Dharma Thoughts

By Glenn Gustafson, OPB

Some of these meditations are from from dharma talks that I’ve delivered at the Central Ohio Center for Pragmatic Buddhism. Most are the result of questions I’ve received from members of the Center or from friends, so hopefully they’ll deal with topics that you’re interested in as well. You’ll see that many of them address Western Buddhism in general or Pragmatic Buddhism in particular since I tend to get lots of questions about these topics. I also wanted to address certain teachings within Buddhism which may be hard for Westerners to understand. You will find a lot of duplication - especially in the quotes I use - since these talks were delivered over a period of a several years.

Please understand that these are not academic or philosophical studies of Buddhism but my own meditations on various topics. I don’t pretend that these meditations represent the authoritative word on how we “should” view these topics. They are simply the thoughts on one lone monk trying to make sense of the path he has chosen to follow toward the liberation of all beings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glenn Gustafson, OPB
• Release date: Jul 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9781311890375

Glenn Gustafson, OPB

A Buddhist monk in the Order of Pragmatic Buddhists, Glenn "earns his rice" as a sales engineer for a software company. He is the Chapter Leader for the Central Ohio Center for Pragmatic Buddhism and teaches meditation in Columbus, OH.

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Dharma Thoughts

Copyright 2017 Glenn Ge Jie Gustafson, OPB

Published by Glenn Ge Jie Gustafson at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Three Marks of Existence

The Three Blessings of Existence

Dukkha

Anicca

Anatta

Modern Buddhism

Interconnection

Dependent Origination

Karma and Rebirth

Zazen

Other Musings

End Notes

About the Author

Other books by the Author

Connecting with the Author

Introduction

I hope that you will find these meditations both entertaining and enlightening - or at least that they’ll make you think about your own view on these subjects. I’ve been writing meditations and giving Dharma Talks for the Central Ohio Center for Pragmatic Buddhism and decided to gather them into a single book as a way to provoke thought and discussion about how we do - or might - approach these topics as people striving to follow the Dharma in the West.

Some of these are from the website (www.cocpb.com) and some are from dharma talks that I’ve delivered at the COCPB. Most are the result of questions I’ve received from members of the Center or from friends, so hopefully they’ll deal with topics that you’re interested in as well. You’ll see that many of them address Western Buddhism in general or Pragmatic Buddhism in particular since I tend to get lots of questions about these topics. I also wanted to address certain teachings within Buddhism which may be hard for Westerners to understand. You will find a lot of duplication - especially in the quotes I use - since these talks were delivered over a period of a several years.

Please understand that these are not academic or philosophical studies of Buddhism but my own meditations on various topics. I don’t pretend that these meditations represent the authoritative word on how we should view these topics. They are simply the thoughts on one lone monk trying to make sense of the path he has chosen to follow toward the liberation of all beings. As the Buddha said to the Kalamas:

Now, Kalamas, don't go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, 'This contemplative is our teacher.' When you know for yourselves that, 'These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness' — then you should enter & remain in them.¹

If you find these musings skillful or blameless or if they are praised by those you trust to be wise then feel free to enter and remain in them. If not, then please meditate on your own responses to these issues and be true to yourself.

Please also feel free to contact me if you have suggestions, comments or questions. I can be reached at [e-mail]

Shanti, Peace,

Glenn Ge Jie Gustafson, OPB

2561 BE/2017 CE

The Three Marks of Existence

Three Blessings of Existence

The awakened one, the Buddha, said:

Here, O, Monks, a disciple lets his mind pervade one quarter of the world with thoughts of unselfish joy, and so the second, and so the third, and so the fourth. And thus the whole wide world, above, below, around, everywhere and equally, he continues to pervade with a heart of unselfish joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, without hostility or ill-will.

OK, I’ll be honest. I’ve never liked the 3 Marks of Existence. I mean I get Dukkha and Anicca but I’ve just never thought Anatta should be in there. The Buddha mainly used that term when people asked him, Is such-and-such Atta? and he would respond, No, that’s Anatta. That’s not much of a basis to build a mark of existence. But, let’s face it I’m not going to win out against 2600 years of Buddhist tradition. So I decided to create my own list, the 3 Blessings of Existence.

These three blessings are Dukka, Anicca and Mudita - or Joy. Now, I know some of you are thinking, OK, I get joy; but why did he leave unsatisfactoriness and impermanence in there? Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. But first, what do I mean by the 3 Blessings of Existence?

I mean the things in this world that drive us toward upholding the Bodhisattva Vow; the things that make us strive not for selfish desires but for universal liberation. Now you may be starting to see where I’m going with this. First though let’s deal with the ones we already know something about, dukkha and anicca.

Dukkha is a blessing precisely because we wish to do away with it. When the Buddha talked about the gods of the Vedic religion he did so with pity. Because they were not afflicted with dukkha they would languish in their heaven for many generations before being born back into the world of humans where they could once again be motivated by feelings of unsatisfactoriness. Remember that the Six Realms - Gods, Heavenly Beings, Humans, Animals, Hungry Ghosts and Hell Beings are not arranged from best to worst but always consider humanity the best realm because only from there do we have the motivation to break the cycle of desires.

Anicca is the blessing of time, of the clock ticking in our mind and in our heart. When we truly accept that nothing is unchanging, nothing is permanent; then we have the impetus to get things done right here, right now. We are called to expand the presence of good in the world and decrease the presence of evil so that all may experience the best of possible worlds here and now since none of us can know the shape of the future to come.

Dukkha provides us with the Why for our actions in this world; Anicca provides us with the When. Mudita resolves all by being our How and What as we provide the Who.

Mudita is not happiness, not celebration, not even ordinary joy; it is unselfish joy. It is joy at and in the world. It is wringing joy out of every moment of existence not for ourselves alone but for all beings - including ourselves. If we look at the Bodhisattva Vow as an onerous task that we would really rather pass off to someone else then we are not acting with Mudita even if we uncounted good deeds in the world. If we look at doing good for others as simply relieving their unsatisfactoriness then we are missing the whole point - the point is Mudita. Unselfish joy in our actions as we try to help others feel unselfish joy in theirs.

The Buddha also said this about generosity:

Generosity brings joy at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something. And we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given.

If you are not experiencing Mudita in your actions then somewhere you’ve gone wrong and need to sit with your intentions before you act. Acts well-done carry unselfish joy with them like a flower carries its scent.

The really strange thing is that the three blessings interact with each other to produce so much more than any one of them can alone.

The unsatisfactoriness of dukkha becomes not just a motivation for action but the very fertilizer that good will needs to grow into a beautiful full blossom of joy. Only from the muck and mire does the white lotus grow. Without the experience of dukkha the experience of mudita is not possible. This is the reason they Buddha pitied the gods, because their joy was not mudita. Meanwhile the truth of anicca continually gives us hope that dukkha is not everlasting.

The ticking clock of anicca does not just mark the passing of time but enhances the beauty of each moment. We often feel this is every beautiful sunset we experience, but it’s there in not only beautiful moments but sad as well. Looking back now I see the transcendent beauty in every last breath my lover took before he died, the fluttering of his eyelids, even the last shudder of breath leaving his body. Anicca does not just limit the existence and immutability of things but transforms our view of them and of the past itself.

Mudita would not be so powerful were it not for the other two blessings. We elevate happiness to mudita by understanding our interconnection to all beings, by understanding that we share the blessings of unsatisfactoriness and impermanence. We transcend joy into that state where our heart is full of unselfish joy, abundant, grown great, measureless, without hostility or ill-will when we let go of the notion that we alone suffer or we alone pass away. And there is the unspoken 4th blessing - Interconnection.

We are not alone is experiencing these blessings. They come to every person. These blessings are what bind us together and motivate us to work toward common goals of betterment for all beings. Interconnection is what defines our experience of mudita as being free from hostility or ill-will - even to those we disagree with or who wish harm on us. Mudita has no limits; neither do you.

Dukkha - Unsatisfactoriness

Don’t Worry. Be…Content

I’m sure we’ve all heard - and many of us may have gotten total sick of - the song Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Well, I want to change that slightly and say Don’t worry, be content.

Recently there’s been a meme going around Facebook about worry that shows a flowchart starting with A Problem. From there it asks Can you do anything about it?. If you answer yes it takes you to the action of Do It then to the result of Don’t Worry. If you answer no it also takes to the result of Don’t Worry. You might look at it and think, wow, that’s a pretty simplistic view, but it’s not! It is reality. It’s also a great summary of Buddhist thought; but that’s not to say we should be going through life with an idiotic grin on our face ignoring the suffering of the world.

Buddhism is about facing up squarely to suffering - our own and others’; but it’s also about recognizing what we can do and what we can’t. Worrying about things that we can’t affect is only increasing our own suffering; but failing to act when we can is going to do the same thing. Being truly free from worry can only be accomplished by being mindful of the world around us and taking appropriate action WHEN WE CAN to relieve the suffering of others and ourselves. This also implies that we need to be honest with ourselves about what we both can/cannot and should/should not do.

The goal of Ch’an and Zen practice is to be so present in the moment that you are able to act in every situation in exactly the way that is needed. Most of us are not at that stage yet - and may never be - so we need to at least be present enough to reflect on the situation and on our possible actions and choose the appropriate one - even if it is