Preparing the Ground
I’m not a gardener (yet), but I know that you most likely won’t grow anything well or at all by simply digging a hole in the ground, tossing in a seed, and covering the hole back up again. In order to ensure growth, we must prepare the ground. In some indigenous cultures there is even a practice of asking the land for permission to plant something. So it is with our own practice. In order for realisation of the truth to take root and grow, we must prepare the ground of our being.
The latin root of the word radical is radix, meaning root. We are already here, already alive. Our humanness is at the root of who we are and all of what we experience. And it is one of the keys to our liberation. According to the Buddhist tradition, it is the very fact of being human that allows us to awaken. Not only do we feel both suffering and joy, we know we do. And life for many seems to deliver both in relatively equal measure (on balance). These aspects of what it means to be human make us especially suited to waking up. Like in the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, the conditions are just right.
So how do we get in touch with our basic humanness? How do we tune into ourselves and our experience in order to prepare for practice and stay motivated to keep it going? For each of us, this may be different, but there are some things that may be helpful to reflect on. In Buddhism, these are traditionally referred to as the four reminders.
You’re Alive!
To begin with, consider the preciousness of your existence. The complexity of how we have come to exist is mind-blowing. How many people have had to live and die in order for you to come into being? Thousands of ancestors going back hundreds of generations have been born, lived full lives, suffered and died. In doing so, they passed on the genetic material that would ultimately result in you to their direct descendants, who then passed it on to theirs, and on and on. They survived, sometimes against great odds, for you to live. Over time this reflection can support us to develop gratitude for the innumerable beings that have contributed to our existence.
What about the series of events that had to take place for you to be you? If just one ancestor had a different sexual partner, you would never have come into being. Take this reflection a bit further. Imagine the events that have had to take place in order for you to be sat where you are right now reading this? Just the fact that you are able to access the dharma is extraordinary, given the countless beings throughout history, and billions of humans alive today who have not had this privilege. According to the Buddhist tradition, to be so lucky is as likely as a blind sea turtle popping its head above water once every one-hundred years and just happening to emerge through the hole of a yoke.
This reflection also supports a deepening appreciation for the conditions that have allowed us to, not only encounter the dharma, but have the personal conditions in place to be able to practice it. We can actively cultivate gratitude for all those who have worked to pass the dharma down from generation to generation, hopeful in the fact that one day you and I would come along, able and interested in practicing it.
And…you’re going to die.
The second reflection is that of the impermanence of the body. This may seem dire, but it isn’t anything we don’t already know. Our problem is that we often ignore it. We act as if we’re going to live forever, and often we treat our bodies as if they are indestructible. As we get older we get frustrated when we aren’t able to do things we used to be able to do. For those of us who have a physical disability or have lived long enough to notice how the body has changed as we’ve gotten older, this truth may be a bit closer to the bone than for those who are currently able-bodied and young, although it still remains a bitter pill to swallow.
No matter whether we are young or old, healthy or ill, we can actively turn towards the reality of the precarious situation we are in; whether or not we accept it, we will eventually die. What is important is the attitude we bring to this truth. Here, we are inviting you to use it as a spur to practice. We don’t have much time, so we need to use the time we do have to get on with it. And the body is a precious resource we don’t want to waste. While we are able to, it would be wise to use it to wake up.
That said, it is incredibly important that we appreciate and take care of our body. At any time without warning you may injure yourself or fall ill. Or perhaps you already live with injury or illness. In our meditation practice it’s important that we learn to listen to our bodies, and only push ourselves to a comfortable edge. If you strive in a rigid way, sitting for hours until your back is in agony or your knees ache terribly, you could end up injuring yourself or creating the conditions where you no longer are drawn to sitting practice. Find different postures to meditate in and only meditate for as long as is safe to do so.
Our mental health is also important for practice. It may be that at times it is no longer helpful to keep meditating. To that end, if while meditating you become aware of heightened anxiety or depression, you may want to take the foot off the gas for a while and engage in activities that can support you to find stability of mind. Meditation is not a panacea, and there may be times when other supports are more helpful, like exercise, therapy or medication.
What we do matters
Thirdly, actions have consequences. This is the core Buddhist teaching on karma that supports us to take our choices more seriously. What we do matters. Everything we have ever thought, said or done will have had an effect on us, others, and the world, whether or not we are aware of it.
One reason to practice, is to begin to change our thoughts, words and deeds so that they cause us and others less suffering. In doing so, we begin to develop ways of being that conduce to greater calm, more creativity, and a responsiveness to ourselves and others rooted in love. This reflection can support us to discover our personal intentions for practicing and relate to meditation as a way to begin to work creatively with our karmic inheritance.
The bad news is…and the good news is…
Finally, we reflect on the fact that we are not really in control of anything at all. We see how we put all our hopes, and a great weight of expectation, into things being and staying a certain way and trusting they will give us lasting satisfaction. This could be anything from the weather, to our bodies, to our partner, or a new job. We rely on these things for our happiness, even though by nature they are all inevitably unstable and transitory. Grasping onto these things, in ignorance of their inherent precariousness, is like gripping rope and hanging on for dear life, when sooner or later it is going to be pulled through our hands. The tighter we grasp the more we suffer.
If you are alive in a human body, then you will inevitably find life difficult sometimes and suffer. That’s the bad news. The good news is that there is a way to find freedom from suffering. The dharma offers a practical approach that doesn’t require you believe in anything. What is does require is that you put in the effort to know yourself and understand reality, the true nature of things.
Although the principles are universal, we each have to find our own path based on our own unique set of conditions. This is exciting work, because no one else has the exact same conditioning that we do, and therefore only we can wake ourselves up.
Reflecting on the four reminders
Who are you grateful to for supporting you in your life? What about your practice? What are you grateful for?
How does it feel to remember that one day you will die? What thoughts, emotions, sensations, images or memories arise? What about hopes and fears?
What is it that you are hoping will change as a result of your practice? How can you be now to bring about that change in the future?
How have you suffered? How does it feel to reflect on the truth of suffering? How might the Dharma help?