Episode 122: Optical Illusions

[This episode originally aired on May 23, 2023]  Today’s topic is perception, how we see our world  •  each of us sees things a little bit differently, and optical illusions highlight this fact  •  in one well known optical illusion, some people see a chalice, while other people see two women facing each other  •  which is it?  •  you might see a chalice when everyone around you sees two women  •  the problem begins when we take our version as solid and real, when we clamp down on our particular way of viewing the world and close our mind to any other possible options  •  it's humbling to recognize that everything we see is from our particular point of view, but there's also something very liberating in recognizing the power of our perceptions: there's a freedom in knowing that how we perceive things is not fixed  •  when we begin to see through this pattern of assumptions being taken as reality, we see openings, we see possibilities  •  there's room to connect with others because we don't start with the assumption that they're in the same world as we are  •  we recognize that we're in different perceptual realities, and we can use that understanding to connect at a deeper level.

[This episode originally aired on May 16, 2023]  I find it inspiring to discover wisdom in the midst of so many ordinary stories, even simple children's stories  •  the Wizard of Oz is one such story  •  the main character is Dorothy, whose life changes completely when she is swept up in a tornado and lands in a magical place called Oz  •  there she embarks on a journey of discovery, accompanied by her little dog Toto and three companions: a scarecrow, who is looking for a brain; a tin man, who is looking for a heart, and a lion, who is looking for courage  •  together, they follow a path called the yellow brick road, said to lead to the wizard himself — someone who can can give them what they feel they lack  •  but when the trio finally gets to the abode of the Wizard, they discover he is not the savior they were looking for at all; it was all just a show, a circus act  •  however, what the Wizard offered was actually better: he pointed out that each of them already possessed what they were looking for  •  I refer to this kind of twist as Buddhist humor: you need to follow that yellow brick road, go through all of its adventures and challenges, to realize you didn't need to do it  •  that's a perfect example of Buddhist humor — and a perfect example of how a teacher points out to the student their own nature.

[This episode originally aired on May 9, 2023]  Buddha nature, or “enlightened genes,” isn’t something outside of us that we need to construct or to import  • it is a force of awakening that is within us, and it is quite simple and quite natural  •  it is like the strong determination of children to learn and to develop; it’s almost a kind of discontent looking to awaken  •  traditional texts point to this inherent nature as the root cause of awakening  •  the second cause of awakening is the pivotal point where that cause from within meets a cause from without—when you meet a teacher or a spiritual friend, someone who recognizes this quality within you and mirrors it back to you  •  that meeting point is extremely important  •  the third cause is the confidence that ensues from that meeting point, the confidence and trust in your own nature  •  the fourth cause is discriminating awareness or wisdom-insight; it is the insight that cuts through the fog and the distractions that cover over our inherent nature  •  this wisdom cuts through false identities and fixations, disassembling the solid walls of ego that alienate us from our true nature.

[This episode originally aired on May 2, 2023]  Today we are exploring four traditional methods or practices we can use to awaken our enlightened genes  •  the first method is cultivating loving kindness, or maitri, which is a key theme in the mahayana; it is connected with the wish that all beings be happy, and that includes you  •  the second method is cultivating compassion, or karuna  •  while loving kindness looks into the nature of happiness, compassion looks into the nature and causes of suffering  •  the third method is cultivating sympathetic joy — a joy based on appreciating others' happiness and accomplishments  •  the fourth method is cultivating equanimity — cultivating an even mind, a grounded mind, a magnanimous mind; we deal with each experience equally with no bias  •  these four methods — kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity — are gentle, but they are powerful methods for awakening our enlightened genes.

[This episode originally aired on April 25, 2023]  In this episode we will be looking at the obstacles we might encounter in trying to awaken our enlightened genes, as well as situations that support their awakening  • Trungpa Rinpoche called the first obstacle intrinsic slavery: we become slaves to our schemes, to our work, to our possessions  •  the second obstacle is being unaware: having a limited kind of awareness which does not look beyond the superficial level of things  •  the third obstacle says that enlightened genes won't awaken in the midst of evil actions or harmful behavior  •  the fourth obstacle is sleepiness, which is similar to a lack of awareness, but it also has a quality of being dull and drowsy  •  there are two conditions that are conducive to awakening enlightened genes  •  the first is waking up at the right time, which points to creating outer conditions that sustain our practice and cultivate our awakening  •  the second is taking an interest in dharma practice  •  the idea of enlightened genes is that they're there, but they don't always show themselves until the conditions are right, until obstacles are removed. 

[This episode originally aired on April 18, 2023]  Buddhists are always talking about awakening, but what does that actually mean?  •  Trungpa Rinpoche taught that what is being awakened are our "enlightened genes" — a term which implies that awakening is somewhat natural, somewhat part of our makeup  •  sometimes Tibetans use the analogy of an acorn: if you try to get an oak tree by planting a bean seed, it will never work; but if you plant an acorn, you get an oak tree, not anything else  •  in the same way when you plant a human, you end up with an awakened being  •  there are two traditional signs that our enlightened genes are awakening: the first is that we become more kind; the second is that we become less deceptive  •  there are also two traditional signs that indicate our enlightened genes are not being awakened: the first is being unable to react to suffering; and the second is having a kind of a pettiness of mind  •  so if you really want to look for signs of progress on the path, don’t look so much for how much you’ve learned, how clever you are, how many hours of sitting you've done  •  in this teaching it’s said to look for simple things: your level of kindness, your level of straightforwardness and truthfulness, your ability to react to suffering, and your willingness to extend your vision further.

[This episode originally aired on April 11, 2023]  An important transition point on the Buddhist path occurs between the foundational stage, where we focus on our own development, and the mahayana tradition, where the focus is directed toward the cultivation of compassion and concern for others  •  what makes this vitally important transition possible is training in shamatha and vipashyana, or mindfulness and awareness  •  shamatha is about taming our mind; it is about cutting through mental speed, neurotic patterning, discursiveness, and distracted mind  •  shamatha enables us to be more present; it brings about a quality of gentleness or making friends with oneself, and frees us from aggression  •  vipashyana frees us from ignorance, denial, and looking the other way; it creates a foundation of clarity and intelligence and interest and inquisitiveness, and a kind of positive doubt and questioning  •  this opening into the mahayana, based on a strong hinayana foundation, comes from a different place than simply feeling good about ourselves for being helpful; it comes from a point of joy.

[This episode originally aired on April 4, 2023]  Meditation practice doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it happens in the context of our life, and our life situations can vary tremendously  •  in extreme situations it can be easy to lose our connection to practice  •  one extreme is when our situation is really cozy and going really well  •  the other extreme, which I would like to focus on here, is when our lives take a dramatic turn and we are faced with dire situations of pain and loss  •  the idea is to bring our practice to bear, no matter what the situation is  •  there's a saying that goes “whatever you meet, join with practice”  •  this does not mean laying on some kind of idea of practice as a band-aid to avoid the harshness of the situation; it means that our practice cannot be separated from the immediate experience, from each moment, no matter how painful or difficult that experience may be  •  mindfulness practice trains us in the ability to bring our minds back so we can face what's happening on the spot  •  the practice of cultivating loving kindness and compassion allows us to make a deeper connection with others through our own pain.

[This episode originally aired on March 28, 2023]  Buddhism’s emphasis on facing the reality of suffering could lead to the perception that the Buddhist path is only focused on what's wrong; but the Buddha also taught how to free ourselves from suffering  •  facing the reality of suffering straightforwardly can actually be a tremendous relief  •  when I first encountered Buddhist teachings, I never went to a talk where people didn't just burst into laughter from time to time  •  there was a sense that you could laugh and find humor and lightness, even when discussing the heaviest of topics  •  joy is an essential part of Buddhism; it is a hidden gift within the sometimes difficult discipline of meditation practice  •  but joy’s twin is doubt—the doubt that we can do it  •  joy and doubt arise together and counterbalance each other  •  if we get carried away by the joy of discovery, we can lose our ground; but if we're just wallowing in doubt and distress all the time, we can begin to feel like giving up  •  so doubt arises as a kind of playful interruption; as we gradually begin to trust ourselves more, we become more grounded in a kind of quiet joy.

[This episode originally aired on March 21, 2023]  The teachings of the Buddha are often divided into three components: intelligence or discriminating awareness; discipline; and meditation  •  there can be so much emphasis on sitting practice that there is less discussion of the importance of cultivating knowledge and discipline — what it actually takes to put the teachings into action in our everyday life  •  being able to observe what is going on with some precision and insight is extremely important; this includes ordinary knowledge, self-knowledge, and psychological knowledge  •  Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out the difference between discriminating awareness and comfort-seeking mind  •  he talked about the earthy quality of discriminating awareness, in contrast to the dreamy quality of trying to escape and go somewhere else  •  we have all sorts of ways to try to make ourself cozy and comfortable, but they are missing the point; comfort-seeking mind is not about enhancing the clarity and precision of our awareness, but about blanketing it in a kind of cozy cocoon.