One of the major misunderstandings of Buddhism from people who only read the translations and never get into practice is that it’s about escape. It’s about detaching yourself from the day to day, about transcending illusion or grasping.
I can see why. Many of these translations are academic, not practice oriented. And let’s face it, on the surface it sometimes sounds really nice to just disappear and leave all this suffering and chaos behind.
But when you read and then practice/contemplate/meditate Buddhist teachings, you pretty quickly realize (like it only took me 30 years!) that Buddhism is about going deeper into our current reality, our current experience, and seeing it as clearly as we can.
That’s never more true than in the Four Foundations Sutra, which we have been studying. I’m going to focus on the Second Foundation, Feelings, for this session.
I thought I would start by reading it. This is my adaptation from the Plum Village translation:
“Whenever you have a pleasant feeling, simply be aware, ‘I am experiencing a pleasant feeling.’ Be like this for all the feelings, whether they are pleasant, painful, or neutral. Notice when the feelings belong to the body and when they belong to the mind.
“This is how to experience the feelings in the feelings, the feelings that arise from within or the feelings that arise from external sources, or even the feelings both from within and from without. Experience the feelings as they come to be. Experience them as they dissolve. Experience them as the arise and as they subside. Stay mindful of the fact, ‘There is feeling here,’ until understanding and full awareness come about. Remain with the feelings, free, not caught in any worldly consideration.
Another common misunderstanding of Buddhism is that it’s strict, it’s serious. Mindfulness is another huge important project that we have to focus very hard on. If we do we will be this enlightened teacher who will liberate all beings from suffering.
But this sutra paints a very different picture. Imagine living your life where you are aware of all your feelings. You are aware of the feelings in your feelings. The feeling of your feelings. We notice we feel good - that’s great to notice. How does it feel to feel great? Where does it feel great? Go deeper.
Imagine walking around all day so tuned into your experience that you could see feelings arising a mile off. You could watch them as they gathered like storm clouds on the horizon. You could experience the storm fully, but with perspective, not lost or swept away, but with awareness. And then you could experience it pass away.
So completely in tune with the emotional weather of your life.
We can’t get there by turning away or escaping. We can’t get to know what a gathering storm looks like by closing our eyes. Let’s practice that Second Foundation of Mindfulness now.
Experience the feelings that arise from within or the feelings that arise from external sources, or even the feelings both from within and from without. Experience the feelings as they come to be. Experience them as they dissolve. Experience them as the arise and as they subside. Stay mindful of the fact, ‘There is feeling here,’ until understanding and full awareness come about.