Venerable Namgyel's Online Sangha Online Sangha

It is important to see the destructive nature of emotions, how they harm the mind and body, in this way we become motivated to work on and transform the emotions.   

According to Buddhism, we need to deal with disturbing emotions (delusions) with a skillful "middle way", as opposed to the two unskilful ways, the expression or suppression of emotions.

 Expressing emotion (acting it out with family or friends) creates a situation that you need to fix with those you have acted out your emotion on. When you suppress emotions you are pushing negative emotions down which can cause physiological problems.

The Buddhist way of dealing with emotions follows the middle way, by either first acknowledging the emotions when they arise in the mind to avoid suppressing them or by working on them within the mind through applying antidotes.

CONTEMPLATING SUFFERING

When you create suffering potential within the mind, that potential can be purified, if it's not purified suffering will be experienced. If it's experienced in this life and becomes habitual behavior at the end of life the suffering will appear strongly in the mind and will be probable propelling karma into the hell realms. Conversely, if you are very kind during your life then kindness would be the propelling karma into heavenly realms.



WHAT ARE HELL REALMS?

Hell is an experience of the mind, there. A collective of beings who have created similar karma to suffer. One who has created the potential to suffer needs a being who will bring about suffering, so it is the mind that creates the torture and a collective of beings who have created a similarity of karma suffer together believing that it is indeed a realm that exists, but when we analyse it we understand that it is a figment of the mind, not truly existing from the perspective of emptiness but seemingly existing (in such a way as a rainbow does).



TRANSFORMING SUFFERING

How we respond to suffering depends on whether we mentally rise up or whether we go down. Do we go into depression because of problems that we encounter, or can we use suffering positively as a way of realising that it is indeed true that samsara is suffering, that no matter where we are in samsara, whether in god realms, human realms or hell realms, enhancing the determination to get out of samsara through changing ourselves, mentally transforming suffering into a positive response to the world (samsara) through the act of renunciation of the causes of suffering.

DHARMA OR DRAMA?


Building up our dharna practice
Testing our practice
Rejoicing in our dharma progress
Appreciation of emptiness teachings



SAMSARA TO NIRVANA


Comprehending our ignorance
Getting in touch with our suffering
The antidote to suffering is wisdom
Comprehending the emptiness of suffering



THE SUPREME ANTIDOTE TO SUFFERING

Comprehending dependent origination is the supreme antidote to the sensation of suffering that changes the way that we respond to samsara,

"Dependent arising has a profound implication, it connotates that if one is not satisfied with the mere appearance of an object, but seeks through extended analysis the actual object to which the imputation is affixed, one does not come up with anything among or separate from the basis of imputation of that object that can be said to be the object" - Dalai Lama.



ANALYSING THE "I"

We say "I", as if the "I" is the owner/controller of the situation and body because we use the label "I" over and over, so in end, we start to believe the "I" really exists unless we analyse the existence of "I", if we analyse the existence of "I" we can't find it and if we don't analyse it we think the "I" really exists.

The 12 Links of Dependent Arising


Ignorance

Compositional action

Consciousness

Name and form

The 6 sources

Contact

Feeling

Craving

Grasping

Existence

Rebirth

Ageing and death

RENUNCIATION

Renunciation isn't related to the appearance of your surroundings. it is the self-cherishing state of mind that diminishes as your heart opens when walking on the Bodhisattva path accompanied by a deep understanding that all sentient beings deserve our compassion.



THE SUFFERING OF PAIN

The experience of unpleasant feelings, the manifest suffering which is easy to identify, such as pain in the body and emotional suffering. We need to be aware of the pain and suffering within samsara.



THE SUFFERING OF CHANGE

Suffering and its alleviation (happiness), both have the nature of impermanence. We attach to happiness which we want to be permanent, if we don't analyse the change between suffering and happiness, we don't accept that this is the way of samsara and we don't proceed to comprehend the concept of renunciation.



ALL-PERVASIVE SUFFERING

To comprehend all-pervasive suffering it is best to meditate on the contaminated aggregates as discussed in The Heart Sutra. When we look at forms we label them without understanding their nature, for example without appreciating the flower"ness" of a flower. We then need to do this with the body bringing us to the comprehension of the emptiness of being, and that karma caused by self-delusion is responsible for the all-pervasive nature of suffering. When we understand this we will naturally arrive at renunciation.

WHY THE BUDDHA TAUGHT SUFFERING FIRST


Know the suffering then there is nothing more to know.
Abandon the source then there is nothing more to abandon.
Attain the cessation then there is nothing more to attain.
Meditate on the path, then there's nothing more to meditate on.
Suffering, its cause, cessation, and path are to be known, abandoned, attained, and practiced.



THE EIGHT SUFFERINGS

Suffering is related to Karma

Each time we take rebirth we experience sufferings related to


Birth
Aging
Sickness
Death
Meeting the unpleasant
Separation from the pleasant
Not getting what is desired
The five contaminated aggregates are in the nature of suffering



REBIRTH AND SUFFERING

We create the causes to experience the results we get. So the Buddha says we should create the right cause to achieve positive results. The right result is to not have contamination.

So we monitor our minds to be aware of thoughts, speech, and actions. The actions that we do towards others become less harmful, which gives space for the heart to be aware of others suffering (not just our own suffering), then natural compassion starts to arise.



THE SIX SUFFERINGS

In cyclic existence we have


Uncertainty
Dissatisfaction
Discarding your body repeatedly
Being born again and again
The constant change of status
Loneliness