Principles of Buddhism: Third principle, P3/3 - Contentment

Principles of Buddhism: Third principle, P3/3 - Contentment,
by Suvannavira.

Our third principle is “Contentment”.
Principles are universal laws.
They are the way things really are,
The dharma.
We can try to live according to these principles

We have looked at the principles of:
Awareness and truthfulness,
Now looking at contentment.

We also have precepts.
General things we try to do.
And not to do.
To live by these principles.

We also have practices
Specific thing we try to do
With our character and circumstances
Goal of classes is to come up with practices

1/ The negative precept is
I undertake to refrain from sexual misconduct.
2/ The positive precept / version is
With Stillness, simplicity and contentment
I purify my body
It is as called a promise in Russian.

Last time we looked at the noble striving.
Search for the unborn, the deathless,
Also called enlightenment.
We asked what meaning the Nobel striving had for us.
What are the practical consequences for our lives?

This week we’re going to look at what we can do if we don’t feel ready for such a big step.
What practices can we do?

A/ guarding the doors of the senses.
This teaching comes from the Pali Canon.
It means reducing stimulation.
The more we give our attention to something,
The stronger it becomes in our mind.
The less we give our attention,
The weaker it becomes.
So guarding the doors of the senses.

B/ staying in the intermediate point.
Buddhism / the dharma tells us,
That romantic love and sexual attraction are the strongest cravings.
We often feel the strongest craving in the sexual sphere.
That’s why love can easily flip into hatred.
And we have crimes of passion.

The dharma also tells us that
Craving arises in dependence on feeling.
If we feel pleasant feeling the craving follows.
But there is an intermediate point
Between feeling and craving.
Where we can be aware of our feelings,
But without experiencing craving.
We experience our feelings but we don’t act on them.
At least we have the choice to act in them or not.
We stop being a slave to our passions.
We can reflect on the consequences of our actions,
Before acting, before doing something.

Another way of staying in the intermediate point is by feeling bored.
If you feel bored don’t start doing something,
Don’t try to escape the feeling.
Just experience the boredom,
And see what happens.
Stay with the unpleasant feeling.
Stay in the gap between feeling and craving.

We can bring this approach also to feeling pain,
As we saw with the principle of awareness.

Q how have you found reducing stimulation and feeling bored? Has it led to a richer inner life?

We can practice the positive precept,
The promise,

With stillness simplicity and contentment,
I purify my body,
By refining our states of mind.

How do we refine our states of mind?
Some things are quite practical.

1/ we can spend time in nature.
Going to the dacha.
Change our environment.

2/ being alone and doing nothing.

3/ enjoying art, meaning fine art.
The arts in the broad sense of the word.
What does a great artist communicate by his art?
In essence he communicates his higher state of consciousness.
He communicates his greater awareness.
We can be positively affected by this,
By being in contact with his art.

4/ friendship and communication.
Spiritual friendship is characterised by communication.
Open and totally truthful communication,
Often about our inner world.
Real communication can have a deep and positive effect on our state of mind.
It can liberate deeper energies.

So all these approaches can lead to us experiencing greater contentment.
Both negative and positive approaches.
As well as them leading to greater stillness and simplicity.

Q what helps you most in experiencing contentment?

Next time we’ll take a step further and look at what it means to be an anagarika.
An anagarika means someone living without a home.
Why is that part of Buddhist teaching.
Well find out next time.