What is wisdom?

It is often stated that all of the Buddha's teachings were taught for the sake of wisdom. But what is wisdom?

Wisdom isn't nebulous. It isn't the wise old man sitting up on top of a mountain waiting to answer people's questions.

Wisdom is insight into the human condition. Understanding it's impermanence, the pervasiveness of suffering and dissatisfaction, how thoughts and actions shape our life and the precious opportunity to make this life meaningful.

Wisdom is insight into who we are. Understanding how we are all connected, the nature of our minds and the way in which that understanding deepens our presence and gentleness in the world.

Wisdom is insight into the nature of reality. Understanding how all things are interconnected and transient in nature, how the outer world exists and how to best care for the world.

Wisdom is insight into our place in the world. Understanding how we can be authentically present and share our gifts with the world, how we can contribute, and how a culture of awakening develops from people showing up and acting in alignment with wisdom.

Wisdom is insight into the human condition, who we are, the nature of the world around us, and our place in it. It is not far out or far flung, it is the very ground of our being.

The work of a bodhisattva.

The bodhisattva ideal is often compared to a warrior. We live in a time in which it takes great courage and determination to be more present in the world. Our culture is encouraging us all to fit in and comply, lulling us back to sleep with entertainment and distraction. Trying to wake up in that world is no easy task, and yet it presents an opportunity worth fighting for.

We cannot truly be deeply present in the world or contribute in meaningful ways until we can get past our own hesitation, fear and uncertainty. Our narrow conception of who we are and what we are capable of limits our experience of the world and what we have to give.

Doing the inner work of uncovering our natural buddha heart requires a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Our most meaningful work is to awaken in such a way that the gifts we have to share are seen as irreplaceable. That is work worth investing in and showing up for. That is work that we can spend our entire life doing, and work that will genuinely make a difference in creating a better world.

To be successful in our work does not require accomplishing some outer goal. Rather, it is to reconnect with our own nature in such a way that we reveal own our buddha heart and have the courage to bring it out into the world for the benefit of others.

Occupy.

We need you to occupy the world that you are in.

We need you to figure out how to be present in that world. We need you to do the inner work necessary so that you can participate in that world with kindness, compassion and generosity. We need you to learn how to use resistance, hesitation and fear as a call to be deeply present in a world of chaos.

That world doesn't need to be big. It doesn't need to be the whole world. Matter of fact, it shouldn't be the whole world and it can't be the whole world. It is best to start small, the smaller the better.

Occupy your home with presence and contribute generously to the well-being and happiness of your family or friends. If your home is too big of a space and there is too much going on, choose one relationship to occupy with full presence and kindness, maybe with a teacher or partner. If that is too big of a space, choose to occupy yourself with presence and kindness. Learn to sit on your own meditation seat with honesty, kindness and openness. Learn to be understanding and receptive to your own suffering and discontentment.

When you learn to occupy your smallest world with compassion, kindness and generosity, gradually that world will start to expand and widen. You'll step into a larger world having already established a ground of presence. Gradually, walls will fall, doors will open and your vision will expand.

This applies to your relationships and your work. When you learn to be open and honest with yourself, you can be understanding and receptive to others. When we can be fully present and engaged with our friends and family, we can carry that presence into our communities when dealing with strangers. Gradually, we can learn to work with difficult situations and people who are creating problems for us along the way.

If you cannot handle your present environment, assuming a larger space will not make things easier or better. When you can learn to fully occupy your present space, your world will naturally widen and you will see where you can contribute to that larger world.

It all starts with presence. Learn to occupy the smallest space with presence and generosity. That probably means starting with your meditation cushion. As your practice deepens and you gain confidence, you will naturally be more present and be able to participate fully in the world at large.

"You can be anything you want to be."

I call bullshit.

This idea that you can be anything or do anything descends from our social theory of individualism and the American Dream. Basically, if you work hard enough or want it bad enough, you can have or be anything. Many parts of this social theory hold to be true in our experience. If you work hard, you can accomplish many of your hopes and dreams. And of course, life may get in the way and you may not.

The fundamental belief of this theory is that where you are is not where you ought to be, or where you want to be or need to be. At this moment in time, you recognize the value and worth of your future self and your future contributions, without seeing the value and worth of your present self and contributions. This idea is further conflated with ideas of gaining wealth, power and prestige. When we can "become the person we want to be," we will have the most to give and live our most meaningful life.

Of course, this day rarely comes.

Our idea of who we are going to be is just a projection. Undoubtedly, it creates a picture of where we want to go, and this picture shapes our actions and choices. We move closer to the projection, but the projection itself always shifts and changes. The result is that we are exhausted and after all this work, we feel unfulfilled.

The alternative is to wake up in the world in which you are currently living. You choose to embody the person that you are, in the world as it is. When we can embody this genuine presence, we discover that right now we have the resourcefulness and initiative necessary to meaningfully contribute to the world around us. We begin to engage and participate with the problems and tension of our present day.

Through our presence and contribution, we discover that we continually shape and create the world, that the world around us is not "some thing" that we simply experience as a bystander, but that it is continually unfolding and undergoing creation and destruction.

Our world doesn't need more people who are going to be the best versions of themselves in ten or twenty years. We need you now. We need you to be the beacon of light in the space in which you are living.

The work that we need is not the outer work of doing, but the inner work of being.

The garden you tend to most.

By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.

Our conception of who we are is quite limited and limiting. We conceive of ourselves as our bodies, our feelings and perceptions, our thoughts, beliefs and positions. We often feel separate from others, segregated to a lonely and isolated existence. We have a deep yearning for connection with nature and contact with others. Most of us can intuit that our conception of who we are is limiting. We feel that bondage.

The Buddha taught that the examination of the self begins with examining the five skandhas. The self is composed of these five skandhas, and by examining the five skandhas we can arrive at the wisdom of selflessness.

The first of the skandhas is the rupa skandha, or aggregate of form. The rupa skandha refers to not only our own physical form, but more generally to everything that we can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. All matter is rupa skandha. Our environment and all beings, the entire universe, all that appears and exists is rupa skandha, our aggregate of form.

Our own body is the result of our past actions, and thus the most karmically significant rupa skandha based on our past experience. Our own physical body is the garden that we tend to daily, that we look after the most and identify with. But our rupa skandha is not only our physical body, it is also the environment and world around us.

Start seeing all form as your form. Start seeing your 'self' as your setting, your neighborhood, your world. When we appreciate our rupa skandha in this way, we want to take good care not only of our own body, but the environment and beings around us.

Start by tending to your own physical body with gentleness, attentiveness and kindness. Extend that to your neighborhood and community. Extend that to the whole world.

Let your gentleness, attentiveness and kindness spread.

By tending to others and the world around us, we tend to ourselves.

The world is deceitful.

Not the world actually, just our perception of it.

We think things are going to work out.
We believe things are going to go our way.
We hope that our lot will continue to grow.
We trust that things will get better. 

All the while we neglect the truth of suffering.  Dissatisfaction runs deep, it is all-pervasive.  We know that things are impermanent.  We know that all conditioned things are going to let us down.  We know that we never get anywhere when we are caught up in praise or blame, gain or loss. 

We know things things to be true, yet we continue to hope things are somehow going to work out in the end. 

Contemplate the truth of suffering.  Really, honestly think about it.  The only way out is to eliminate our own ignorance, bias and confusion.  No one is going to do this for us.  It is we who deceive ourselves.

That doesn't mean give up.  Not at all.  It means that we shouldn't be surprised when we encounter the truth of suffering.  It means that this fight is not over, it will never be over.  

It will never be over.  And we vow to continue to take rebirth here until all beings are liberated from the cycle of suffering. 

That is the promise.  That is what we are doing here. 

I am not surprised.  Now it is time to get back to work. 

Confusion.

འཁྲུལ་པ་
Tibetan: trulpa
English: confusion, deception, misperception, distortion

Confusion is a false way of seeing the world.  It is misapprehending a situation, deceiving ourselves about what is really happening.  Confusion creates a lot of problems for us because it affects our actions and what we stand for.  If our view is distorted, our actions are likewise misaligned and we experience more anger, more frustration and more fear.   Confusion polarizes us and our world. 

Confusion is really difficult to deal with because the confused person thinks they have knowledge.  A distorted view of reality makes no difference if it is the reality you experience and all the stories you tell yourself confirm that reality.

Confusion has its own logic, its own arguments and its own justification.

So how do we uproot it?

The first step is to understand that we all have a lens through which we see the world.  I have my own lens, you have yours.   When we realize that there is some shared basis between those two worlds that we can talk about and discuss, then there is some possibility that I can undermine my own confusion.   
Knowing the relativity of our own lens opens us up to the truth.  It opens us up to empathy and genuine understanding.  With empathy and genuine understanding we can reduce the distortion of our own lens and see the world more clearly.

We cannot change the minds of others.  We can only show them another lens and start to ask questions.  

Entirely different.

There are people in our life who have changed us.  Changed us in ways that we couldn't imagine what our life would be like had we not been touched by their grace.  We would be entirely different people. 

They are people whose words have impacted our mind, whose presence has opened us up and whose kindness has permeated our heart.  They could be people we have known for many years, or even those who we knew for a brief moment in space and time.  Those people are our greatest teachers.  They've changed us, stuck with us even when they are no longer around.  They have given us a gift that is timeless and inexhaustible.

We can never repay our teacher's kindness.  It is not possible because they have created a world that we could have never imagined even for ourselves.  Their gift to us has created something that didn't exist before and the only way that we can begin to repay their kindness is to share it.  Increase it and spread it throughout the ten directions.

You can never be sure when a gift will create a new world, so give generously and dedicate all of your actions to the benefit of beings.    

  

Groundless.

Nothing is the same as it was before. 

That's difficult to accept.  It leaves us feeling vulnerable, exposed, confused.  It can make us angry, want to fight back and lash out.

We can fight ourselves for years, trying to get back the world we knew and loved.  But we should know that we are the creator of that burden, that our lives our complicated by our own complicated mind. 

It is difficult to accept that things have changed, but once we do it is easier to move forward, to start living in this new world and to start creating the world of tomorrow. 

Too intense.

Is this situation too intense, or are your emotions too intense?
Is this problem too difficult, or is your aversion too difficult to deal with?
Is this conflict too volatile, or is your anger out of control?
Is this challenge too hard, or is the story your telling yourself about it too hard?
Is this too scary, or is your fear too real?

What is outer, what is inner?  What is in the environment, what is in your mind?

What can you try to change? 

How do you bring about that change?

Can you do that?

What additional resources and skills do you need?

Go get them.

Action.

What is the origin of our universe?  Was it created by a god?  Was there a big bang?  How did it come to be?

The Buddha taught that worlds arise and collapse due to action, or karma.  They arise dependently, not independently.  They arise and fall continuously, without beginning and without end. 

Within each of those worlds, infinite worlds unfold.  There is no limit to space, no center and no border.  Within the macro there is micro, and within the micro you will find macro.  These infinite worlds interact in endless ways such that where one starts and the other ends is indeterminate. 

And yet we feel trapped.  We feel trapped in our situation.  Our world feels stuck and static, like a prison.  What binds us is our habitual tendencies, negative emotions and thought patterns.  We are bound by erroneous views and biased perception.

There are those on the path whose sole motivation is to break free from this cycle.  They want out, they want it to be done. 

Then there are others who see that we can create something else. 

Our actions create the world and influence innumerable worlds.  Our path becomes one in which benefiting others and unlocking their own insight fulfills our path of awakening.  Our particular situation is not seen as a prison, but as an opportunity for awakening.  It is our naturally formed world in which we can enact benefit, in which we have potential to impact others.

And yet, neither here nor there, nor anywhere, have any of these worlds ever truly existed for a moment.    

Worldly concerns.

The Tibetan for 'worldly' is འཇིག་རྟེན་ 'jigten'.

'jig means perishable, breaks down, disintegrates.
rten means to support or rely upon.

What we consider worldly concerns are concerns that rely upon that which is perishable, that which breaks down and disintegrates.  Why concern yourself with that which is perishable?  Why invest so much time and effort in that which is invariably going to fall apart?

Gain or loss.
Praise or blame.
Fame or insignificance.
Happiness or suffering.

Don't concern yourself with them.  Instead focus on acting on the causes of happiness and eliminating the causes of suffering.  Focus on generosity, kindness and compassion.  Focus on being patient and sincere.  Focus on connections and interactions that don't have a limit, focus on benefiting others.  

That transcends the world.  It is beyond this world.  It is supramundane and it can be part of your day.   

The limit of time.

I don't have time.  I ran out of time.  I was too busy.  I got distracted.  This is taking a loooong time.  When is this going to be over.

Time doesn't exist.  It is not real. 

Our experience of time is relative.  It depends on change and motion and how we measure it.  We are the creators of our world.  When we decide that something needs to get done, suddenly we have all the time in the world to do it.  We create the time for it.

The Buddha taught that karma or actions create your future experience.  You are the creator of heaven and hell, or at least your experience of them.  But your actions also create your perception of time.  Your choices, your decisions, your priorities, your intentions and your actions all create your experience of space and time.  You are a universal monarch, an all-creating king.   

What kind of world are you creating?

Reflections.

A mirror naturally reflects whatever is put in front of it, such that the two are indistinguishable.

A pristine lake naturally reflects the world around it.

Our cities are natural reflections of the people living there.

Our homes natural reflections of our family and values.

Our world is a natural reflection of our mind and mental states.

Your world is a reflection of your mind.

What does your mind look like?

Five Elements Yoga.

The ancient wisdom traditions are all connected to the concept of working with the elements.  Man and nature are intimately intertwined and their deep insight into that nature evokes a strong connection with the world around them.  The five elements are earth, water, fire, wind and space.  This may seem like an archaic and primitive understanding of the universe, but let's look at the manifestation of these five elements.

External world
We are all familiar with the qualities of the elements in the phenomenal world.  Earth is solid, water is fluid and cohesive, fire is radiant and hot, wind/air is constantly moving even when not apparent, and space is the container in which all of this plays itself out.  Each of these can be further examined in terms of their characteristics and qualities as far as the mind can elaborate.  

Physical Matter
Solid, liquid, heat and gas.  We are all familiar with the physical properties of matter from elementary school.  Earth is solid, water is liquid, fire is heat and wind is gas.  Of course don't forget space which accommodates all of these states.  The interesting thing here is that we start to see that all of these five elements are present in one element- water.  Ice has more earth properties, water is water and water vapor is the wind element.  All of these states manifest based on the amount of heat or fire in the system, which itself is contained by space.  So if this is true for water, what about iron? 

Atomic Particles
Let's look at an atom.  Earth is the nucleus, water is the chemical bonds that creates a sense of cohesion, fire is the heat or energy of the system and wind is the constant movement of the atom.   Space pervades the entire particle.  You are probably better at quantum physics than I am, so please explore deeper. 

Our own bodies
Our own bodies are composed of physical matter, earth.  Of course we are 70% water, blaze with the heat of the fire element at 98.6' F, are 100% energy (wind) and 99% space (may need to check my math).  Much of Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine is based on the balance of the five elements and how imbalances effect the rest of the system.  Interesting stuff if you like to read. 

Personal experience
We all have experience feeling grounded, a predominance of the earth element.  With the water element we feel connected, experience a deep sense of peace and calm.  Fire is creative, an inner radiance and intuition.  Wind is thoughts and concepts.  Space is all-pervasive.  Too much earth and we feel heavy and tired.  Too much water and we are emotional wrecks.  Too much fire and we get angry and hot tempered.  Too much wind and we are agitated and restless.  Too much space and we are, well, spaced out.  

Meditation
All five elements are naturally present in our own awareness.  With the earth element we discover a natural meditative stability.  The water element is a calm and peaceful mind.  The fire element is an inner radiance and clarity.  The wind element is movement even within stillness.  The space element is the expanse of awareness without center or limit.  

Dissolution
When the elements dissolve, either in our meditation or at the time of death, we can recognize their dissolution which serves as markers on the path.  Earth dissolves into water and appearances have a mirage-like quality.  Water dissolves into fire and we experience wafts of smoke-like images.  Fire dissolves into wind and we experience firefly-like appearances.  Wind dissolves into space and we experience the clear light nature of mind, an innate calm and utterly lucid awareness like the deep blue sky just before sunrise.  Rest in that state.  

Death
We should become familiar with the dissolution of the physical elements at the time of death, both concerning our own death and also supporting our loved ones as they set out on the journey.  The dissolution of the earth element is marked by losing your strength and outer movements.  The dissolution of water is when the saliva and urine is no longer produced, the body becomes dry and water is no longer accepted or needed.  The dissolution of fire is when the heat of the body recedes to the heart center, the body slowly continuing its process of shutting down.  The dissolution of wind is the gradual slowing of the inhale and exhale, leading up to the final breath as a long exhale.  It is important not to disturb the body at this time, because the person is starting to experience the inner dissolution of the elements leading up to and culminating in the clear light nature of mind.  Their ability to recognize and abide in that nature of mind determines their next rebirth, if they become swept away in appearances or remorse the winds of karma will start to stir and helplessly propel you along on your journey.  This is why it is important to practice and familiarize yourself with these five elements in this life, when you can still act of your own volition.

The practice of the five elements is a very simple and pragmatic way of understanding our world and our own experience.  It orients you with a bigger picture and makes the complex approachable.  Orienting yourself in this way, you can continue to investigate and elaborate on your understanding to the extent that the mind can reach, a true psychonaut. 

As long as the mind exists, their is no limit to the extent of space.   

When worlds collide.

Imagine your riding along, enjoying your day.  Up ahead you see a fine looking fellow who tosses his water bottle into the woods.  What to do?

In his world, there is no problem.  The results of his actions are too distant to comprehend and his cares are too few.

In your world the fires of anger have begun to burn.  How can someone act with such blatant disrespect and carelessness?

Who's problem is it?  How to proceed?  How do your resolve this collision of worlds?  Do you set out and attack, or perhaps employ some intergalactic diplomacy?

We imagine that the resolution to conflicts in our world are too remote, too distant and beyond ourselves.  Actually, they are right in front of us.  Everyday.

We need to learn how to connect to others in a genuine way.  Don't attack them from a superior position, approach them with respect and establish a common ground.

Draw out the implications of their actions, from their perspective, not yours.  Engage empathy.

When they accept the implications of their actions they come to embrace a larger scope.  They see a bigger picture, how they are connected and the power of their actions.  At some point they may come to a decisive experience in which they actually change their view and their behavior.

Ignoring the problem isn't compassionate.  And it's not skillful.
Solving the problem for them won't help, they haven't realized why it needs to be solved. 
Forcing your position on them will only incite anger in their world, no chance for change then.

So your only option is patience, empathy, connection, reason and respect.  From the position of a shared basis, change is possible.  Freedom and peace are possible.  It's not them against us, it's us against us.  

Everything is an Offering.

The most defining teaching of the Buddha is the teaching on selflessness.  That everything and everyone in our world and throughout the universe is connected.  Interdependent.  

We all know that we are a part of the world around us and that we are in the world, but the world is also in us.  We are a part of everything and nothing is solely 'ours', even our mind.

It is not an idea, a philosophical position or a belief, it is a living experience.  When we have this kind of experience and knowledge of selflessness, we are empowered.  We are relevant and connected.  We are a participant in this ever-unfolding world.  

Through this direct perception of our selflessness, our interdependence, we discover a natural wealth and fullness.  This natural wealth and fullness cannot contain itself, because not grasping at a self it has no option but to be shared.  It explodes as love and compassion, generosity and kindness.  Everything you do and everything you are is an offering.  

Everything is an offering. 

Selflessness creates a ripple effect.  It doesn't only change your life, it changes the life of others. 

'My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness'. ~ His Holiness Dalai Lama