Contribution
Laura, Sabine
Summary
During his trip MR is frequently thinking about Tilopa and Milarepa, to whose lignage he belongs and who inspired him to start this journey.
Milarepa in particular lived a life of extremes, going from serious hardship to violence and revenge, to atonement and enlightenment. After many years of isolation and meditation in mountains caves he reach enlightenment and wanted to move to the village to alleviate the suffering of people, but his master Marpa encouraged him to continue the retreat as in this way he would touch with his example the lives of countless people.
Despite the extremes of Milarepa’s story, death and rebirth characterise everyone’s story. We are all transformed through love and loss, relationships, work, kindness and tragedy. We are all afraid of change because we identify with certain patterns of behaviour and giving them up can feel like death itself. We fear more that death of our ego, the fall off of our masks.
MR then makes a comparison of his present experience to the 6 realms of existence and the wheel of life, an intricated diagram of concentric circles. Each realm is characterised by an affliction. MR explains that each affliction has the capacity to be transformed into wisdom. They contain the seeds of liberation. The entire wheel is held in the grip of Yama, the Lord of Death.
The wheel signifies circularity, perpetration and suffering, yet every moment is an opportunity to wake up. If we do not become aware of why we behave the way we do, the patterns from the past that keep us spinning are reinforced by recurrent behaviour. This keeps us spinning in repetitive loops and narrows our options for finding out who we are.
The suggestion is to examine our mind and direct our behaviour.
Become aware that there is a gap in the transition between realms. In this gap we can experience a glimpse of emptiness as during the in breath and out breath.
When the train finally approached Varanasi, MR wrote: I am in the bardo of dying, trying to let go of my old life and not yet born into my new one. At least I am not stuck, I am moving.
The six realms and their afflictions
The Six Realms can be seen as a paradigm that describes when we lose contact with our natural state of being (our true nature, our basic goodness).
The three higher realms
God realm: the most pleasure-filled of all realms (result of god karma)
However, the pleasures lead to attachment, lack of spiritual pursuit and therefore no nirvana
characterized by: obliviousness, being set apart or above from others
Demi-gods (also jealous god realm): (sometimes ranked as one of the evil realms – includes anger and some supernatural powers)
Demi-gods are afflicted with jealousy. They fight with the Gods or trouble the humans. They accumulate karma and are reborn.
characterized by: competitiveness, jealousy, “I want to be the best”, “I don’t want the others to be better than me”
Human realm: realm filled with suffering and happiness (result of karma)
Humans know enough about suffering to want to bring an end to it, and they know enough about happiness to aspire to more of it.
characterized by: constantly looking for happiness and afraid of suffering, characterized by “If only I had”… more time, more money, better looks, a better spouse, a better job, a better house (but also the possibility of insight, wisdom, compassion)
The three lower realms
Animal realm: similar to a hellish realm, because animals are believed to be driven by impulse and instinct.
Animals prey on each other and suffer. Sometimes plants are counted to belong in this realm, with primitive consciousness.
characterized by: survival mode, a fear of being eaten (metaphorically), constantly on your watch, just trying to get by
Hungry ghost realm: (result of karma of excessive craving and attachments)
Hungry ghosts do not have a body. They are described as extremely thirsty and hungry, with very small mouths but very large stomachs
characterized by: “never enough”, insatiability, deficiency, impoverished mind
Hell realm: (result of evil karma such as theft, lying, adultery and others)
The texts vary in their details, but typically describe numerous hellish regions with different forms of intense suffering, such as eight extremely hot hellish realms, eight extremely cold, being partially eaten alive, beating and other forms of torture in proportion to the evil karma accumulated. These beings get reborn and get another chance.
characterized by: “you against me”, in opposition to everything: heat, fight, anger, enraged mind, hatred, no possibility to distinguish if things are really happening or if they are your state of mind.
What can we learn from studying the six realms?
MR suggests that we study the realms in order to learn something about the fluidity of the mind. Anything that demonstrates the constancy of change helps dismantle our attachment to fixity.
OUR NEUROTIC SPINNING CONTAINS THE SEED OF LIBERATION
Each realm is characterized by a prominent affliction and each affliction has the capacity to be transformed into wisdom.
For example, the horrific description of the hot and the cold hells do not point to the next life, but to this one. They help us to AWAKEN to the self-imposed punishment that anger inflicts. When we are angry, we punish ourselves AND others. Our equanimity evaporates. Our hearts shut down. The capacity to give and receive love freezes.
Practical Application
The wheel signifies circularity, perpetuation, and suffering. Yet, every moment provides a chance to wake up. When we become conscious of our behavior, we have the possibility to change and transform our tendencies. Our mental afflictions are not static, they do not represent the “real me”, but they can help us identify emotions. Instead of “This is how I am” we can say “This is how I sometimes feel”. When we take a step back, we find room for movement. Transformation can feel like death itself, but if we try to protect ourselves from this death, we perpetuate the very afflictions that keep us imprisoned.
With examination we can learn that there is always a gap, a moment of space in-between things that we assume are continuous. If you take an in-breath, every moment of this in-breath is a now-moment, but it is especially in the transition between in- and out-breath that our sensitivity to change is intensified.
Questions
1. What changes in our perception, when we look at our life as a series of lives with deaths and rebirths?
2. How would you relate to the 6 realms? Do you have any life experience to connect to one or more of them?
Meditation
On change
Sources
- Samsara – Wikipedia (Buddhism)
- Which realm do you hang out in? - Opening Heart Mindfulness Community (notes on a talk by Pema Chödrön)
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