Zen general

Australia Day 26th January 2018 “Zen Buddhist’s Compassion and Wisdom in Australia” by Ku San Roshi Australia Day is a day to celebrate our past and is a day to help us find our future. Zen Buddhism is based on compassion and wisdom. When we look closely at what Australia and Australians are, and how we live with each other, we find a beginning of compassion and an increasing attitude of acceptance. This acceptance, wisdom and compassion is pointing the way to our future. This is our love for our country, and that love embraces our love for all the peoples in the universe. People from all over the world live here with us. We all share this land with the First Australians and our original inhabitants who came to Australia 70,000 years or more ago. We are lucky to have a day to reflect who we are and what is our potential as a nation and as a people. What is our potential for a safe and free country? I think it is a place to practice our religions: whatever they are. Our practices of ethics and goodwill are creating this Australia and will continue even more so into the future. This is a beautiful place where we live. We have in our hands, this responsibility to become the future of wisdom and compassion. All religions bring their ethics and that is true of Buddhism. When I look closely at Buddhist practice I find much in common with Christianity and much that is different. But what underpins Buddhism is compassion and wisdom. Buddhism is being informed and transformed by this Great Southern Land. The First Australians are showing how to love this great South Land. They are helping us to feel comfortable when walking this land. We too are coming home to country. This future we create requires that we all look deeply into our hearts and find our own compassion and wisdom. Our forbears came to this country as convicts, soldiers and settlers and those who came 70,000 years before. We slowly began to learn to love this land and found that we needed each other to survive. We had to look after each other. We see this today in the thousands of volunteers who keep us safe. Our country of floods and droughts also shows the way. Somehow this Great South Land is also teaching us how to live. We are being educated by our country. This knowledge comes from our land. It reaches out and touches us as we rub against the earth with our hands, bodies and our feet as we walk on it. It seems to come from the earth itself and it touches us so deeply. In this ancient land we see the face of all men and women of the universe. It is like when we see the face of a stranger and we recognize our own face for the first time. We see our beloved in the bright light of a summer day and the cool river breezes of nightfall. We see our own smiles and we know the way things should be. As we journey further on our road to nationhood we enter freely the high mountains and deep valleys of this Great South Land. The moon is now shining in our hearts, and we find our deep connection to our land and to each other. Ku San Roshi

“The Five Remembrances” Foreword by Ku San The “Five Remembrances” are part of the liturgy of Sotoshu Zen. It is recited during the daily liturgy on sesshin and zazenkai and at our ordinary brief sitting days at Soto Zen temples. The English translation is very direct yet provides an understanding of the true nature of our life. It is usually recited three times giving the sangha members time to fully appreciate the meaning of the words. The “Five Remembrances” help us face our own death and the death of others we love and cherish. Reciting the verse daily helps us find peace within our practice of Zen and our own knowledge of our own death and those of others we love. When we see beautiful flowers after they are freshly picked and displayed upon the altar or in our home or when we see them growing in the garden, we usually feel joy because of the beauty of their colour and fragrance. When we take them outside and dispose of them, we see that the flowers are dying and have lost their glow and fragrance. Then we realize at some place deep within us, the fear of losing our own vitality and losing our beloved. Yet as we read on, the verse continues to help us understand our lives. The last section of the “Five Remembrances” highlights how our deeds are our closest companions and we are the beneficiary of our deeds. In our short life we find love and warmth and companionship with our family, friends and our contact with all the people we see and pass, going and coming from work and coming and going when shopping. In our day to day practice of Zen meditation we begin to open to our own suffering and to the suffering of all sentient beings of the universe. We begin to see our own face in the people around us. We see our deep connection with all in the great universe and we see our great compassion for all beings and our own self. It is as if we are forgetting our-self and opening to the ten thousand dharmas of our daily life. We open and come forth with gift bestowing hands of loving kindness and compassion. These deeds of compassion become the ground on which we all stand. If you find the verse below interesting and you feel it may help your meditation practice, I recommend that you read “The Five Remembrances” at least once a day but three times if you have time during meditation practice. You might take a second of your valuable time, no longer to wonder about how extraordinary things can be in this moment. “The Five Remembrances”�“ I am of the nature to grow old; there is no way to escape growing old. I am of the nature to have ill health; there is no way to escape having ill health. I am of the nature to die; there is no way to escape death. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature of change; there is no way to escape being separated from them. My deeds are my closest companions. I am the beneficiary of my deeds. My deeds are the ground on which I stand.” Ku San

Author Ku San Roshi,  Forest Way Zen

A Paper on Zen Buddhism, Ethics and Ecology: One Person’s Look at the World of Change Needed to Find Solutions to Climate Change.

This is a paper on my struggle to find a way out of Climate change, something that will allow me to make my decisions based on facts rather than what I wish will happen. I have looked at history, psychology, political science, the influence of our imperial past, our disconnect with the First Australians. I also looked at our need to find peace with the first people and to begin to feel at home in this great Southern Land. I had a look at what some popular song writers had to say on the matter and used some Buddhist Psychology. This paper came about after my invitation to give a talk at a local Anglican church on Australian day. I noticed that my theme for protecting the country and its ecology was deeply connected with the first Australians and not just on white people. 

For the last two years I have been invited to give an address on Australia Day in St. Marks Anglican Church, Buderim. I have mixed views about Australia Day and I always find it difficult to find a neutral way to talk about this day. I am encouraged to see the local First Australians attend and present a great cultural display of dancing and singing. I see the importance of their spiritual life in protecting this Great Southern land. The dancers are from the Gubbi Gubbi people. Most faiths are represented at St. Marks. Participants come from the local Catholic Church, Anglican, Jewish community, Uniting Church, Bahai, and I was the Buddhist representative. Some other community groups also attend. We have about 10-15 minutes each to talk and there are some songs and the national anthem and other anthems.

In my endeavour this year I decided to explore the long culture of the First Australians who have been here for 40,000, 60,000, or maybe 100,000 years. This year I talked about the way our First Australians have looked after the land.    And how a British sea, Captain Cook is said to have discovered Australia in 1770 and how the British claimed the Country in 1788 which was later to become known as Australia. How could they discover Australia as the First Australians knew about it as they lived here for thousands of years? The British must have all been blind to other humans living in Australia because they did not see the inhabitants of Australia as human beings. They decided that Australia was terra nullius (no one’s land) when they hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney.

This was the time of imperial European Nations so called, discovering new lands outside Europe and these lands then being annexed by the major European imperial powers of the day. Great Britain needed to find another country to colonize as they were in the process of fighting a war of independence with America. G.B. colonized much of Africa, Asia, some of South America, and most of North America and Oceania. That was our history of Australia and that is what I was taught as a school-boy. That is what happened in the days of Imperialism.  In the early days of post colonization in Australia during the Twentieth Century we received little education about the frontier wars with the First Australians.

New South Wales as it was called covered about half of the Australian continent and became a convict settlement, maybe not fit for other free people. Soldiers, and convicts in the early years set about making this convict colony work. One of my ancestors who was sentenced to hang for stealing in 1822 eventually had his sentence commuted to 14 years in New South Wales. It seems that spending 14 years in New South Wales was just as bad as hanging. The British found it difficult to learn anything from the local inhabitants as they were considered non-people. The local first Australian culture was so sophisticated and different that the British of the day could not understand how the local First Australians lived in relative peace and harmony.   

The First Australians took care of this land for many thousands of years, maybe for 80,000 and maybe 100,000 years and they knew how to live here. They had strict laws to protect our country and they did a thorough job of keeping it in pristine condition. Ecologically the country was in great shape when the British came to expand their Empire. This land was renamed Australia and because no one lived here could be taken for the British Empire. Australia was considered a place to go forth and take what people wanted. It was easier to ignore the First Australians. Much to our peril we did not notice how the first Australians treated the land.

The 1800’s became a time of taking land for farming and grazing. Cattle and other northern hemisphere farming practices came to Australia. Many of these practices are not suited to topsoil conditions in Australia.  But this was a time of pushing into the interior and many areas became quickly eroded and degraded. There were many frontier wars with aboriginal people throughout the countryside. The Sunshine Coast has a local area known as “Murdering Creek Road” where a significant number of First Australians were murdered. Troy Cassar-Daley’s song, “Shadows on the Hill” featured in ABCTV series “Mystery Road” highlights this time of killing and massacres in Australia. He sings,

                   “I see shadows on the hill up beside the old sawmill…And birds still 

                      Refuse to sing.  …Their killers got off scot free.”                                              

Someway, somehow, something, remains of these many acts of murder and pillage and massacres. We all feel guilty because we have not made a peace with the First Australians. And we have not made peace with our ourselves as a result. We cannot learn how to love this land as we feel guilty about how we appropriated Australia and stole it away from another people. This is a typical process when one land is overpowered by another more powerful country and has happened over time in other parts of the new world. The pillage of Australia continues as we lack connection to the place where we live. 

We need to look at how we are treating the land, the water, the climate. Climate change is happening much sooner than anyone thought it would. Climate change is a fact based on scientific evidence. Sea levels are rising, rivers are dying, the topsoil is blowing away and being degraded, cyclones are happening more often, and they are more dangerous and severe. Droughts are spread over Australia and are happening more often, and more severe bush fires are burning large areas of all states followed by floods of epic proportions. The words of Midnight Oil throw light on this dangerous time. The song “Beds are Burning” make it very clear,

      “How can we dance when the earth is turning?

         How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

         The time has come to say fair is fair.

         To pay the rent, to pay our share.

        The time has come, a fact is a fact.

         It belongs to them, let’s give it back.”

I see the words as a metaphor. To give back spiritual ownership of the Land to the First Australians and to begin to hear and see them as owners of this great Southern Land. We have so much to learn from our First Australians about how to work with climate change. It seems to me that we cannot make contact and truly feel we belong to this land until we do this healing. There is a strangeness for people from Europe about this place. We continue to prosecute our European Narrative on this land. Perhaps it is our alienation from this land that allows us to continue to be selfish and careless with this country. We must listen to our First Australians, so we can learn to live here.

We overgraze it, we over cultivate it and grow monocrops and use huge amounts of fertilizers and use up our rivers on irrigation. Evidence suggests we are destroying our topsoil. We are using mining practices which are making our most arable land unproductive. We are mining coal and many other things that are in the ground without environmental care and any checks are just pushed through, so they just satisfy governments who need the money for their budgets. Regional areas in mining states are demanding protections from unemployment which is a huge problem in many regional areas. Short-term employment solutions are used to find short-term solutions. This short-term thinking ensures that we continue our use of fossil fuel and prolongs the time before any useful measures to control climate warming can be put in place. We could look to solar and other alternative ways of producing electricity. We are right to suggest that we are destroying our country like vandals and smashing our future living standards. What will our grandchildren think of this selfish generation?

People in these regional areas have very little chance of finding work without the big infrastructure industries of mining. We continue to attack our resources and dig and cut and trample our way to over a 2c degree rise in temperature. Do we see the song lines of our First Australians abused and bursting and do we feel our country dying? I can understand how regional people feel about finding and keeping their work. It is as though there is no sense of the impending danger. It seems, we are not hearing, not seeing, not smelling, not touching or not knowing what is happening.  Australia is in a state of change: the world is in a state of change and danger. People have stopped listening to scientists because there are other personal reasons to ignore pure science.

Australia pushes on in the same old way. Governments ignore the long-term impact of climate change. The short-term political gains of all Governments in Australia are understandable. Will there ever be a political party who will risk being driven out of government by instituting a courageous change in the response to climate change. In the famous English Television show of the 70s called, “Yes Minister”, as a metaphor helped ministers see the problems when making courageous great decisions to improve the country. I wonder if there are any courageous politicians left in Australia who will tackle this climate change.  Their advisors tell them, “that is very courageous minister”. Courageous being a word, meaning that people in your electorate will vote you out. Change will only come when Australians demand it at the polling booth. It is understandable that no Australian governments will wittingly commit political suicide to change views about climate change. Governments of all sides play with this idea of political amnesia. It’s not happening if we say it is not happening and so it will go away if we don’t mention it because if we don’t mention it is not happening.

Extremes of the right and the left have appeared in the world political structure. Trump in the USA. Right wing political parties in Europe. Brexit and confusion in The United Kingdom and other European countries are uncertain about EU membership. A conservative liberal party in Australia moving further Right. People voting to achieve limited regional imperatives at the cost of other important national issues.

Left wing parties seem to have lost their way and are feared by many ordinary people in the world and yet these left-wing parties are also growing and engendering much fear among the ring wing. And still the right-wing parties are engendering fear in the left voters.  People feel they are going to be left behind or they will lose their wealth. Older people are already feeling the loss of spending power with lower pensions. The moderate left and right seem to some, to have no answers and people are taking rigid stands on the left and right. The centre or the “middle way” is a common term given to the “Buddha Way” after the Buddha gained awakening 2500 ago.  I mention this as I am a practicing Zen Buddhist. I think that Buddhism has a small part to play in helping the modern world come to grips with climate change. Buddhism encourages personal responsibly to take “Right Action”

Buddhism teaches, “when we clearly realize our true selves, the true nature of the universe, we see there is nothing that is wrong” (Yamada Roshi). The essential nature of the human being is like a pond of clearwater which is covered by thick layers of dirt so when working with those with opposing views we need to realize that we need to concentrate on the fact that everyone is intrinsically perfect. Seeing the Buddha nature in all people will help us find a way to rid our layers of dirt and help others see through their layers of dirt as well. Our job as change agents is to find a new Upaya (skilful means) to work with people so they see the dangerous situation we are in. The Buddha walked the length of the Ganges and lived to see his own land taken away from his family. He taught in a time of great upheaval and had to tread carefully. He ordained many untouchables in his work and made some enemies. He had to develop new skills to negotiate his way through these difficult times.

There is great suffering in the world. I don’t know if the threat of Climate Change is responsible for this fear or if the swing to the right and the swing to the left in the world is causing fear. Is the fear because of the difficulties that people find adjusting to the world of extreme ideas? Are we concerned about the pollution caused by China and India which will dissipate any effort we make in Australia?  Change in our psychological and emotional perspective is never easy. People might look for answers to these problems but find it easier not to change. Perhaps it will be too hard to make the changes to their coping strategies and people will try to find hope in the status quo and a return to old values and old ways of seeing the world.

People believe that technology will come with the answers to control climate change. I hope they are right! This is what the West has done in the past. This could account for the swing to the right that seems to be happening to world democracies. Returning to a “father figure” that promises to return to an all-knowing authority who will fix things without us having to do anything. “Leave all that to me and you just get on with your life of consuming.” This way, individual members of society do not have to make any personal sacrifices and don’t have to make any personal decisions about the intending danger to the world. “Big Daddy” is in control and he knows what to do and besides it always worked in the past. But this not the past and I am not sure that any big daddy knows how to find solutions while locked into any political ideology. This problem is far too ordinary and down to earth for ideological decisions. We should look at the detail.   

The Buddhist Lotus Sutra uses metaphors to highlight how difficult it is to change our habits of mind. This sutra shows how a wealthy man who owns a mansion must entice his children to leave the burning building with exotic gifts. They are playing with their toys and do not want to leave the house. They don’t see the danger as they are mesmerized by their toys. The father makes the gifts very appealing to each child before they will leave the burning mansion. This metaphor highlights how much we are stuck in our own gratification. Our habits of mind compel us to continue with our behaviour that is making the situation worse.  People will not see the need to change until the catastrophe is burning under their feet and that will be too late. It may well be too late now! 

What will make people come out of the Burning World and save themselves. “Midnight Oil” says it clearly,

          “How can we dance when our earth is turning.

            How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

           The time has come to say fair is fair

           To pay the rent, to pay our share”

In our practice of Zen, we find a way out of our suffering and we begin to see another way of being in the world. We know that we are connected to everything in the universe and we know if we hurt anything in that “universe” we are hurting ourselves. One of my students brought this up during a Dokusan interview. She told me that since beginning Zen meditation about four years ago she began to understand her own suffering and disconnection from people. She said she felt freer and was able to offer more help to people around her. She is a senior professional in the health profession in Queensland. She is using these skills in her work. This listening to other people when you come from a place of oneness and essential unity is badly needed in this Western World and really all the world. Yamada Roshi in Case 48 of the Blue Cliff Record suggests that students of Zen go on to eventually experience this world of essential unity. My student was making the same point during our Dokusan.

What have we learned from the movement of the Greens and other groups that are interested in helping people see the danger in climate change? What mistakes are these change agents making and how can we change that rather “finger pointing” style. Jumping in a car or truck or bus convoy and touring places in the North of Queensland looks a good move from the outside but I think from the reaction we got, people felt pushed around and voted in the opposite direction. They did not agree to change their vote for climate change measures but may have become fearful of losing their jobs or not getting jobs if coal mining was stopped and new coal mines did not open. People may have voted for self-interest.

I hope we have learned from that. I wonder if people swinging from the Sydney Harbour Bridge did change many people’s ideas about climate change.  Perhaps the only people who have been impressed by these activities are the people who are on side already. Maybe we get gratification from our committed friends who think we are green warriors fighting to save the world. Maybe we are not informed well enough about the sophisticated political world who will use our behaviour for their cause. This suggests that maybe we are naive about our methods. 

Do we decide to gather on one side of the road and yell at people on the other side of the road who think they are right and who yell back at us? I think this was happening in the 1920’s and 1930s in most of Europe with the fascists on one side and the communists on the other side. Do we take up arms or throw rocks at them, the opposition? No, no, no, we should not, could we take up another way of talking to people and listening to them. I don’t think we should throw insults at them either.       

Perhaps we need to see all other people as being as fearful as us. But for different reasons. They are suffering as well. They are fearful of not having a job and then not having a good life but fearful they will have a very bad life. They don’t see the danger to the world climate and the danger for Australia which will be hit badly by climate change. Perhaps we need ways of talking to people rather than having fingers of right and wrong pocked at them. “We are right, and you are wrong” is not going to get us very far.  Can we see our connection to people who have different views? Can we see our non-separation from anything and anyone? We are fearful and frightened just like them. Maybe we should start reviewing our attitude of confrontation? We should be clear what we want and how to get it. Are we, always right? Are we so special that we know all about people’s fears? Are we just doing things to impress our friends to win brownie points and show our commitment to the common cause? 

There is certainly great suffering and a need to somehow articulate a way out of this dangerous time. We need to articulate a middle of the road solution: a middle path, that will be easy for people to understand. We need to bring all and those who oppose the idea of climate change. The time has come to stop appointing blame to other people and really start looking for solutions. We all know how to fix this problem. Scientists have been showing us this path for decades. The problem really is that we don’t know how to change ideas and ideology. Our opposition need to come with us, and we need to go with them. If we do not include people with opposing views, they will simply vote against a good solution. The world leaders need to make changes to protect us from further damage but in the end, people will have to make the changes themselves.  This will not be an easy decision for any government who wants to stay in power for more than one term (3years). “Good will” and understanding are necessary to bring us closer to those who have a different idea of the world. How do we use our democracy to help find solutions? We need skills and good luck. Is it too late already? What do we need to do if it is too late? How do we Buddhists find ways or how do we use Upaya or skilful means to find the solutions.

After looking at some of the areas that impact on a way of encouraging people to mobilize on climate change, I am was surprised I did not understand why very little has happened in the last 20years. I don’t need to be convinced about climate change. I feel I don’t have the answers, but I think Buddhism could be useful and helpful for encouraging and facilitating people to stand up and work for climate change. I do know we are all in this together. How do we stimulate the current government to tackle these issues? How do we encourage the Labor Party who put their political lives up for grabs again and to do it again at the next election after this beating in 2019?  They have been smashed and whipped at the polling booth again on this issue. Will they still endeavour to tackle climate change? I hope so. Will the conservatives start to see the dangers of climate change? I leave all these questions to people who have greater influence, but I will do my share of advocating. One by one, person to person, we will make this change.

Author Barry Ku San

This paper is not intended to be definitive in its treatment of the concept of Dependent Arising. Much of what you will find here comes from my own experiences during meditation and I have written this paper to help people new to Zen to begin to understand how they are trapped in their conditioning.

Dependent Arising or Dependent Origination.

“When this is, that comes to be, With the arising of this, that arises,

When this is not, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases.”

The Buddha’s reply to Sakuludayi, (Majjhima ii.32) (Kearney, P.2001)

Introduction

“Any given experience or phenomenon is supported by something other than itself and…..coming into existence through phenomena other than itself, and going out of existence through phenomena other than itself.” In the words of the Buddha, “When this is, that is; because this arises, that arises. When this is not, that is not; because, this ceases, that ceases.” (S2.28 in Kearney, P 2001).  This article has been designed to help unpack some of the complicated concepts surrounding “Dependent Arising“ and to bring into relevance one of the Buddha’s great discoveries and to bring this to the attention of the 21^st century non Buddhist or beginner practitioner. “Everyday”, examples are used to clarify how dependent arising is working in our life. These examples will help practitioners see how they are bound in suffering and this teaching will help the practitioner escape from the habits and conditioning that has bound them in the past. There is great deal of information available elsewhere once you have a working knowledge of “Dependent Arising”.

Discussion 

Dependent Arising—Paticca Samuppada—is a basic teaching of the Buddha-dharma. Students of Buddhism need to understand and penetrate this teaching to untangle the cycle of existence and go beyond samsara. This doctrine is not a mechanical law of causality. The Buddha does not speak of a first cause in the world but speaks of conditionality where the world is subject to cause and effect. Dependent arising teaches that everything is conditioned and that everything comes into existence because of a cause or causes. (Piyadassi Thera, 1959) When Siddhattha discovered Dependent Arising he became the Buddha. (One who knows and is awake).

The Buddha discovered that ceaseless change is the only thing that is permanent and he showed that things change according to conditions. Kearney, P. (2001) suggests that we need to live a life without interfering with this natural arising and cessation of phenomena and it is this life that brings about the ending of suffering. He goes on to declare that Dependent arising is central to the Buddha’s teaching. The total understanding brings about the final goal of Buddhism and our awakening.  We learn to let go of things.

          “Of those dhammas produced by a cause, the Tathagata has taught their arising

           And also their cessation. This is the teaching of the Great Philosopher.”      (Vin. 1.40). (Kearney, P. 2001)

Kearney, P (2001) helps unpack this concept further by suggesting other useful ways of understanding dependent arising.  He defines Paticca: “as on account of “or “grounded on”; Samuppada as “arising together” or “co-arising” and “Paticcasamuppada: as “dependent arising”, “dependent co- arising”, “interdependent arising”, “dependent origination”, “conditioned genesis” and “conditioned co-production”. He goes on to define how in a “lived experience” that a single result is not from a single cause. He further relates that the world is not an independent existing entity, but “our world is our experience of the world”.     

Dependent Arising is one of the oldest and most important teachings of the Buddha. The doctrine defines how all physical and psychological phenomena mutually condition each other. This process entangles sentient beings in samsara. “The crux of the Buddha’s awakening is the discovery of Dependent Arising: everything and every process arise in dependence upon countless other things and processes.” (Smith, H. & Novak, P. 2003).It is usually described as a twelve step process and starts with; 1) Ignorance, which is lack of recognition of the Four Noble truths which is the understanding of suffering and the nature of existence which leads to 2) impulses which precede actions which are related to (good or bad) and they in turn condition, 3) consciousness. And this instigates the arising of, 4) name and form, (psychological and physical) consisting of the five Skandhas ( form, sensations, perceptions, mental reactions and then consciousness),  which leads to, 5) the six bases arise, (seeing , hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and thinking) which conditions, 6) contact with the environment  and this invokes,7) sensations, for people who are ignorant, and 8) craving develops and leads to, 9) clinging and, 10) a new state of being is set in motion which is followed  by, 11) birth of a new state which comes to an end in, 12) old age and death.

This process or sequence could be interpreted as successive rebirths or it could be describing conditions that arise and pass away. These conditions could be seen as arising and passing away of perceptions and emotional states in a person’s life which perpetuates duhkha (suffering). When one accepts the Four Noble Truths and studies mindfulness meditation and applies awareness one begins to understand “Dependent Arising” (Melbourne Zen group 2010).

When we look with insight we find that the world out “there” and the world in “here” are seen in the same way. We see the “self” and the “world” as a series of experiences. We manifest our experiences according to patterns of perceived cause and effect

This is the traditional view of the teaching of Dependent Arising, which is usually presented as links as above. I want to take this discussion a little further and reposition this concept and remove the idea of a links or a linear process for the purpose, of making plain, the dynamics of Dependent Arising. There is a sequential event that does give the effect of a linear process. What we see, is something that looks linear; one thing leading to another and then leading to another and to the next, but the process of dependent arising is much more complicated. However, what you experience seems to make you aware of these sequences. You hear a sound and you are aware of hearing a sound and having a certain reaction to the sound or that you have a thought and come up with a judgement about that thought or you sense that there is a sequence of feelings and thoughts one after another. When you look at this as a sequence you miss how all this really relates to each other.

You might think that you hear a sound and are irritated by it, and then you think that it is in hearing the sound that makes you irritated. But if you just stay with your experience long enough you will find that hearing and irritation come up together. Hearing the sound, the irritation and wanting to not hear the sound or wanting to do something about it are all together. There are these things arising together and when you stay with your experience you begin to see this more clearly and you see this in your experience. There are these things being together in your experience. Take the experience of hearing a roaring wind while sitting on top of a mountain. At first you are fascinated then you begin to experience fear or agitation.

The Buddha saw that people do not have a clear or correct perspective of their experiences. You do not see correctly what is happening inside you.  He taught that people think things are caused in them, by another person or event. He also found that people think feelings are there because they are caused by other people. This is something outside you. People also “think” things are caused inside “By a Self.”  By “oneself”, as if there is a “being” inside you that creates these things. People interpret their experiences as being accidental and that their moods, feelings and their actions just come about accidently or come about spontaneously; or because of duty or destiny. Thus, people don’t have to take personal responsibility.

What the Buddha saw “going on” in us is caused by conditions. It’s happening not because there is a self or because someone causes it, or by accident, but because of these conditions. The conditions are; when there is one thing there is another thing present. The Buddha taught that this process of dependent arising is running on in you, out of control, and you really can’t do a thing about it. You are stuck, and you are then stuck as the “obsessive observer”. It just kind of starts to burn and that’s Dependent Arising. What really is going on in us, are the various perceptions and habits that have formed inside us. It is not us controlling it, but it is just coming up on its own. When you begin to meditate you will start to see your experience as part of this kind of interplay with your senses and what’s going on inside you. 

This looking at your experiences n a new way, allows you to see how things are much more together and related and you start to see things not in a linear way. This simplistic view is; if we stop the sequence at a point between: 7) sensations and 8), where cravings develop, the sequence won’t develop further. This approach suggests that you need to develop a certain awareness or equanimity. This is more difficult in practice to achieve as it is not always what really happens or how we often experience things. Unfortunately, in “dependent arising” your mind can get stuck and you will get habitually upset or irritated. For example, it’s hard to have the pain in the legs and not have anger or aversion regarding it and you are going to get irritated at certain noises and you are going to feel frightened when certain things come up.

Often when some things come up you might feel full blown fear and/or anxiety and depression. This reaction is “full blown” and you have fused with it. Over time you might see how it vanishes and then you start to see how experiences arise and pass and a whole variety of experiences arise, and how a variety of things hold all this together and sustain this structure and how this may diminish and vanish and that is Seeing DEPENDENT ARISING in your own experience. You see how things can diminish and dissolve away. You begin to see things coming together and you may develop more awareness and you can diffuse more quickly and you are able to allow things to come up together and maybe you don’t notice each thing that’s happening. 

When we break things down into parts this becomes an abstraction around an experience and you start to think things are separate. For example, when we hear sounds and then we get irritated and we think it is a separate thing, that we must do something about it. You become “abstract” in your thinking and you are not seeing how things come together. The important thing about dependent arising is that it helps you understand yourself. You learn how you get disconnected from certain aspects of yourself. You start to notice the process and you notice how dependent arising makes phenomena and mental states appear solid. The process that you are looking at may have already changed and shifted and you just need to notice the process. You need to understand it and how it functions. You begin to notice the narrative or story you tell yourself. This is what surrounds the experience.

So how do you become less embedded or not so enmeshed or fused in parts of your experience? How do you “not become” the depressed person when you feel some sadness come over you or how do you not become anxious? How do you move from a place of being completely embedded and fused in your experience, to being able to see into your experience and to become much more aware of what’s really going on. Zen meditation allows you to see clearly what is happening. You see what is really happening as you meditate.

Seeing into Dependent Arising “is starting to sense a coming together”, but not coming together as a “self”, or a “strong solid identity” or “solid substantial being”. You often harden parts of yourself and parts of your experience. This “hardening process”, is your way of avoiding seeing what is really happening and is your way of protecting yourselves.  Seeing the dependent arising experience of hardening, is the beginning of seeing things as “not needing to harden”, instead it is seeing factors as shifting in combinations. This is a kind of softening that seems to make more sense, and it tends to be more subtlety understood at some level. This process has a sense of cohesion but not hardness. This becomes partly freeing and you notice that as you sit, this process is a dynamic changing process.

When you sit like this in this way you let your experience unfold and you are letting things unfold, and you are not putting much effort in doing something to change or avoid. Your “self “is not so much in the picture or dominant, and you may find as you allow yourself to be free, that you see there are conditions working in this or that experience.  There may be many factors going on inside you. You start to see that you are picking out things and you are choosing and you start to see you are choosing. The way you look at your mental experiences determines how you will keep putting yourself together. Self is really “self-constructed” and “put together”. You start to get glimpses of this as you watch your experiences in meditation.

Meditation can become a way of seeing into this process of Dependent Arising and a way of beginning to see the cause of suffering. Sitting in meditation is to start to watch and become aware that many of your decisions are made from a point of view of “self”. You begin to see that you are grabbing hold of bits of this process that is going on inside yourself and you begin to see that you are choosing which bits to grab. This “made self” looks like your real self. But if you continue to meditate you may start to get glimpses of how you create habits as you just watch your experience in meditation (Siff, J.2009).

Conclusion.

Dependent Arising is happening in you even when you don’t know that it is “happening” and you can’t see it happening. During mindfulness meditation you begin to see how you are trapped by your conditioning. You slowly begin to see how you are really picking and choosing what parts of your-self you want to bring into consciousness. When you begin your meditation practice you are often striving to achieve peace and calm at any cost. In-fact you are grasping the bits that you think will make you happy. You often have aversions to seeing into your meditation and discovering how dependent arising is working in your life. You do make some progress and often feel deep peace and calm. Yet there is something still “missing”. Some types of practice keep you so bound to the technique you have learned, and you never see what is before your eyes. The meditation processes keeps you from advancing to awakening. You often spend years trapped in blissful states or states of striving to be the perfect meditator.

References

Kearney, P (2001), When This Is, That Is…., Kalyana mitta seminar, 15-16 September 2001

Melbourne Zen Group (Unpublished): An Introductory Diamond Sangha Glossary.

Siff, J, (2009) Dependent Arising: Dharma Talk on Dependent Arising, Skilful Meditation Project.

Smith, H & Novak, P (2003) Buddhism: A Concise Introduction, Harper Collins, New York.

Piyadassi Thera, (1959) Dependent Origination (Paticca Samuppada). The Wheel Publication, Kandy

Barry Farrin [email protected].au

Mindfulness, Psychotherapy and Zen Buddhism

Introduction

This talk draws on my personal experience as a Zen Buddhist student and teacher and my work as a psychotherapist working mainly in palliative care, cancer care, grief and loss, anxiety, stress and depression.  I have practiced meditation since the mid seventies and began training in psychotherapy in 1978 and in the ten years until 2009 I was active in palliative and cancer care. During those years I have worked face to face with many hundreds of people and have had numerous contacts with people in therapeutic groups, mindfulness meditation training groups, and have conducted training for many dozens of  Zen students. This talk draws on my experience while working with these client groups and in training new Zen students in mindfulness meditation. Two major themes will be explored in this talk; the first is the history, philosophy and psychology of Zen Buddhism: and the second, the appropriation and use of Zen Buddhist meditation and mindfulness meditation, in emotional and psychological disorders. The use of mindfulness meditation will be explored in the treatment of common mood disorders of stress, anxiety and depression in patients with cancer, other life threatening and chronic illness and pain. The traditional “Buddhist view” on “suffering” will be expanded to include the modern interpretation of personal suffering, which is often interpreted as stress, and distress and emotional problems and will also include the more severe psychological pathological conditions. This talk will discuss the place of Zen Buddhism and mindfulness meditation in psychotherapy and finally, the promise of “awakening” and the end of suffering according to the Buddhist tradition. I first need to define how I work with people who are struggling with a life-threatening illness.

My Definition of Psychotherapy

During my years working in palliative care and cancer care I dramatically changed my ideas on psychotherapy and developed my own definition of psychotherapy that seemed to be more applicable and worked more effectively with clients who had a potential life-threatening illness. I include many ideas in my definition, about self determination, love, optimism, quality of life and hope. I am not always working to effect a behavioural change in my clients and often I do not always try to solve their problems as such. I often chose to work with their issues of life and the “meaning making” that they are engaging in as they struggled to make sense of their predicament. People who have been diagnosed with a potential life-threatening illness need more than “a quick fix” for a problem which is often “unfixable”. Often, I have no goal other than to allow the client to determine their own direction and allow them the space to say the unsayable.  I allow this space to grow in the “therapy room” which gives the client the authority to determine their process; and their response to their deep internal suffering in this safe and supportive environment. My approach to therapy has been defined by the group of clients I began to see when working in cancer care and chronic illness.

Discussion

Buddhist meditation was once regarded with suspicion by the medical and psychological profession. In the last thirty years this suspicion has given way to an embracing of mindfulness meditation by the above professions. However, mindfulness meditation is not a panacea treatment for all the emotional ills of the twenty first century. People with mild to severe psychiatric disorders who are dissatisfied with modern psychological treatments may approach meditation as a substitute treatment for their suffering. They may suspend other psychological talk therapy or drug treatment, and this can lead to difficulties for people who have a major psychosis. Meditation can also be contraindicated in some emotional conditions, acute extreme anxiety and early depression unless the patient is under one on one care.Without the deep personal experience of many years of mindfulness meditation, untrained and inexperienced meditation teachers have no awareness of the difficulties people might encounter when first learning mindfulness meditation. The long-term benefits of mindfulness meditation are enhanced when mindfulness is practiced within a Buddhist spiritual perspective. Mindfulness meditation as it is practiced by the psychological community has been isolated from its roots in Buddhism; to appear to be scientifically verified, and this isolation may limit the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation Dawson, G. (2006). Often patients are not fully instructed in the proper techniques or the clinicians have limited training and knowledge of the different styles of practice.

This talk will now examine the Buddhist roots of mindfulness meditation and highlight why mindfulness meditation increases it’s efficacy when practiced within a Buddhist philosophy.

Short History of Zen Buddhism

The Four Noble Truths

Zen Buddhism and all the schools of Buddhism are well established in Australia and the western world. Buddhism did not exist before the Buddha decided that the ascetic Hindu practices of India 2500 years ago did not provide him with the answers to life’s questions. During his years of practice, the Buddha discovered the Four Noble Truths; 1) life is suffering, 2) there is a reason for suffering, 3) there is a way out of suffering, 4) the way out is the “Eight Fold Path”. His first sermon was based on this discovery. This four part process will be explored later in this discussion. The “Eight Fold Path” is the way to liberation.

The Eight Fold Path

This path or the “middle way” aims to avoid extremes. The practice of the “Eight Fold Path” is to end suffering. This path develops: 1) Right Understanding, 2) Right Thought, 3) Right Speech, 4) Right Action, 5) Right Livelihood,6) Right Effort, 7) Right Mindfulness, and 8) Right Meditation or Right Concentration. On this path that ends suffering, the aim is to discover our “Buddha Nature”. This path uses mindfulness meditation as an important element in awakening to Buddha nature, which is inherent in every human being. In Zen meditation, students begin by practicing stage 7) and stage 8) right mindfulness and right concentration.

After many years, Indian Buddhism was exported to China. Zen or “Chan” as it is known in China came into existence at about 600 CE. Zen was then exported to Japan just before and during the early 1200 CE, then to USA, Europe and to Australia in the twentieth century. There are other Schools of Buddhism in Australia; the two largest being the Theravada school from South East Asia and the Tibetan school. Theravada Buddhism spread to South East Asia and Mahayana Buddhism spread to Northern Asia and China, Korea and Japan.  Buddhism came to Australia with the Chinese in the nineteenth century and was introduced by members of the Theosophical Society and other enthusiasts in the early twentieth century. There are many similarities and some obvious differences in the resulting philosophy of these schools. Buddhism changed as it moved through the world as it adapted to the many cultures of the Asian countries. The fortunes of Buddhism waxed and waned over the centuries as it encountered other religions, and in some areas of northern and southeast Asia Buddhism has almost vanished.

Most schools of Buddhism but not all, practice meditation. All schools acknowledge the Buddha as the founder or historical leader. Zen is a part of the later Mahayana school of Buddhism that developed from the schism in Buddhism after the death of the Buddha. Zen places emphasis on personal experience in meditation. Zen was established in Australia in the mid 1970’s by visiting teachers, Robert Aitken and Joko Beck. Buddhism is now the second largest religion after Christianity in Australia.

Dogen and Zen in Japan

Dogen Zenji (1200-1253) was one of the Soto teachers who pioneered the establishment of Zen in Japan in the late 11th and early 12th century. There were other Rinzai teachers who pioneered Zen teaching before the turn of the 12th century. Dogen Zenji is acknowledged as the father of modern Soto Zen. This Zen school, the largest in Japan, emphasises Shikantaza meditation (Just sitting). Dogen Zenji wrote extensively on Soto Zen in Japan. His writings are highlighted by this verse and he writes;

                “To study Zen is to Study the self.

                  To study the self is to forget the self.

                  To forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas

                  And to be enlightened by the ten thousand dharmas,

is to free one’s body and mind and those of others.

                   No trace of enlightenment remains, and this no trace continues

                   endlessly.”

“This studying of the self”, is the internal journey that Zen meditation facilitates in the student and this journey allows students to get to know themselves; to know their thoughts, emotions, and to be aware of their physical sensations. This process asks the students to turn inward to discover their conditioned self. This study of the self is through Zazen, (Zen meditation). Zen Buddhism is based on the premise that there is a transmission of truth beyond words. This transmission “of truth” is discovered during meditation practice and the application of other skilful means (Upaya). The student is encouraged to discover the facts of Buddhism for themselves. Zen practice allows the student to break free of the “illusions of self” in order to “wake up”. Zen helps students create internal space which allows them to let go of the definitions of who they think they are. Some schools of zen, practice less mindfulness meditation, and place more emphasis on Koan study to develop this awareness.

The Rinzai Zen School uses “Koan” practice to help the student to cut away the conditioned responses from the past and to get in touch with the here/now. Koans are intellectual conundrums that force the student to find a new non-intellectual way of solving problems, and this helps the student shed their concepts and conditioning. When the student works on koans with their intellect they find they cannot find a solution and eventually they let go of their intellectual reasoning and allow their intuition to find the answer. Joshu’s “Mu” is the classical Koan;

             A monk asked Zen Master Joshu “Does a dog have Buddha nature or not”. Master Joshu answered, “Mu”.

You can see that there is no intellectual way of solving this riddle. Over time these koans help turn Zen practice into a personal journey of discovery. However, meditation is consistently used in Zen practice. This is the journey that the Buddha undertook 2500 years ago.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation can be described as a way of paying attention and was originally practiced by the Buddha. Mindfulness involves bringing your attention to the internal and external experiences in the present moment in a non-judgmental way.  Some mindfulness meditation practices focus on breathing, walking, sensations in the body and sounds and others focus on being aware of thoughts and emotions. When emotions, sensations, or cognitions arise the students should observe them non-judgmentally. These wanderings of the mind into thoughts, memories and fantasies are noted briefly and then attention is returned to the present moment (Baer, R. 2003).

Mindfulness is defined in the (Shambala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen 1991) “as performing consciously all activities”. One is encouraged to have an attitude of pure observation and notice sense data and thinking. The intention of mindfulness is to bring the mind under control. This practice will bring insight into the unsatisfactory nature of all existence. Malcolm Huxter (2009) states that the goal is to pay attention in an objective fashion to the arising and passing away of all conditions of mind and body. Harris, R. (2006) defines mindfulness as: “consciously bringing awareness to your here-now experience with openness, interest and receptiveness.” There are many types of mindfulness meditation practice and some don’t work for some people. The mindfulness practitioner/therapist needs to have a depth of experience in mindfulness meditation to find the right technique for the client.

Influence of Kabat-Zinn on the Acceptance of Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation and other interventions that use mindfulness skills are becoming popular and clinical interventions based on mindfulness skills are also being written up in clinical studies. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s (1990) book, “Full Catastrophe Living” brought mindfulness to the notice of the non-Buddhist population. Many hospitals and clinics in the United States are offering stress reduction training. Perhaps mindfulness meditation has been taken up by the modern psychological community because it has been shown to be so effective in treating stress, anxiety, depression and intractable pain. Kabat-Zin uses mindfulness and Yoga in what has come to be known as Mindfulness Training and Stress Reduction. The most popular method of mindfulness training is called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). This was developed as a method of working with resistant pain, anxiety, and stress and is fully explained in his book. Participants are asked to notice their thoughts and feelings without becoming absorbed by them.  The idea is for the participants to realise that most sensations, thoughts and emotions rapidly change and are transient “like the clouds in the sky”.

Effectiveness of Mindfulness Meditation

Many clinical studies show mindfulness meditation to be effective in decreasing levels of mood disturbance, and to help reduce stress (Carlson, L, E, Ursuliak, Z, Goodey, E, Angen, M, Speca, M, 2001). In a review of mindfulness meditation Baer, R.A. (2003) found significant improvements in chronic pain, and in anxiety and panic disorders. Good results were reported in the control of fibromyalgia and people who practiced mindfulness had a faster clearing rate of psoriasis when used in conjunction with light therapy. Many of the studies quoted by Baer, R.A. (2003) suggest that mindfulness training for people with mild to moderate psychological distress show improvement.

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) can be effective in preventing a relapse of major depression. People with a history of depression are vulnerable to recurrences of depression, if they start to notice mild states of anxiety, dissatisfaction and restlessness. These states may reactivate their depressive thinking. This approach uses mindfulness meditation as an adjunct to cognitive therapy. This therapy also helps clients to see more clearly the patterns of their minds, and this helps them recognise that their moods may be beginning to change in a “downward pattern”, and they need to take some action to head off a bout of depression. This knowledge helps participants cope with the thoughts that can lead to a relapse.  Clients begin to see how “depressing thoughts” come and go in the mind. And as they use mindfulness meditation they notice they have a choice of not fusing with these thoughts, and they notice when they don’t fuse with these depressing thoughts, they don’t become depressed (M. Williams; 2002), (R. Baer 2003).

Mindfulness Meditation Working with Fear, Grief and Loss

There is considerable evidence that existential suffering or the fear of death in cancer patients can be controlled by using of mindfulness meditation. This suffering is a “loss of hope” and the “appearance of non-relenting fear”.  There is considerable stress, anxiety, fear, and depression experienced with this state. Clients often describe their emotional state as “being in a flux and uncontrollable”. They talk about being “hyper-vigilant”; they “can’t sleep, think straight or focus on any other thing for days on end”. One client described the experience “as the most suffering he had ever experienced” and it gave him little rest. He suggested that the great physical pain from some treatments and the pain from some of the tests he endured were not as bad as the emotional suffering he had experienced while he was being treated for cancer. He could tolerate the physical pain but could not find relief from the thoughts of disaster and the emotional pain he felt from these catastrophic thoughts. Smith, JE. Richardson, J.  Hoffman, C. And Pilkingson, K (2005) found that MBSR programs improved mood, and sleep quality and reduced stress in cancer patients. Carlson, LE. Ursuliak, Z. Angen, and Speca, M. (2001) found mindfulness meditation was effective in decreasing mood disturbances and stress symptoms in a wide variety of cancer diagnoses, and stages of illness.

Huxter, M. (2009), a psychologist and practicing Buddhist, proposes that psychologists when using mindfulness for the treatment of the bereaved and the dying, should instruct their patients to focus their attention on the tangible bodily sensations they experience in meditation, so the strong mental states won’t overwhelm them, and they will benefit from the feeling of stability they feel when they meditate. This non-intellectual awareness allows them to investigate the mental and physical dilemma of feeling unable to go on, the total hopelessness, and the helplessness they may feel.

I have found in my own cancer care and palliative psychotherapy practice that mindfulness meditation can be useful for anxiety and depression and grief and loss. I often use a short five-minute non-meditation mindfulness practice to help clients find relief from the overwhelming feelings of grief. This helps them stop fusing with sad and catastrophic thoughts. Clients are trained to stop the mind from fusing with these thoughts and to continue to pay attention to their breath, their hearing and to what they observe. This exercise is practiced five times a day. This exercise will be further explained below under Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I may also introduce a longer mindfulness meditation later which allows the client to facilitate the pain and sadness. This may help the client gain a different perspective by concentrating on the breath. Clients report that they see the thoughts of sadness and the feelings of panic and anxiety come and go. They say that they realise that these difficult thoughts and physical sensations are not permanent, and that they feel that they are getting some control over their life again.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a widely used therapy developed by the psychological community which uses the concept of mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to train participants to quieten the troubling thoughts that often cause severe anxiety and panic. ACT does not use mindfulness meditation as such. Clients are taught to recognise sensations, thoughts and emotions as they develop what Harris. R (2006) calls the “observing self”. He suggests that they begin to see phenomena as separate from their self.He claims that ACT is effective in a diverse range of clinical conditions such as; depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, workplace stress, chronic pain, anorexia, heroin abuse, marijuana abuse, and even schizophrenia. He claims that re-admission rates for schizophrenia patients were reduced to only 50% over the next six months after treatment. The goal of ACT is to help participants engage in a rich meaningful life which is guided by their deepest values. ACT teaches valuable mindfulness skills to overcome the unwanted thoughts, images, feelings, sensations and urges, clients encounter as they attempt to create a rich meaningful life. Clients are shown how to control and reduce catastrophic thinking. This reduction in catastrophic thinking reduces stress/distress, anxiety and the recurrence of depression and consequentially reduces suffering.

The Relationship between Mindfulness Meditation and Psychotherapy

Mindfulness meditation training has much in common with psychotherapy. Baer, R.A. (2003) contends that training in self directed attention as practiced in mindfulness meditation can result in a desensitization of conditioned responses and a reduction of avoidance behaviour. Baer, R.A. (2003) suggests training in mindfulness facilitates cognitive change in the participants, and they see their thoughts as temporary, without any real meaning and without representing an accurate reflection of reality. Mindfulness meditation is different to cognitive behavioural therapy, in that mindfulness does not include evaluation of thoughts as rational or distorted. Instead mindfulness meditation helps participants to observe their thoughts and to note the impermanent nature of these thoughts and not to evaluate them.Cognitive behavioural therapy procedures usually have a clear goal to change behaviour or thinking patterns, while mindfulness meditation is practiced with an attitude of non-striving. Mindfulness is practiced toallow acceptance of thoughts and feelings and paradoxically the participant may experience a reduction of some symptoms.

Mindfulness Meditation without Buddhism

Dawson, G. (2009), a working psychologist and Zen teacher, contends that Buddhist practice will reduce the suffering and the general dissatisfaction that is found in all human beings. However, he makes the distinction that “meditation intensives are not appropriate for people with a history of psychosis, current major depression, a current drug or alcohol problem, or for people with a very fragile and disorganised sense of self.” He also contends people who go straight into a long meditation intensive without some meditation experience are at risk of having a distressing experience. Dawson, G. (2009) suggests that some psychological assessment of people wishing to attend intensive meditation retreats should be conducted before people attend these retreats. He suggests that some people be excluded from attending. He reasons that a number people who adopt an alternative health philosophy: one that ignores certain psychiatric conditions, may also attend meditation intensives in a mistaken belief, that all meditation retreats will benefit them. Some people will benefit from mindfulness meditation if it is slowly introduced and supervised. Dawson, G. (2009)suggests that people should attend controlled weekly meditation and short half or one day retreats before attending long intensive retreats.Unfortunately, meditation intensives are often run by people who have little training in Buddhism or psychology and have very little knowledge of the possible problems and contraindications.

The Acceptance of Psychotherapy in the Modern World

Psychotherapy has been recognised as one of many treatments for emotional illness, and generally the more extreme forms of psychosis and personality disorders. Psychotherapy has now been accepted by the community, for the treatment of life transition issues and other emotional issues. Many local communities have teams of mobile mental health workers and community health social workers. Psychology services are now available on the national health system and there are many community organizations providing counselling and relationship interventions. There are many support groups available for people with cancer, arthritis, MS, and many other issues. Counselling courses at colleges and universities are very popular and ordinary people are likely to seek counselling for grief and loss, unemployment and other life change issues. Mindfulness meditation has gained favour in this milieu of “wellness treatment” as an effective treatment for anxiety and stress and other conditions outlined in this talk. Buddhism has also become very popular during this period and is now the second largest religion in Australia.

People are often attracted to Buddhism because of their personal suffering and Buddhism’s promise to reduce suffering. It is understandable that mindfulness meditation has become popular because of these reasons. Dawson, G. (2009) highlights how meditation is the engine of Buddhism and without Buddhism: meditation may well become a useless piece of philosophical belief. He states that meditation may be used in 1) Relaxation, 2) Mental Health, and 3) Spiritual Awakening. This “spiritual awakening”, which is a central part of mindfulness and Buddhism is not always discussed or explained to clients by clinicians. Dawson, G. (2009) also highlights that many meditation teachers are not aware of the contraindications of mindfulness meditation, nor do they have a deep understanding of Buddhism.

The teaching of “Dependent Arising” or “Dependent Origination”, as it is also known, is mostly ignored by psychological clinicians. Unfortunately for their clients this teaching is an essential teaching in Buddhism which underpins the correct understanding and use of mindfulness meditation. Having a deep understanding of the concept of dependent arising helps the Buddhist psychotherapist understand their clients suffering and helps them reduce their clients suffering. This is another Buddhist concept that is not taught to most people learning mindfulness meditation Kearney, P. (2001).

Dependent Arising

Dependent Arising is a major Buddhist insight that is not understood by many non-Buddhists. Students of Buddhism develop a deep understanding of dependent arising during their meditation practice. This concept of “causality” (cause and effect) and “conditionality” (how we are conditioned by our prior experiences) are central to understanding our personal suffering, stress/distress and other emotional states and other existential states of mind. Dependent arising is presented as twelve links that explain” conditionality” or how conditions that we encounter in life define who we think we are. These links are 1) Ignorance, 2) Karma–formation, 3) Consciousness, 4) Corporeality and Mentality, 5) Six Bases, Sensorial and mental, 6) Impressions, 7) Feelings, 8) Craving, 9) Clinging, 10) Process of becoming, 11) Rebirth, 12) Old Age and Death. This Buddhist concept is not easy to explain without a parallel practice of meditation and is really the central aspect of Buddhism.

In brief this concept, suggests that the “fixed state of nature” is one of ceaseless Change where everything that we encounter is in a state of change. This change happens according to specific conditions. The doctrine of Dependent Arising is central to the Buddha’s teaching and when we understand these laws completely we are awakened. Ignorance of “dependent arising” compels us to operate in an unskilful manner.

                       One who sees dependent arising sees the Dharma;

                       One who sees the Dharma sees dependent arising.

                                    (Majjhima Nikaya, tripitaka)

The Buddha personally experienced the hold that his past experiences had on his life. This is a basic teaching of Buddhism.  This principle also informs all Buddhist practices and includes Zen practice. The Buddha discovered that the process of “dependent arising” is going on in us, and he realized that these conditions cause a reaction or a response in us because we think there is the self, we must defend, or we might think that someone else caused a problem for us and then we defend ourselves. When there’s one thing present, there must be another thing present. The nature of conditionality is that there is not just one thing, but many things arise, at the same time Siff, J. (2005).

Say we look at our emotions for example: if we feel angry when someone says something that upsets us, we might feel or think that person caused that anger. The Buddha would say that the person did not cause the anger, but it was the way we thought about what was said. You heard the words and then you had a certain feeling which was unpleasant and that feeling caused a perception about yourself and that created an idea that someone, maybe, hated you and then maybe, you felt humiliated and then there was a lot of thinking about it. You somehow got really obsessed by it and that obsession got out of control and then you got angry Siff, J. (2005).

At some stage in your life you will become aware of personal suffering; perhaps from the emotional effects of a serious illness or the loss of a loved one or whatever, and perhaps this will cause you to reflect and maybe you will seek help at that time. Gordon, R. et al (2006) suggests that the Buddhist idea of dependent arising could help you understand how this is entrapping you. Dependent arising describes the process of change, and the impact on you can be observed. They suggest if you “awaken” to this process you may be able to eliminate the entrapment.

This process of “dependent arising” becomes clear as the student practices mindfulness meditation over time, but unfortunately it is this deep meditation practice that is often missing. Unfortunately, as well,for many people this process is not even explained or discussed by modern non-Buddhist therapists. The psychological community has developed mindfulness practices that ignore the insights found in the concept of dependent arising and most of Buddhist psychology. Much of the therapeutic literature on mindfulness meditation does not mention the Buddhist roots of mindfulness meditation and clinicians often combine these meditations with more conventional CBT or other therapy modalities. They report they are unsure of the effectiveness ofthe mindfulness meditation component.

Perhaps therapists who use mindfulness meditation as therapy should attend a few long mindfulness meditation retreats, so they can personally experience the process first hand. This personal experience would inform them of the difficulties and possible problems for clients. The clinician would gain knowledge from their own experience and appreciate why many clients don’t complete their mindfulness exercise at home and why they don’t continue to fully embrace mindfulness practice during their therapy. Practitioners really need to grapple with mindfulness to be able to teach it. This practice should be digested while doing it. Intellectual knowledge is not enough, even a deep intellectual understanding does not go far enough. Perhaps therapeutic effectiveness could be improved if clinicians had a better knowledge of Buddhist psychology and were able to attend long retreats and could get supervision from trained mindfulness practitioners.

Suffering and the Four Noble Truths

Quality of life is diminished when people have depression, anxiety, or any emotional disorder. Mindfulness meditation is very valuable in treating these conditions and has proven effective in relieving the personal suffering people experience. Suffering or (Dukkha, Pali) is a central concept in Buddhism and lies at the root of the Four Noble Truths as was explored earlier in this discussion. This suffering not only refers to suffering in the sense of unpleasant sensations, it also refers to everything that is conditioned by our life and our response to life. Birth is regarded as suffering: ageing is suffering; sickness is suffering; dying is suffering; care, distress, pain, affliction, and despair are suffering. The Four Noble Truths state that life is full of suffering and we see from the definition of suffering that there is much distress and stress.

The reason that mindfulness meditation has been taken up by the modern psychological community is because mindfulness meditation has been shown to be effective in treating stress and anxiety. Modern interpretations of suffering have come to include stress, distress and include many contemporary emotional disorders. Zen Buddhism and all forms of Buddhism offer an end to suffering and this ending of suffering is attractive to those of us in the twenty first century. The long-term study of Zen Buddhism and other Buddhist schools offers more than short term relief of mood and emotional disorders.

Ultimate Reality and the Experience of Awakening, Kensho, and Satori

Long-term meditation of a Buddhist practice nurtures maturity and brings about a lower-profiled personal self, or the need to defend the self as if we are under attack. People increase their ability to accommodate the outside world. Zen Buddhist practitioners become less preoccupied with their selves and are more able to identify with other people in the world and other things of the world, and eventually they begin to identify with the universe itself. For some, the study of Zen allows; an acceptance of the reality of death, it helps with the letting go of loathing and longings, “it helps you focus on just this moment”, it helps soften biased opinions and idealistic notions of perfection, it helps develop patience, it helps in seeing the sacred in the ordinary, it helps in letting go of doctrines, it helps you become open and flexible, it helps in accepting of life’s opposites, and it helps you in showing responsibility and compassion to others. Austin, J. H.(2006).

Dogen (1200-1253) writes on awakening and Kensho;

“A person’ becoming enlightened is like the reflection of the moon in water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water ruffled…..the moon and heavens are reflected in even a drop of dew in the grass”.

Robert Aitken Roshi (1996) states;

“There is enlightenment beyond enlightenment, passing beyond passing. Each milestone on the path may seem a be-all and end-all experience. Everything falls away. The everyday self disappears. Yet the path continues to open out. When you continue to practice you will find that you transform yourself and accept that everything in life is impermanent. Instead of taking yourself as reality; fixed and solid, you realise the absolute truth and you live freely.” There is no fixed you and no fixed world. You practice meditation to see who you are, and life, as it truly is.”

Conclusion

Clinical studies prove Mindfulness meditation to be at least as effective as any other psychotherapy treatment for anxiety, stress, and the prevention of the recurrence of depression. Good clinical results have also been obtained in treating a wide range of mental and emotional disorders. Many clinicians are now using mindfulness meditation regularly and there are many stress management programs conducted around the world each year. The appropriation of the Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation for psychological therapy has been a welcomed therapeutic intervention and many clients are benefiting from these new skills. Mindfulness is also being used in more difficult mental health issues. Clients often feel that a gentle mindfulness meditation is less directive than other forms of therapy and this gives them back some feeling of control over their life.

The psychological community has begun to use Buddhist mindfulness meditation with great success and perhaps they would have more success if they could integrate other useful Buddhist skills into the practice of psychotherapy. Mindfulness meditation needs to be practiced for many years before clinicians really know about mindfulness. It is not enough “ethically” to do a weekend workshop or an eight week course and imagine that you know enough to teach mindfulness meditation and work effectively with it. Perhaps the clinician needs to work closely with people who know the most about mindfulness meditation; Buddhists who use mindfulness meditation daily in their own daily personal practice. Psychologists have a great deal to learn from Buddhists about suffering and the ending of suffering. Great care should be used when using mindfulness meditation in emotional and psychiatric disorders.  Clinicians should be thoroughly trained and experienced in their personal practice of mindfulness meditation before undertaking the training of their patients.

Author Barry Farrin [email protected]

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