WSW 15: Chronic & Infectious Illness, Lack of Discriminating Awareness

Recap

We’ve been speaking about a text which is concerning the topic of how to cleanse our attitude – or lojong, mind training – called Weapon Wheel of Blades or Wheel of Sharp Weapons. This text deals with a very central theme in Mahayana, which is the exchange of self with others. Basically, it’s concerning how do we overcome our own limitations, our own selfish concern, and develop more and more concern for others and build up the positive force so that we can reach enlightenment to help everyone. In order to do that, we need to first of all overcome our own obstacles that come up from karma. The text deals particularly, in this first part, with how to do that; and then, through the method of giving and taking – tonglen in Tibetan – how to use that same type of practice on a Mahayana level so that we can help others as well.

What we are talking about here are various problems that we ourselves experience, and then looking at what are the karmic causes for them might be in our own previous behavior. If we’ve acted this way in the past – past lives, usually – that has resulted in this type of suffering or limitation of difficulty that we have in this life, then undoubtedly what ripens from karma is not just experiencing something similar happening to us, which is what’s mentioned in the text, but also the tendency to repeat that type of behavior that caused it. What the text points our is that if we’re experiencing this suffering, it’s come from this type of cause, and so in the future, we’re going to stop repeating the cause. This is dealing with our own situation, our own karmic problem. It requires, of course, paying attention and really seeing what’s going on with our behavior. It requires, when we notice ourselves acting in one of these destructive ways, to do as Shantideva says in Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, which is to act like a block of wood: just don’t do it, restrain from doing it. That’s what ethical self discipline is all about: restraining from acting in a destructive way, because we have this caring attitude, we take seriously that if we act in a destructive way, it’s going to just perpetuate more and more problems and suffering, which is not only unpleasant for us but it also limits our ability to help others. If we have serious problems, how can we help others? If we have sicknesses or diseases or nobody listens to us or people cheat us and so on, and always criticizing us, we can’t possibly really help others – nobody will believe us, for example.

We look at it on this level of our own problem – that’s the first step; and then the second step is that we extend it to thinking of everybody else. We do the practice called tonglen – giving and taking – which is to take on that problem from everybody else as well who’s having a similar problem, and giving them the solution, which is same thing as we would give ourselves: not engaging in that type of behavior anymore. This is done for purposes on two different levels: one level is of the purpose is to overcome our selfishness with which the ego – big, strong, false, solid ego – says, “I don’t want to deal with other people’s problems.” By taking on this problem of theirs and dealing with it as if it were our own problem – that, in a sense, helps us to overcome this selfishness with which we resist and say, “I don’t want to do it.” That can be done with all sorts of visualizations – taking on the problem from others in a visualized form of nasty things, dirty substances, and so on, which we have resistance against: “I don’t want to take this into me.” We actually imagine that as we breathe in, it comes to our heart and dissolves, so that that resistance is gone. Then as the heart calms down, we can give other happiness.

That’s one level but that’s a difficult level – although it’s a useful level – and the difficulty there is if we don’t have some understanding of voidness. If we think just in terms of a solid “me” and “I’m taking on the problems of the world,” then we can do this as a martyr: “I’m the great bodhisattva saving the world.” It could become a big ego trip, and that can produce some problems as well. So, we have to combine it with some understanding of voidness, and the way that we do that is to consider how, when we think of “me,” there’s no need to limit that “me” just to this body, because for instance we can identify with a much larger group. It’s totally appropriate to say, “I am an inhabitant of Berlin,” “I am a Berliner,” so I think in terms of the problems of people in Berlin; or “I am a German” or “I am a Costa Rican” or “I am a Columbian” or whatever. That’s also an appropriate basis for saying “me,” and we would think in terms of the problems that all German would face; or, “I am a man,” “I am a woman,” “I am a human being,” “I am a sentient being” – a limited being – and in that way, it’s also appropriate to think of the problems that face all of humanity or all of life as my problem, because we all share that same problem.

If we think in terms of that, in terms of all the problems that are mentioned here in the text, then it is appropriate that we consider the same problem that everybody has. It’s not just me alone. When we think in terms of me alone having a problem, then we think “poor me” and it makes it much more difficult. Whereas if we think in terms of everybody having this problem – “I’m not alone” – and we think of what would be a solution for everybody, and then we imagine, “I wish everybody could solve their problem like this and I will of course try to solve it in myself as well like this” – this is a much more productive way of dealing with it. It makes us have much less suffering, mentally at least, with this problem, and it helps very much on the path to enlightenment in terms of thinking to help everybody with their problems. This is the basic type of practice that we’re going here; it’s sort of a review of what we’ve been doing.

We have been going through the text, and we have two translations here that I’ve done myself: one is an old translation done about thirty years ago, which was a more poetical translation and not very literal; and a new translation that I’ve been working on, which is more literal one. We’ve been looking at both and then dealing with the verse.

Karmic Causes of Chronic or Infections Diseases

We’re up to verse 26. The poetical version:

When we suffer from sickness and such interference, especially when gout has swollen our legs, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now without shame and with no self-control we have stolen or misused what others have given; hereafter let’s never take anything offered to the Three Jewels of Refuge as if it were ours.

The literal translation:

At times when we’re sick with consumption, tumors, or dropsy, this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having had no morals and having commandeered religious offerings without caring. Now, let’s give up confiscating monastic property and the like.

This is talking about sicknesses that we have. The first one is consumption. Consumption is when your lungs are being eaten away, and you cough blood – it’s a very heavy type of tuberculosis. Tumors would be like cancer, where you body is being eaten away. Dropsy that’s the sickness where your legs sort of blow up with water, you’re filled with water. This is the karmic result, it says, “from having had no morals and having commandeered (stolen) religious offerings without caring.” We didn’t have any sense of ethical self-dignity or anything like that, no set of moral standards, and so we took religious offerings without caring. Most of us are never even in a situation in which we could take religious offerings. Most of us wouldn’t go up to a donation box in a church, for instance, and steal the money from it; or when there are offerings on a Buddhist altar, go and take them. But there could be situations in which money is offered for a Dharma center or for publishing Dharma books or something like that, and we would misuse that – if we are part of the administration of a Dharma center of Dharma organization.

It says, now let’s rid ourselves of such actions as appropriating monastic property and so on – taking things that belong to the monastic community. This is, as I say, one of the verses that maybe is not so relevant for most of us, but it would be relevant for people who live in monasteries. Usually, the audience for most of these texts are people in monasteries – monks and nuns – and so this would be quite relevant in terms of dealing with things that are offered to the monastery and taking them for oneself. The consequence of doing that – which is a subcategory of taking what’s not given; taking from something which is precious – is that something is taken from our body which is precious. In other words, the lungs are being eaten away with consumption; or our body is being eaten away with cancer, with tumors; or the body is filling with water. This is the connection here between the type of karmic action and the type of result that we would experience. What we would want to do it to rid ourselves of such actions as taking monastic property and so on.

I don’t know, as I say, if this is really relevant to any of us or if there’s any sort of examples that we might think of in terms of what this could refer to. I suppose we could extend it into another dimension, which would be, for instance, if we work for a government agency or for a social services company or something like that, and money is given for some sort of project, and we act in a corrupt way and take it for ourselves. I think this would a very similar type of negative action to what it’s talking about: taking something away from what’s given for some sort of higher purpose – some social purpose or something like that – and just taking it for ourselves. Then the karmic result is that something it taken from us, namely our body by this type of wasting sickness. What we resolve to is to stop doing that – when there is this situation in which we might be able to do that.

When we speak about what is a constructive action in Buddhism, what we are always talking about is a situation in which we are tempted to act in a destructive way, and we stop ourselves from doing it, because of think of the negative results that would come from that. In other words, it’s not that we would have punishment from God or from the law or something like that, but that simply it would produce, from a karmic point of view, more and more limitations in us, which would prevent us from helping others. If we have this type of diseases, it’s very difficult to actually help somebody. If we’re constantly coughing and spitting up blood or we have cancer or something like that, there’s not much that we can do. And so, because we think in terms of wanting to help everybody, then we don’t want to act in a negative way which is going to limit that ability. This is what this is all about. Then we think in terms of, “This is not just my problem; there are so many corrupt officials and so many corrupt people in the world,” and to take on that problem – there are so many people who have cancer, who have these difficulties. This isn’t saying, obviously, that for every single person who has one of these diseases, this is the only karmic cause for it. There could be other causes for it, but this could be one of them.

The way that we do the practice here is we think for a moment, first of all, if we have this types of sicknesses – it doesn’t have to be something so drastic as consumption, tumors, or dropsy, but something in which the body is eaten away. Even if we don’t have that type of thing, we could have that type of thing. Try to think of this karmic cause and resolve not to repeat it and then extend it to others. Even if we’re not experiencing it ourselves, we can extend it to others and think in terms of, “This is a general problem that faces humanity. I’m a member of humanity and so let’s take this on and think in terms of everybody stopping this type of corruption.”

Then the next verse, 27. This is the poetical one:

When strokes and diseases strike without warning, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now we have broken our vowed words of honor; hereafter, let’s shun such non-virtuous deeds.

The literal one:

At times when, all of a sudden, infectious diseases strike our bodies, this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having committed actions causing our spiritual bonds to decline. Now, let’s rid ourselves of destructive actions.

What is the problem that’s being discussed here? It’s getting, all of a sudden, an infectious disease striking our body. An infectious disease is something very harmful to us, which we catch from somebody else. “This is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having committed actions causing our spiritual bonds to decline.” “Spiritual bond” – that’s the Tibetan word damtsig (dam-tshig) or the Sanskrit word samaya. The spiritual bond is a close connection that you have – usually with a teacher, and also with a practice – that is a source of strength that you get from that person and that you get from that practice. It’s very important in establishing a relation with a spiritual teacher that you have this close bond kept very purely. In other words, being always totally honest with the teacher, and the teacher being obviously totally honest with the student as well; and acting in a way which is always considerate, always respectful, always following the teacher’s advice. Or if the advice seems a bit crazy, to ask further information about it, a clarification, rather than just saying, “Oh the teacher is stupid and doesn’t know what they’re talking about.” It’s to always feel very close in one’s heart and one’s actions with the spiritual teacher, with the various practices that we do – this is this damtsig, the spiritual bond. If we have that close spiritual bond with the teacher, with the practice, that is a source of great strength that we get from the other person. If we don’t keep that – if we dirty it, in a sense – then what do we get from others? We get infectious diseases. Rather than getting something positive from someone else, we get something very negative from someone else; rather than a source of strength, it’s a source that takes away our strength; rather than a source of our spiritual health, it’s a source that takes away our health. That’s the karmic connection.

What we want to stop doing are the destructive actions that would break these close bonds. Let’s think in terms of this whole syndrome here of having the problem of catching nasty diseases, infectious diseases, from others, coming from breaking these close bonds that would allow us to get positive things from our teachers; and think in terms of stopping that type of destructive behavior. In other words, if we have a close bond with the teacher or practice or whatever – to try to keep that pure. Then, we extend this to others who get infectious diseases as well, and who have the same type of problem. Of course, not everybody is Buddhist and has close bonds with Buddhist spiritual teacher or Buddhist spiritual practice. I think we probably have to be a bit more flexible when think of others having this type of problem, in terms of keeping a close bond with Alcoholics Anonymous or with some sort of religion or set of humanitarian ethics or whatever.

Karmic Causes of Lack of Wisdom

The next verse – verse 28, the poetic version:

When our mind becomes clouded whenever we study, this is the wheel of sharp weapons returning full circle upon us from wrongs we have done. Till now we have thought that the study of Dharma lacked prime importance and could be ignored; hereafter let’s build up the habits of wisdom to listen and think about what Buddha taught.

The more literal version:

At times when our intelligence becomes murky regarding everything knowable, this is the sharp weapon of negative karma circling back on us from having made Dharma matters into things that are fit to be left to the side. Now, let’s habituate ourselves to discriminating awareness, such as from listening (to teachings) and the like.

The problem here is that intelligence – our ability to understand and differentiate what is correct and incorrect and so on – becomes murky, very cloudy, regarding everything that could be known. We just can’t understand, and our minds aren’t clear and so on. This is the result of “having made Dharma matters into things that are fit to be left to the side.” In other words, we haven’t given priority to the study of Dharma, which trains our mind to be able to have this intelligence to discriminate. That’s a very important point: when we actually committing ourselves to practicing the Dharma and to following the Dharma, we need to give it priority in our lives. We need to not make it something which is just a hobby, just something that, “Well, if I have time and I feel like it, then I’ll meditate or I’ll go to class, and if there’s a birthday party or there is a good movie or I’m tired, forget it – I’m not going to go.” The point is to give it this priority. If we don’t give it that priority, then, as it says, the result is that our mind is going to become dull and murky whenever we try to understand anything.

It says, “let’s habituate ourselves to discriminating awareness” – that would come from studying the Dharma, from listening to teachings, thinking about them, meditating about them, and so on. This is the point here: what is the major cause for having that intelligence to discriminate? “This is correct, this is incorrect,” how everything fits together, and so on – that comes from, specifically here, studying the Dharma. You could ask, does it come from studying anything else? I think one has to get the cultural perspective of this: in the days when this was being written, the only type of education that one could get was in the monasteries, in terms of studying the Dharma. All the other topics of knowledge, like medicine and so on, were studied in the monasteries. So, when it says to study to Dharma, that includes everything else as well. One could ask in general, does everybody have to study the Dharma in order to have clear intelligence? Probably not, if we want to be a bit liberal and open-minded. But the point is, if we give education a very low priority, if we don’t make that our top priority, then obviously our intelligence is going to be very weak and clouded with anything that we do. The point is to really emphasize education: studying, learning, thinking about what we’re taught, trying to understand it, and then meditating on it; putting it into actual practice, integrating it into our lives.

I think that’s fairly straightforward, and I think it’s a very important point, particularly for those of us who are following the Dharma: what priority do we give to the Dharma and to studying the Dharma? A lot of people, they say, “Well, I just don’t have time, because other things in life have more priority.” Then we have to see: how do we balance our priorities? There are priorities to family, priorities to making a living, our responsibilities – that’s one thing; but the priorities of, “My favorite program is on the television” or, “There’s a birthday party and I don’t want to be late” – this is something else. One could always go to a birthday party late. People come to class late; they can go to a birthday party late. If your mind is dull, you haven’t given priority to education, to studying – particularly studying the Dharma.

Let us end our discussion and do a few minutes of meditation on that take-on as well: the problem that everybody has of the mind of being murky and not being able to understand anything, and seeing this as a lack of priority to Dharma, to studying; and that what we want to give to everybody is that development of discriminating awareness and discrimination that comes from education.

Dedication

We end then with a dedication. We think whatever positive force has come from this, whatever understanding, may it go deeper and deeper, and act as a cause for reaching enlightenment for the benefit of all.

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