The Four Frames of Reference: A Reductionist Method

As I have written in previous posts, one of the main benefits of meditation is the ability to observe the processes of the mind free from the bewildering experience of complex interactions with the “outer-world”. When we take the opportunity to isolate the senses, we can observe clearly how the mind associates with the conditions of reality in ways that cause suffering. We can clearly make out the factors of ignorance-fabrications-consciousness-form-the senses-contact-feeling-craving-clinging and becoming that play out over and over again throughout our waking hours.

It is incredible to see for the first time the intricate way in which our mind latches onto an object and what is produced by the bond. It takes some growing maturity and insight to see the depths of the harm this process is causing both ourselves and the world. It is because of direct knowledge of these processes that the Buddha taught that the “Path of Practice” must use these same processes of the mind to ferret out the unskillful qualities that  continue to color our experience and reproduce this suffering. The particular methods incorporated are designed to bring balance to  our heavily skewed perceptions that have ultimately solidified into erroneous views of identity.

The  practice of penetrating reality beyond the gross levels of hideously inaccurate symbology that we  access our world through, allows us to deal with the minutia that make up the human experience. By gaining a perceptual foundation in these Frames of Reference we do not allow the  bewilderment of complexity to overcome our awareness. In essence we begin to see things through a microscope of controlled perception that focuses only on the root or innermost layer of our existential journey.

The Buddha describes it like this, “This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding—in other words, the four frames of reference. Which four?

There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself— ardent, alert, & mindful—putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. He remains focused on feelings… mind… mental qualities in & of themselves—ardent, alert, & mindful—putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world.” -Samyutta Nikaya 47:40

In other words, instead of our focus being trained on our “external” circumstances through the environment of our mental processes, we can practice focusing on the mental processes themselves actively registering all phenomena as they appear and disappear. We should focus on the Body, the Feelings, the Mind, and the Mental Qualities that arise and fall away within every moment. When this form of training and strengthening the qualities of the mind is done within the scope of the Four Noble Truths it is perfectly effective in cultivating every condition necessary for the Unbinding of the mind that eradicates suffering and the conditions that produce it.

For more detailed instruction on the practice of the Four Frames of Reference, you can visit Access to Insight’s presentation here:

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/wings/part2.html#part2-b

This detailing is in the book “The “Wings to Awakening”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

May these words bless your house as they have mine.

Peace

Loren

Mental Fabrications and the “Self”

The understanding of mental formations is fundamental to unlocking the way out of the cycle of sufferings we call Samsara. These mental formations essentially relay all the detail of the world that our mind wants us to experience.  It is through this acknowledgment that the need for Right View becomes paramount to the unraveling of the confusion and addiction that dominantly expresses itself throughout humanity.

It is becoming very commonplace within our culture to hear people advise others that if any part of life is unsatisfactory that they should just change their perspective or way of seeing things.  While this has an element of truth to it, this kind of advice usually gives no real direction as to what works, or how to get there.

One thing all meditators have in common is a growing awareness of how pervasive the influence of mental formations are on our existence.  As children we begin this process of learning about the world around us through very crude means of processing.  We begin making rough, scarcely-detailed imprints of symbology and language to classify the experiences and objects that we encounter, effectively creating a world absent of bare reality but full of our personal impressions. We see the world through “likes” and “dislikes”, along with many other complex emotional layers that add limitations to what we want to experience as well as what we are experiencing in the present moment. All of this overlaid content comes together to form the most cohesive mental formation of them all; the Identity View, called “Self”.

This strongly ingrained, almost untouchable aspect of our reality has convinced us that there is a permanent “Me” with a bunch of permanent inner qualities that we actively express at all times.  It is these wrong assumptions about reality that lead us to limit reality and our experience of it as we relate to this image of a permanent “self” in relation to some “outward “ contexts or surroundings.

For instance, I have always battled with feeling very small and insignificant when being told about the accomplishments of others. But what is going on to serve me up such an experience? The conveying of another person’s accomplishments transmits the impression that the particular field in which the achievements were reached is of great importance.  Mentally, I focus on those areas, blocking out the reality of this expansive existence. I see my lack of accomplishment in those areas, and the lack of attention toward my accomplishments in general and I begin to sling negative feelings and conversations around in my head. These mental formations expand as I cling to them, and then my whole world has become negative for the time that I stay focused there.

All of these troubles begin with the relationship between a tangible world and this fabricated sense of “Self”. In truth, all of the defilements of mind that foul up our experience by creating personal and communal suffering can be traced right back to this faulty view of a permanent “Self”.

Not only do the core teachings of the Buddha expose this issue and how it is even possible, but the teachings methodically layout the path of practice that can eliminate the problems inherent in our confusion of how the mind works and what it is.

I hope to get into greater detail about how specific meditation practices enable us to observe these processes and find liberation from their strangle hold on reality in future posts, but I will go for now.

Peace,

Loren

The Relationship between the Intellectual and the Experiential

I have taken some time off from writing to dig deeper into the practice of meditation. I have found it better at times to absorb and reflect than to play the role of the disseminator of truth. I am glad to be back at the keyboard though, as I was overflowing with inspiration this morning.

My practice as of late has  taken steps toward an effective blend of both Samatha (concentration) and Vipassana (insight) meditation techniques as described by the Buddha himself. In doing so, there have been some major realizations about the differences between a solely intellectual knowledge and a truly experiential knowledge, referred to as Direct Knowing.

In our culture we place high value on “education”, where the system pumps a massive amount of information into us throughout twelve years of primary school and beyond. Unfortunately if we investigate the actual expression and practice of this form of education, we find that most students have little to no relationship to the information, and relate more to the “proof of learning” that comes from a written test by incorporating many unskillful practices.

If only LIFE were able to be navigated by taking written tests and passing.

In actuality this method of “learning” has reinforced the delusion that memorization of facts and mere comprehension of higher knowledge is identical to  actual attainment.

Let’s take an example of a characteristic of reality to draw out the differences between these forms of understanding. One cannot do much studying of the Buddha’s teaching of the path before you find him expounding the point that all phenomenon that can be experienced are “not-self”. ”"Bhikkhus, form is not-self. Were form self, then this form would not lead to affliction, and one could have it of form: ‘Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.’ And since form is not-self, so it leads to affliction, and none can have it of form: ‘Let my form be thus, let my form be not thus.’

“Bhikkhus, feeling is not-self…

“Bhikkhus, perception is not-self…

“Bhikkhus, determinations are not-self…

“Bhikkhus, consciousness is not self.”

This is a portion of the Anatta-lakkhana Sutta, which can be found here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn22/sn22.059.nymo.html

The standard Western model of knowledge goes like this:

One may read this, become interested, and research all that is written on the subject. Intellectually this is not hard to understand,and at this point can even be expounded to others to make one sound like they have “arrived”. One can even try to work this intellectual understanding into their own world-view after grasping the concept. At this point one would become delusionally confident that they have attained the true essence of the teaching, and move on to the next thing to learn; consuming each concept as mental food.

In reality, this teaching of “not-self” is to be used as a tool to classify one’s experiences while establishing a path in meditation and daily life that leads to Unbinding. Vipassana practice will bring all the forces of reality to your experience (pleasure, bliss, tranquility, as well as pain, disgust, and fear). It is here that one will utilize what has been taught when a concentrated reality challenges every aspect of your mind and body. Once you have overcome, or rather absorbed and learned the lesson of these realities in their concentrated forms, the path literally breaks off the lifelong confusion of what is “self”. You will then Directly Know this reality in its’ fullness.

Consequently, the Noble Eight-fold Path is the recognition that while either meditating or just living, Life will provide the circumstances for you to address the realities of the teaching. Meditation serves to not only prepare one for the lesson, but bring the full power of the lesson directly to you.

May You be Successful in Directly Knowing Reality and Relieving the Suffering of Those Around You.

Peace
Loren

Going Beyond Our Perceptions

How often do you truly penetrate the limitations of your self-made perceptual filters? The realm of “Suchness”, which is the foundation of reality, is such a saturating experience that for us to ever experience the mundane and boredom means that we are wholly captivated by the themes that limit our experiential access to this reality.

These themes serve as defenders of our nakedness, but ironically they bring us to shame more often than not. They cause us to see division between us and everything else that exists. Our minds have created these themes during times when we lacked the skill to see the high costs associated with adopting them, and then they become solidified with habitual practice of perceiving the world in these very warped ways.  Soon we wrong those that wrong us, despise those that don’t look like us, dehumanize people for their weaknesses, and view these thoughts and actions as appropriate for the defense and sustaining of our “self”.

My 7 year old daughter has been fascinated with water her whole life. She has never reached the stage of her perceptual filters where she has contrived a theme that makes the presence of water mundane. She sees it as a magical substance, without any explanation and reveres it as such with every encounter. As we grow up we begin to lay down these themes of convenient symbols and ideology that serve as filters and guardians from the realm of “Suchness” that brings total saturation of our experience.

The timeline of Life supplies us with many scheduled experiences that inspire us with a breath of this realm. Marriage, Love, and Friendship are gravitational forces that encourage us to expand the limitations of our experience into the life of someone else. For some this is the only time that they lose that sense of self that stifles the spirit of life altogether. Children also provide this pull toward the experience of selflessness that can temporarily liberate us from the oppression of our own filters.

We must take advantage of these small windows of opportunity to perceive the superior value of dissolving these warped perceptions, and then do the hard work of walking mindful of when we are using these harmful themes. Every time that we identify their presence we must challenge them by looking deeply into their nature and seeing them for how ridiculous they are.

I know that if we walk mindful of our thoughts and actions, that we can relieve much of our own and others’ suffering.

Peace

Loren

The Five Faculties in Meditation

When I first began meditating, my wife used to ask me how it related to the real world. To her, it seemed to be an artificial environment free from the demands of her life, so how could it possibly be relevant? By the blending together of meditation and the Buddha’s teachings, it rapidly became clear that not only is meditation relevant to the everyday experience, but that the strengths gained there are the best way to empower and inform us of the true nature of reality.

The irony is that through the intentional realm of meditation we find that most of our perceptions of reality are much more artificial than we ever imagined.

In the Theravada tradition there are many classifications of the dynamics that must be present in productive meditation. One name for these dynamics is the Five Faculties. These faculties consist of; Conviction, Persistence, Mindfulness, Concentration, and Discernment. As these faculties are strengthened, they begin to cooperate together and bring very high levels of Discernment that pierce through the delusions that have solidified our false perceptions of what is real. The strengthening begins in meditation, but our life becomes the proving ground of this ever renewed experience of what is skillful and unskillful toward the relief of suffering.

As we use a framework of the Buddha’s teachings of the Four Noble Truths in the developing of these faculties, we reap the benefits of increased Conviction and Concentration in approaching the challenges of Life skillfully, and without creating more suffering for ourselves and those around us. A musician will play the same piece over and over again, hoping to sharpen their mastery of the many skills necessary to be the best at what they do. The musician’s audience experiences the culmination of this as almost magical. His style and motions are more graceful and fluid than any normal abilities. In the same manner, regular Meditation creates the environment for the development of skill in these crucial areas that is needed to conquer our habitual failures as Life’s challenges flood our minds.

Much of what I have learned has been through the study and application of many books by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Books such as “The Wings to Awakening”  teach the framework for meditation as the Buddha himself taught it. If you are interested in an analytical synthesis of these concepts, you should check it out.  I encourage you to embrace the challenge of life fully by engaging in meditation. I know it will change your world, as it has mine.

Peace

Loren

Addressing the Defilements & Suffering

One of the most powerful aspects of meditation is the ability to address reality on your own terms.  All day long there are millions of variables intermingling to bring about experiences that may or may not be within the tolerance of our faculties. When we sit in meditation we get the affect of a clean laboratory that allows us to engage the dynamics of reality on ever increasingly subtle levels. As we filter out the ruckus of thoughts and emotions that are keeping us attached to the demands of the day, dealing with the important root issues of life becomes much less terrorizing. As our minds become steady we can easily look deeply into the issues that drive our actions on a routine basis.

We find that our actions are undoubtedly linked to what the Buddha referred to as the defilements, and the pesky co-arising conditions and emotions that relate to our perceptions of these defilements. Many times we find that our “uncontrolled” behaviors are produced by the overwhelming experience of fears and anxieties associated with these root issues that keep us from dealing with them while our mind is not concentrated, whole, and stable.

Once we are able to produce a stable environment, we have the privilege of facing these otherwise dreadful realities within the safety of this pleasant abiding. What was once unapproachable within our consciousness, is now accessible even to the point of immersing ourselves within their realities without sustaining harm. Without suffering the existential breakup that these seeds have always threatened, we are free to deal systematically with every minute aspect of these defilements with the skillful faculties we have been exercising and sharpening along the way.

As we look deeply into the realities of our defilements, we experience the usefulness of the Four Noble Truths and their corresponding responsibilities.

1. “This is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair are suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief clinging or attachments can lead to suffering.”
2. “This is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.”
3. “This is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, non-reliance on it.”
4. “This is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.” – Translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

To know suffering by experience and not solely by my intellect is what has driven me deeper into it’s causes and ignited my passion to see it cease within my own life.

May the Power and Joy of this truth find its way into your life as it has mine.

Peace

Loren

Welcome to “Entering the Stream”

Hello All,

My name is Loren Marvin. I have come from a deep spiritual life in Christianity, to embrace the teaching and practice of the Buddhist way of life. As I have investigated Buddhist literature to see how it addresses the authentic experiences of my life, I have become completely fascinated with how directly every dynamic of the human existential experience is addressed through the Dhamma.

I began this journey attempting to find a foundation for the natural way in which my prayer had transformed into a form of meditation, but quickly realized how completely encompassing Buddhist meditation and Dhamma was toward any attempt of a holy life. Instead of assuming that one could attain the holy life solely based on a loyal relationship to a prescribed ideology, I found the Buddha naming and addressing the very fabric of what makes the human experience, while teaching specific methodology to sharpen the faculties and directly address the causes, conditions, and path to cessation of all sufferings.

I have found a solid foundation for all of the teachings of Christ which I have studied for years, after being completely frustrated with how rootless  those teachings had become within the confines of American Christianity.

The experience gained within the struggles of the “christian” paradigm has found root and fresh fruition within the Dhamma, and I have created this blog to discuss the tranformative power of Stream Entry.

Stay tuned, as we are just getting started.

Peace to You,

Loren