2021-09-22-Karma/Dharma (3 of 5) Karma of Thinking

Insight Meditation Center14min

Gil Fronsdal

00:03

So continuing on this theme of the karmic and the dharmic streams of our lives. And for most people, the primary, the one that's primary in their lives biggest role is the karmic stream, then people don't understand what this is. And so they don't recognize it as such. It's just business as usual, with the karmic stream is what we can experience directly for ourselves, not the abstract ideas about it, or ideas that what happens over lifetimes and other grand ideas like that. But to start becoming sensitive to how it works, moment by moment, how it unfolds in our lives. And a couple of things about this karmic stream is that it is kind of a self generate perpetual motion machine, it's kind of self generating, that it's, it, it creates the conditions that prompt more of the same crazy conditions to create, to have more karmic activities. And what makes something karmic is that it's it, it conditions us, it affects us in such a way, that there's a continual motion of one after the other and kind of like, there's no stop or, or if there is stop, it's ready to kind of, it's there in the background as an influence, not to rear up and effected this further. And, and one of the best places to see this is in our thinking, because then we could see it operating kind of really moment by moment, or really up close. And you'll see it when, as one way to see it is when it kind of then is when thoughts are like monkeys, where the analogy that's classically used, is a monkey swinging in the trees and the branches. And as soon as it's grabbed one branch, it's already moving to grab the next one. And, and so we're up with one thought, and already there's a generation of the next one and moving on to the next and the next. And, and, and what we think, oftentimes, if it's karmic has a karmic way of thinking, that karmic way of thinking, leaves traces has an effect. It, it generates, further thinking generates a disposition, it creates a mood for for thinking in the future, that thinking is very seldom just, like empty. You know, just a whiff of thought that has no leaves, no traces has no influence on us. Oftentimes, in daily life, our thoughts do leave these traces these these influence on us. But we don't, there's sometimes a kind of subtle each individual thought, but the accumulation of many thoughts over a day over months, can be huge. And so it creates, it can create almost like a disposition in a person or a mood and a person. And sometimes these thoughts. The way that influence hypnosis, encourages more thinking. Another way we did that exercise a little while ago, but noticing what influence thoughts have on you. But you could also do it the other way, you can say, what is the mood? What's the, the emotion that's present for you? And how is that influencing your thinking? It goes both ways. It's kind of a cyclical, and this is kind of the often the cycle of birth and death can be seen in the cycles of the birth and death of thoughts, that

Gil Fronsdal

04:22

so when what comes first, is it an emotion or a mood that gives birth to thoughts, or his thoughts give birth to the mood or the emotional state? And, and so it can be both and sometimes it's productive to look and see, what is the influence that thinking has on us. And other times it's useful to look and see what is the influence of our mood into the thinking. And, but if we start seeing this cycle, we see that thinking is not free thinking is not free of any impact. There's a way which generates the very mood which prompts more thinking, or generates the kind of physical tension that prompts more thinking. And there's an analogy I like using occasionally and of, maybe you've heard of, if you take a tube of toothpaste that you keep squeezing it, the pace will keep coming out. And even if you want to stop coming out, and you keep wiping it off the opening the whip by wiping the paste away, it keeps coming out. And, and what you have to do is you have to stop squeezing, and then it might stop. And so sometimes our thoughts are that way, that if we're squeezing, if there's tension and tightness and pressure within us, we can let go of thoughts forever, but the pressure to think, will just generate more thoughts, more thoughts. And so what creates that pressure, it might be there was a thought there a certain way of thinking, that frightened us and so that, then there's tension in the body from that fear or that anxiety. And that anxiety then gives birth to more. So the, there's also positive karma, good karma, beautiful karma, that could be great. And that is to if we have beautiful thoughts, we have thoughts of generosity, of love of appreciation of other people. If we have thoughts of wisdom, and then those thoughts have a different kind of impact on our body, on our, on our, on our emotional life. And so, too. And so sometimes you can feel the impact out what's left behind. And sometimes it you know, it has to be quite strong, the impact to really feel it if you're not really subtle, and to Indian carefully. If, in sometimes it's really clear that the leftover Stay with us, if, you know, we really have a strong bout of resentment, and, and the jaw clenches and so they're that clenching of the jaw is the influence that thinking has on us. If I've had I've I've and that sometimes I've had a beautiful, wonderful thoughts of appreciation of other people and love for them. And I felt this warmth that kind of begins kind of traveling through me, that began with those thinking and imagining the people that I love and feeling the warmth that that goes on here. And anyway, so the good ones as well we can both of them. And now one of the qualities of karma, both good karma and, and, and so called bad karma, difficult karma, this momentum is that there's there's there keeps being this momentum keeps being this kind of something is operating, that's pushing us along. Karma is kind of a momentum, that's a keeps reappearing, keeps reoccurring keeps surfacing in us. And if that karmic stream is strong, or breath thinking is strong and active, and a lot of pressure to think, then it limits the operation of the dharmic stream is other whole side of who we are. And so and so to even even to have beautiful karma and good karma operating kind of is, is operating a little bit, it's kind of filling the space, that if we can create more space, and then there's a whole other way that operates that

Gil Fronsdal

08:57

comes from something I'd like to call it Shire inside of us something as quiet or something as easily eclipsed. And this is the the the upwelling of, of our native goodness, or upwelling of the unfolding of the Dharma within us. And a lot of this has to do with you know, this is a little bit you know, this language of inner goodness, innate goodness is kind of, you know, some people raise their eyebrows around that or this idea. But it's the karmic stream, that the dharmic stream it has to do a lot. What what gets left over when we stop the karmic stream, when it pauses. The karmic stream is little bit like Sisyphus, pushing a boulder up the street up the mountain. And it goes up and up and up and always rolling it up the mountain and the what the what the boulder wants to do is roll down to the bottom. And so when it gets to the top, it rolls down, he has to push it up again. And, and so the karma stream is kind of the pushing of our boulders pushing over our desires, our wants our concerns, our wishes, moving ahead, doing things with the mind, the wanting mind that desirous mind, the aversive mind, and all these kinds of things that are carrying that thinking along. And even even even the subtler desires of love and generosity are carrying it along. And, and so it creates a kind of, it's a work for the mind. Karma, the karmic mind is always working, it's always constructing. And so when, when the karmic work, the constructing mind stops, and there's space for something else to happen, there's starts to be an unwinding, the boulder rolls downhill, that tensions in the mind, the tensions in the body begin to dissolve. And when all these tensions are dissolve, it allows for something else to arise. And one of the things that can arise is a great delight and joy at this relaxing at this kind of having breathing room again, having a sense of like space and allowing a deeper feeling a felt sense connection to ourselves, a discovery of kind of a feeling of wholeness, that's very hard to feel when karma is operating, because it tends to karma always limits that Buddhist languages carmit karmic creates definition and limits to who we are what's going on, that doesn't allow us to see things as being whole. And as we relax those limitations, and a feeling of wholeness, feeling of freedom, feeling of ease begins happening. And then the quality of the thinking changes. And sometimes thinking has a quality of being more spontaneous and a certain way, wiser, more intelligent, thinking has a way of healing that it's light. And it doesn't that leave traces. It doesn't it's not a self generate generation. It's not like monkeys, one after the other, a thought arises and it's there and, and it's easy and light, and interesting, but it doesn't, there's no pressure associated with it. And, and the mind has a greater capacity for creativity and wisdom and even things like kindness and love, but not the one that is grabbing from one thing to the other. So so this is my attempt to try to kind of point you to some newer understanding of how the mind might work and how karma and Dharma might work. And perhaps I don't have it exactly right for you and but I'm hoping it's well enough that you can now investigate for yourself that you do the exercise the exploration for yourself and see how but what is what is Gil talking about here and what are these two streams do what you know anything about these two streams Can you recognize something that's the self generate generating perpetual motion machines of thoughts that are pushing in one thing and building and creating and, and then stream where that arises, without desire without pushing and pressure, but as is a delightful expression of freedom. So

Gil Fronsdal

13:58

thank you, and I look forward to continuing tomorrow.

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