New Dharma Talks
Buddha's Enlightenment Experience and the First Noble Truth
Updated 06 Jun 2003
5.
Buddha's Enlightenment Experience and the First Noble Truth
Last week I was in Austin, Texas, where I have a Buddhist sangha. I gave a weekend retreat and some evening talks at a church there. One morning, the Montessori school invited me to come and talk to their kids. There were 75 kids there, between 7 and 11 years old. I wondered exactly what I was going to do. From the minute the kids started trickling in the door, they came right up to me, climbed on me and asked me questions. There was no beginning and no end. It just happened. Near the end, we did the Gong Meditation: Following the sound of a gong, seeing where it goes, and just being there for a moment or two.
That weekend, one of the women in the weekend retreat came up to me at lunch time and asked if she could speak to me. She wanted to tell me a story about her 8-year-old son who was at my Gong Meditation. She said her son had come home and told her that something very unusual had happened that day at school. She said, “Do you want to tell me about it?” He said, “Yes. A monk from Tibet, New York came.” (Sort of like Paris, Texas, I guess.) The boy said that the monk — me! — taught them about God and Buddha and the Gong Meditation. She asked what that was.
He said, “Well. He told us to watch where the sound went, and to listen carefully. I didn’t know you could watch and listen to the same thing. It was very interesting. He said that if you followed and watched where the sound went, that you might get closer to God. And I did that.”
His mother said, “Yes, and…?”
And the boy said, “Well, when I watched and listened to where the sound went, I didn’t get closer to God. I was God.”
I thought that was pretty cool. “…From the mouth of babes,” as the scripture says. When I finished that Gong Meditation — it only took about 30 seconds; God realization doesn’t take very long, at least if you are young enough! — I said, “So where did the sound go?” And every hand went up! I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Shh. Don’t say anything.” I didn’t want to ruin it. But they all knew. Isn’t it amazing? Some kids even had both hands raised!
I was very touched by that, the freshness of the youthful experience of just sensing. Not even wondering “What is God” or “Who am I to say I am God.” No such editing takes place at that age. Just “Oh yeah, God. I am that.”
Right there actually is the whole teaching of Dzogchen, the innate Great Perfection: “I am That.” But who can say that with certainty at this moment, as that little boy did? So perhaps we have strayed a little bit from home plate. We were out somewhere in the outfield. We even missed the bases. Or worse, we’re in the bleachers just watching the game, not even playing it any more. Still, we started at home and we can come home again. That child took only about 10 seconds; for us it takes maybe an hour. As one of my Zen teachers used to say, “It’s good to try to sit hard in zazen, but nobody gets enlightened after half an hour of zazen.” So we shouldn’t expect too much. It is a life’s journey. Not just an instant high of enlightenment experience. But I think it is very available to us, this so-called enlightenment experience. Actually, realization is now; it is now, or never — as always!
I should define terms a little bit. The only way to define enlightenment is to say that it is not what we think it is. That’s the safest thing to say. As Kris Kristofferson wrote, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” So freedom and enlightenment are not exactly what we think they are. We have a lot of concepts about these things; they are probably best left aside. That child didn’t have so many, so he got right to the point quickly, which was very gratifying to me. I hope and pray that moment is like a seed, informing his whole life.
We are not exactly what we think we are, which, I think, is where it starts to get interesting. Then, what are we? Who are we? We might turn the searchlight inward and start to find out a little bit, come home, and make ourselves at home, here in this universe, instead of acting like disenfranchised aliens, strangers in a strange land.
Tonight I would like to introduce the basic, fundamental teaching of Buddhism, from the ground up. Let’s see if we can apply it to our lives, where it counts. Over the next four or five Monday nights I would like to talk about the enlightenment experience, the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha 2500 years ago — the basic facts of life according to enlightened vision — and the Eightfold Path to enlightenment, or, as I have been thinking about it, the eight principles or steps of enlightened living. This is so we can understand some of what is going on with us, and how our spiritual practice relates to our life and to freedom and nirvanic peace, ultimate fulfillment.
We’ll also discuss and explore what all this has to do with meditation; how meditation helps us realize these truths, which are actually self-evident. Because the Buddhadharma — the teachings of Buddha, or, better than that, the truth of how things are (meaning the vision according to awakened enlightenment) — is not something we have to believe, like dogma. In Buddhism, there is nothing to believe; there is just everything to learn, to explore, to discover, to recover, to come home to, and to inhabit, at last. To fully inhabit our lives, our genuine being.
Buddhism is descriptive: it says how things are. It is not prescriptive: It doesn’t tell us what to do. It describes how things are, and we get to choose. And we experience according to those choices. That is both the good news and the bad news. The Buddha is in the palm of our hands: What we do with it makes all the difference.
OK. To begin at the beginning. The basic, most fundamental thing about Buddhism is the so-called enlightenment experience, which is our birthright, our true nature. It is utterly possible and accessible. It’s not just something Buddha experienced; many have realized enlightenment throughout the ages. That’s what all of this business is about, whether you call it Buddhism, the wisdom traditions, or the Perennial Philosophy. Enlightenment, spiritual awakening, illumination, self-realization, satori — these are all more or less synonyms. It means recognizing who and what we are. It means discovering or realizing our true nature. It is coming home; it is not finding something that we never had before. It is right here, always; we are usually elsewhere! It is here, even now.
Out of such a breakthrough, peak experience we perceive everything a little differently, which is very fulfilling, meaningful, and liberating. For example, we might notice that things are not exactly the way we thought they were. This can effect a radical transformation in our lives; it depends on what we do with that insight. We might realize that we are barking up the wrong tree or chasing our own tail…woof, woof, like dogs. We might realize that we have climbed the ladder of success in some, or even many, ways, but the ladder is leaning on the wrong wall. We might have an identity crisis, even if we’re 40 or 50 years old, and wonder what the hell we are doing, and why? Why do we die? Why are we suffering? Why are we so rarely satisfied? What does it all mean?
Buddha, out of his awakening — known as enlightenment — gave his first talk about this in the Deer Park in Benares. It is called the Fire Teaching, because he said, when asked why he was shining with nirvanic peace, “Because I have realized a truth that is beyond suffering. All created, conditioned things are unreliable or dissatisfying ultimately; all are burning. I have realized something that is beyond this conditioning, this unreliable, impermanent, dissatisfying world. It is right in the midst of it, but it is not the things.”
So he described this as the First Noble Truth, or the first fact of life: All created or conditioned things are ultimately dissatisfying. The word in Pali or Sanskrit is dukkha. Sometimes it is translated as suffering, but that is a very weak translation. It means dissatisfying, dissatisfactoriness; what Christianity might state as nothing in this world can satisfy us, or everything in this side of the world is imperfect. Buddha meant that all forms of unenlightened life are suffering, dissatisfactory, in the ultimate analysis. It means everything that is conditioned falls apart, is uncertain, unreliable, not satisfying. Can anybody think of any examples that are not true of that? Anything that is ultimately satisfying? Anybody? That’s the thing. When you really look into it, what is satisfying, really? We have moments of satisfaction, but what is beyond this roller coaster ride, this yo-yo, up and down, highs and lows? Through enlightened vision, through awakening, we realize a nirvanic peace, which is not a created or conditioned thing. It is not a composite, a fabrication. It is not a state of mind, which can fall apart. It is the natural state, the true fundamental nature. It is not unreliable and uncertain. It is not dissatisfying. So that’s the first fact of life: dukkha, the dissatisfactory nature of all conditioned things, that everything is off the mark.
On the other hand, our true nature, our luminous core, our ineffable nature, our Buddha-nature is not a created thing. It is not dissatisfactory. It is not impermanent. It is not subject to change. It is perfect, luminous, free and complete from the beginningless beginning. It is not something in this world that we can shop for and obtain. Practicing meditation is a path to rediscovering that, to awakening the Buddha within, to recognizing that which is ultimately fulfilling, satisfying, meaningful, and joyous even.
That’s what all this is about. It’s not about religion or belief or dogma or rituals or joining the newest club. It’s not the newest fad to get high. (Well, it might be, but I hope that’s not the whole story!) It is not about belonging to a group. It is a very personal and intimate relationship with one’s true self, one’s true nature, in the heart of which we are all interconnected. It is not selfish; it is transpersonally related to each of us, yet beyond any one of us.
I think I’ll cover the first truth tonight, and just mention the other ones and explore them next week. These noble truths are something we should know. Then we can see if they are true, if they apply to our own experience, and how they can actually work for us, to provide the spiritual rewards this path promises whoever chooses to follow it.
The First Truth is the truth of dukkha or dissatisfactoriness of all conditioned, created things. How impermanent, hollow, short-lived, unreliable, and uncertain they are, if carefully scrutinized.
The Second Truth is the cause of that dissatisfactoriness; because, after all, the Dharma is interested in only one thing: the end of suffering, the alleviation of dissatisfaction and distress. That’s what the Buddha said. He said, “Don’t ask me whether God exists. Don’t ask me where the world came from. That’s not my business. My business is solely dissatisfactoriness and the end of it; suffering, misery, and bondage, and their end, the sure heart’s release.”
The second fact of life, which he explained was the cause of dukkha, the cause of this dissatisfaction, is attachment, resistance, craving, clinging, fixation, greed, preoccupation, holding on. Because everything is uncertain, unreliable, impermanent, flowing and passing, how can holding on ever be ultimately satisfying? Even if we get what we want, how long can we hold onto it? Even if it stays around, we are gone, since we — each of us — are just another impermanent thing. The cause of that dissatisfactoriness is our incessant holding on, resistance, clinging, attachment, greed, and desire — acting out of our ignorance about the true nature of things. Let’s look and see if this is not the case, in our own lives.
The Third Truth is the end of this dukkha, the end of suffering, the end of craving; nonattachment, which is release, nirvana, total openness, emptiness. That’s the end of suffering right there, the end of attachment. In the sutras it is called the heart’s sure release or relief. Nirvanic peace is relief from suffering, change, dissatisfaction, confusion, exhaustion, and so on. Is it not true that when we kiss the joy as it flies, rather than cling to it, we live in eternal sunrise, as Blake sang? Isn’t greed, desire, and clinging dissatisfying, even when we momentarily get what we want?
The Fourth Truth — perhaps the most important one — is the path to that release; the path by which we can actually experience that heart’s sure relief from suffering, from dissatisfactoriness. That’s called traditionally the Eightfold Noble Path. I like to call it the eight principles of enlightened living or the eight steps to enlightenment. It is divided into three sections: sila, samadhi, and prajna — ethics, meditation, and wisdom, as discussed last week.
Those are the Four Noble Truths. It is a complete description of how things are; how to solve our problem, our suffering; and what the result is. Again, this is just a description. We get to decide if that’s the path for us. For example, let’s honestly ask ourselves: Is it even our problem? Maybe we haven’t noticed that there is any problem. That’s fine. We shouldn’t be in the doctor’s office if we’re not sick. We shouldn’t be in the pharmacy looking at all the different medicines. We should be out enjoying life. The Dalai Lama himself has said that happiness is the purpose of life. So let’s see seek our highest, most long-lasting happiness, not just cheap thrills.
However, we are all at different stages. This is not a judgment; I don’t know who is more evolved. However, why do we each hear the same thing differently? I go around the world saying we are all Buddhas, and people come out of the audience and say, “I love what you said Surya, but why did you start your talk by saying we are all Buddhists. I’m a Christian.” I say Buddha and she heard Buddhists; someone else hears I don’t know what — voodoo maybe! Let us become Buddhas, rather than Buddhists! America the Buddhafull!
We are all flowers in a universal garden, in different stages, going in different directions, having different shapes. We are all dealing with different things. It’s like why sometimes we don’t feel anything, but the next person feels something. Maybe we’re not tuned into the feeling level; each of us has different realities going, different perceptions. Water looks very different to you and me than to a fish, doesn’t it?
Since we did come here tonight, we are probably looking for something, probably we are seeking something deeper. We found out, probably — I’m looking around the room; I see that we are mostly upper middle class, white intellectuals — that we have everything, but that everything is never quite enough. That’s the problem, isn’t it? Never quite enough for us. So we are seeking something deeper. (Is this the Upper Middle Path?!)
Therefore, let’s genuinely look into things and see what is wrong, if anything. Let’s see what the problems are, what the cause is, and how to transcend it and be free. That’s what the Buddha’s path purports to offer; but it remains up to us to confirm it for ourselves; otherwise it is just a rumor. It is up to us to keep it alive. We are the ancestors now; what we do will affect all coming generations.
I personally have found that it is true, that it is very simple when you get down to it, that greed, attachment, and resistance is dissatisfying. Haven’t you? Look at our relationships. Selfishness, egotism, and clinging don’t work very well. On the other hand, letting go and being more spacious and gracious — open hands, open arms, open heart and mind — actually works. This kind of more open, generous, collaborative win-win approach goes a long way towards relieving a lot of the tension; the stress, the friction generating all of this energy of conflict and confusion, and, for that matter, illness. Look at your own closest relationships, and see if this is not true. If we don’t apply the Dharma teaching to our own lives and our own personal way of thinking, it’s not Buddhadharma at all; it’s just a sham.
Now we have covered the first three truths: suffering; its cause being attachment; and letting go, nonattachment, which is its solution. This simply leaves us with how to live that way, which is the path.
I see it as a progression, from unhealthy attachments like addictions onto attachment to positive things, like health, food, stress-reducing exercises, meditation, and spirituality. But it has to get more and more subtle, or else we get stuck at those places. As our enlightened mind grows, it gets more subtle. A Zen teacher calls it the stink of enlightenment — the last thing you get attached to is enlightenment. That would be like golden shackles, rather than rusty, iron ones. Maybe you should just raise your sights and get attached to higher and deeper things, and trust that this sort of teaching leads beyond even itself. As Buddha said, “Dharma is like a raft, to cross the raging river of suffering.” All rafts may be left behind when we reach the other shore.
What would be worthy of great attachment? You tell me. If you want to say God, or something very high and ultimate, then I’ll say, “Good. Be totally attached to that. But what is that? It is not a thing.” So aspirations can get higher and higher, deeper and deeper. That would be helpful. What attachment really is a pernicious cycle of demandingness, resistance, clinging, holding on. It is hard to believe that those are very helpful.
Of course we are attached to our children. Of course we are attached to sanity. We should be. Let’s use our common sense. That’s why when I say the word “attachment,” I try to define it so we understand what we are talking about — greed, rigidity, fixation, resistance, preoccupation, clinging. Clinging doesn’t sound great, does it?
We’ve talked about relinquishing attachment. Let’s talk about it in the positive sense: Cultivating openness, spiritual detachment, equanimity. Those are the positive sides of that. Spiritual detachment doesn’t mean being indifferent. It means being more even and equal, and seeing the big picture, having more perspective. You like some things, you don’t like others, but you are not so invested in such preferences so that there is more room for inner equanimity and balance. You don’t have a tantrum if things don’t always work out as you would have liked. That’s the positive side. It doesn’t mean you are complacent and indifferent, that if you see a kid running out in the street, you wouldn’t even bother to stop him. That’s insanity. This discussion about nonattachment is not about indifference or complacency. It’s about equanimity and balance, a bigger perspective, about learning to appreciate all things and experiences — good and bad, pleasurable and painful, light and dark — in their own way.
I will reiterate that the cause of the dissatisfaction is holding on. When you start to see how that works, then you start to see how letting go, allowing, being more generous with yourself and others, tolerance, and so on is very, very satisfying. It is a great relief. It just simply works. Every day, every moment, it works. This is not some big abstraction, some theological dogma. It’s not like at the end of your life you get the jackpot of enlightenment, you get airlifted up. This way of life works every moment. Even here in meditation, we are replicating the whole macrocosm of our life and lifetimes in the microcosm of this moment. When we can relax totally and just be and allow everything and not have to do or accomplish or put together anything, isn’t it a relief? Isn’t it restful, relaxing, holistically satisfying? There’s no force, so it’s not tiring. There is no will and no striving. Spontaneous joy and peace naturally bubble up. It is inconceivable. There is no good reason for it to be so satisfying, but it is.
Incessant attachment and greed erode our inner peace of mind. Better offer yourself to everything. Surrender. Dance with life, no matter what tune is being played. Why be a wallflower? Dance with life; you’ll love it.
It is really simple, when you come right down to it. That’s why I feel that this is really a teaching for our time, a teaching that we can really get our teeth into, that can really liberate and delight us all and help us be a positive force in the world, not just a self-satisfied, complacent, couch potato, or, should I say, meditation cushion potato? It can help us really be a light in the world, which we are so much in need of in these turbulent times.
There is a way of being a very peaceful warrior, a warrior for peace. And out of that heart of compassion can come forceful action, when necessary. Let us foment a veritable lobby of compassion, a ground swell of responsible and caring consensus, here in our own country.
Sometimes saying No is actually Yes, is very affirmative. Trungpa Rinpoche used to say: “Don’t give in to idiot compassion.” For example, you spoil your kids and they run out into the street and get hit by a car. You pour honey on everybody’s head and you are always smiling, because you want to be a New Age, love and light person. One of my Tibetan friends said, “Why does everybody in America say ‘I love you’ before they hang up the phone, even if it’s the first time you ever talked to them? I thought those words meant something!” So it is not so simple. That’s why in tantric iconography there are the terrific, wrathful deities as well as the peaceful, gentle, lamb-like, Jesus-like deities. Even Jesus did his thing with the money-changers, driving them out of the holy temple. That is ruthless compassion.
We all have peaceful energies in us and also wrathful energies, which subdue or transform what needs to be transformed. In the street at night, for example, you might have to do something that looks very forceful, but you should be doing it because it is appropriate and done out of love, not out of aggression. When one is spacious, then there is space for things to happen appropriately, impeccably even. Otherwise we just transmit our compulsions, the children get spoiled, and the entire mandala degenerates.
That’s where awareness training comes in. Eventually, you don’t have to remember it so avidly, it just comes more naturally. That’s why we have a little incubator here, our little pressure cooker, our practice center. It’s like a hothouse so we can try to train in a special way. You need a greenhouse, a special environment, to cultivate exotic orchids. But really, we ourselves are more like the grass and the weeds; we have to exist everywhere, finally. We can recondition and decondition ourselves intentionally, through continuous, intentional training. Buddhism is a path of training the body, speech, and heart/mind. We decondition our conditioning, which brings freedom, while reconditioning in a more positive sense like through Bodhicitta practice. It is not that we have to remember; it’s not just like having to count to 10 before you hit back. The more we are aware, the more naturally open is that space of counting; you don’t have to count.
You might vividly feel the arising energy of anger or reaction, but it is just an energy — you don’t have to act it out or suppress it. There are a lot of techniques for that, like putting yourself in the other’s shoes, exchanging yourself with others, wishing to take the difficulties on yourself and give them the best part so you start to get out of this adversarial situation. Using the energy of the opponent to turn the situation over instead of just fighting back. Transforming negativity into positivity. There are many skillful methods in Dharma for accomplishing that. We ought to try them!
Ahimsa means non-aggression, non-harming. Gandhi didn’t just say, “Oh, what the hell” to the British when they exploited his country. He did something about it in a very powerful way. He didn’t fight back with arms; he did something different: He changed consciousness. He created a ground swell of consensus against the British being there. He walked hundreds of miles to the sea to collect salt by hand, to break the British stranglehold of the salt tax. And all of India began to walk with him. They didn’t have to go to the barricades and try to fight back with their rusty old muskets and pitchforks, and all get wiped out. This reminds us that there is another way to do things. That was a very forceful act, a very effective warrior act, but a very peaceful warrior action. The British could hardly fight back against 100,000,000 Indians. If there had been any kind of a demonstration, they would have wiped them out. But faced with that sort of passive resistance and consciousness-raising, the British had to back down. They realized they could imprison Gandhi’s body, but not his mind.