Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
Lessons In Practical Buddhism - Sirimangalo.Org
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Unfortunately, we tend to bring this sort of attitude to the<br />
meditation practice as well. We know that we are here to<br />
gain wisdom, to understand reality in a more profound way.<br />
That's usually why someone decides <strong>Buddhism</strong> is for them,<br />
because they realize that wisdom is the most important tool<br />
in attaining true peace and happiness. Yet, even though we<br />
appreciate this intellectually, when we actually practice<br />
meditation we still tend to incline towards "fixing" our<br />
problems, rather than understanding them.<br />
When pain arises, we tend to expect that by saying "pain,<br />
pain" to ourselves the pain should go away. We tend to be<br />
reluctant to use the same method on pleasant experiences<br />
for the same reason, thinking if it isn't broken, why "fix" it?<br />
When we begin to realize that the meditation practice<br />
doesn't actually help us to remove unpleasant experiences<br />
or cultivate pleasant ones, we are more than ready to reject<br />
it, forgetting our intention to cultivate wisdom entirely. We<br />
see that, rather than fixing our problems, this method forces<br />
us to do the opposite and accept our problems without trying<br />
to fix them; something that goes very much against our<br />
ingrained inclination towards problem-solving.<br />
Truly, wisdom can only come when we look at our problems<br />
objectively. The word for wisdom in Pali is "paññā", which<br />
means to know something completely. "pa" means<br />
completely, "ñā" means to know. The wisdom we are<br />
seeking is simply the complete understanding of the nature<br />
of the objects of experience, the very problems that we seek<br />
to chase away.<br />
What is the wisdom? Wisdom is when you say to yourself<br />
'stepping right' - at the moment when you know 'this is<br />
stepping right,' that's wisdom. Yet we tend to wonder how<br />
that can be; we are convinced that this cannot be true<br />
wisdom, that the Buddha couldn't have taught something so<br />
simple. What did the Buddha teach us to know, though? He<br />
taught us to understand the truth of suffering, to see<br />
suffering as a truth inherent in all experience. All experience<br />
is considered to be dukkha because it can't satisfy us - it's<br />
not worth anything, it's useless. So, how do you come to<br />
know that something is dukkha? Obviously, you must come<br />
to see it for what it is. <strong>In</strong> order to see it for what it is, you<br />
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