Transcript
[0:07] Hello and welcome.
[0:13] And for
[0:20] as we start this week, new series of new
[0:24] teaching and
[0:26] meditation,
[0:28] I would like to begin today with an
[0:30] emphasis on
[0:32] staying mindful of the body,
[0:36] but in a particular way.
[0:38] And that is that the body
[0:41] is also the
[0:43] canvas
[0:45] upon which we have a lot of ideas and
[0:48] values and concepts and
[0:51] expectations and
[0:54] orientations.
[0:59] There's a selectivity pro-
[1:01] process in terms of picking up and
[1:04] focusing in daily life around particular
[1:06] parts of the body that
[1:09] we're particularly concerned with.
[1:11] Maybe in the morning we're concerned
[1:14] about our hair.
[1:16] That takes more
[1:18] focus than
[1:20] the back of our elbows.
[1:23] Perhaps we're concerned about the
[1:26] clothes we wear and how we appear.
[1:30] And
[1:31] some of that concern with the body is
[1:36] appreciative. Some of it it it we don't
[1:39] appreciate.
[1:41] We're kind of unhappy with some ways in
[1:43] which some part of our body appears and
[1:46] maybe we [clears throat] wish it it was
[1:48] different.
[1:51] And we wonder what people think of us.
[1:55] We might spend a lot of money on
[1:57] changing how we look, fixing how we
[1:59] look, how we look.
[2:02] How So, there's a selective process by
[2:04] which we are concerned with certain
[2:07] parts of how we look, how we are, our
[2:09] body.
[2:11] Where we're not neutral.
[2:13] We have preferences, we have judgments,
[2:16] we have ideas.
[2:19] And we [clears throat] do the same thing
[2:20] for other people.
[2:21] We're not neutral observers of human
[2:24] beings, but we're looking
[2:27] at particular highlights that that are
[2:29] important for us to pick up and
[2:31] recognize.
[2:33] So, when we sit and meditate, this
[2:35] happens as well.
[2:37] Even as something as simple as
[2:39] being present for the breathing,
[2:41] we might have ideas of what
[2:43] the right way of breathing is supposed
[2:45] to be, or expectations of what it's
[2:47] supposed to do, or
[2:49] expectations of how it's supposed to
[2:50] feel, or
[2:52] we're trying to pay attention for
[2:54] particular signs and symptoms of
[2:57] what the good breathing is in
[2:58] meditation.
[3:01] We have all these certain things that
[3:04] it isn't that we're neutral,
[3:07] but we're orienting ourselves to certain
[3:09] things that
[3:11] they should appear or not appear the way
[3:14] that we want them to be
[3:16] or don't want them to be.
[3:20] So, one of the options in meditation
[3:23] is to understand this difference between
[3:26] what the body presents on its own,
[3:30] free of our all the prep- all the ideas,
[3:36] the palette of ideas that we
[3:39] paint on top of it.
[3:41] And just very, very, very simple,
[3:44] allow the body to show itself at the
[3:47] level of sensations,
[3:51] not the level of ideas
[3:55] preferences.
[3:58] And because that's be difficult,
[4:01] one of the ways to practice mindfulness
[4:03] is simply to see the difference
[4:07] between the raw, simple sensations
[4:11] and what we add on top of it.
[4:14] The ideas, the projections,
[4:19] the
[4:20] focus on what we think is important.
[4:26] So, if this makes sense, then maybe we
[4:29] can try it today.
[4:32] So, to begin with assuming a meditation
[4:35] posture
[4:38] with the idea that
[4:40] attention, awareness is not only
[4:44] done with the mind.
[4:47] It's done with the whole body
[4:50] in all the
[4:53] nerve endings that pick up sensations in
[4:56] the body.
[4:58] This is the home for awareness.
[5:04] And to assume a posture
[5:08] that supports a whole body awareness.
[5:22] And then within that body
[5:25] to allow
[5:27] breathing
[5:29] to breathe in fully
[5:33] without any tension or strain.
[5:36] An easy way to breathe in a full inhale.
[5:46] And breathing out a full exhale.
[5:51] Relaxing the body as you do so.
[6:41] >> And then letting the breathing relax.
[6:46] As if breathing can breathe itself just
[6:48] fine.
[6:55] And checking in to feel how breathing is
[7:00] on its own terms.
[7:04] So there's a receptive awareness
[7:08] to the sensations of breathing.
[7:17] Without the overlay of expectations,
[7:20] ideas
[7:23] what should be and shouldn't be.
[7:30] Ideas of what a right breath is and a
[7:33] wrong breath is.
[7:36] What a better way of breathing is or a
[7:38] worse way.
[7:43] Without the any idea
[7:47] overlaid on the sensations of breathing.
[8:02] And if there are any ideas
[8:05] see the difference between the
[8:07] sensations
[8:10] and the ideas.
[8:13] How the ideas are distancing
[8:19] or distinct than the sensations.
[8:36] Staying close
[8:41] to how the body experiences breathing.
[8:52] How the breathing body experiences
[8:54] itself.
[9:00] Where the ideas about breathing
[9:05] are not really needed.
[9:09] Except the idea of staying
[9:16] present for breathing.
[12:15] >> Mhm.
[13:20] >> If you're thinking about other things
[13:23] than your breathing,
[13:27] see how that's a distancing, separation
[13:32] from your direct experience of your body
[13:35] sitting here.
[13:41] Settle into the breathing.
[13:44] The living
[13:47] rhythmic sensations of breathing.
[13:57] And letting the ideas,
[14:00] thoughts
[14:03] evaporate,
[14:05] dissolve,
[14:09] fade away. So, stay with the concrete
[14:12] experience
[14:14] of sensations here and now.
[18:23] >> Mhm.
[19:14] >> As we continue
[19:19] open up your awareness, your sensing
[19:24] to as a wide
[19:27] global experience of your body
[19:30] as is easy.
[19:36] Like the body becomes a vast ocean
[19:41] and the breathing are waves that move
[19:43] through it.
[19:53] Feeling the sensations of the body
[19:58] the hum or vibration
[20:04] of the body.
[20:15] Where the moving alternating sensations
[20:17] of breathing
[20:20] are part of this wider field ocean of
[20:24] sensations.
[20:29] And for a few minutes
[20:33] putting aside ideas about the body and
[20:39] judgments about the body and
[20:46] in favor of
[20:48] allowing
[20:51] yourself to feel how the body
[20:54] experiences itself
[20:56] free of ideas.
[21:01] In whatever way the sensations of the
[21:03] body appear
[21:05] let them appear and
[21:09] be absorbed into the body.
[21:12] Let them appear and
[21:16] flow through the body.
[21:25] And allow different parts of the body to
[21:27] show itself at different times
[21:30] randomly.
[21:32] No agenda.
[21:37] Just open
[21:41] to body sensations.
[21:53] Without living in the ideas or
[21:56] projections
[21:58] onto the body.
[22:01] Just body by itself.
[24:31] >> Mhm.
[24:34] >> And can you get any sense of what it's
[24:37] like
[24:40] to allow the body to
[24:43] sense itself
[24:47] free of
[24:49] ideas we've learned from the world
[24:53] from others
[24:56] free of our desires and expectations and
[25:02] ideas of what should and shouldn't be
[25:04] there.
[25:08] Radical simplicity of mind
[25:14] where the body is free
[25:17] of the mind's expectations,
[25:21] free of the mind's
[25:23] wanting to be different than what it is.
[25:31] Even if you only have hints of what this
[25:34] is like
[25:36] feel that the difference.
[25:41] Freeing the body to be itself as it is
[25:46] as it is in the present moment, just the
[25:49] present.
[26:06] And might it be a gift
[26:08] to the body to leave it alone to be
[26:11] itself
[26:14] in its present moment unfolding.
[26:27] And might it be a kind of a gift to
[26:30] world.
[26:32] To simply see it, hear it,
[26:36] know it
[26:40] without expectations, desires, desire,
[26:45] shoulds and shouldn'ts.
[26:49] But in the present moment, just now,
[26:53] letting all things be just as they are.
[27:00] So that you are not adding any extra
[27:02] stress to your mind.
[27:07] And any
[27:09] added
[27:12] difficulties for this world.
[27:23] To gaze upon the world
[27:29] with a gaze that's free of stress, free
[27:32] of suffering,
[27:35] free of desire.
[27:42] So there's a clear
[27:46] channel
[27:50] for the heart's goodwill.
[27:55] Wishing
[27:58] everyone well.
[28:02] Wishing
[28:04] >> [clears throat]
[28:04] >> that each person's hearts
[28:08] feels
[28:10] the [clears throat] love from others,
[28:12] care from others,
[28:13] safety from others.
[28:17] And that we can we contribute to that
[28:20] possibility.
[28:21] Wishing
[28:23] May all beings be happy.
[28:28] May all beings be safe.
[28:32] May all beings be peaceful.
[28:37] May all beings be free.
[28:56] Thank you.
[29:54] So, hello and welcome to this first talk
[29:57] of the week.
[30:00] Where
[30:02] in the series, the topic of the week
[30:05] is what is usually called the five
[30:08] aggregates.
[30:10] And words aggregates seems a bit maybe
[30:13] even off-putting, kind of dry, kind of
[30:16] cement-like.
[30:18] Um kind of not clear what it actually
[30:20] refers to.
[30:23] Then I I call the five bundles.
[30:27] A little bit more
[30:28] maybe an image of five bundles.
[30:31] They are
[30:32] like gathering firewood into a bundle,
[30:35] the fire sticks, and wrapping them up
[30:36] with the string so they're all tied
[30:38] together nicely.
[30:40] Five bundles.
[30:43] But usually in English they're called
[30:44] the five aggregates.
[30:46] And I was first introduced These are
[30:48] extremely important teachings in
[30:50] Buddhism.
[30:51] And um
[30:53] >> [clears throat]
[30:53] >> kind of sit at the center of the
[30:55] Buddha's teachings in many ways and in
[30:57] Zen as well. When I practice Zen, it's
[31:00] very important there.
[31:02] Because every day almost probably every
[31:04] day we chanted the Heart Sutra, a short
[31:08] uh
[31:09] uh scripture
[31:11] that
[31:12] begins with a statement that all five
[31:15] aggregates are empty.
[31:17] And then it goes on to say
[31:19] uh that each of these aggregates
[31:22] is empty.
[31:24] And emptiness is the aggregates.
[31:27] I didn't understand what was being
[31:29] talked about when I chanted these in Zen
[31:32] for most of the time.
[31:34] But I took in this idea naively
[31:37] um that if all five aggregates are empty
[31:41] if all five aggregates
[31:43] um
[31:46] then I didn't have to know what they
[31:48] are. They kind of like they don't exist
[31:50] or they're not that important or they're
[31:52] And so I never really bothered to
[31:54] understand them. They were more just
[31:56] something that
[31:57] we're supposed to deny and the
[31:59] repetition of uh
[32:01] no form, form is emptiness, emptiness is
[32:04] form. Same is true of sensations,
[32:07] perceptions, mental formations, and
[32:08] consciousness.
[32:10] Um and then it goes on to say no eyes,
[32:13] no ears, no tongues. All this negative
[32:15] and negation language.
[32:17] And chanting that day after day
[32:20] the effect of that was to kind of let
[32:22] go, let go, let go. Not have any of
[32:25] these ideas.
[32:26] And it was kind And chanting it, you
[32:28] know, in a kind of vigorous Zen chanting
[32:30] mode
[32:31] um was quite quite a wonderful thing.
[32:35] And I found that by
[32:36] uh
[32:38] when I When I chanted this Zen, I
[32:39] memorized it and those
[32:42] chants would come wafting through the
[32:44] mind periodically through the through
[32:46] the day and they were kind of freeing in
[32:48] a certain way. It was wonderful to do.
[32:51] But I never really learned what they
[32:52] were.
[32:54] And then when I came to Thailand,
[32:56] um
[32:58] uh
[33:00] uh to practice in Theravada, they
[33:02] actually talked about the aggregates a
[33:04] lot.
[33:05] And um
[33:07] and I started to realize they were
[33:09] something to study and learn what they
[33:11] were, try to figure out what they were.
[33:13] And I spent a lot of time trying to
[33:15] understand them.
[33:17] It wasn't so obvious what to really
[33:19] understand what they are.
[33:22] And um
[33:23] you know, I'd spent a lot of research
[33:25] time to could really these five. They
[33:27] usually called form,
[33:30] feelings, perceptions,
[33:32] mental formations and consciousness.
[33:36] And uh it's usually described as
[33:39] something like the Buddha said there's
[33:42] no self.
[33:44] But what he said is that there's these
[33:46] five aggregates.
[33:47] That these five aggregates make up what
[33:50] we normally would call the self.
[33:52] So there's no essential being self, but
[33:55] there is these processes that go on and
[33:57] that's what we are.
[34:01] And um
[34:03] so
[34:05] uh five aggregates like the uh
[34:07] aggregates of stone that come together
[34:09] or something that comes to be
[34:12] uh
[34:12] combined into something.
[34:16] So as I study these texts, I've come to
[34:20] understand them differently, at least in
[34:21] the earliest Buddhist tradition.
[34:25] And they're better called bundles.
[34:27] And they're bundles of clinging.
[34:30] They're things we cling to and we
[34:32] collect these clingings.
[34:35] And we gather a lot of them.
[34:37] And the five bundles are not meant to
[34:40] describe what we are as a human being.
[34:44] They're meant to describe the five major
[34:46] bundles of things that we collections of
[34:49] things that we cling to
[34:51] when we cling and suffer.
[34:54] And what's fascinating about this in the
[34:56] early tradition is that these five
[34:59] bundles
[35:00] are not really things that exist in the
[35:03] natural world in the ordinary way,
[35:06] but are something we kind of build or
[35:10] create in the mind.
[35:12] Um we create ideas of things, stories
[35:15] about things.
[35:16] And maybe it's going to be understood
[35:19] with the first one, which is usually
[35:21] translated into English as form, f o r
[35:25] m.
[35:27] And form kind of means like a shape.
[35:30] And what it meant in the early tradition
[35:33] was the shape, the the shape of
[35:36] something that the eyes could see as a
[35:38] distinct things. Their their their sight
[35:41] object was called a form.
[35:44] But by in by application, it came to
[35:46] mean any thing that
[35:49] the senses picked up
[35:52] in the world. Anything that And so I
[35:54] like to call it appearances.
[35:57] It's not things. It's not objects. It's
[36:00] not the body when we're looking at
[36:02] ourselves,
[36:03] but rather it's the form or the
[36:05] appearance
[36:07] uh that through which we see the body,
[36:09] understand the body.
[36:11] And when we use the word appearance
[36:13] rather than form, things appear
[36:16] selectively. Things appear partly. We're
[36:18] not innocent observers of the body.
[36:22] Uh
[36:23] uh
[36:24] we have particular things we look for as
[36:26] the appearances that are important. We
[36:29] can say that someone's very interested
[36:30] in their appearances.
[36:33] And we think that they may be or spend a
[36:36] lot of time on their hair, a lot of
[36:38] careful time on their clothes, maybe
[36:40] their complexion, maybe getting tans,
[36:43] maybe Who knows? all these things means
[36:46] and it's only skin deep kind of. It's
[36:49] only kind of the surface that's really
[36:51] important here.
[36:52] It's not what's going on deep inside.
[36:55] So, the heart beating
[36:57] could be called an appearance, but it's
[37:00] also called just a raw sensation
[37:03] without any overlay of ideas and
[37:06] selection selectivity about what's
[37:08] important, what should happen, what
[37:09] shouldn't happen with a simple beating
[37:12] heart.
[37:13] We can add a lot on top of it,
[37:14] especially if we have a heart condition.
[37:17] But,
[37:18] we can also
[37:19] add all kinds of unusual ideas.
[37:22] Like, it really the heart should be have
[37:24] a better beat. It shouldn't just beat
[37:27] kind of that boring old way it always
[37:29] does. And I wish it had it, you know,
[37:31] had more lively beat and a roll
[37:34] sometimes and a
[37:36] you know, and so we're we're we're
[37:37] looking for certain things in our heart.
[37:39] We're adding all these ideas on the poor
[37:41] heart. They should be different.
[37:44] Appearances are not innocent.
[37:47] We add things.
[37:49] And so, the appearances that other
[37:51] people have
[37:52] uh that we apply to them, we look at
[37:54] certain people
[37:56] and we are oriented towards certain
[37:58] appearances that make jump out. We might
[38:02] look at skin color and that jumps out
[38:04] all kinds of associations because we
[38:06] think skin culture
[38:08] skin uh color is what defines a person
[38:11] or identifies a person in a particular
[38:13] big way.
[38:15] And we limit people by their skin color,
[38:18] by their hair,
[38:20] by their
[38:22] maybe we're interested in the shape of
[38:23] their nose, maybe their, you know,
[38:26] certain other shapes of other parts of
[38:28] their body.
[38:29] Uh maybe their size. We make we jump to
[38:32] conclusions based on whether someone is
[38:34] short or someone is really tall.
[38:36] We we see the appearance, but we add
[38:39] something to appearance, value, uh uh
[38:42] judgments, expectations, associations.
[38:46] We're not innocent observers.
[38:49] And some of this, what we do with
[38:50] appearances, is very painful for
[38:53] ourselves, very painful for others.
[38:57] So,
[38:57] some people can look at their hand, and
[39:00] maybe their fingers are too long, too
[39:02] short, too stubby, too fat,
[39:06] too wrinkled, too much arthritis, all
[39:09] kinds of things we can see.
[39:11] Nobby.
[39:13] But, those are all the appearances that
[39:15] we look at. What's hard to understand is
[39:18] that the hand has its own life
[39:20] independent
[39:22] of the what the appearances we're
[39:24] focused on.
[39:26] The hand, you know, as a hand with long
[39:29] fingers,
[39:31] it might be just relaxed, at ease. It
[39:34] just kind of tingles and vibrates and
[39:36] feels warm and cold and feels
[39:39] sensations. By itself, it's just fine.
[39:42] It Leave it alone. Don't Don't impose
[39:45] the mind's hegemony on top of it, the
[39:47] mind's judgments.
[39:49] And so, what we learn in mindfulness
[39:51] practice is the appearances are have an
[39:54] emptiness to them. The appearances are
[39:57] kind of insubstantial,
[39:59] kind of projections of ideas on top of
[40:02] it about what's important, where we
[40:03] orient, what we focus on in order to
[40:06] uh uh
[40:08] interpret that this is what something
[40:10] is.
[40:12] From the inside out,
[40:14] the with the eyes closed, the hand is
[40:17] almost not a hand. It's just sensations
[40:19] that are humming and vibrating.
[40:22] So,
[40:24] appearances, physical appearances,
[40:28] are
[40:29] uh
[40:31] partly a product of the mind.
[40:33] And sometimes they're big products.
[40:35] There's huge stories that go around it.
[40:37] The mind makes up stories
[40:40] of how it should be, shouldn't be, what
[40:41] it means.
[40:43] And a lot of suffering occurs around
[40:46] appearances.
[40:48] There is huge industries, billion-dollar
[40:50] industries in the world that uh is
[40:53] making lots of money in trying to define
[40:56] how you should look and how it what you
[40:58] should do to make yourself look a
[41:00] certain way. And if you don't, then
[41:02] you're somehow an inferior person.
[41:06] We have all these stories and ideas that
[41:08] we inherit, that we make up ourselves.
[41:10] And there's a lot of suffering.
[41:13] And it isn't just we have one or two of
[41:15] these.
[41:17] We collect bundles
[41:19] of attachments to appearances.
[41:22] Uh negative attachments, positive
[41:24] attachments.
[41:26] And what mindfulness can do
[41:29] is help us to relax,
[41:31] settle all these stories we make, all
[41:34] these attachments we have to
[41:36] appearances.
[41:38] We start seeing that there's a world of
[41:39] difference between seeing our body
[41:44] through the attachments, the
[41:46] expectations, the stories we have, the
[41:48] meanings we have,
[41:50] versus just feeling sensations
[41:53] coming and going by themselves,
[41:56] leaving them alone.
[41:58] And so part of mindfulness is to see
[42:00] this distinction
[42:02] between what the mind creates around
[42:06] sensations, experiences of the body,
[42:10] and what the experience is in and of
[42:12] itself.
[42:13] And in this regard, it might be easier
[42:16] to understand
[42:17] that appearances are empty.
[42:20] Appearances are empty of real
[42:22] substantiality.
[42:24] They're just a figment of the
[42:25] imagination to a big degree.
[42:29] Um
[42:30] sometimes
[42:31] there's a straight correlation between
[42:34] how we understand the body and how what
[42:36] we
[42:37] uh what the body is,
[42:39] but the stories that we add on top of
[42:42] it, that's what appear with the word
[42:44] appearance.
[42:46] The Pali word is rupa. That's what's
[42:49] implied. It's all the attachments.
[42:52] The aggregates are not
[42:55] the
[42:57] appearance in and of itself,
[42:59] but rather it's the attachments, the
[43:03] stories
[43:04] that we add on top of it.
[43:06] And those are what's empty,
[43:08] insubstantial.
[43:11] And uh they're figments of the
[43:12] imagination, but we gather bundles of
[43:15] these, bundles and bundles. Some people
[43:17] carry suitcases full,
[43:19] warehouses full
[43:21] of attachments, stories, ideas, um
[43:25] related to their body.
[43:27] And they can cause a tremendous amount
[43:28] of suffering.
[43:30] And we create a lot of suffering of
[43:32] others and when we project our
[43:33] expectations and ideas onto others as
[43:36] well.
[43:37] So, I hope in this way you begin
[43:39] understanding why this word
[43:42] um why this is we're talking about
[43:44] something very central in Buddhism.
[43:46] Because it's freedom from these bundles
[43:49] of clinging
[43:50] that uh
[43:52] is opens the door to a very profound
[43:54] freedom.
[43:56] And so, the idea is to understand where
[43:59] the source of the suffering comes from.
[44:02] And this is one of the primary sources
[44:04] the tradition talks about.
[44:06] To call them aggregates misses is
[44:08] confusing for people.
[44:10] To call them bundles, we begin
[44:12] appreciating that they're bundles of
[44:14] clinging.
[44:16] Um and the word clinging is often in the
[44:18] in the very title or name for them.
[44:22] The five bundles of clinging.
[44:25] And so, we're not seeing the thing in
[44:28] and of itself, we're seeing
[44:31] the
[44:33] how it fits into this wider field of
[44:36] attachments that we're so caught in.
[44:41] And we can relax.
[44:44] To see we're doing it
[44:46] gives a possibility to drop below that
[44:50] level of attachments, to untie the
[44:52] bundles, and to be able to give our body
[44:55] the freedom to just be itself, to
[44:58] breathe itself. It's a remarkable gift.
[45:02] So, that to this week I'll go through
[45:04] the other four bundles, and hopefully
[45:07] you'll understand
[45:09] why this is an important topic in
[45:11] Buddhism and
[45:13] and maybe it can be useful and important
[45:15] for you as a different perspective of
[45:18] how to understand
[45:20] your suffering.
[45:22] Thank you.
