Dancing With Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering by Phillip Moffitt

Author:Phillip Moffitt [Moffitt, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Non-Fiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Buddhism, Philosophy, Religion, Psychology
ISBN: 9781605298962
Publisher: Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2008-04-14T14:00:00+00:00

DANCING WITH LIFE WHILE CULTIVATING CESSATION

To cultivate cessation, I consciously live with the question, how do I find freedom of mind right now, even in my state of ignorance? Over and over again, I inquire and reflect: Is this thought, word, or action suffering or not suffering? Sometimes cessation happens spontaneously from this inquiry, but other times my attachment is so strong that I have to engage in right effort (which I describe in more detail in Chapter 20). If cessation still does not come about, then I simply continue inviting cessation to occur, and either the grasping releases or it doesn’t. If I start making judgments about myself, such thoughts only get in the way of release happening.

This process of mindful inquiry that I am describing arises out of the ground of my intention to not cause harm to myself or others. It is not dependent on my perfection or even my ability to know for sure if a given act is skillful or not. Likewise, the practice of clear intention to not cause harm forms the foundation for you to cultivate wisdom and compassion and it utilizes all your experiences—both your wise and foolish choices—for you to grow deeper and more profound in your understanding.

Having practiced many years with a not-knowing attitude, I can tell you how it is to continue dancing with life as one moves along the path of realizing cessation. I have both my own experience and the teachings of those who have guided me thus far as resources to offer you. Like the scholar with the overflowing teacup discovered, an intuitive feel for cessation will serve you best, not some intellectual definition or some very specific experience that you grasp and begin to crave.

Ajahn Sumedho teaches that the path of cessation comes through being mindful and reflective of your immediate life experience and utilizing inquiry and reflection to go beneath the surface appearance of things: “People rarely realize cessation because it takes a special kind of willingness in order to ponder and investigate and get beyond the gross and the obvious. It takes a willingness to actually look at your own reactions, to be able to see the attachments and to contemplate: ‘What does attachment feel like?’” Sumedho’s words echo the wisdom of his teacher, Ajahn Chah, who said, “As you proceed with your practice you must be willing to examine every experience.”12

Sumedho goes on to say, “In my practice, I have seen that attachment to my desires is suffering. Attachment is to be understood and contemplated; then the insight into nonattachment [cessation] arises. This is not an intellectual stand or a command from your brain saying that you should not be attached; it is just a naturally arising insight into nonattachment or nonsuffering.” Then he explains how this reflection on attachment brings the insights of cessation: “We reflect as we see the nature of desire; as we recognize that attachment to desire is suffering. Then we have the insight of allowing desire to go and the realization of nonsuffering, that is the cessation of suffering.

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