Confidence in the Path Erik Z 12 6 28 21

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Speaker A: But so I was. I was. I was struggling to get to the top, and he was up and. And I was like, you know what I told him in Spanish? Muy, muy pellegrosso. This is very dangerous because you look down and if I fall, I get seriously injured or be dead meat. And at that moment, he. He just had this confidence and he’s like, take my hand.

Speaker B: So I. I see you’re still staying in. In the temple there. That’s. You’re still in Washington.

Speaker A: Yes. An Olympia at Watt. Kura.

Speaker B: Say it. Say the word again. Wat.

Speaker A: Budon. Kura.

Speaker B: What? Bud.

Speaker A: Kura.

Speaker B: K U R A K. Okay. Well, it’s really good to see you again and I really like to see you gushy and all of that.

Speaker A: That’s wonderful.

Speaker B: So I’m glad to see that you’re still at the. What. Wow, this is coming on now more than a year, including your trip to Mexico?

Speaker A: Yeah, just about somewhere around there. Times is kind of, I don’t know, goes by, I don’t keep track of, but yeah, it sounds about right.

Speaker B: Well, when. When the. How good the white life is gets out to the. To the general community through our open Sangha Foundation, I imagine that there’ll be more people finding their way into the situation that you’re in. That’s really great.

Speaker A: That’s gonna be so wonderful. Yeah.

Speaker B: So you said that you had a question.

Speaker A: Yes, yes, I have a question. So should I. Should I start over or.

Speaker B: Well, yeah, you could just tell me that. Yeah, go ahead and start over.

Speaker A: Okay. Okay. So I basically. Incredibly confident that I’ve come across something in my practice, likely first jhana or samadhi. Just a total release of the hindrances, complete freedom. And it’s come about from basically spitballing with different thoughts of confidence that you’ve talked about many times of a lion of. I can do this attitude physically. Yeah, Playing with that, really, really playing with that and bringing. Bringing it up as much as possible. Just really bringing it on. And at some points, all of a sudden, whatever tension there has been in the body just completely releases away, goes away. And it’s just like, oh, wow, what a relief. So, but for the past couple days after spitballing and just kind of throwing whatever I can at this, I’ve discovered that it’s what really can. I can intentionally bring this on is an experience that I had in Mexico, which was with a friend that I had while I was there. I stayed in this small town next to Pangajoya in Chiapas for three Months and spent a lot of time with this man I met. And I would. I was constantly, you know, freely giving him as much joy and as possible. Madama. And I noticed that I was learning things from him as well. That’s what I learned from this experience, is that everybody is a teacher. Everybody, even though no one, not everyone’s a complete noble. They all have noble qualities. And it’s all about picking it, you know, noticing and picking and choosing and bringing it on within ourselves. But one quality that he had was real confidence. One. One word that he would say a lot. We both spoke very little of each of our languages, but he would say animal. Like whenever, whenever maybe I was showing weakness or something. I don’t even say animal. And more of a. In a joking, like, jolly way, you can do this. But in one, One, one time we were. We went out and he showed me this. This really cool stream and we decided to explore it and, and basically walk all the way up it. But every now and then came waterfalls and they were, they were pretty tame at first, and. But we were. It was fun. We were climbing them and just having a good old time. And we got to near the end and there’s this really steep waterfall. And, you know, I was like, we got that far. I was going to give it a try. And so we got all the way near the top and just one more, you know, one more climb up. And he. He got up and he was wearing shoes. I was barefoot, so. And this was almost like rock climbing. So having all the weight on one toe or whatever was. It was kind of difficult. But so I was. I was. I was struggling to get to the top. And he was up and I was like, you know what I told him in Spanish? Muy pellegrosso. Very dangerous, because you look down and if I fall, I get seriously injured or be dead meat. And at that moment, he, he just had this confidence and he’s like, take my hand. He wasn’t speaking in English, but basically in a very serious manner. I got, I got you. Take my hand. You can do this. And, And I, I saw that and I grabbed his hand and. And gave him all my weight, Gave him all the confidence. I saw the confidence and I could feel it, and so I went with it and he got me to the top and I was so grateful to him, so incredibly grateful to him for that teaching. It was a wonderful experience and a wonderful teaching. And basically that’s, That’s.

Speaker B: That is so marvelous. That is really great. Many people would have gotten out of that, oh, I got a helping hand. But you got so much more out of that one moment. You got confidence. And that is amazing.

Speaker A: That is.

Speaker B: Sometimes it happens like that. In fact, you’re not the first one to give me rock climbing as an example of getting your mojo back. Rather than getting afraid and standing or, you know, on the side of the mountain and you’re clinging and not breathing and whatever like that, that’s the time to really get your mind together.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: Yeah, and that’s exactly what happened. So that’s really great. You, you also mentioned something about people having noble qualities. Everybody has noble qualities. There’s a little bit more to that, and that is that everyone from time to time has absolutely wrong view. Other times, everyone from time to time will have ordinary right view. And from time to time, everyone has altruistic, noble view.

Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes, I’ve definitely experienced this.

Speaker B: Yes. That’s a really amazing thing that we all are. We’re a crowd inside and that when we become unified, it becomes unified in the noble, as opposed to unified in the unwholesome. And so I thought that I would point that out that. Yet everyone that you meet is capable of, and not just capable of, but from time to time actually spends their time in noble thought altruism, wanting to see teach the world to sing. Everybody wants to give everybody else a Coke. You know, we all have those altruistic intentions and feelings. And so that’s an important point. That is not a radical change that each one of us have to make. It’s just to remember to be in the best part of us. I had a friend one time who told me that her son brought out my worst nature. And I understood what she was. What she was meaning by that. But yes, the way that I chose to behave was according to trying to move him out of his place. But what that did was, is that he was more powerful in his place than I was in mine. So me moving him out of his place. Place into mine, actually with me moving myself into his place. And so that didn’t help anybody. But this is, this is the point that we all have a Buddha nature.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: But we also have the nature of a thief.

Speaker A: Yes, yes. So it’s so incredibly important not to discount anybody as, as. As someone who can, can basically fill the gap for you. So it’s almost like every, every person, they, they all have that, that noble part of them that you may be missing. And it’s important to be open to that.

Speaker B: Yes, absolutely. So he, at that episode of doing some rock climbing he showed you competence, and that was almost like a spark that he gave you. His confidence and his competence was so sharp that you got it, especially since we had together made such foundational work for that. So that at that point, that was like the change. It was like the tip of the scale. It was like sometimes they speak of it as the camel or the straw that broke the camel’s back or just one more gram. And now the scale tips from being incompetent to being confident.

Speaker A: Yes.

Speaker B: And so that’s really amazing. That’s great. I’m really glad that you told me that story.

Speaker A: Thank you.

Speaker B: So, coming back to the what now? How are we applying that?

Speaker A: Well, basically to see Dukkha and to confidently. To confidently approach it and to. To not. To not turn. Turn away from it, just like, just on that waterfall. Not to, to say, oh, this is too dangerous, and. And back down. But. But to take the hand of the, of the Dhamma, the Buddha, and, and have confidence in that, in the teaching and everything’s going to be. Everything’s going to be all right.

Speaker B: Yeah, everything’s going to be all right. That’s really great. That’s amazing, Eric. Thank you for telling me. So you eventually said, though, that you had a question.

Speaker A: So like I said, I’ve condensed this down to the memory of this experience. And so I’ll think I’ll kind of replay it, you know, like. Or thinking of it as like, quick. Like it’s almost like a quick. There’s no time. Don’t, don’t be. Don’t delay. Take, take my hand. Basically that, that. Replaying that having that thought in my mind will lead to this. This freedom experience. And so I was curious if you could help condense it further in some way. Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. You. Or one of the things that you said before we turned the video recorder on was that you can see the end of it. Light at the end of the time.

Speaker A: Yes, they can. Just the complete free. Like, there’s no question that there’s. That, that’s. That that’s not freedom. That, that. That is freedom and I. I know it without a question in my mind. There’s. There’s nothing. Yeah. There’s nothing you could say or anyone could say. I know that it’s there and then I. That it can be reached again. And I know I can do it with coming back to this experience of just building this experience in the mind and. Yeah.

Speaker B: Yes. Okay. The reason that I’m mentioning that is because it reminds me of the suta that I talk about to the students a lot, especially more recently. And that is The Sutton number 111, one by one as they occur, where the Buddha is giving the community kind of the story of Sriputa. And that in there, in this sutta, it has some remarkable points because this seems to be the place where things are put together in a way of the entire practice. Where it starts in the sense of being completely free from sensual desire, free from unwholesome states. That’s how it starts. Okay? And this is something that a lot of people don’t understand is how important it is to be free from the hindrances. Everything needs to be done when the mind is in fit shape, worth, you know, when it’s ready. Fit for work is the term that Vika Buddha Dasa uses. And that fit for work actually means that it’s not overly encumbered with hindrances, that we’re actually fit for work because we can set down the baggage to do the work while we’re carrying a bunch of baggage, we’re not really fit for work. It’s almost like a carpenter or a plumber had to carry his toolbox with him every minute while he was repairing the toilet. He’s not going to get that toilet repaired very quickly, but if he sets the toolbox down and then uses one or two tools out of it. So this is the whole point then, from Sri Puta. Once we get the mind free from hindrances and get it into this really good state, that’s when we can see how things arise and pass away and flitter and how the mind actually works in these stages. But then it says the most important point, which is what you’re bringing down, is when Sriputa would then think or have the thought or told the Buddha that by doing this, I can see that there is an end to this. And by repeated practice, he became more and more sure that there is an end to this. That not only is there light at the end of the tunnel, there’s the end of the tunnel, okay? And so this is an important point that we recognize that as we keep practicing that that knowledge that the light is at the end of the tunnel actually is now the confidence.

Speaker A: Okay?

Speaker B: Yeah, that’s it. When we know that we could get to the end of this thing.

Speaker A: Okay?

Speaker B: Yes, that’s the confidence. And we talk about it in that. In that, let’s say, analogy quite often that people know that the end of it is coming. And that’s why they call it the light at the end of the tunnel that there’s an end to this. And that’s something that most ordinary people have, that’s in fact the loser’s mentality is that there is no, no end to the Duke. I will always suffer. Yes, but now you’ve got that new attitude, you’ve got the Sara Poot, you got that lion’s attitude. There’s an end to this. Yes, Freedom, and that itself is, is a major part of the freedom is know that we can bring an end to this stuff. That one, one step after another after another always keeps leading us to the light. It doesn’t go back to the darkness anymore. Now we know for sure. And so taking little things like this, that in fact the Buddha said at one time everyone can be your teacher. And on at least two different suttas that I know of, the Buddha uses a dog as an example for the teaching of the Dhamma, really uses two, you know, dogs or teachers in the Dhamma.

Speaker A: I could see that.

Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And so we can gain great wisdom from anyone. So even though this guy was only talking about the rock climbing and whatnot, you use that as a real mojo builder for yourself. And I’m really pleased with that. I’m really, I’m so happy, Eric, to hear so many of my friends are getting good success.

Speaker A: Yes, this really works.

Speaker B: It really works. It absolutely. The teachings of the Buddha are just that, I mean, it’s just exhilarating. It’s so freeing. And so this, this state then that we’re talking about that the Buddha refers to as, as first Jhna actually has the kind of components that we would want to have together at any particular time throughout our life. And that is to have a mind that’s free from hindrance. We’ve shut down the baggage that we have only wholesome thoughts, not unwholesome thoughts. And these wholesome thoughts gladden the mind, spark up the spirit, give us a sense of confidence and well being as well as having the mind now clear enough to really see what’s going on.

Speaker A: What a wonderful package.

Speaker B: It is a wonderful practice. And this is what we call the first Jhna is getting our mind into that state so that we can really see that everything is just rising and passing away, everything is just in turmoil, everything is in flux. But also in this state we can begin to see and review the skills that we have developed. And in that review that helps develop the skills further. So it took skill to get into the state of the skill of sati to get into that state, which means now when we’re in that state, we can properly, without any hindrances or false speech or any of that kind of stuff, we can actually see, how’s my sati? How is it? Yeah, I can get it. I can keep coming back. I recognize when it’s not there, but I can recognize when it comes. And so we begin to develop it more by knowing it, by seeing it, by experiencing the same thing with right effort. Oh, yeah, that’s right effort. See, when we’re actually practicing is very much like actually being on the side of that hill. But once we get up on top of it now, we can look down and we can see all this was the skills, and this was what I had to climb. These are the skills that I have been using to get there. And that’s what gains even more confidence. So when we ask questions like how is my investigation? How is my sati? We begin to note one’s right effort. We begin to see one’s right attitude, because we’re investigating that kind of stuff. And that stuff also arises and passes away. It flitters in and it flitters out. But now we know it because we can see it. And so seeing all of this stuff is. Is really great. So you’re just. Let us say in your testimonial that you have just given, you’re actually touching on all of the parts that the Buddha is talking about, of getting that mind into that state, and by doing so, brings on such enormous competence.

Speaker A: Sure does.

Speaker B: And that confidence is, in fact, the important point of the skills that we develop. But it’s also the last one to come that we really have to put in the work of right effort. We have to put in the work of right view and put in the work of right thought and clear the mind. But once doing that, then that attitude, that mojo comes.

Speaker A: But it put it. But it takes confidence to get the confidence, though.

Speaker B: That’s why it builds slowly. Slowly. The Buddha talks about it, that these four things, right, they run around each other.

Speaker A: I mean, the. It takes the development, the development of the. That skill of confidence to get the real confidence is what I was getting.

Speaker B: Yes, exactly. It builds up, and then something will snap or something will be a really big event, like, let us say, the danger of clinging to the side of a mountain, and you lose it and you lose your competence and you’re afraid and all of that. And then somebody says, here, grab my hand. And when you. When you grab their hand, you feel such power and such strength in their. In their arm that it’s Almost like that the energy from their arm just transmits right into you, and you’re open to it. It’s like. Almost like a buzz. And then you know that you could do this.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah. So this is how this is. Other things will happen like that. Sometimes people will get over an illness and bring about that competence.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Others. That seems to be part of the Burmese method is that the students will get themselves into a really, really dark place, but then they get out of it. And the coming out of that also builds that confidence. Hey, if I can get myself out of the funk that I just put myself into, I can get myself out of any funk I put myself into. And so this is what it takes. It actually takes some adversity, if you will, or some. Yeah, that. That proves to ourselves that we can do it.

Speaker A: Yes. And the. What really builds that confidence is like I was addressed earlier is intentionally approaching dukkha. And like we. We discussed in our last conversation is seeing what. I don’t know if. I don’t know if you said. Well, the Ajahn Samado says he. He talks about Duke as a heavenly. Heavenly gift. A gift. Something like that. Heavenly gift or gift from heaven, which I don’t even. I don’t think he thinks of it magically or anything, but to see it in that way. Whereas you said it as a gift. Right.

Speaker B: Or maybe. Maybe the word gift is a little strong, but we could certainly use the word opportunity.

Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. An opportunity to build confidence.

Speaker B: Of opportunity to build confidence, exactly. An example of that would be that a young man has his new car or new to him, and he’s tooling around, and then he gets a flat tire. And when he. And when he realized he’s got a flat tire, he’s still sitting behind the wheel of the car. And he has those thoughts of, oh, no, my poor car. I’ll never go anywhere. You know, those kind of thoughts that we have. Oh, no, this is a disaster. But somehow or another, maybe somebody stops her or honks or something like that. And then he gets the idea, well, maybe I’ll. Well, I’ve got to do something. You know, there’s the way. But then he goes and he changes the tire. And while he’s changing it, he begins to get the attitude, I can do this. And when he actually gets the car back on the road and he just starts off and tooling down the road, he’s like, wow, what a relief that is, because now I have not just changed the tire, but I know that I can do this.

Speaker A: Yeah, that’s the gift.

Speaker B: That’s the gift that Sebedo was talking about that. So that flat tire was a gift to that young man.

Speaker A: Absolutely.

Speaker B: And so, yes, those times will come, but we can’t schedule them that. In fact, if we could schedule them, they wouldn’t work. It’s got to be something really natural, a time for it. You know, the things happen and they happen naturally. And we are confronted naturally with a choice. I cannot do it or I can do it. And when we take the choice, we can do it. That’s what really build, in some cases, super builds confidence. I’ll give you another example. The kid is picked on by the bully and he’s afraid of the bully. And anytime the bully comes up, he gets afraid. And so he talks to. Maybe he joins a dojo, talks to an old Asian man, maybe a Dutch uncle or something like that, and tells him that bully is actually more afraid of you than you are of him. And all you have to do is demonstrate that to everybody around and he’ll leave you alone. Yeah. And so. And so the bully comes up to this kid and he remembers what his zendo, a judo teacher, told him and he just hits that guy right in the stomach. And he become. Everybody’s surprised, but he gains great confidence that he can handle things now because he had the idea that he couldn’t do anything, that that bully was in fact going to be his boss forever. And all it took was just one thing like changing that tire or fighting back just a little bit and gains great confidence that. That confidence. Yeah. So it’s a great success that we have. And I’m glad that you’ve had that and you’re building on it. And now that you’re at the watt, that’s a really great place to practice that kind of confidence. And you can see then that how powerful that competence is. And, and people, when they hear the word pity and in poly and hear the word rapture in English, they get completely confused. But now we can see how it. The Sama Sankapa, the right attitude is that pity of the knowledge we can do this.

Speaker A: Yes, That’s. That was a very helpful thing to come to an understanding with, is to stop looking for this magical whatever sensation or whatever and to actually build the skill of confidence.

Speaker B: Yes, we could build up that confidence.

Speaker A: It’ll bring. It’ll bring. It’s the real cause. The real cause.

Speaker B: Well, does. Is this in the direction of answering your question? Or do you. Or do we need to look at it a little differently?

Speaker A: No, you’ve answered my question. Just greatly. Yeah, yeah, I know exactly what to do. Thank you.

Speaker B: Excellent. Excellent. Well, I’m really glad to see. I am really glad to see you.

Speaker A: Wonderful. Yeah, it’s been so nice to see you.

Speaker B: All right, well, I’m going to let you go now, and we’ll talk a bit later.

Speaker A: Sounds great.

Speaker B: Okay, Excellent. See you later, Eric.

Speaker A: Bye.

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