090113 success on the path

8/13/2019 090113 Success on the Path

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Success on the Path

January 13, 2009

To stay with the breath, you frst have to wantto stay with the breath. Its thefrst basis o success in the practice. Some people object to the idea that theres

success and ailure in the practice. But this is a path that leads to a goal. Thatssomething we always should eep in mind! that were going someplace. "illy#nilly, were going someplace. "ere heading to aging, illness and death$but youwant to as yoursel, is that the place you want to head% &r the only place youwant to head% The body does have to age, grow ill and die, but does the mindhave to do that% 'oes the mind have to su(er rom those things% Is there a placewhere you can go where you dont su(er rom those things% )s the Buddha said,its not ound by going anywhere in the physical universe. But it is ound bygoing inside.

)nd the act that there is that possibility, that potential or going in a directionthat doesnt age, doesnt ill, doesnt die! thats why we have the Buddhas path.

Thats why there are the right actors o the path, and the wrong actors o thepath. )nd thats why theres success and ailure. I it were the case that therewasnt that potential or putting an end to su(ering, that lie was simply a mattero learning how to accept whats already here, then the practice would be verydi(erent.

But what the Buddha is asing you to do is to accept something else, thatthere is a potential to put an end to su(ering. )nd its going to demand a lot outo you. There is one place where he says that even i the practice involvessu(ering to the point where there are tears streaming down your chees, youstic with it, because the path ultimately does lead to a goal that more thanmaes up or all the tears. The ew tears running down your chees are very ewcompared to all the tears youve been shedding already. I you drive up Interstate* along the coast and loo out across the +acifc &cean, you realie that theres ahuge amount o water there. It stretches out to the horion, and you now it goesar beyond that. )nd yet the amount you see is nothing compared to all the waterin all the oceans, and all the water in all the oceans is nothing compared to thevolume o the tears youve been shedding over all these many lietimes. I youdont ollow the path, there are probably going to be that many more tearswaiting or you in the uture.

So there are two reasons to have the desire to ocus on the path. &ne isrealiing that the path leads you away rom a lot o su(ering. There are manycomparisons in the -anon. The Buddha piced up a little bit o dirt under hisfngernail one time and said, which is greater, the dirt under my fngernail, or thedirt in the earth% & course, the dirt in the earth was much greater. e said, inthe same way, or someone who has seen the 'harma, has broen through thee/perience o the 'harma 0ye$in other words gained the frst level oawaening$the amount o su(ering that remains or that person is lie the dirtunder the fngernail, whereas the amount o su(ering that awaits those whohavent is lie the dirt in all the earth. So thats one reason or ollowing thepath, is that its a way to avoid an awul lot o su(ering.


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The other reason or engendering desire or the path is that its a good pathand it leads to a really good destination. The destination is something we cantsee yet, but we can see the path. 1ight 2iew, 1ight 1esolve, 1ight Speech, 1ight)ction, 1ight 3ivelihood, 1ight 0(ort, 1ight 4indulness, 1ight -oncentration!These are all good things to do. The Buddha is not asing you to do anything thatyoud be ashamed o, not asing you to do anything thats going to be harmul to

anybody. es asing you to develop good, honest, upright 5ualities o the mind,things you can be proud that you can develop.So as you thin about the rewards o the practice, and all the dangers that the

practice taes you away rom, it can help give energy to your practice. This iswhy recollection o the 'harma is one o the recollections the Buddharecommends. e says that when youre ocusing on one o the rames oreerence, or establishing mindulness based on the body, eelings, mind, mental5ualities, there may come times when the practice starts getting di(icult. )s hesays, there may be a ever in the body, or a ever in the mind. That, he says, iswhen its good to put that topic aside and thin about something inspiring. )ndthe practices he recommends that are inspiring are recollection o the Buddha,

the 'harma, and the Sangha6 recollection o your own generosity, virtue6recollection o the 5ualities o the devas, thining about the act that youve beendeveloping those 5ualities as well. )nd you thin about those themes as much asyou need to get rid o that ever in the body and the ever in the mind, to get themind eeling inspired and uplited.

In this way you develop the desire to get bac on the path. Its not that theserecollections are o( the path, but theyre supplementary re7ections. They canget you bac into the practice o 1ight 4indulness, 1ight 0(ort, and on into1ight -oncentration.

"hen things start getting dry, remember that its wise to gladden the mind togive rise to that sense o desire. Its part o learning how to read your own mind,

to diagnose its diseases, and then provide the medicine it needs. I that thedesire is lacing, stop and thin! "hat would your lie be lie i there were noprospect o putting an end to su(ering% Thin o how ortunate we are that wehave the path, that it hasnt been orgotten. "e dont have to orge the pathourselves in a very uncertain world.

Thin about the Buddha, about how uncertain things were at his time. ) lot opeople were saying that there was no way to put an end to su(ering, that youshould just accept things as they are. &thers were saying that there was an endto su(ering, but nothing you could do about it. It was just going to happennaturally, just lie a ball o string unwinding and eventually youd get to the endo the string. But in the meantime, youve got to put up with all the su(ering

thats entailed in what remains o the string. The Buddha had the courage not toaccept either o those ideas. e thought, 4aybe there is something that can beaccomplished through human e(ort. )nd so he put his lie on the line to test thatidea. )t present we have the e/ample o many people in the past, the Buddhahimsel and all o his 8oble 'isciples. So its not 5uite so uncertain. "e may stillhave our doubts about it, but at least theres a path laid out. )nd a lot o veryhonest and upright people have said that it wors.

"hen the practice gets dry, its useul to thin about these things, so that youcan wor through any hesitation you may have in ocusing on the breath or any


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reluctance, any sense o weariness. )s )jaan 9uang said, you lubricate the mindso that it doesnt seie up the way an engine would seie up when it runs out olubricant. :ou give rise to the desire to stic with the path. 9rom that desiredevelops persistence! the energy, the stic#to#it#iveness thats re5uired intraining the mind. )ter all, the mind has a lot o old habits. )nd its going to taetime and persistence to deal with these things.

So its important to learn how to give yoursel energy all along the way.+ersistence as )jaan 3ee says, goes together with your powers o endurance.)nd the best way is to eep yoursel on the path, eep yoursel strong on thepath, is not to weigh yoursel down with unnecessary doubts about yoursel,unnecessary complaints about how di(icult things are. Its always good to ocuson where things are going well, and not to eep obsessing about the things thatare di(icult or wearisome. "e may distrust the +ollyanna approach o alwayslooing or the bright side, but it maes the practice a lot lighter to eepreminding yoursel that there are a lot o positive things about being on thispath. )nd you fnd that they give you energy. :ou can save your doubts or yourdeflements. 3earn how to be septical about your deflements. In other words,

you really loo at them and 5uestion the assumptions that get in the way o thepractice.& course that means you have to learn how to recognie them. This is where

the 5uality o cittaor intent interest comes in. )s you give yoursel to thepractice, loo to see what eeps pulling you bac! "hat nagging doubts do youhave% "hat complaints does the mind have% 3earn to 5uestion them. This iswhere cittamerges in with vimansa, your powers o analysis, your powers odiscrimination, your ability to 5uestion the thoughts that come into your mind.:ou can as yoursel, 0/actly where does that thought come rom% -an youidentiy the person who in your past would thin in that way% -an you identiythe tone o the voice that thins in that way% Is it a tone o voice that you want to

adopt% )nd you can loo at that thought in terms o the issue o reedom. 'o youwant to be a slave to that ind o thining%

This is one o the reasons we try to eep the mind with the breath! so that itcan loo at its thoughts with a certain o detachment, rom a certain amount odistance, get some perspective on them. &ne really e(ective way o dealing withthem is to reuse to go along with them and see how they complain. Then asthem, ;"hy should I believe that complaint%< )nd try to see what ind o reasonsthat part o the mind comes up with. =eep pushing your 5uestioning until youfnd the point where the reasons brea down.

"hen you can develop these our bases or success, youre in a position whereyou can be your own teacher, read the situation in the mind and not all or it. &r

to use another analogy, youre your own doctor. 3earn to recognie the illness,and recognie the cause o the illness, and give the right medicine$because asthe Buddha said, he merely points out the way. Its up to you to ollow it. )s adoctor, he is the one who prescribe the medicine. Its or you to fnd the variousherbs that he prescribes and then to tae the medicine. The Buddha cant giveyou a shot and cure your illness. But he can tell you what the right herbs are andhow you tae them. )nd he gives you some e/planation o the cause o the illnessso you can understand how the herbs are related to the cause. In other words, heteaches you how to become your own doctor.


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So try to develop this sense o whats needed to be your own doctor, to beyour own teacher, so that at the very least, the dialogue in your mind can bemore helpul, more intelligent, more wise, and actually head in that directionthat we want to go$to the end o su(ering. )t the very least, test to see i whatthe Buddha had to say is true. The only way youre going to now is i you give ita good honest serious test. I you dont give it that test, then all the su(erings o

lie begin to move in on you. They dont promise a way out at all. The denial oany way out! thats whats so insistent about the way lie normally is. )nd thatdeflements that go along with that denial are what eep us trapped.

So we owe it to our desire or happiness to give the path a serious try. )nd totry to develop whatever 5ualities are needed to see us through.

090113 success on the path

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