Awakening
September 4, 2022
Buddhists have a term for suffering. It is called duka. It is a disappointment when things don’t turn out as we desire. Sometimes our duka is too great to endure, so we create an alternative reality by running away, hiding, numbing ourselves, or telling a different story to cope. Many religions promised heaven or the afterlife as a perfect place where there is no pain, no sorrow, only peace, and happiness. Then they show this place in movies, painted with sunshine, flowers, and beautiful music in slow motions. Sometimes, we use drugs or alcohol or watch too much TV to take us away to dreamland. And we think these other worlds can help us escape from our current reality. Life is too painful to wake up to.
I believe that having dreams or hope is useful to keep our spirits up and that there are better things in store for us. You probably all have heard of this story: A man sits in his house, the flood warning came, and his friend urged him to get in his car and drive away. He said, “No, God will save me.” Then the flood came, and the friend came in a boat and asked him to jump in. He said, “No, God will save me.” Finally, he was on the roof when the flood water submerged his house. Then a helicopter came. He still refused to go believing that God will save him. He drowned and asked why God did not save him. God said, “What? I sent you a car, a boat, and a helicopter.” Hope without effort will turn into an illusion and lead to continuous suffering. If we believe that the other world is our destiny and decide to postpone living our life fully in the current world, we might miss the whole journey.
The Buddhist way of enlightenment is not a place to go but a true awakening. To be truly awake, we must sit in every moment of our experience, good or bad, and not run away, or numb ourselves. We need to accept the world as is. Accepting what is does not mean being fatalistic. We have no other choice but to accept that we all will grow old and die someday. And we all lose people we love. Chaos is part of the universe. Good things and bad things will happen all the time. We can accept what is but change the way we react or interpret our experience, so we don’t have to suffer so much.
In his book A YEAR TO LIVE, Stephen Levine encouraged us to experience the world with a soft touch. According to the Buddhist concept of “non-separation”, my feeling is not just mine. It is ours. My best friend Jim died a week ago Wednesday after a long battle with cancer. While I grieve his passing, I am reminded that my sorrow is universal. So “my pain” is “the pain”. Suddenly I feel the soft touch, my heart started to fill with gratitude knowing that the world is grieving with me. I began to change my reaction to this thing called grief. I have awakened to see things as they truly are.
Years ago, I participated in a vision quest to access my inner self. During the Shamanic drumming session, I saw various images but no words. With the guide’s help, I was able to interpret the images. I noticed my interpretation was grounded in my current world reality. This was when I realized that I need to be fully awake in the current moment to feel connected to the mystery of all the other worlds.