The Saturday before Thanksgiving Hardcore Dharma gathered under the tutelage of the lovely, sore-footed Jessica to discuss two sets of triplicates in Buddhist teachings: the three dharma seals and the three doors of liberation.
\nThe Three Dharma Seals (according to Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s Book, The Heart of the Buddha\u2019s Teaching\u201d) are impermanence, non-self and Nirvana.\u00a0 The Three Doors of Liberation (also according to TNH) are emptiness, signlessness and aimlessness.
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\nTraditionally (well according to the couple other sources I read), the Three Dharma Seals are impermanence, non-self and suffering.\u00a0 While I welcome discussion as to why suffering is more appropriate than Nirvana (is Thich just trying to \u201csell\u201d Buddhism?\u00a0 Can we say that suffering is Nirvana and Nirvana is suffering, in the way we can say that form is emptiness and emptiness is form?) I leave that to you, brave comment leavers.\u00a0 I fry other fish.
\nImpermanence, Non-self, Nirvana, Emptiness, Signlessness and Aimlessness are all concepts that shift when we deal with them in relative (in relation to the world) reality and ultimate reality.\u00a0 On the one hand they\u2019re always touchable and they\u2019re always present.\u00a0 I dig it.\u00a0 On the other hand, in order to reconcile them to living a responsible, layman\u2019s existence we need to temper their all-pervasiveness.\u00a0 At least I\u2019m pretty sure we do.\u00a0
\nWhy\u2019s that?
\nWell lately I\u2019ve been mentally equating these concepts within the relative world to the idea of continuity. We expect continuity from a book or an article or a film.\u00a0 There is consistency in the characters and plot, there are themes that get developed that continue throughout.\u00a0 If the leading man did not have a moustache during the breakfast scene, then no moustache during the afternoon bank robbery.\u00a0 Because in order for us to \u201cbuy\u201d a movie as a believable story in which we can engage we have to trust that its composite parts have enough in common to create a comprehensible whole.
\nRight so real life is not a movie.\u00a0 But similarly, in relative reality we constantly work to create continuity so that we can engage with life fully.\u00a0 And in that way we have to let go of these \u201cultimate reality\u201d concepts or we risk going loco or staying in bed all day because we\u2019re in a Freddy Mercury, \u201cnothing really matters\u201d dharma hole.\u00a0 Right?
\nLet\u2019s take impermanence.\u00a0 Change is inevitable, surely, and the present moment always offers something different.\u00a0 But in order to exist in relative reality normally (without having to tattoo ourselves like Guy Pearce in Memento) we absolutely have to hold on to the past.\u00a0 My fingers are conditioned to play the violin through muscle memory and years of practice.\u00a0 I have to hold on to my conditioning in order to play.\u00a0 A burgeoning romance requires a narrative: trust and love don\u2019t emerge in spontaneity; they emerge through a sense of shared history and memory.\u00a0 Sensitive behavior towards the people you love requires that you condition your behavior towards your pre-existing knowledge of them.
\nAnd, relatively we can\u2019t fully exist in non-self, right?\u00a0 There are physical boundaries in my body.\u00a0 If you cut me you will not feel my pain.\u00a0 Similarly my specific combination of memories and books and experiences and ideas are exactly what makes my self my self.\u00a0 Conceptually I can spin my way into knowing that all I am is an interdependent confluence of everything else in the world, but in order to engage in this world (and even in Buddhist study) I have to hold on to very self-y ideas.\u00a0 For example, when I took my refuge vow this year I realized that I could relate to the idea of \u201cconfidence\u201d much more strongly than \u201ccourage.\u201d\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well I imagine because the interdependent causes led me to find \u201ccourage\u201d a foreign, fairytale-esque kind of word whereas \u201cconfidence\u201d resonated.\u00a0 But \u201cI\u201d respond to \u201cconfidence\u201d, and remembering that works for \u201cme\u201d is important information to consider as I *continue* on the Buddhist path.
\nI will lay off of quotation marks and other emphasizers starting now.
\nBut on and on:\u00a0 Nirvana (which Thich Nhat Hanh describes as the extinguishing of all concepts) can\u2019t exist in the creation of art.\u00a0 I require concepts (even if I see that they\u2019re transparent and shifting) in order to relate to the rest of humanity.\u00a0 Similarly while I can\u2019t say what is exactly \u201cbowl\u201d about a bowl (be it the steel, the fire or the shaping hands), the world and I have to agree it\u2019s a bowl in order to fill it with cereal.\u00a0 Empty, yes.\u00a0\u00a0Full of wheatabix?\u00a0 Also true.\u00a0 Similarly we have to agree that a rooster is called a rooster in order to relate to each other.\u00a0 Signlessness in that way seems a trifle antisocial.\u00a0 And as for aimlessness?\u00a0 Without aim deliberate action seems almost impossible.
\nPlease don\u2019t think that I\u2019m refuting these ultimate concepts.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t presume.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to figure out how to incorporate them into my life in a way that doesn\u2019t feel unrealistic.\u00a0 I need a sense of continuity to form and hold relationships, to develop a career and to make an impact in this world.\u00a0 But is that shooting the possibility of enlightenment in the foot?\u00a0 Is any layperson studying Buddhism actually trying to get enlightened in this relative lifetime?\u00a0 It seems sorta impossible.\u00a0 Is it a matter of seeing the transparency in conditioned phenomena yet interacting with it nonetheless?\u00a0 Twelve years in a cave?\u00a0 Should I start by not drinking so much?
\nWhat do y\u2019all think?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Saturday before Thanksgiving Hardcore Dharma gathered under the tutelage of the lovely, sore-footed Jessica to discuss two sets of triplicates in Buddhist teachings: the three dharma seals and the three doors of liberation. The Three Dharma Seals (according to Thich Nhat Hanh\u2019s Book, The Heart of the Buddha\u2019s Teaching\u201d) are impermanence, non-self and Nirvana.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-media"],"yoast_head":"\n