Dharma
by Katelyn Taylor
1. 1. Anicca
1.1. My Definition: Nothing stays fixed.
1.2. all of conditioned existence, without exception, is in a constant state of flux. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence
1.3. The impermanent nature of our experiences is the source of dukkha. We form attachment to the stories we create about experiences and upon experiencing them again, we realize that it is not exactly the same as the way you remember it. Things change and we have to understand that to understand the ending of dukkha.Annica is one of three marks of existence along with dukkha and anatta.
2. 34. Wisdom/Insight
2.1. My definition: the understanding and application of causal relations
2.2. a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding, Wikipedia
2.3. http://www.eso-garden.com/index.php?/weblog/C16/
3. 33. *Wholesome/Unwholesome
3.1. My definition: motivations that can either bring about flourishing or more dukkha
3.2. Wholesome: promoting health or well-being in body and spirit- Dictionary.com
3.3. Unwholesome: detrimental to physical, mental, or moral well-being
3.4. Everything has the potential to be either wholesome or unwholesome. Motivations and moderation are key in an action or thought being one or the other. This is closely tied with skillful and unskillful and the idea of the middle way.
4. 32. *The Three Root Poisons
4.1. Hatred or Anger
4.1.1. My definition: feelings of ill will that are unskillful
4.1.2. hostile feelings- dictionary.com
4.2. Greed or Craving
4.2.1. the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort- Wikipedia.org
4.2.2. My definition: wanting to grasp at something that is unskillful and distracts from the dharma.
4.3. Ignorance or delusion
4.3.1. Illusion or darkness, ignorance about the true nature of reality. SGI dictionary
4.3.2. My definition: not living in the present moment and instead making up stories and allowing yourself to take them as true
4.3.3. Ignorance or delusion are a source of dukkha. We allow ourselves to live in the worlds we created, our "cool story bro." By not accepting or being mindful of the true nature of reality we cause suffering. These delusions are papanaca.
4.4. The three root poisons are the habits of an unskillful mind that lead to more dukkha
5. 31. Tathata: suchness
5.1. the true nature of all phenomena or as the original state of things- SGI dictionary
5.2. My definition: things exactly as they are
6. 30. *Sympathetic Joy: (One of the Four Immeasurables)
6.1. the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people's well-being- Wikipedia.org
6.2. My definition: The happiness that comes from other people's happiness.
6.3. Happiness can be so contagious. Even without knowing or sharing the reason for someone else's happiness it is possible to be happy for them for being happy, that is sympathetic joy. The pleasure that results can be shared and be a new source of sukkha.
7. 29. Sunyata: Emptiness
7.1. The absence of any kind of enduring or self sustaining essence. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhistworld/maha2.htm
7.2. My Definition: This Mahayana term, means that there is no defining thing that is the self.
7.3. sunyata is the skilful means that disentangle oneself from defilement and unsatisfactoriness. http://www.buddhanet.net/cbp2_f6.htm
8. 28. Skillful: (see wholesome)-
8.1. 'karmically wholesome' or 'profitable', salutary, morally good, (skillful) Connotations of the term, are: of good health, blameless, productive of favorable karma-result, skillful.-Urban Dharma Dictionary
8.2. My definition: Thinking or acting in a way that brings about the appropriate result.
8.3. http://www.wellhappypeaceful.com/have-a-great-moment/
9. 27. Sangha
9.1. the community of Buddhist believers- SGI dictionary
9.2. My definition: A group of people who have renounced secular life in order to obtain enlightenment and help others do the same.
9.3. Here is a discussion of sangha as one of the three jewels: http://www.dharma-rain.org/?p=stillpoint07_0707kyogen
10. 26. Samsara
10.1. literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation, -Wikipedia
10.2. “Reincarnation, the round of rebirths from which the Buddhists wished to escape.” Herman Hesse
10.3. My definition: the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that those who have not transcended dukkha are stuck in.
10.4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samsara.jpg
11. 25. *Renunciation
11.1. 'freedom from sensual lust' Urban Dharma Dictionary
11.2. My definition: letting go of all that ties you to dukkha
11.3. Giving up the ties to sensual pleasures of the world to search for enlightenment. The Buddha renounced his life with his family and wealth to begin a quest for nirvana.
12. 24. *Realize
12.1. My definition: learning what is really the case free from out stories about what is the case
12.2. To bring into a concrete existence, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/realize
12.3. It can be so difficult to not allow our pasts experiences to condition our understanding. To deeply understand something, more than to know just the surface of an idea, we have to realize it in an objective manner, free from our stories.
12.4. http://youtu.be/5zYOKFjpm9s
13. 23. *Radically Re-imagine Relationship
13.1. This term is giving me some dukkha. I am going to try and look at each word individually and construct a definition based on that. The word radical means at the root, like radish. To re-imagine something is to throw out all of your former understanding and think of it as something completely new. To radically re-imagine a relationship would be to start from the very roots of your understanding of how things relate to one another and start over with new conceptions.
14. 22. *Papanca
14.1. the idea of making stories and living one’s life as if the stories are true- Jay Feldman, Unit 12
14.2. My Definition: The way our conditioned minds make up stories and explain experience
14.3. When I first was exposed to the idea of papanca, it made sense to me. I understood exactly what the idea of making up stories and living as if they were true. I find myself doing this all the time, making up whole scenarios based on my impression of a situation. I often end up convincing myself that my story is true and it changes the way I approach situations even though the story could be completely false.
14.3.1. http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS8n8EQnlUwqkv6bxky_3_zyOcEN2aR1emxV6HrQfTSP-lGqX3jzbS7XbBO
15. 21. *Nirvana
15.1. “Literally, ‘extinction, blowing out.’ Used to refer to a death no longer subject to rebirths; the goal of the original Buddhists.” Herman Hesse
15.2. "Extinction of greed, extinction of hate, extinction of delusion: this is called Nibbána" Urban Dharma dictionary
15.3. My definition: transcending the dukkha of existence and samsara
15.4. Nirvana is releasing from dukkha. When there are no more attachments to all of the impermanent, unsatisfactory things that trap us in samsara. Nirvana is not a place like heaven but is instead completion and the ultimate end of enlightenment.
16. 20. *Mindfully, Mindfulness
16.1. to be aware and mindful in all activities and movements both physical and mental. Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, 74
16.2. My definition: care and skill applied to every detail of everything
16.3. Mindfulness is living in the dharma, each phenomenal experience as it arises. I equate it with being present of each detail that comes together to create an experience. Being mindful of all of those details allows us to approach each experience with skill and equanimity to help reach the ultimate goal of ending dukkha.
17. 19. *The Middle Way
17.1. 'Middle Path', is the Noble Eightfold Path which, by avoiding the two extremes of sensual lust and self-torment, leads to enlightenment and deliverance from suffering. Urban Dharma Dictionary
17.2. My definition: avoiding the extremes
17.3. Instead of constantly living for the pursuit of pleasure or the opposite extreme, living pursuing happiness through negative avenues such as self-mortification, choosing the middle ground between the two. We take the middle way, by way of the eight-fold path, to bring about the ending of dukkha.
17.3.1. And what, monks, is the Middle Way realized by the Thus-Come-One, which gives vision and understanding, which leads to calm, penetration, enlightenment, to Nirvana? It is just this Noble Eightfold Path, namely: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. – The Buddha, Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta
17.4. Experiencing everything in moderation is how to avoid the dukkha that is present at both extremes.
18. 18. *Loving Kindness: (One of the Four Immeasurables)
18.1. My definition: the desire to bring about pleasure and well-being to others
18.2. friendliness, benevolence, amity, friendship, good will, kindness, close mental union (on same mental wavelength), and active interest in others. Wikipedia
18.3. I relate this idea of loving kindness to the love I feel for close friends or family, separate from intimate love. When I truly care for someone I just want their lives to go well and for them to be happy. I want to act as to bring about these happy feelings for them. The quality of loving kindness, as well as the quality of compassion, develop as the understanding of Buddhism's teachings become clear. ICA teaches that our dukkha is everyone's dukkha which broadens the spectrum of people that you have these feelings for from close relaionships to every sentient being.
18.4. Training our minds in loving kindness makes life a lot easier! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marguerite-manteaurao/kindness-_b_601103.html
19. 17. *Letting Go
19.1. My definition: not grasping
19.2. This is a concept I still find myself struggling with. When we develop attachments they can be so hard to let go. I think attachment to people as constant unchanging forces in my life is where it would be skillful for me to practice letting go. A point comes where I just am causing myself serious second arrow dukkha by not accepting that things change and letting go of my stories and moving on. Letting go is also a skillful way to deal with desires, this is a really interesting article, http://www.buddhanet.net/lmed5.htm
19.3. "Impermanence of things is the rising, passing and changing of things, or the disappearance of things that have become or arisen. The meaning is that these things never persist in the same way, but that they are vanishing dissolving from moment to moment" (Vis.M. VII, 3).Urban Dharma Dictionary
20. 16. *Karma: Intentional Action
20.1. wholesome and unwholesome volitions and their concomitant mental factors, causing rebirth and shaping the destiny of beings. Urban Dharma Dictionary
20.2. My definition: The actions we will that are shaped by our past actions and experiences and affect our future experiences
20.3. My intentional actions now are the conditions for my future experiences. Being skillful in my actions will hopefully create more favorable conditions for my experiences, and the same is true for unskillful and less than favorable conditions.Karma is the volitional actions now not their later effects. Our karmic actions are conditions that shape future karma.
20.4. A beautiful song by Radiohead; http://youtu.be/IBH97ma9YiI
21. 15. *Intimacy
21.1. My definition: A deep closeness that is untainted by stories or projections that results in understanding
21.2. “Enlightenment is intimacy with all things.” –Dogen Zenji
21.3. a close association with or detailed knowledge or deep understanding of a place, subject, period of history, or person dictionary,com
22. 14. *Interdependent Co-Arising: Pratītyasamutpāda
22.1. My definition:Every experience we have is shaped and conditioned by our past experiences, and the experience in the present will condition the way we experience a phenomenon in the future. It is all connected.
22.2. Every moment of our lives, every phenomenon that we experience arises within, and is wholly dependent upon, a vast and complex web of causes/condition. Jay Feldman, Unit 5
22.3. The table is could not exist if not for the wood, the labor of the carpenter, and the screw holding it together. The wood couldn't exist without trees, people willing to log them, and the invention of logging, etc. Every experience comes from infinite other experiences and how they have conditioned the outcomes. There is no first cause, just a circle of conditions.
22.3.1. http://youtu.be/n9GGEFL9unc This is an adorable explanation of ICA!
22.4. I organized my dictionary journal to reflect the idea of interdependent co-arising. All of these concepts are products of one another that are connected like an infinite web. I ultimately chose dharma to be the center of my web of Buddhism because the dharma is the thread that creates this web; it is the truth that ties them to each other.
23. 13. *Flourishing/Happiness
23.1. a deep sense of flourishing that arises from an exceptionally healthy mind. (Ricard reading)
23.2. Happiness and flourishing relate to the term fulfillment in my mind. It is a sense of accomplishment and contentment that is only mad possible through a skillful understanding of the dharma. I am also quite attached to the concept of an exceptionally healthy mind.
23.3. My Definition: true fulfillment caused by a mind conditioned by the dharma
23.4. I felt like Matthieu Ricard explained happiness the most eloquently. Here is a youtube link to his discussion on happiness http://youtu.be/-0NYInp-rbc
24. 12. *Equanimity: (One of the Four Immeasurables)
24.1. to be able to face life in all its vicissitudes with calm of mind, tranquillity, without disturbance. Rahula, What The Buddha Taught, 74
24.2. My definition:dealing with life in all its forms with eloquence. (I believe Jonathan Wakeman brought up this point in class but It really resonnated with me.)
24.3. Equanimity is not a quality that I am skillful at. When I am stressed or facing life's vicissitudes I do not usually have a clam mind. Usually I cry, and let my mind dissect the experience and shot myself with some second arrow dukkha. Being able to approach life with equanimity is important to relieving dukkha.
25. 11. *Dukkha (One of the Three marks)
25.1. all existence is suffering- SGI dictionary
25.2. My definition: The unsatisfactory nature of experience.
25.3. Dukkha is unsatisfactory feelings stemming from our grasping onto impermanent situations. We are unsatisfied when we have an experience and we try to grasp onto the feeling of it and what is left doesn't match what our stories about what it was. When we try to label the constantly changing experiences and have ideas that create self and other awareness, there is dukkha. It is somewhat a problem of cognitive dissonance. This is the dukkha we can train our mind to avoid in contrast to the unavoidable dukkha. The types of dukkha we are experiencing can be classified as first and second arrow dukkha; dukkha that is part of the experience that is the unavoidable, first arrows, and the dukkha that we cause ourselves based on our stories, or papanaca, we tell ourselves about the experience, the second arrows. All of existence is impermenant and changing, that is dukkha.
25.4. This semester has been the semester of house music for me, I would suggest listening to this song while you continue reading, I doubt it will cause you any dukkha, it may make you dance however! http://youtu.be/GxpFP1yC0xk
26. 9. *Craving: trsna
26.1. My definition: overwhelming desire for an experience
26.2. In our initial experience we have a reaction of either pleasant, not pleasant , or neutral. Based on that judgement a desire arises for more of that pleasure or a desire to push away what we do not like. Both of these are unwholesome forms of desire; one is forming attachments to things with annica nature and the other is to push away thing that we don't want to deal with. Trsna needs to be experienced in the middle way.
26.3. the craving or desire to hold onto pleasurable experiences, to be separated from painful or unpleasant experiences, and for neutral experiences or feelings not to decline http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%B9%9B%E1%B9%A3%E1%B9%87%C4%81
27. 8. *Compassion (One of the Four Immeasurables)
27.1. In Buddhism, altruistic action that seeks to relieve living beings from their sufferings and give ease and delight to them. SGI dictionary http://www.sgilibrary.org/search_dict.php?id=340
27.2. My definition: the desire to ease the suffering of others
27.3. Compassion is an emotional quality of the heart. Opening the heart of compassion is a term that has been used often in lecture. If everyone is connected through the idea of anatta and ICA, all the dukkha experienced in the world is experienced by all. My dukkha is your dukkha. Our actions to end our own dukkha are fruitless if we do not have compassion towards other's dukkha and try also to alleviate it. Compassion needs to be balanced by wisdom to avoid being taken advantage of or foolish. For me, compassion has been a very interesting concept to study from the Buddhist perspective. I have learned the importance of compassion and developed a desire to end the suffering of all, to be able to relate and feel the pain and sit with the sorrows of others, developing the urge to help them out of whatever they are in.
28. 7. *Causality/Conditionality
28.1. Causation is the fundamental process by which our phenomenal experience arises, comes into being, and passes away. Jay Feldman, Unit 5
28.2. My definition: the relationship between two things that affect and bring about a part of that experience's existence and vice versa.
28.2.1. It is related to the idea of karma, one action is the creates the condition for another experience to arise and that causes the next set of condition factors for the next phenomena. Also, very similar to ICA, every existence is made possible by all the cause and conditions of existence.