Posted inHenry's Messages

Message from Henry: Priorities

June 27, 2017

…it’s unreasonable to chase things that are inherently unsatisfactory and expect to be satisfied.

 

Master Sheng Yen says we must be patient with our practice. We also should be realistic with ourselves. If we are expecting to feel much better just by doing the practice, without changing our priorities at all, we are likely to stay disturbed by things that are likely to disturb us — in other words, things that are driven by our craving or clinging, our aversion, or our misunderstanding.

Buddha said it’s unreasonable to chase things that are inherently unsatisfactory and expect to be satisfied. If our sitting is simply an adjunct to a life of pursuing the same old things, why would we expect to get much happier?

On the other hand, sitting practice can help us to discern the workings of craving, aversion and delusion within our psyches, and to be caught by them with less intensity and frequency. We can start to open up the possibility of not chasing the same old things, and start finding fulfillment in very new ways — not through what we posit as the outside world at all.

 

 

Message from Henry is from our June 26, 2017 Newsletter.
Image by Rosa Bellino, used with her permission.

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