Oakville Zen Meditation
RIGHT VIEW:
Component of the 4th NobleTruth also called the eightfold path
For 50 years the Buddha taught about the 4 Noble Truths.
Noble truths can be interpreted as the genuine and factual realities of life.
1st Truth: Life is full of suffering that I will call our negativities.
2nd “ The main cause of our negativities is our attachments to our desires/clinging, to what we dislike/aversion, and to our illusions/delusions/ ignorance, and mindset prison, most of them ego-driven.
3rd Truth: there is an end to our suffering/ negativities. This cessation is called Nirvana and at a lesser level serenity and equanimity.
4th truth is the wisdom path to achieve the 3rd truth.
All 4 Truths are tightly interconnected.
The 4th NT is also called the 8thfold wisdom path or the “know-how”
One of the components is what the Buddha called the Right view.
The Right view:
Right in the sense of wise/proper
Also called right/proper understanding, the Right View is the main component of the Wisdom path alongside with right thought/intention. As the Buddha said:
“The right view is the tool against ignorance and other sources of suffering”.
3 so-called “Seals” are the pillars of the Right view:
1)Understanding Suffering / Negatives, and its main root: ego-driven
attachments.
A proper understanding of the roots of suffering should dictate our thinking
and proper behavior such as prevention of suffering.
2)Understanding Impermanence. Everything is transient, nothing last.
A proper understanding of impermanence should dictate our thinking and
behavior during life such as not taking everything for granted forever, etc...
3)Understanding “No-self”. The self does not exist on its own as a unique,
independent, separate, self-sustained living entity but, like all living beings,
is interconnected. We are “interbeings”. We are unique only in our genetic print.
Proper understanding of “No-self” should dictate our thinking and behavior
such as respect for our environment, being mindful of our dependency to
Nature for food and survival. Etc...
Besides these 3 seals, I will extend the Right view or proper understanding to the following:
1 Our mind is a fantastic tool, but also our worse enemy since
1) it fuels our ego-driven negativities, and
2) is the source of our illusions, delusions, and mindset prison.
Act accordingly.
2 Our thoughts are just that. Don’t believe in all of them.! Act accordingly.
3 We do not control too much of anything: if we cannot control even our mind,
how can we expect to control whatever and whoever is around us?
4 We are not indispensable.
5 Right understanding of when to letting go when you have no other choice.
6 Understanding that genuine happiness comes from inside, never from outside simply because we do not control the outside world, and because external sources of happiness are always transient.
7 Right understanding of what are happiness, serenity, and equanimity, and their
difference.
8 Right understanding of a) what is) mindfulness ( Awareness) using our sensorial perception w/o analysis, w/o judgment, w/o decision,w/o attachment.
and b) what is diligent meditation. The right view of both of them will produce the right practice. Remember: being mindful is practicing pure awareness is having your mind acting
as a mirror. We are in a thoughtless state, the pure, genuine, true Self.
9 Right understanding that only the present moment, the NOW exists even if
past and future are on your calendar and in your mind. Being mindful of the NOW
is part of discovering our genuine Self, and telling our mind to stick to the NOW
rather than being a time machine moving back and forth between the past and future
both of them fictional, and prone to fool you in a dreaming state away from reality.
Conclusion:
The right view is the insight into the nature of things as they are, in particular into the first 3 Noble Truths that are suffering, its causes of it, and cessation of suffering.
Proper insight brings proper behavior toward serenity, equanimity, and wisdom.
Thank you
