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Godwin Samararatne
Discovering Meditation

Retreat at the Waldhaus
Day 8: The Four Noble Truths

Godwin: So what we will try to do now is to explore together the Buddha's teaching of the Four Noble Truths, and to see how far we can apply them in our daily life, in our spiritual life. Just using it as a model to free ourselves.

The Four Noble Truths are as follows: the first is Suffering; the second is The Cause of Suffering; the third is Freedom; and the fourth is The Way to Achieve Freedom. Or another way of stating it is to use the medical model; then the truths are: Sickness, The Cause of Sickness, Health, and The Course of Medicine. So in meditation what we are trying to do is to use the medicine.

Suffering

Now, the first question I would like to raise for discussion is: why did the Buddha call suffering a noble truth? How does suffering become a noble truth? What is so noble about suffering?

It's because we have to experience suffering to feel the need to be free of it. Unless we know that we are sick, the need to take medicine will not arise. There are people who are sick, but they do not know that they are sick. So the need to use the medicine, the need to find the medicine, does not arise. We deserve a big plus that we know: we know that there is a sickness and so then we are trying to discover the medicine and use it. So a big plus!

Let us spend some time with this aspect of suffering. There is another word which is interesting: disease. It means that you are not at ease. So we will explore some areas, some aspects of suffering or disease, not being at ease. Yesterday we realised that having relationships is not always easy. I feel that this is the biggest disease. Certainly it is a very important area as we discovered yesterday. And it is useful to reflect why this is such a big disease. What are the other forms of disease in this world?

Retreatant: Being hungry.

Godwin: I am happy that you mentioned it because in Sri Lanka people know what it is to feel hungry. Here I do not think that there are opportunities to experience it. Am I right?

Retreatant: I meant being mentally hungry.

Godwin: That is nicely put: being mentally hungry. So now we can find out which is the greatest suffering, whether it is physical hunger or mental hunger. It is an interesting area to explore. I think some of you may not even be aware of some forms of poverty. Sometimes it is good to be exposed to other cultures and different situations. Then you will realise what a lot of - how shall I put it - abundance and consumerism there is here. I will just give an example: when you come to the West there are so many choices. I am always being asked: Would you like this tea or that one or another one? Because there are so many varieties available.

One day I was taken by a friend of mine to have some ice cream, and there were about 30 varieties of ice cream! And I was asked to choose. I did not know how they would taste, so I just said: I would like this one. In Sri Lanka, no choices. In our Centre there are only limited choices, simple choices, like: do you drink water or do you drink tea? For breakfast there is only one meal. If you do not like it ... That reminds me: there was once a Western monk staying there and I always used to say to people: Try to eat the food here as if for the first time - that is a way of surviving here. But the monk said: I eat it as if for the last time!

So because of this affluence, in these affluent countries there is a disease which I call affluenza! Have you heard of this disease? It is very interesting to see the rest of the world suffering due to a lack of things, and here the suffering is due to affluence. I would like to say something about this on the last day also, because I feel this is something that it is important for you to reflect on. So this is one form of suffering. Anything else, any other forms of suffering?

Retreatant: There is suffering because of loneliness; and relationships are sometimes a cause of suffering.

Godwin: You speak of it as though from experience. It is quite true. Actually in Sri Lanka I meet both types of suffering: there are people who are single and alone, old and so on. This can really be a cause of suffering. Certainly when there is a war going on, such a lot of violence, tension, unrest around, it is not easy to live, it is not pleasant or satisfactory.

So there are these different types of suffering, but there is a very subtle kind of suffering that is presented in the Dhamma. Not to get what you want is certainly a source of suffering. But what is more subtle is that even to get what you want can also be a sort of suffering. Isn't it an important point for us to reflect upon?

Here you have so many toys, even grown-ups have so many toys! And then you feel that were you to get this toy or that one then you would be happy, you would be content, you would be satisfied. Perhaps one toy is to travel around the world. So you may be longing for that, and then you get it, but at the end of it there is nowhere else to go!

So this is why I said one has to have a deep sensitivity, a very deep sensitivity to be aware of these conditions, situations. It shows that the dimension of suffering has so many facets, so many aspects. And it is interesting that the Buddha started with this. Suffering is a fact. It is a fact that every human being can experience, has experienced.

The Cause of Suffering

Now the second noble truth is not so easy, not so clear. Because there you are told that the cause of suffering is your own models, your own expectations, your own ideas, your own assumptions, your own desires, your own wanting things to be only your own way. This is the cause of suffering.

I feel that the second noble truth is extremely important because only when you realise that can the third and the fourth noble truths follow. So we will spend a few minutes just reflecting on the implications of the second noble truth.

One point is that when you see this you have to take responsibility for what is happening inside yourself. This is not an easy teaching. To have complete self-reliance and to say: I create my own suffering and therefore only I can free myself. Because there are some easier teachings, where you are told: I will help you, you have only to trust or surrender to me and everything will be all right. You do not have to do anything, only have trust and have faith and believe and so on. So this second noble truth is an extremely radical teaching, and it is not an easy teaching.

What is also difficult and subtle is for you to fully realise this truth. Take the example I gave this morning: something that you consider as extremely precious, more precious than your life, and someone steals it. Then when you are suffering, when you are sad, someone asks you: Why are you sad, why are you suffering? You say: That person took my most precious possession. When we are angry sometimes we are asked: Why you are angry? We answer: This person hurt me, this person did such and such to me, that is why I am angry.

Freedom from Suffering

So you see the second noble truth is something very subtle to realise. When my precious possession has been stolen we say it is because this man stole it that I feel sad. But can I do something other than that?

Can I let go of my identification with what I consider as something very precious? And then you realise there is no suffering. So this is a very hard medicine. And in fact some medicines are not very pleasant, not very sweet. So this medicine that is presented is also not very easy.

Once I met a Tibetan monk and I asked him: Did you suffer when you were tortured? According to the Dhamma how do you see that? So he would say: I knew that it was because these people were torturing me that I am suffering. But as a meditator I had been practising very hard with physical pain, sitting for 2 or 3 hours at a stretch. So when they were torturing me I was trying to see how far I could work with the pain rather than hate the person torturing me. I tried my best to use the Buddha's medicine when I was suffering. Sometimes I was very successful and I had real gratitude for the Buddha's teaching; I saw that the medicine was working. And when the medicine was not working, when I was suffering, I thought: May I be able to practice more.

I read a very moving instance which is similar to this, but it was mentioned by a Christian priest. I do not know the details; he was being tortured in a prison, to get a confession out of him. And he was quite calm, silent. So the man who was torturing him said: Why don't you speak, don't you know that I can kill you? He answered: Don't you realise that my body is already dead? This is the medicine, it is difficult medicine, it is hard medicine. But it is based on an interesting principle.

The Way to Achieve Freedom

Now I would like to say something about what we do with the medicine. Because we are all here trying to take the medicine, trying to taste the medicine. But we can also be doing other very interesting things with the medicine.

One thing is that without taking the medicine we can read all about the prescription. So I know scholars in Sri Lanka - we have outstanding Buddhist scholars - who know the medicine from A to Z. And when you listen to them you feel that they have really taken the medicine. But they have only spoken from books. I was a librarian and I also considered books as toys. This can be a trap, where you are accumulating knowledge about the prescription, about the medicine, and talking to others about the medicine, but you have never tasted the medicine yourself.

Then there are other types of people who like to give the medicine to others but they never take it themselves. They are the so-called meditation-teachers! They are very good in getting others to take the medicine, saying: It is wonderful, it is great, and so on.

So you see there are many traps to fall into - I will mention some more. Another is you take the medicine for some time and you realise nothing is happening. So you try to change the medicine. Here in the West you have many medicines, sold in what I call spiritual supermarkets. You try one medicine for a few days. Maybe you see an advertisement and you go to try another medicine. You keep on changing them without really giving any of them a chance. Not really making a commitment to a particular medicine.

Then another thing some persons do is that they take the medicine only on meditation retreats. And they say: In everyday life I cannot take the medicine. It is just impossible. So I am waiting for retreats to take the medicine. So then they do one retreat after the other! This is another way of taking the medicine.

Then there is another very subtle way of using the medicine, where you use the medicine to do just what you like to do. I will give one or two examples. So one medicine that is offered is that you must learn to be kind to the body. So in everyday life you say: Getting up at 6 o'clock for meditating is not very nice to the body, getting up at 8:30 or 9.00 is good enough. And what is dangerous is that you are using the medicine to do only what you like to do.

Another very dangerous medicine is that according to the second noble truth people create their own suffering, so I can do anything I like to others. That is a very dangerous medicine. The Buddha has warned against that. He said it is like catching hold of a poisonous snake at the wrong end. In a relationship a so-called meditator doing that can inflict suffering on another person and then he says: Are you suffering? You are creating it yourself. You hurt your own mind. I am just doing what I should be doing. Very easy! You see how complicated human beings are. The medicine is for healing yourself and for healing others. But here you are using it in a very destructive way. So once again one has to be very clear, one has to be very sensitive.

This brings up the importance of having spiritual friends around. You should be very grateful for the feedback you get from them, because we sometimes have what are called blind spots where we cannot see things clearly ourselves. But with all these difficulties, with all these blind spots, if you can really take the medicine then you realise that the medicine is really helping you.

In practical terms what does it mean to say that the medicine is working? In simple terms it is where you realise your suffering is becoming less and less. Or to put it in more positive terms: you have more loving-kindness. Symptoms from the sickness will arise, as the monsters will arise, but you are very clear about the medicine and you have the confidence that the medicine is going to help you, because you know it through experience.

I am reluctant to speak about stages, but what I would like a meditator to achieve is such a state where he or she can say with complete self-confidence that the monsters will arise, but that there is no problem when they arise because I know the medicine that works. And then you come to a state where whether the monsters come or whether the monsters do not come makes no difference. Why? Because when they are there you know what to do. And when they are not there, you know that they are not there.

Another very important sign that the medicine is working is having loving-kindness towards other people. Where when you see people suffering from the same sickness, and when you realise that the medicine is working for you, you engage with them and say: Please try this. I think this is a very important aspect in our practice, to be able to give to others, to be able to help others. I was very happy to hear from the yoga teacher that her own teacher in the morning would say: Now whom can I help today? You can ask the question during the whole day: How can I help other people? And then do it.

This is a very good medicine, because otherwise, as I said on the first or second day, one of the dangers is that when you take to meditation, self-awareness, introspection, you become so preoccupied with yourself, you become so self-centred within yourself you have no regard for the people around you. This can be another danger of the medicine. So it is extremely important while helping yourself to help others also. In fact, it is a very effective medicine because otherwise with our problems, with our suffering, with our wounds we can really be preoccupied with them, overwhelmed by them, and not having any regard, any concern, any sensitivity for others. So this is an effective way to forget your worries, your concerns and see how far you can relate to another person.

I would just like to share an experience of a meditator at Nilambe. She had some deep wounds, deep problems. So in isolation she was being with them most of the time. Because this is a meditation centre, a retreat centre, you have a lot of time by yourself. And you can really be stuck in this inner world that you have created. So sometimes I encourage meditators to go and help people and to see the suffering of others. Because in Sri Lanka there are so many opportunities to see different forms of suffering. So she went to a place where there are retarded children, deformed children, and when she saw them with all their suffering her own suffering was forgotten and she forgot herself and picked them up and cared for them. There was an immense change in her.

Questions concerning the Four Noble Truths

I think I will stop now and if you have any questions, any disagreements, please present them: it is a very important theme.

Retreatant: Can there be suffering because of the desire of others, for instance when someone sexually assaults another person?

Godwin: I am happy you mention sexual assault, because I have been trying to help some people who have been sexually abused, and people who have been raped. So I will share very briefly how the medicine can be given in this situation.

One thing I realised from the victims was that they were very angry about the person who was responsible for that incident. When I worked with them I did not tell them about the second noble truth. I told them: Yes, you are suffering. All this has been created by the other person. I can understand your anger. As I said on a previous occasion I would tell them: Please go somewhere and show your anger, express your anger, bring it out.

Another thing I experienced with them is that they feel guilty, because they feel responsible for what the other person did to them. Here again I would tell them: It is natural that you feel guilty. But let us work slowly, gradually, gently to find out how far you can let go of the guilt. I do not tell them that the guilt is their own creation. I say: It is okay that you feel guilty, but see how far you can forgive yourself. It is not easy and it takes some time, but slowly, slowly the medicine may start to help.

Another thing I realised is the way they related to their body. Because it has happened to their body they hate their body; and sometimes they feel alienated from their body, they feel as if it is another's body. So when they tell me: Well, I feel as if this body is not mine, I do not say to them: This is the Buddha's teaching, this body is not yours. I tell them: It is natural that you should feel this way. And I have some exercises I give to people to work with the body.

So this is the beauty of the medicine, that it is so flexible, that it can be used in a very creative way, used where the person is. For such people I do not give a lecture on the Four Noble Truths!

Any other questions?

Retreatant: Can people be harmed by their education?

Godwin: I do not see a difference between sexual abuse and educational abuse. I meet both types of individuals. I meet individuals who have been abused by educational conditioning, their whole lives have been programmed by it. So it is again a matter of using the medicine very creatively so that that person can realise how he or she is affected by the coloured glasses of their education. And slowly, slowly to see whether they can catch glimpses of what happens when they do not wear coloured glasses.

Retreatant: Is suffering caused because of desiring itself or because of what you desire?

Godwin: It is your desire, it is your identification, it is your wanting, that causes suffering. When I spoke about the second Noble Truth, I said it is very subtle and that it is really not easy because you have to take responsibility. But when I meet a child or a sexually abused person I would never say: You have to take responsibility. When I work with children I never use the words meditation or Buddhism. As I said, this is the beauty of the medicine, you have to see what medicine is appropriate to give, when to give it, and how to give it. You should read the life of the Buddha. How he used the medicine with different people is very touching. I will tell a very touching incident that is mentioned:

A child maybe 5 or 6 years old suddenly came to the conclusion that her doll had died and she was urging her parents to invite the Buddha for the customary ceremony because the doll has died, and she would like the Buddha to come and officiate at it. I can visualise the scene:

The man goes before the Buddha and says: Please come for a ceremony. The Buddha replies: What is the ceremony for?

My daughter's doll has died.

What can I do when your daughter's doll has died?

Yet my daughter would like you to come and officiate at the ceremony.

Okay, I will come.

This is the beauty, that the Buddha can come down to the level of a child. I can relate many such stories which bring this out very well. He did not tell the Four Noble Truths to the daughter, or stress the second Noble Truth.

Any other questions please?

Retreatant: Why should there be different medicine for one person and for another ?

Godwin: There are some people who have the space, the clarity, the understanding to use the medicine for themselves. Then there are the people whom you meet attending the so-called psychiatric clinics, where I would not speak about the second Noble Truth. So there has to be a different kind of relationship with different people, a connection has to be built.

So this medicine of self-reliance: I must say honestly it is not what we want. You have to be really mature for it. But this is the beauty of the Teaching. In the Dhamma there is teaching for people at all levels.