Oakville Zen Meditation
The 4 SEALS Part 1 SUFFERING
They are called seals because they are the landmarks of Buddha's 50 years of verbal teaching. SUFFERING, IMPERMANENCE, NO-SELF and NIRVANA. They represent the 4 standing pillars of Zen philosophy & practice. Everything else depends on them.These words seem weird, complex and esoteric but we will see how logical and useful they are in our daily life. Meditation will help you to discover and experience them.
The 4 Seals are deeply interconnected. This week I am talking about:
The reality of suffering: first Seal
Suffering is a restrictive translation of the Sanskrit word “Dukkha" which has a far broader meaning. Beside physical and mental suffering, Dukkha also means any kind of negative emotions such as unhappiness, dissatisfaction, fear, frustrations, worries, anxiety, resentment and most negative emotions that we are expressing during our life.
Where is this “suffering “ coming from?
Outside self: This is not the main source of our suffering. Among the main external causes are accidents, disaster, loss of a loved one, loss of job, war, etc. There is nothing we can do about them. Life is what it is.
Inside self: This is by far the main source of our suffering and it is produced by ourselves that is our ego-centered mind. This mind is the ongoing unlimited source of our desires, attachments, aversions, negative feelings such as anger, fear, resentment, anxiety, frustrations, and, finally, our illusions/delusions called ignorance. Illusions / delusions are the fruits of our deceptive thinking distorting, or not understanding, or not accepting what realities of life are all about such as.
Our main illusions / delusions about Life as opposed to the concrete, factual realities of Life are:
1) Things last. No:! Nothing lasts.This is Impermanence, the second Seal. Only impermanence lasts.
2) The self is an independent, separate entity. At the genetic level yes, but no living being exists
as an, isolated, separate self-sustained entity. This is why it is called “No-Self”: the third Seal. In fact, all living beings are interconnected and interdependent from each other. Look around
3) Happiness comes from the outside self (having more of this, more of that ).This is one of our most deceptive illusions. Looking for happiness sources outside self is an endless quest since, once achieved, a new “I want” from an external source will pop up indefinitely and our “ desires" will never be fulfilled. This is dissatisfaction at its best .
These are the 3 main illusions that our mind is creating. I will add:
“I am in control” Are you really?
“Past and future exist”. They do but on a calendar & pictures only. The past is dead and the future is unborn.
“My thoughts and feelings are real” No: they do exist but their contents are mostly fictional unless based on concrete, factual, definite realities around us such as the scientific ones.
Achieving long lasting suffering-free serenity is an inside job in which the practice of mindfulness meditation, and the Middle Way approach play key roles.
Serenity, peacefulness and contentment could define Nirvana which is the fourth Seal.
Nirvana does not mean a suffering-free blissful life. This is impossible.
During meditation the Buddha realized that by learning to control our ego-mind and its thoughts /feelings we are able to better control not only our illusions that I just described, but also our desires, attachments, aversions, and many negativities.
