MJ35 - 38 Blessings - Life's Ups And Downs (36 Of 39)

Last time you saw me we looked at blessing number 34 on the attainment of Nirvana.

With the Dharma talk today we'll continue on our journey through the 38 blessings to the first blessing in the final subsection that is number 35 on a mind invulnerable to life's ups and downs.

So we come today to the final subgroup of the 38 blessings which is entitled the fruit of having practiced until reaching an end of defilements.

Coming with ourselves even of the subtlest defilements as a result of our practice in blessing subgroup 9,

Culminating in the attainment of Nirvana in the previous session,

The only remaining task on the Buddhist path of progress is to receive the hard-earned fruits of our labors.

In fact,

There's no practice left to do in this grouping and the remaining blessings are more a description of the fruits of one's attainments.

This subgroup contains four blessings.

Blessing 35 on a mind invulnerable to life's ups and downs.

Blessing 36 on the sorrowless mind.

Blessing 37 on freedom from subtle defilements.

And blessing 38 on the blissful mind.

So this final subgroup describes the special qualities of a mind freed from the influence of defilements.

The first of these we are to examine today is the state of invulnerability to life's ups and downs.

Being able to cope with and accept what happens to you in life is already largely been dealt with in my sessions on contentment.

Nonetheless,

There are still a few additional transcendental level pointers left to mention in this blessing on how to minimize vulnerability to what life throws at you.

Having practiced all the foregoing blessings,

You will have attained a body of enlightenment within yourself which has an appearance similar to a crystal living Buddha located at the center of your body.

Your doubts about reality and the world will be almost completely overcome,

Having used the Dhammakaya to examine the nature of the world,

Especially the four Noble Truths.

You will already be able to understand for yourself the answers to many of those questions you would never believe otherwise if you hadn't encountered them first hand.

If you can attain the ability to see the four Noble Truths and Nirvana first hand,

The next outcome of your practice is that your mind starts to become invulnerable to the ups and downs of the world.

If you are an Arahant,

You will be completely invulnerable to ups and downs of the world.

However,

If you have attained Dhammakaya at any lower level,

You will still have some loopholes in your armor.

The larger matter of this blessing concerns invulnerability to the ups and downs of the world.

Even if you are not an Arahant already,

Familiarity with these materials will help to inspire you to keep meditating until you can attain 100% invulnerability for yourself.

The idea is not to try to be thick-skinned without having attained Dhammakaya,

The four Noble Truths and Nirvana,

Because without these things,

Your invulnerability would not yet be fail-safe.

The title of this blessing in Pali,

Kutthasa Loka Jamehi Jitthang Yasana Kampate,

Means invulnerability,

Or more literally,

Being untouchable by life's ups and downs.

To define each of the constituent terms,

If we are talking about invulnerability of the mind,

The mind we are talking about is the state of happiness,

Wholeness,

And enlightenment in the mind.

If we are talking about the word invulnerable,

It means being steadfast in the face of adverse consequences such as the loss of reputation,

Wealth,

Or loved ones.

It also means not being swayed prejudicially by desirable consequences.

If your mind is affected in either of the two directions,

Then it will still be vulnerable.

If we are talking about life's ups and downs,

Or Loka Jamehi,

We mean the features of life anywhere short of Nirvana,

Which is by nature uncertain in a way that cannot be avoided.

It's like you cannot expect the ocean not to have waves on it.

When one goes to sea,

Then they better be ready to deal with the waves.

Similarly,

The nature of the world is to have ups and downs,

Which are always flip-flopping between highs and lows.

If we allow these fluctuations to dictate our mood,

Then we will end up like a character in some melodrama.

In fact,

There is only one type of person who is not truly affected by the ups and downs of the world,

And that is the Arahant.

Their mind is steadfast enough to have equanimity in all circumstances.

Whatever life may throw at them,

Their mind is not upset by undesirable lows,

And it is not elated by desirable highs.

The mind of such a person sees all ups and downs as circumstances that cannot last forever,

And so is able to take them in their stride.

The Anguttara Nikaya's Loka Masutta lists eight types of ups and downs in the world.

Sometimes they are described as being arranged in four pairs,

Each pair consisting of a desirable and an undesirable component.

On the desirable side,

Which is known in Pali as Ittharamana,

Are all the circumstances which can cause you to feel elation.

The first is wealth or Lapa,

Which is anything we gain.

It might be a raise in pay,

Increased property,

A new addition to your family,

Or net gains in your share portfolio.

The second is honour or Yasa,

Which might mean getting a promotion,

An award,

Or more privileges.

The third is praise or Pasamsa,

Which in terms of public opinion,

Might mean receiving compliments or Facebook likes or a tribute.

The fourth and last of the desirable worldly vicissitudes is increased objective well-being.

Whether this uses the same Pali word Sukha as is used for subjective well-being,

By this stage in the blessings,

Because we are already replete in our happiness,

Positivity and optimism,

In this context,

What the word Sukha is referring to is basically real per capita household consumption or for short,

Any sort of fun,

Generally,

Or things that bring superficial comfort or convenience to body or mind.

The second group of ups and downs is the opposite to all the desirable aspects just mentioned,

Because they are all undesirable or Anittaramana.

The first of these is loss of wealth or Alapha,

Which might mean that you lose what you used to have,

Whether it's your income,

Your property,

A loved family member,

Or your stock portfolio taking a dive.

The second is loss of honour or Ayasa,

Which might mean demotion,

Getting fired,

Or having your privileges withdrawn.

The third is malicious gossip or Nintah,

Which means your reputation being publicly criticised,

Whether the accusations are true or not.

The last of the four undesirable life circumstances is taking a hit to your objective well-being or Pukha,

Which generally refers to reduced opportunities for fun or consumer consumption.

Most people spend years fretting about how to maximise the desirable aspects in their lives.

Once they get them,

They try to cling on to them and are scared of losing them.

If they do lose them,

Then they spend years feeling hard done by.

Ordinary people cannot escape the feelings of elation or disappointment from what life throws at them.

Those with a transcendental attainment,

Though,

When they come across the same life circumstances,

Experience no disturbance to their mind.

These orc insults are like water off a duck's back,

Or they have a Teflon mind,

To use a more modern metaphor.

It's as if they have a safe bunker inside the depths of their mind where suffering can no longer reach.

The usual temptations used to sweeten a deal are meaningless to the Arahant who is already in touch with the superior happiness of Nirvana.

It's like a millionaire with assets of $100 million being offered $5 off,

Or a person used to gourmet food being offered a junk food snack.

They will feel indifferent.

An Arahant is like a millionaire of happiness.

If you offer them the chance at a little bit of fun,

It is unlikely to interest them.

They will be indifferent to public opinion because they already know the reality of the situation.

A phrase or gossip is nothing more to them than the sound of a dog barking.

They would not be ungrateful for a new robe,

Some nice food,

Or new accommodation,

But the enjoyment of these things would pale in comparison to the happiness of their reaching an end of defilements.

And the subject of how enlightened people deal with unpleasant worldly phenomenon,

Such as gossip or verbal insults,

Is a scriptural story of a monk called Padiya,

Who was a contemporary of the Buddha and was staying with him at Jetavana monastery.

Because of his short and childlike stature,

He was given the epithet Lakkhundaka,

Which means the dwarf.

Lakkhundaka Padiya was very good-natured.

Even young monks would often tease him by pulling his ears or patting him patronizingly on the head.

Often they would joke,

Aren't you bored with your life here as a monk?

Padiya never lashed out in anger or bore a grudge.

In fact,

He always remained serene,

Never losing his cool.

When informed about the patient deportment of Padiya,

The Buddha commented,

Well,

What do you expect?

A Arahant never loses their temper,

Has no desire to speak harshly or to think ill of others.

They are like a mountain of solid rock,

Which remains unshaken by the wind from the four directions.

Even so is an Arahant unperturbed by scorn or praise.

Only then did the other monks realize Padiya had attained Arahantship long ago,

And this was the reason why he was so invulnerable to public opinion.

Everything in the world is recognizable by its own unique combination of characteristics.

Some characteristics are unique to a particular object,

While others are of qualities they share in common with other things.

Gold,

For example,

Has the characteristic that when it's pure,

It will have a yellow color and sparkle.

It's hard to alloy with other elements.

Iron has the characteristic that it is hard metal,

But it rusts easily.

These characteristics are so unique that they are like identifying features.

People have unique characteristics too.

They're different from animals because they can cultivate intellect,

Use tools,

And speak to each other.

Nonetheless,

For all the characteristics that are unique,

There are three characteristics which all things in the world have in common.

Something the Buddha called the three universal characteristics or Samanya-lakkhana.

The first of these universal characteristics is impermanence or Anicchitta.

Sometimes we assume material things are unchanging,

But this can never be so.

If you don't believe it,

Take a look at snapshots of any one person taken over the course of their life.

You'll find that there's no two pictures alike.

This is no real surprise because even the cells of our bodies are completely replaced by new ones every 80 to 100 days.

The same is true not just for people,

But for all things in the world.

Everything is in flux.

There is entropy and deterioration built into everything around us.

Even if you try weighing a so-called safe investment like a gold ring,

You'll find that year by year the weight will systematically decrease.

Even if you were to sell the ring back to the store tomorrow,

There's nothing to guarantee that you'll recover the price you paid for the ring.

If material objects lack permanence,

The same is even more true of abstract phenomena.

Romantic interest can change over the course of years or over the course of days for some people.

Same goes for fashions,

Values,

Stock prices,

And social expectations.

Even the state of our mind is impermanent.

Your good intentions and New Year's resolutions get eroded over time.

So might first steadfastness of mind.

So impermanence is the mark of all material and abstract phenomena in the world.

The second of the three universal characteristics is suffering or Dukkata.

Normally we understand suffering as pain,

But the word Dukkata in Pali also means the quality of things that have decay as their nature,

With all the shades of meaning that we've already seen in Blessing 33 on seeing the four noble truths.

The third and final of the three universal characteristics is not-self or Anattata.

Anything in the world has implicit identity.

You look at a meditation mat and ask what about the meditation mat makes it a mat?

If you were to take it apart into all its components,

You'll just be left with a pile of stuffing with no particular part to make it a mat.

If you look at it under a microscope,

All you'll see is a collection of fibers.

In the same way people look at their own bodies and conventionally they say,

This is me,

This is what makes me who I am.

However,

If they were to look more closely at their body,

All they'd see is a collection of generic organs,

Bones,

Tissues,

And nerves.

It will leave them wondering which part of their body gives them their individual identity.

The word Anattata also has the implication of something that is outside of your control.

From the point of view of practice,

This is a very important definition.

You may notice when you sit for meditation that you cannot prevent eventual aches and pains.

You cannot even keep your mind on the thing that you want to concentrate on in your meditation for very long.

Even if you don't want to look old,

You cannot stop the signs of aging from appearing on your body.

Your hair turns grey without you being able to stop it.

All you can do is touch up your roots with concealer.

Your hair falls out without you being able to stop it.

All you can do to save yourself from baldness is to buy a wig.

Whether the Buddha arises in the world or not,

These three characteristics remain the nature of things in the world.

However,

If it wasn't for the teaching of the Buddha,

We would never realize it.

The idea of the Buddha pointing out the three universal characteristics was to make sure we don't attach to things that are,

By their nature,

Unsatisfactory and unreliable,

But to reach for something better.

The same time,

This teaching shouldn't be taken the wrong way,

However,

Because some people learn that everything in the world is impermanent,

So they conclude,

In that case there's no point putting time and effort into doing good things,

Because they must be impermanent too.

They end up believing that there's no lasting effect from any of their actions,

Forgetting that karmic outcomes are neither impermanent nor unreliable.

They also forget that bodies of enlightenment and nirvana are attainable states that exist beyond the three universal characteristics as we've already seen in the previous blessing.

So we have time for a quick scriptural story.

When the Buddha was still pursuing perfection as a Bodhisattva,

He was born as a man called Visaya in a wealthy family.

Apart from being wealthy,

Visaya habitually shared what he had with the poor and needy by giving alms daily to 600,

000 people in six parts of the city.

For the alms he gave to the poor people,

No expense was spared,

Because the things he gave away were of the same quality that he used himself.

Because he gave away vast quantities of alms every day,

He was a true refuge to the homeless and destitute.

He was like the moon shining forth its light for the benefit of the many folk.

Meanwhile,

Up in heaven,

It turned out that angels in Buddhism are not all 100% saintly and are sometimes subject to jealousy,

Because like human beings,

They have still not overcome all defilements in their minds.

At that time,

One example of an angel with mixed motivation happened to be the king of heaven,

A position which we refer to as Sakka.

As may happen when human beings cultivate exceptionally good deeds in the world,

Sakka experienced a warming of his marbled throne.

This indicator was the result of Visaya's generosity and made Sakka misunderstand Visaya's generosity but surely intend to outshine his own goodness.

He feared losing his position as the top angel,

So he decided to use his powers to reduce Visaya to poverty overnight.

So that Visaya would no longer be able to give any more gifts to others,

Sakka magicked away all of Visaya's wealth,

Leaving with nothing to give away.

Waking up one morning to find all his wealth gone,

Visaya grumbled to his wife,

Our life will be empty without giving.

We have to find a way to carry on being generous.

He asked his wife to look around the entire house for anything that could possibly be used as a gift.

His wife eventually came up with a scythe and a rope forgotten by a servant at the gate and brought these to her husband.

Visaya said,

Never in my life have I been reduced to cutting grass,

But today I'm going to have to cut fodder,

Because if I can cut fodder to sell,

We'll be able to have something to give to others.

He spent the day cutting grass and sold it as fodder,

Promising himself to keep back half of the earnings to support himself and his wife,

While giving away the other half.

That day,

However,

There was a particularly large number of poor people who came begging,

So by force of habit he gave away everything he had,

Meaning he and his wife had to go without food themselves.

The same thing happened for six days straight.

On the seventh day,

Visaya was carrying a sheaf of grass in the fierce heat of the midday sun.

When fatigue and hunger got the better of him and he fell to the ground in exhaustion,

Saka had been following Visaya around and at this point made himself visible to Visaya,

Floating in the air before him,

And calculated to give Visaya's generosity a final blow with the taunt.

Before you were wealthy,

But now you have squandered your wealth on the poor,

And see how that has worked out for you.

If only you were to hoard what you have,

Before long your wealth will be restored.

Promise me that from now on you will put an end to this foolish generosity.

Hearing the voice,

Visaya recovered consciousness and challenged Saka,

Saying,

Who do you think you are giving me unwelcome advice like that?

I am Saka,

King of Heaven.

Visaya replied,

That can't be right because normally Saka advocates generosity,

Observing the precepts,

And practicing the seven kinds of virtues or vatapata that make one king of heaven,

Namely,

Cherishing one's parents,

Respect for elders in one's family,

Speaking politely to engender harmony,

Being generous,

Speaking the truth,

And banishing anger.

If you're telling me to stop being generous,

It contradicts everything that brought you to greatness.

You are nothing but a hypocrite.

May no wealth ever outgrew to me that I would want to keep to myself.

Even though I have picked up grass for a living,

I will continue with my generosity until my dying day.

Saka now realized he could not talk Visaya out of being generous,

But he was curious to know the reason for Visaya's determination.

Visaya explained that his generosity was in no way meant to displace Saka as King of Heaven,

But in order to accrue perfections with the view to attaining Buddhahood in the future,

To release all beings from suffering.

Rejecting Visaya's answer,

Saka could not help but admire him,

And he patted Visaya's back,

Thereby replenishing Visaya with superhuman power.

Saka restored all Visaya's wealth and more,

So that from that day forth,

There was always wealth in Visaya's house for endless giving for the remainder of his life.

So to come back to today's subject matter of the rollercoaster of life,

The Buddha warned about getting obsessed with the desirable aspects of life,

Without the knowledge to prevent ourselves from becoming attached to them.

There are several places in the Samyutta Nikaya where the Buddha gave similes for the way we get caught up in our desires.

In the Balissa Sutta,

He compared acquired wealth to fish bait.

In the Kumbha Sutta,

He compared it to a hunter's dart.

In the Digalomi Sutta,

He compared wealth to a thorn bush entrapping a long-haired sheep.

In the Matari and following suttas,

He observed how otherwise honest people can be reduced to telling lies to protect their wealth.

It's for this reason that if we do not yet treat the desirable aspects of life with caution,

We may need to reacquaint ourselves with contentment that we saw already in Blessing number 24.

So what about some aphorisms to help smooth out some of the churn in our mind caused by life circumstances?

The first aphorism,

Which is a word of wording,

Comes from Asian culture,

Although I note the quote has been attributed to Mamata Sinki,

Which is the more you laugh,

The more you cry.

This aphorism aims to reduce the drama at both ends of our emotional repertoire,

Whether it be the highs or the lows.

In general,

The more uncontrollably people laugh when they're elated,

The louder they will cry when they're disappointed.

If people only smile slightly when they're pleased about something,

When they're disappointed,

The trauma will also be minimized.

We need to continue to remind ourselves not to get caught up in elation or disappointment when we encounter ups and downs in the world,

And before long the resulting stability of mind will lead us to transcendental attainment.

The second aphorism,

Which was first credited to the English historian Thomas Fuller in the late 1700s,

Is that the darkest hour comes right before the dawn.

Even if you are at the breaking point as a result of the pressure you've been put under,

Be confident that before much longer you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The Pali word for hindrances or obstacles is upasakmah,

Which literally means close to heaven.

Even the unpleasant things of the world are subject to impermanence.

So just as they have appeared uninvited in your life,

They are bound to disappear again if you wait them out.

Another aphorism is to enjoy the good things of life while they last.

Instead of becoming elated by good fortune,

It is more realistic to bear in mind that good fortune cannot last forever.

So enjoy that good fortune while it lasts,

But don't expect it to go on forever.

Treat it instead like something that has been given to you on loan.

Another aphorism of Buddhist origin is that every conditioned thing is of a nature to decay.

Since the three universal characteristics are so widespread,

Buddhists have long had the tradition to remind themselves that no one can stand in the way of natural processes of arising,

Brief existence,

And decay,

And that it is futile to look for eternity in this world.

Not even Buddhist teachings,

Which ought to be the most valuable of legacies,

Can last forever.

After barely 2,

500 years,

Deniers have already started seeding doubts about whether Buddhism is genuine.

That final aphorism is not to take the ups and downs of life personally.

The eight worldly dharmas will happen to people no matter whether they attain the stage of Buddhist sainthood or not.

Don't expect that just because someone is a Buddhist saint,

They can skip unpleasantness in life.

For as long as a person falls short of nirvana,

Their mind will not be completely untouched by the ups and downs of life.

But at least if a person knows that they are not the sole victim of such unpredictability,

That even the good and great still suffer,

Somehow it will help us be more accepting when it happens to us.

In this connection,

Even after his enlightenment,

The Buddha had to deal with unpredictability in his food supply.

And I'll finish today by telling you the scriptural account of his trials.

So you remember,

The Buddha once discussed the Dharma with a certain Brahmin called Bhuiranjhā,

Who we came across back in Blessing No.

30.

The Brahmin was so impressed by his conversation that he invited the Buddha and the whole monastic community to stay in the province where he was governor for the duration of three months of the rainy season.

The Buddha accepted the invitation,

But a short time later in that province,

The harvest failed and there was a local famine.

There was hardly enough food to go around.

Bhuiranjhā,

As province governor,

Was so busy solving the problems of the starving people in the province that he completely forgot to look after the Buddha and the community of 500 monks who had followed him there.

To alleviate the monks' suffering,

The Venerable Mahamokkulana offered his services to the Buddha,

Asking,

May I have your permission to fly away to another continent to look for alms there?

Then I can bring back food to feed our hungry community.

The Buddha replied,

There is no need for you to go to so much trouble.

Then,

Shall I penetrate down deep into the earth to find the ambrosia that is buried there and bring it back to feed our community?

The Buddha admonished him,

Saying,

Don't do that.

Just show a little patience.

Mahamokkulana asked,

Why do we need to be patient?

The Buddha replied,

Even if you were to access ambrosia from under the ground and the word spread around,

Before long people would stop offering alms food to the monks in order to see which monks have got mental powers to access such ambrosia.

It would be a disaster for the monks who are not yet Arahants.

Be patient for just three months so that generations of monks in the future will not suffer as a result.

Eventually,

The monks survived to the end of the rainy season on the shrivelled rice usually used for feeding horses.

This might be seen as a temporary disaster for the Buddha's dispensation.

He did manage to get a teaching point out of the situation.

And we shouldn't forget that in the bigger picture,

The happiness of the Buddha didn't come from the food he ate,

But from the purity of mind arising from enlightenment.

So this session I have introduced to you Blessing 35 on a mind invulnerable to life's ups and downs.

So for my next session,

We'll move on to the second blessing of the final subgroup,

Number 36 on a mind free from sorrow.

Hopefully as a result of today's session,

You will feel better equipped to maintain your mind steadfast in the face of the ups and downs of everyday life.

So for today,

This is me Praniculous Tynistro signing off for now.

So long folks and stay safe.