2023-01-04-Gil-What is the Dharma? (3 of 5) Dharma as Truth

6:26PM Jan 4, 2023

Speakers:

Gil Fronsdal

Keywords:

relatedness

dharma

actions

impact

word

consequences

truth

buddhism

greed

karma

activity

beneficial

hostility

live

world

relationship

important

talk

excessive

non harming

So hello, everyone. This is a third talk on the topic of what is the dharma. And this is a very multi, Vaillant word and Buddhism in India in general. And in Buddhism, there's many different meanings attributed to this word was used in all kinds of ways. And some of the traditional classical commentaries have long lists of all the different meanings of the word dharma. And, but I started this week by talking about how dharma has to do with our the relatedness between things, how things exist, dependent or in support of other things, that things arise in relationship to other things being present. And so the dharma has to do with that relatedness. And it's nice to begin that talk talking about dharma to really emphasize relatedness relationships, first and foremost, as opposed to me myself in mind, just you know, independent of the world and anything else. And then yesterday, I talked about how dharma sometimes one of those many meanings that it has, is different variations of the word action, conduct, and often it refers to good conduct. But sometimes it refers to bad conduct to like monastics when they turn transgression of their monastic rules is sometimes called the dhamma, the dharma. So but the emphasis here is action to do activity, and that in so many different ways, this early tradition focuses on dynamic quality of life. And, and where maybe activity is a better word than action, the activity of life, the activity of, of phenomena, that everything is in motion, everything is moving. And, and then the today, what I like to emphasize, is the meaning of this, we live more common, meaning for dharma that's often called upon or highlighted. And that is dharma can mean truth. But that requires some explanation of what truth means. And, and here in this dharmic consequence, context, the primary truths that we're looking for, like the Four Noble Truths are truths of that of what happens in the relationship, what the impact our actions have on other things, so we live in relatedness, our actions, impact or have been a part of that relatedness. And so that and so our actions affect the quality of what transpires in the association, the connection, the relatedness, the, the support, the the impact of what comes as a result of the action. And so dharma has, as truth has to be very important to begin understanding a few things about the impact of action, the the, so the impact on others, and impact on ourselves. And so, so that seeing the truth of that is important. Because if you understand the impact of your actions, then you can adjust your actions, so they impact you can take responsibility for it more. So if the impact is harmful, you would stop doing if it's beneficial, you would continue. And if it's a combination of both, then we have to use our best wisdom to figure out what the wisest way forward is. But this care and sensitivity to impact is, is a very important part of this dharma as a truth to see, oh, what I do has consequences. And this is a very simplest way of describing the Buddhist principles of karma is that karma is the teaching that Are the idea the insight, the truth, that some of our actions have consequences are all actions have consequences, one way or the other. And, and we have some choice about what consequences we create in this world. And the ones that, again, to simplify it to kind of the core truth around this, about this focus on consequence impact of our actions, is to really understand what is harmful, and what is not. And to avoid harm to harmful actions, to avoid causing harm in the world best we can. And avoid causing harm to ourselves. And this so this idea, the truth, caught dharma is Truth is a truth that we can see and know for ourselves. We can know if we're paying attention, if what we're doing is harmful. And if we're very attentive, we can feel the harm not necessarily in the impact, but also, not only in the impact, but also in the in the activity itself. That if we do something with hostility, that has a negative consequence, maybe for others, it has a negative consequence for us in the future, perhaps. But it also has negative consequences in the moment, because hostility itself involves stress involves tension involves dukkha, pain, there's pain in the very nature and the very activity of of hostility, agreed the same way, that yes, greed can cause problems in the world and human greed. You know, it's, it's, it's monumental, that the impact now on the planet of the way the greed and desire of certain individuals, many individuals, all individuals, the cumulative effect. And but the very act of having greed, there's something very different than greed than just open ended desire. Greed itself is painful, it's an activity which has pain within it has dukkha within it. And so to begin seeing, the truth of consequence, the truth of not only consequence, but the then we see better, the, the, the, the, where, you know, how it is, that what we're doing what it is that we're doing, that has this negative consequence. And, and so, the truth of really seeing this here, and this is one of the reasons why mindfulness practice is so effective, so important in Buddhism, because mindfulness practice is not just to be in the present moment to enjoy your tea and enjoy the sunrise the moment here, but more important, so we can see this really carefully, and maybe even minute Lee, the impact of this relate in this related world that we live in, how our actions have impact, have consequences. And, and to see that, if I cling, any craving and clinging, bring suffering, at a minimum to oneself, and and many times to others as well. And so, to be able to, so when we're doing this, we're also entering into this world, where dharma in the etymological origin of the word means the kind of means that kind of a little bit of a modern construction based on the etymology of different elements of it, but it's the, the, the way in which the coordinated cooperative nature of reality, so either supports us, or, or, or doesn't, undermines us, and the dharma, the word dharma is often focused on it's often considered a very positive word. Not always, but it's almost synonymous with like the, the, the dharma is the actions, which are healthy and wholesome and supportive. And dharma is the support that that's offered the help that's offered the benefit that that's offered. And so when we talk about the dharma, the Buddhist dharma at the big part of it, then is that supportive that helpful at benefit short action, that because all action is in relationship to other things,

then has beneficial consequences for these other things in place, whether it's within ourselves psychologically, or whether it's out in the world, dharma encompasses all of it. So So a simple way of saying what I'm saying today is that if car karma is the attention to the consequences of our actions, then karma is dharma, dharma is karma. And the two can be really teased apart. So we have relatedness. And to be sensitive to the kind of the invisible relationships invisible, and that, you know, you can't, you know, the relatedness often can't be touched or seen literally, we can, can know it and recognize it, in the impact in the it goes on and in the source in ourselves. But to start being attuned to that, which is the relatedness in all things still, to go out and look at a tree and, and appreciate the relatedness we have to the tree, that the tree produces oxygen and takes our carbon dioxide and converts it into oxygen again, and we live in dependence of it, that one way or the other, we live in dependence on the clouds and the rain. That brings us you know that for the water age, we we live we drink. And so to start looking at the at the relatedness and the mutual support and the back and forth. And, and to appreciate that to how we live in this world, the actions that we do, are they beautiful, to walk in beauty is a Native American expression. The word good karma and Buddhism, literally the word for that is sometimes his beautiful karma, beautiful actions, to live in a world where our actions related world with actions that are beautiful, and beautiful, focuses also on the want the beauty and wonderfulness of the impact of our actions. So I want to review all this, because I would like to propose that this is a radically different way of understanding the world, looking at the world, being in the world participating in the world, then an excessive focus on oneself, as a static thing is all about me and what I get from myself, or excessive focus on the world out there. But that are things that things have to be a certain way. And but it's more important than things is the relatedness. And when we have the relatedness, then we have the ability to see the truth of how our actions impact that relatedness and, and spillover. And for the path of freedom, that this is where the domain, this is the area of attention, to go forward into freedom, excessive focus on the self without how things within us even relate to each other. And the relatedness kind of takes it away little bit from the sense of self appropriation everything into self. What is it? And so for today, if you'd like to have an assignment to kind of carry this forward and explore it for yourself in a quiet way, in a sense, you know, no one has to know you're doing this. As you go about your day, both. Leave it with the inanimate world, the living world, the human world around you as you interact with them. Give attention to the impact that you have the consequences from what you say what you do and what you think. And what you're saying what you do might be impactful for others, what you think might be impactful for you and see the truth of that that impact and see if for the truth. The value then, of finding the way to non harming, maybe being beneficial. So dharma, I'm hoping you'd begin to appreciate his his powerful multi veil and rich word word that kind of opens up the world in in such a wonderful way. So thank you