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Venerable Ajahn Sucitto -
Shared Enjoyment
From an on-going
collection of articles on meditation by Ajahn Sucitto.
The practice of mudita attunes us to sensing others and ourselves
through the reference of joy. It is an acknowledgement of the common
happiness that all beings seek, a buoyancy of awareness that occurs at
every moment when their presence is sustained rather than afflicted; or
whenever an affliction ceases - even temporarily. It is an experience of
appreciation that we can lose contact with. This is because the mind is
programmed to easily imagining how much better things could be than they
are right now... and it takes an effort to imagine how much worse things
could be. This is the programming of ambition and craving, and even
spiritual matters are affected by it. These forms of desire never
appreciate anything, and the resultant mood is arati - negativity and
contractedness of heart. Jealousy, cynicism, and more subtly,
indifference, can stain our hearts when other people enjoy good fortune.
Arati often manifests as an 'inner critic' that whinges and moans about
everything and everyone; even in a suppressed form, this sense of being
at odds with others embeds us in loneliness. So if one is to experience
any degree of contentment, or even appreciation of one's own good
fortune, this programming has to change. We do have the ability to
receive and empathetically attune to the specific presence of people and
things without adding comparisons of self with others, or past with
future; this has to be brought to the fore of attention. Then there can
be some letting go. As one develops letting go in terms of the tendency
to judge in terms of who deserves what, and how things should be, the
appreciative joy of mudita arises.
It's not that discriminative comparisons play no part in life. We need
to discern whether an action, our own or somebody else's leads to a good
result or not. But problems arise when an action or a behaviour is
understood to be a person. This 'self-conceit' seriously limits our
perception of the range of possibilities that we all carry. It also
blocks the potential for change. And as impermanence fades from the
picture, the heart hardens into a series of standpoints. Out of that
arises the judgemental self. But who has the right to judge how things
should be and how fair it all is? And why respond to others' good
fortune with negativity?
Like the other brahmavihara, mudita is to be cultivated 'to others as to
myself': this rounds out the practice into a wholeness in which aspects
of self-differentiation are put aside. The furtherance of the practice
is then to develop insight into that sphere of empathetic joy - attuning
to its nature as that which arises dependent on conditions and not a
final truth in itself. In this respect it is called one of 'the doors to
the Deathless.' (Majjhima 52.)
The cultivation of mudita is said to lead to the 'sphere of unbounded
consciousness.' (Samyutta 46:54.) Whereas the flow of experience is
holistic, consciousness establishes boundaries on a moment-by-moment
basis: i.e. this experience is 'in here', that is 'out there'; this
feeling and perception is derived from 'this' sense-base, not 'that'
one; 'this' impulse is to be acted upon through 'this' response, not
through 'that' one. Although consciousness as it arises establishes
boundaries that ascribe location to elements of experience, whatever
arises out of consciousness - such as a feeling or a thought - is a non-locational
experience. Where is the worry that tints one's world? To whom is it
ascribed? In itself it has no 'here' or 'there' (or 'in-between').
However the result of the moment-by-moment arising of consciousness, is
the establishment or 'this is me and that is you.' This of course is the
normal functional aim of consciousness. Yet there can be a consciousness
that lays aside the boundaries; with this, 'in here', 'out there',
'you', 'me', and any location are laid aside.
The point to catch is the arising of consciousness; particularly to be
with the kammic drive in that volition. The skill of a trained awareness
can meet the arising without the fear or craving that is at the root of
contraction. This pleasant and skilful awareness becomes a brahmavihara
- an abiding place that does not set up boundaries. The furtherance of
the practice is in understanding the volition that sustains even that
abiding, and relinquishing attachment to that. (Majjhima 121 presents
teachings on 'emptying' the volition that carries the sense of self.
Anguttara: 8:, 63 presents an overview of how the brahmavihara practices
dovetail in with the cultivation of samatha and vipassana. As in the
Buddha's advice to Bahiya (Udana, Ch.1, 8). "Then Bahiya, thus you must
train yourself: In the seen there will just be the seen, in the heard
there will just be the heard, in the sensed there will just be the
sensed, in the cognised there will just be the cognised. Then Bahiya you
will have no 'thereby.' You will then have no 'therein.' As you will
have no 'therein' it follows you will have no 'here' or 'beyond' or
'midway between.' This itself is the end of suffering".)
While sitting, standing, walking or reclining, establish the base of
mudita in oneself: Centre your awareness in your body, being aware of
the general form, the central core, and the breathing. Explore the
relatedness of all this: the whole body being an interplay between the
light flow of breathing and the firm stability of the body mass.
Acknowledge the inner space of the body and the outer space around it,
with the breathing connecting the two - now reaching out, now reaching
in...a sharing sense.
Every few moments a breath comes to be. Every few moments the boundless
shared air enters, permeates, saturates the body. Every few moments the
body empties its breath into the shared air. Let yourself be held in
this interplay.
Finer even than breath, each moment mind comes to be. Thoughts,
attention, moods well up and move out into the silence. Each moment,
something is received, a sight, sound, touch or intuition. Some with
purpose, some without; some with reaction, some with just a faint
resonance of awareness. Sense the present vibrancy.
Acknowledge the conscious system that you are, born moment-by-moment out
of conscious space. The sense of wonder. The sense of thankfulness. Pass
that through the mind and into the silence.
Consider your own body, the parents whose genes establish it, the many
life forms that sustain it. Allow your mood to be part of that
sustenance by adding the blessing of your appreciation. In doing that
attune and enjoy the participation which that sense affords.
Enjoy, with mindful awareness rather than thoughts, your own presence.
Attune to the specific uniqueness of how that is right now. Appreciate
your presence. Acknowledge any need for boundaries, such as the wish to
be private or unnoticed: appreciate that protective function, but check
whether now there is a need for defence or fear. Notice how those senses
affect your body. If the present space around your body, chest, throat
etc. is safe... can the body relax? Work on laying a boundary aside,
temporarily. Feel the relief.
Soften the impulse to do or be something special; all that you need
right now is here. Allow yourself to feel exposed and keep acknowledging
the nourishment that the air is bringing you, the steadiness of the
ground beneath and the willing receptivity of the knowing space that
wraps around you. Feel the steady support of your own bodily centre.
Enrich this mood with reference to wholesome actions that you have done,
or kindly aspirations that you have, or on-going intentions for
supporting others. These recollections, which the negative mind
obscures, may now be more apparent. Give yourself the full allowance to
recollect, sense and get a feeling for them.
. . . o o 0 o o . . .
Practise extending mudita to others:
Recollect an occasion when you felt that your presence was enjoyed by
another person. Recall how that felt, return to that feeling, and try to
stay within that in the present.
Acknowledge what is coming to be around you. Living beings, alive a
moment at a time; everything turned towards its own well-being.
Recognize in all of them, the vitality that rises up, the wish to be
that is met in their incarnation. Attune to the well-being that the
shared air brings. Join in their interest that this well-being not be
parted from them.
While staying connected to your own centredness, practise introducing
the perception of others. Sense the joy that arises when a person meets
again a dear friend, a relative that they had been separated from.
Attune to that. Attune to the happiness that occurs when someone attains
a goal that they had been working for. Acknowledge that that does not
lessen you. Stay connected to the arising of a happiness that you feel
they have.
Work through the perceptions of those who one feels are worthy of good
fortune, then advantaged, then over-advantaged, then privileged. Stay
connected to your own ability to empathise when you bring to mind people
who have greater good fortune than yourself. Stay connected to the sense
of happiness but let go of whose it is.
Introduce the perceptions of people who are worthy and who have little
good fortune, but not much suffering. Attune to their goodness and
contentment, then let go of the attribution.
In this conscious space, acknowledge living beings in duress, energising
their sensitivity and intelligence to adapt and to bring them to safety
and well-being. Appreciate that guiding sense. Remember the happiness
that arises when one comes out of trouble and duress into a refuge
again. Consider that this as happening any time when the mind lets go of
its suffering for a moment.
Introduce the perception of people who experience a lot of suffering.
Attune to the simplicity of the relief related to any diminution in that
suffering, and the ability for people even in states of deprivation, to
bear with that and care for their families or friends. Recognise that
the ability to be uncorrupted by suffering is the strongest and most
reliable base for happiness.
Bring to mind the dying and passing forth of beings. How their struggle
melts and they are received. And how they fare on according to their
kamma, not separated from the results of good deeds; nor separated from
the possibility of making good kamma.
. . . o o 0 o o . . .
Settle into and contemplate the 'boundless sphere' of mudita: Move from
considering any object or person, into the awareness that attunes to the
joy of sharing.
Contemplate that sphere, letting the mind take in the boundlessness of
that way of conceiving. Acknowledge that dualities of 'you', 'me' and
'how he was', are a play of consciousness. Sense the separateness of
beings to be like currents in the wind, that give the wind its manifest
qualities.
If this image is meaningful for you, attune to the volition, the 'push
of the wind' that holds the phenomenal sphere. What does the arising of
things depend upon? Can that condition for arising be released with
something like trust?
After an appropriate period of time, return to the interplay of the
breath, and allow your sense of yourself to get re-established. Welcome
this as you would a friend coming home from a long journey.
Forest Sangha Newsletter: October 2002, Number 62
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