thereby. They think they "serve God" while they in fact give up and weaken their positions and influence in life. karma yoga is for giving up anything for such an idea that others profit from. You are heartily advised to shun such people, and study the words of Buddha instead. He says no one else in the wide universes deserves your love and affection more than yourself.

Fit detachment in prolonged meditation

The above does not mean there is no place for detachment in life. You have to discern to find the right field and track for it. And just as important, if not more, you need to be in control and to that end gather wealth and other benefits. Then you can accomplish more. What you give up you lose control over and probably contact with too as time goes by. ] Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says while commenting on a thought from the Bhagavad Gita 3:9: "Engage in action free from attachment." In a nutshell he says, "Here is a method that helps development, a way of living which propels development. As you get subtler inside, you subsequently need to drop material attachments and ideas from coarser spheres. In the end you should get to the state of Being." [Extract from Mbg 172-74] What is more, what you focus on, affirm and visualise in such subtler, more inward states, can materialise to your benefit, and more quickly. That is the essence of much of what Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is about. The principle is taught by Maharishi's TM too. In other words, you are aencouraged to benefit yourself in TM and Buddhism alike. But in bad Hindu karma yoga you are taught not to go for benefits but yield the fruits of your works to someone else or something else. You may be in for losing control correspondingly, and good control is needed. Buddha teaches that we had better go for proper wealth and proper adjustments to life, to win the time and other conditions needed for deep meditation and favourable developments. Thus, there is a time for detaching oneself from all and sundry, including ideas. That happens in transcendental states, or deep meditation. Equally important: There is a time for gaining good fruits of one's work on an ongoing basis, by regulating one's field of life carefully. You can see that these two aspects of the good life are central in Buddha's eightfold path too, his Middle Way. Also, do not be a seeker, be a finder. How? By not striving too much by awkward means, but by letting methods be on your side. And drop attachments to all ideas from grosser fields as you dive within by deep contemplation and the like. You do well if you focus on doing the diving method well, in the end to fertilise your days also. That is the great approach Maharishi teaches. It may be tallied to great Buddhist living when you see how the Eightfold Path of Buddha can be lived that way. Buddha teaches disinterestedness and control too, along with a straight scientific approach to so many things, and also that there is great value in being skilful and handy and build up a good life. [67, 71] Careful approaches can be mastered. You are also allowed to have faith in Buddha, but he says that those who honour him the most, live as he teaches - which amounts to the same. [cf. 79] In other words, take a positive stand: That what is good for you is good for the universe, as you form a part of it. If you can afford it, do many benefits to others as well. [108]

"Sve je prolazno-ništa ne ostaje onakvo kakvo je bilo"

Jedna od najdubljih tvrdnji Budinog učenja čini se na prvi pogled kao banalna i tako očigledna da je skoro ni ne treba isticati. "Sve se mijenja", kaže se. "Sve je prolazno; ništa ne ostaje onakvo kakvo je bilo". Mi to već znamo, naravno; to je očigledno. Ali koliko duboko to znamo? I u kojoj mjeri to prihvaćamo? I još jedno pitanje: koliko se možemo prilagoditi na različite promjene naših životnih okolnosti? Princip i praksa prihvaćanja su tjesno isprepleteni sa principom i praksom prilagođavanja.

Za ovaj relativni univerzum u kojem živimo -- ovaj krug rađanja i umiranja, ovo beskrajno lutanje, kako se naziva -- kaže se da ima tri temeljna obilježja. Od njih, prvo (već spomenuto) je prolaznost svega; sljedeće, odsustvo suštinske zadovoljenosti bilo čime u našem životu; i treća, nepostojanje bilo kakve forme vječnog i nepromenljivog sopstva, duše, ega.

Na osnovu šest čula nastaje kontakt čula. Na osnovu kontakta čula nastaje osjećaj prijatnog i neprijatnog. Na osnovu osjećaja prijatnog i neprijatnog, nastaje želja. Na osnovu želje nastaje vezanost.
Ovo znači da, u ovom ili onom smislu, morate početi da slabite tu vezanost za patnju napadajući kariku zvanu "kontakt čula"; jer na osnovu čulnog kontakta stvari vam izazivaju prijatnost ili bol. Ovo ne znači da treba da isključite svaki čulni kontakt, čak i kad bi to bilo moguće; već ovo znači da bi na nivou čulnih kontakata trebalo da postanete postpuno svjesni prolazne prirode svih stvari.
Ovo je vrlo važno: prolaznost je u samoj prirodi svih stvari; privremenost je osnovna karakteristika svega što vam pričinjava sreću. Postoji u budističkom učenju jedan aksiom koji ovako glasi:
U samoj prirodi stvari moramo sebe odvojiti od njih, napustiti ih, presjeći našu vezu sa njima.
Mnogo je događaja u svakodnevnom životu koji doprinose da ostanemo upleteni u mrežu vezanosti. Hodajući ulicom, na primer, začujete pjesmu koju ste prvi put čuli prije mnogo godina kad ste bili zaljubljeni u nekoga ko sada više nije sa vama. Ta pjesma budi sjećanja na davne događaje i jednu žudnju koja ne može biti zadovoljena. Sve dotada, ovo se događa na nivou čulnog kontakta i bez bilo kakve voljne aktivnosti sa vaše strane. No, onda vi počnete da pjevušite tu melodiju, a kada stignete kući pretražujete stare albume sa slikama i pisma, a možda još ponešto kako biste sjećanje na te dane oživjeli.
Ovako postupajući dopuštate da vas inicijalni čulni kontakt odvede do drugih čulnih kontakata i onda do osjećaja prijatnosti ili bola, a to onda vodi do želje; potom, želja vodi do neraskidive veze. Tako tu nezasitnu žeđ održavate živom umesto da joj dopustite da sama od sebe umine.

U samoj je prirodi stvari da u jednom ili drugom trenutku moramo da se odvojimo od svega što nam je drago; a žudeći da nam se vrati ono što je prošlo mi samo produžavamo svoju patnju.
Naravno, glavni problem ovde jeste sjetiti se da koristimo ovu formulu onda kada nam je potrebna, jer smo tada obično preplavljeni osjećanjem gubitka. No to je stvar razvijanja sabranosti, što je samo po sebi glavni dio budističkog treninga uma. Idealno, ne bi trebalo da čekamo dok nam se neki veliki gubici ne dogode kako bismo počeli da se vježbamo u nevezivanju. Jedan vid ispravne misli je da je karakterizira odvojenost od objekata, ljudi, iskustava, sjećanja i anticipacija koje izazivaju zadovoljstvo.
Pošto se svakodnevni život uglavnom vrti oko takvih stvari, zapetljavamo se u mrežu vezanosti i oslobađanje iz te mreže obično premašuje naše snage. Zato, kada nas veliki gubitak zadesi, postaje vrlo važno koristiti sve što nam je na raspolaganju -- pa i pomoć u obliku ponavljanja u sebi neke formule -- kako bismo se prilagodili novim okolnostima.

Ako pomislimo na neki sretan trenutak u prošlosti i obuzme nas od toga zadovoljstvo svojstveno tom prijatnom sjećanju, ali ne žudimo da nam se taj trenutak vrati, tada živimo u sadašnjosti, jer to sretno sjećanje -- kao sjećanje, a ne kao događaj -- upravo je dio te sadašnjosti. Kao događaj, to je dio prošlosti, ali kao sjećanje koje se javlja u našoj svjesti u sadašnjem trenutku ono je činjenica našeg sadašnjeg iskustva.
Mi možemo u tome uživati kao u sjećanju, ne kvareći sadašnjost; ali ako posegnemo za time da ga vratimo ili da ga ponovimo, razdvajamo sebe od sadašnjosti i upinjemo se da sami sebe bacimo u prošlost koja u ovom trenutku više ne postoji.

Dalje, ispravna misao je misao oslobođena okrutnosti. I dok okrutnost često izvire iz mržnje ili ljutnje, mnogo okrutnosti također dolazi iz indiferentnosti prema patnji drugih ili iz nepromišljenosti. Ispravna misao, otuda, uključuje ne samo odsustvo aktivne i snažne mržnje, već isto tako i odsustvo indiferentnosti prema patnjama drugih.

Ono što se preporučuje je zapravo introverzija u kojoj um uči da promatra samoga sebe na objektivan način ili da mu posvećuje golu pažnju baš kao što promatra pramen dima ili zličicu. Ako vaš um u sebi nađe mržnju ili ljubomoru, predrasude ili osjećaj osobne važnosti, posvećujete tim stvarima golu pažnju i imenujete ih, ali, u idealnom slučaju, ne postajete time zarobljeni, niti tražite opravdanja. Ako sa druge strane vaš um otkrije da razvija u sebi velikodušnost, toleranciju ili neki drugi oblik plemenitosti karaktera, ponovo posvećujete golu pažnju tim kvalitetima na jedan objektivan način, bez samodopadljivosti.
Vaš glavni zadatak je, otuda, da vlastit um podvrgnete nepristranom promatranju, identificirajući u njemu i ometajuće i unapređujuće kvalitete što je detaljnije moguće i uz minimum emocionalnih reakcija u odnosu na sve to.

Kako biste učvrstili mentalne obrasce gole pažnje morate usporiti neke aktivnosti. Kao polaznu točku možete odabrati neku određenu aktivnost tako da, bez ometanja ostalih, samo nju izvodite sporije nego inače.
U isto vrijeme, možete posveti istu nepodjeljenu pažnju svakom svom postupku ili osjećaju koji se javi tokom uobičajenih procesa kao što su ustajanje iz kreveta, umivanje i tuširanje, jedenje i pijenje, pranje zuba, hodanje i slično.

Situacija izgleda potpuno drugačija kada se promatra sa subjektivne točke gledišta -- dakle, iznutra prema vani -- nego što se čini nekom promatraču koji tu situaciju vidi izvana.

Ovo subjektivno mišljenje, u izvjesnom smislu, predstavlja dobar dio onoga što budizam naziva neznanjem -- bazičnim neznanjem koje je izvor patnje. Neznanje u ovom kontekstu ne znači nedostatak informacija ili odsustvo uobičajenog znanja; ono znači nesposobnost (zbog naše uronjenosti u tu iluziju o postojanju sopstva) da egzistenciju vidimo onakvom kakva ona zaista jeste.

Neka ja budem zdrav i sretan.Neka moji prijatelji budu zdravi i sretni.Neka oni koji su me povrijedili, nanijeli štetu, budu zdravi i sretni.Neka sva bića, ljudska i druga, budu zdrava i sretna.

Neprijatelj je poput blaga u kući, stečenog bez imalo truda. Moram mu se radovati, jer on je moj pomagač na putu probuđenja. Tako, plod mog strpljenja sazrio je zahvaljujući i njemu i meni, ali u tome on ima prednost, jer baš on bijaše prilika da to strpljenje razvijam.

Neka postanem ravnodušan prema uživanju i patnji, nepokolebljivo spokojan i vedar.Neka moji prijatelji dostignu stanje spokoja i vedrine.Neka oni koji su me povrijedili, nanijeli štetu, dostignu stanje spokoja i vedrine.Neka sva bića, ljudska i druga, zla i dobra, prijateljska, okrutna, prosvetljena i neznalice, dostignu stanje spokoja i vedrine.
Sada se javlja pitanje, kada da koristimo ove formule? Odgovor na ovo zavisiće od naših potreba i uvjeta. Njihova svrha je da posluže kao početni fokus za praksu koncentracije i pomognu u čišćenju uma od zlovolje, indiferentnosti prema tuđoj patnji, od zavisti i nespokojstva. Tako one nastavljaju posao morala -- vanjskog pridražavanja nekog etičkog kodeksa -- do jednog stupnja daljeg i dubljeg k nivou empatije.

Zato, kao vježbu u njegovanju empatije, odlučite da tokom mesec dana ili duže promatrate sebe u odnosu na različite ljude sa kojima se svakodnevno susrećete. Vidite možete li da se uživite u situaciju prodavaća u trgovini na kraju napornog radnog dana, koji se ne slaže sa vama u nekoj diskusiji. Ne morate da prihvatite stanovište druge osobe kao ispravno, a svoje kao pogrešno; sve što treba da učinite je da sve to promatrate malo više kroz tuđe, a malo manje kroz svoje oči. Cilj toga, naravno, je da pomognete sebi u procesu razbijanja egocentričnih stavova.

Drevni tekstovi opisuju različite vježbe sabranosti i to u četiri poglavlja, nazvana "četiri temelja sabranosti", a to su:
1. sabranost pažnje u odnosu na tjelo,2. detaljna sabranost pažnje na osjećaje prijatnosti i neprijatnosti,3. detaljna sabranost pažnje na trenutno mentalno stanje i4. detaljna sabranost pažnje na sadržaje svjesti.

Prvi među sadržajima svjesti koje treba spomenuti su određene prepreke mentalnom razvoju nazvane pet prepreka. To su: čulna želja, zlovolja, lijenost, grižnja savjesti i skepticizam.
Vaš cilj u ovom obliku samoanalize je da uvidite koliko je svaka od ovih prepreka zastupljena unutar vašeg mentalnog sklopa. Time nastojite da otkrijete koliki dio vaše mentalne i fizičke aktivnosti je pod kontrolom vaše želje za čulnim zadovoljstvima, a koliki je pod uticajem zlovolje. Promatrajte sebe da biste ustanovili gde propuštate da sebe usavršite ili da li brinete zbog svojih postupaka u prošlosti. I motrite na znake onog skepticizma koji bi se mogao pretvoriti u odustajanje od namjere da razumijete. Svaki od ovih mentalnih faktora predstavlja prepreku u napredovanju i sve dok ih ne upoznate i prepoznate u sebi ne možete protiv njih ništa ni da poduzmete.
U vezi sa sabranošću pažnje na sadržaje svjesti zatim dolazi jedan oblik samoistraživanja čiji je cilj da na površinu iznese u kojoj mjeri razumijete da je svaki život lišen trajne suštine, ega, i koliko je to saznanje prodrlo u duboke slojeve vašeg uma, jer sve dok način života ne dođe u sklad sa učenjem pravi napredak nije učinjen.

Prvih među tih sedam faktora prosvetljenja jeste sabranost pažnje u svojim najrazličitijim oblicima, a naredni se naziva istraživanje ili sposobnost neprekidne provjere i traganja za pravom prirodom stvari. Kao treći se javlja energija, zatim interes (ponekad nazivan i entuzijazam), a onda smirenost. Koncentracija -- sposobnost da mentalnu energiju fokusirate na jednu jedinu tačku i isključite sve ostalo -- dolazi kao sljedeća; na kraju imamo ravnodušnost, stanje potpune izbalansiranosti uma prema svim stvarima.

Morate ili očuvati kontrolu po svaku cjenu -- i to je, prema nekim kriterijima, prava stvar koju treba učiniti -- ili morate popustiti i pogrešnoj emociji dati oduška.
Odgovor, barem djelimičan, je da što god da napravite, morate to napraviti sa, za okolnosti u kojima se nalazite, što je moguće potpunijom sviješću. Ako morate da popustite i otvorite ventil za emocije, ako morate da reagirate na svoju ozlojeđenost, samosažaljenje, zavist ili bilo što drugo, trebalo bi da budete toga svijesni u što je moguće ranijoj fazi. Na taj način ćete i ostvariti izvjesnu kontrolu nad ovim procesom; no, ako krenete da sebe opravdavate ili obmanjujete o prirodi osjećaja kontrola je nepovratno izgubljena.

U idealnom slučaju, pažnja koju poklanjate mislima u trenutku dok se javljaju trebalo bi da bude dovoljna da identificirate njihovu emocionalnu obojenost, ali ne treba ići dalje u emocionalno komentiranje ili kritiziranje. Na etiketama koje stavljate na misli trebalo bi da piše, na primer: nestrpljenje, plemenitost namjere, zavist, uznemirenost, blagonaklonost i velikodušnost, uzbuđenje, nesebičnost i tako dalje. Na naljepnicama nema prostora da dopišete dobro ili loše, da sebi čestitate ili sebe osuđujete.

Um nije u stanju da neposredno uočava stvarnost. On sve stvari razmatra kroz ideje i pojmove; on traga za uzrocima, kao i za sličnostima i razlikama; on spekulira, uspoređuje i izvlači zaključke; on funkcionira u opozicijama, suprotstavljenim parovima ideja.

Funkcija meditacije koncentracije je da stvori neophodnu smirenost u kojoj meditacija uvida može da djeluje.

Suština je, dakle, u tome da svim svojim problemima priđete s jednim stavom dobre volje i uklonite svaki svoj animozitet prema njima. Ovo se odnosi kako na račune koje treba da platite, tako i na neprijatna zaduženja koja vas čekaju, a još više na ljude koji su vas povrijedili ili omeli na bilo koji način.
Mentalni stav neopiranja teškoćama u vašem životu će vam pomoći u tom pogledu; ali ovo ne znači da ne treba da im se suprotstavljate i fizički ukoliko smatrate da su pogrešne. Mentalni stav neopiranja ne znači prestanak ulaganja napora k poboljšanju; on znači raskid sa napetošću, ogorčenjem i samodokazivanjem kao osnovnim uzrocima mentalne napetosti.

Kao mentalni stav, neopiranje mora biti primjenjeno na sve što se pojavi u našem životu -- na ljude sa kojima se srećete, na poslove koje treba da napravite i na probleme koje morate da rješite. Ako se opirete svom svakodnevnom poslu, ako vam se on čini suviše dosadnim, suviše jednostavnim za bogatstvo vaših talenata, suviše nalik robovanju, onda će vam taj otpor donijeti samo još više zamora; i tako se zatvara začarani krug.
Život vam donosi mnoštvo prilika za učenje, ali te prilike su često prerušene u neprijatnost.

Ako, dakle, radeći nešto dosadno možete otkriti kako vam to omogućuje da otkrijete bogatstvo svog uma, iza toga će sljediti stav neopiranja. Ako ste sa nekim ko vam se ne sviđa, iskoristite tu priliku da razvijate dobrodušnost, čime pravite korak k smirenosti. A ako ste u teškoj situaciji, čak bolnoj, i odlučni ste da od nje naučite sve čemu vas može podučiti, tada ste naučili tajnu velikog postignuća. A tajna velikog postignuća je da volite i ono što mrzite. Poanta je u tome da volite sve ono što vam se događa, bilo da vam se sviđa ili ne.

Kao pomoć u nepristranom promatranju, korisno je da identificirate i imenujete svako emocionalno stanje dok nastaje, ako je moguće, a ako ne onda naknadno. To će vam pomoći da vidite jeste li u stanju da sebe promatrate kritički i sebi kažete: "Postajem zavidan" ili "Postajem ljut". Ideja je u toma da tu činjenicu jasno registiramo u svom umu i da dalje ne budemo njome uznemireni, ne osjećajući ujedno krivicu zbog nje i ne pokušavajući da se opravdamo.




Vaše mudro promišljanje ukazuje vam da ni sam predmet, niti vaš osjećaj u pogledu tog objekta ne ostaju isti čak ni u dva uzastopna trenutka. Nećete imati isti osjećaj kasnije. Mjenjate se, objekat koji promatrate se mijenja. S mudrom pažnjom uvidjećete da je sve nestalno Ovo znanje o prolaznosti omogućuje vam da se oslobodite ogorčenja u sebi. Kada svojom mudrošću uvidite da sve što je nezadovoljavajuće je i prolazno, tada uviđate vezu između nedovoljnosti i pohlepe. Ako ste vezani za neki prolazan objekat, bićete razočarani njegovim promjenama. Uz mudro promišljanje, uviđate da ono što je prolazno i ne zadovoljava vas trajno, nema ni nepromjenljivu suštinu.

Onda možete pomisliti: "Ah! Pošto će se ovaj objekat promijeniti, moram biti brz i lukav kako bih ga iskoristio sada i uživao što je brže moguće prije nego što nestane. Već sutra možda neće biti ovdje." Ovdje se morate prisjetiti one narodne, da sve što je brzo je i kuso. Ako napravite brzu odluku i napravite nešto nepromišljeno, kasnije ćete zažaliti zbog toga. Nekada ste vezani za neku osobu, na primer, i čvrsto je se držite i ne razmišljajući mnogo o njoj. Tek kasnije ćete možda toj osobi naći mnoge zamjerke. Ne možete je spriječiti da se mijenja.
Kada je vaša sabranost dobro razvijena, tada čak i u žurbi donosite pravu odluku. Jedina stvar koja ima smisla u žurbi da preduhitrite prolaznost je da se izmaknete jedan korak, provjerite vlastit um i vidite da li odluku donosite na osnovu mudrog promišljanja. Kada ste sabrani, znaćete kako da iskoristite sadašnji trenutak tako da zbog toga ne zažalite u budućnosti. Svaka promišljena odluka učiniće vas srećnijim i spokojnijim, zbog nje se nećete kasnije kajati.

Sabranost nije obična pažljivost. To nije oštroumnost. Svatko može da bude pažljiv i oštrouman. Čovek koji hoda na žici razapetoj pedeset metara iznad zemlje je pažljiv. Sjetite se svih onih akrobata koji izvode svoje točke. Mnogobrojnih avanturista koji se uspinju strmim liticama, prelaze nabujale rjeke, svi su oni vrlo pažljivi. Mnogi lopovi su vrlo oštroumni i nadmudre policiju. Mnogi dileri droge, pljačkaši banaka, kriminalci, vrlo su oštroumni. Ali nijedan od njih se ne može smatrati sabranim.
Sabranost je ono stanje uma u kojem on motri na samog sebe da ne uleti u zamku pohlepe, mržnje i neznanja, koji donose patnju i nama i drugima.

Uvek imajte na umu da je sabranost pažnje stanje uma ispunjenog velikodušnošću, suosjećajnom ljubavlju i mudrošću, udruženim sa suosjećanjem, radošću zbog uspjeha drugih i spokojnošću. Kad god obratite pažnju na bilo što, morate sebe zapitati je li vaš um ispunjen tim kvalitetima. Ako nije, tada niste sabrani.