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Know that in life there is suffering.
There is cause to this suffering.
There is a cessation to this suffering.
There is path that leads to this cessation.

One can be sure of only these,
sickness is inevitable,
old age is inevitable,
death is inevitable

When ignorant,
Sickness is suffering.
Old age is suffering.
Facing death is suffering.

I want to keep this simple. We know this , we have read this countless times. And we nod our heads every time we hear it. And then what? I know I can sense that my approach to knowing and truly understanding this has been perfidious to some degree. But its ok, cause this verse is meant to cause exactly those reactions within us. and so we need to explore this a little more, and understand what's really going on in our minds when we nod our heads to this very important verse.

Recently I attended a talk “The State of the Nation - Inflation of Food prices, Corruption and our Civilizational Fabric” by Rajeev Srinivasan ,an Indian columnist. Rajeev raised a point about poverty in India which i would like to share. He says that though the poverty in India is not as graphic as say in Ethiopia, the Indian poor aren't better off. In fact,the statistics make the Ethiopian poor look better off than the Indian poor. But the poverty of India is more subtle and isn’t easily visible. Its systemic and harder to trace, and its everywhere and intertwined into the national fabric. Its far more difficult to deal with it since it doesn't have a image. That's why it doesn't stare and intimidate you like the poverty in Ethiopia.

( i know this probably isn't the best way to make a parallel to dharma). But coming to think of it, the case for suffering is also the same, it can be both stark and vivid, but it can also be subtle.

Surprisingly the mind(veiled by ignorance) makes us believe that even the inevitable sufferings of life(sickness, old age & death) are somehow (though profoundly true) are not applicable to us! In the catuhsatakasastrakarikanama by Acharya Aryadeva. (The Treatise of the Four Hundred Stanzas on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas), the very first chapter very cleverly deals with the ignorant views the mind can form about the inevitable sufferings of life.

Since death is common to others to,
You have no fear of it.

Sickness can be cured and aging treated,
Therefore you do not fear them.

Yet there is no cure for the last ordeal;
Thus obviously you fear it.
If because the time is uncertain
You think you are eternal.

That which cuts craving for reward and honor,
The best spur to practice with effort in seclusion,
The excellent secret of all the scriptures,
Is initially to REMEMBER DEATH.

Now having gained some insights into how wrong views can be formed about inevitable hardships of life, let us look into the far more difficult the more subtle form of suffering.

When the Buddha spoke about suffering, he wasn't referring simply to the superficial and visible problems like illness, but to the fact that the dissatisfied nature of the mind is itself suffering. Because all it takes is some tiny external thing changing, often something insignificant going the wrong way and before you know it you are upset. And it is such subtle sadness and dukkha that can slip into your inner space , like water seeping through rocks, and unleash a new level of restlessness within, through the back door.

T.B.C…

This is a really short post.
I came across this verse today, and it just overpowered my restless mind(?) and lazy body(!).

Its not meant to be life-negating or pessimistic. On the contrary, it is life-affirming in the truest sense.

 

 

References:

• 1. Four Translations of the Kalama Sutta http://oaks.nvg.org/kalama.html
• 2. Kalama Sutta - The Buddha's Charter of Free Inquiry

 

I came across a nice documentary about the Thai forest tradition of monasteries, based on one led by Ajahn Chah.
http://www.watnongpahpong.org/videomfw.php

The video link is given above, it is hosted by the website of Wat Pah Nanachat (WPN)

Wat Pah Nanachat is a Buddhist monastery in Northeast Thailand, in the Theravada Forest Tradition. It was established by Venerable Ajahn Chah to provide English-speaking people the opportunity to train and practice in the way the Buddha taught his monks in the forests 2600 years ago.

Young Ajahn Chah

Hildegard of Bingen's sequence, 'Columba aspexit', is an interesting work both as music and as poetry. It is a Plainchant but Hildegard's musical genius did bring into it a almost heavenly melody. It is a personal favourite of mine.
I tried searching for many versions on the web. and the best one i found was performed by Emma Kirkby on a for Christopher Page’s Gothic Voices production.

The albums name is :”Gothic Voices : A feather on the breath of God”

The Album was cited by this website , as a recording you must hear before you die, under the classical section.

Not to mention Emma kirkby’s performance is excellent, i couldn't imagine a better rendition possible anyone i know.

Blessed Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis) (1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a Christian mystic, German Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath.^[2] Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama.

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and the first surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations.

source of text : Wikipedia

After a long search i was able to find the text and translation of Columba Aspexit.

Columba aspexit
per cancellos fenestrae
ubi ante faciem eius
sudando sudavit balsamum
de lucido Maximino.

The dove peered in
through the lattices of the windows
where, before its face,
a balm exuded
from incandescent Maximilian.

Iste turris excelsa,
de ligno Libani et cipresso facta,
iacincto et sardio ornata est,
urbs precellens artes
aliorum artificum.

The heat of the sun burned
dazzling into the gloom:
whence a jewel sprang forth
in the building of the temple
of the purest loving heart.

Calor solis exarsit
et in tenebras resplenduit
unde gemma surrexit
in edificatione templi
purissimi cor dis benivoli.

He, the high tower,
constructed of Lebanon wood and cypress,
has been adorned with jacinth and diamonds,
a city excelling the crafts
of other builders.

For the remaining part of the text and translation see this webpage.

 

Hymn: A derivative of the Latin hymnus, which comes from the Greek hymnos, derived from hydein, to sing. A Hymn is usually a Praise/Prayer to God which is sung.

This is my favourite hymn.  Its a very moving to experience to hear a choir sing it.

Since there isn't any proper choir version i could download on the net, I found a few choir videos on YouTube. I was going through one of them and i found the following comment.

This hymn is also features in the movie ‘Doubt’ , as the background music for the first few minutes into the movie. 

1.	Holy God, we praise thy name; 
	Lord of all, we bow before thee; 
	all on earth thy scepter claim; 
	all in heaven above adore thee.  
	Infinite thy vast domain; 
	everlasting is thy reign.

2.	Hark the glad celestial hymn 
	angel choirs above are raising; 
	cherubim and seraphim, 
	in unceasing chorus praising, 
	fill the heavens with sweet accord:  
	Holy, holy, holy Lord.

3.	Lo! the apostolic train
	joins thy sacred name to hallow; 
	prophets swell the glad refrain, 
	and the white-robed martyrs follow.  
	And from morn to set of sun, 
	through the church the song goes on.

4.	Holy Father, Holy Son, 
	Holy Spirit: three we name thee, 
	though in essence only one; 
	undivided God we claim thee, 
	and adoring bend the knee 
	while we own the mystery.

Today I came across a video on YouTube that i want to share with you. The video speaks for it self , the intensity in the environment is intense, yet there was a person trying to be peace. yes that's what i said ‘trying to be peace’. Lets see what that means.

‘What is the purpose of Life?’ that's a great question… Osho(i know not many agree or like him, but at times he has something valuable to say) , Rajneesh (Osho) says that ‘you’ never ask that question, your mind asks that… and no matter what answer you provide, its not enough, in fact its never enough. and that's because that is the function of your mind .. ‘to ask’ … to be in the state of ‘needing to know’.

Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken), a German Philosopher and author says something very profound. He says instead of asking ‘What is the purpose of Life?’ ,we must ask ‘What is Our Purpose to Life?’. To paraphrase it, instead of asking ‘of what use is life to us?’ we must ask ‘What use are we to Life?'’

Eckhart Tolle further ,adds to this and ,says in a talk he gave at a retreat, It is more useful to raise the question “what is my purpose to life?” , and your purpose in any Life situation is to bring peace into that situation. You are here ,as a portal to bring ‘presence’ into this world. (Of course to fully follow what this simple line means ,you may have to be familiar with Tolle’s works)

It may seem The Buddha would often never answer this question. But his silence is the very message of Eckhart in action.

If you are walking to get a cup of water, then your purpose is to walk and walk alone. to walk fully , and not absently, to be there fully. when you pick up your glass of water that is your purpose in life, be there totally and notice what you are doing,and do it fully. when you drinking it, drinking is your purpose in life. when you are sitting , sitting is your purpose in life… to do it fully to bring presence into this world by bringing presence into your Life.

In any (so-called) life situation your purpose is to be peace, by bringing presence into it.

Lets have a look at the video that brought out this post through me.
I want you to know that some times a form of teaching which you might consider is not very clear or advanced does help bring peace into life. and therefore we must genuinely appreciate and have respect for all teachings

P.S: Looks like my writing stream is becoming active, may be its because i changed rooms :D , be ready to see more posts this January

do leave a comment and let me know what you feel about this post and the theme i tried to address here.

I reached the auditorium just in time and couldn't hear the Introduction to the talk. "The Seekers these days are definitely just looking for something to add to their FaceBook profiles so that their friends think they are interesting...." - so began a spiritual talk given by a 18-year-old vibrant young man a few days back, which i attended. A person next to me quietly commented to me "Doesn't HE have a facebook profile???"Four monks decided to go into silence for a month.They started out well enough but after the first day one monk said. "I wonder if I locked the door of my cell at the monastery before we set out."