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Layers of Emotion in Buddhism

GlowGlow Veteran
edited April 2009 in Buddhism Basics
My practice with Buddhism has opened up something that I never really noticed before: that is, how nuanced and complex the texture of emotion itself really is. This is something most Western psychologies tend to gloss over; you are either happy or sad, either troubled or at peace, either fearful or calm. Consequently, most such psychologies focus on vanquishing "negative emotions" and cultivating the "positive" ones. Likewise, many Westerners (myself among them) walk into meditation practice with this mindset: they use meditation as a way of establishing peace and happiness, and eliminating the less sunny aspects of human emotion.

Buddhism, on the other hand, opens one to not only the possibility, but the reality, of experiencing simultaneous turmoil and peace with that turmoil. Before I started practicing, I never realized that I could be calm in my fear, extend a friendliness towards my sadness or preoccupation.

In this way, we can notice that there are emotions that seem to dominate our experience - those at the surface, calling out for immediate action - but beneath which is an underlying layer of peace and comfort with the realities of this world as a place of death as well as life, pain as well as joy.

I like the following story (I believe it is a Mahayana discourse, but I'm not sure), that I found in Ezra Bayda's book Being Zen:
Once a farmer went to tell the Buddha about his problems. He described his difficulties farming – how either droughts or monsoons complicated his work. He told the Buddha about his wife – how even though he loved her, there were certain things about her he wished to change. Likewise with his children – yes, he loved them, but they weren’t turning out quite the way he wanted. When he was finished, he asked how the Buddha could help him with his problems. The Buddha replied, “I’m sorry but I can’t help you.”
“What do you mean?” railed the farmer. “You’re supposed to be a great teacher!”
The Buddha replied, “Sir, it’s like this. All human beings have eighty-three problems. It’s a fact of life. Sure, a few problems will go away now and then, but soon enough others will arise. So we’ll always have eighty-three problems.”
The farmer responded indignantly, “Then what’s the good of all your teaching?”
The Buddha said, “My teaching can’t help with the eighty-three problems, but it can help with the eighty-fourth problem.”
What’s that?” asked the farmer.
“The eighty-fourth problem is that we don’t want to have any problems.”
Although we may not realise it, we all have a deep-seated belief that if we practice long and hard enough, our problems will go away. And beneath that belief lies an even deeper one: that our life should be free from pain.
Although these beliefs are what bring us to practice, a life free of difficulties is not what practice is about. Practice is about becoming awake to the truth of who we are. As we practice, our relationship to our problems may, in fact, become less burdened. But as conditioned beings, living in a messy world, we will always have difficulties. We will always have eighty-three problems.

Comments

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2009
    Nice post.

    Good to meet you Glow, welcome to our modest little 'home' - !!
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited March 2009
    Ditto to that! Great post, Glow. The kind of post I'll be coming back to a lot because there's a lot there to think about. Thank you!
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited March 2009
    Hello Glow, nice to see you again, I too enjoyed reading your post.

    .
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2009
    Very nice. I used to think that if I just sat on my cushion until I reached satori (accompanied, of course, with huge thunderclaps and other signs of enlightenment) that that would be it. I'd be happy forever, and nothing could ever touch me. HA! Silly me!

    Palzang

    PS Welcome, Glow. Keep 'em comin'!
  • GlowGlow Veteran
    edited March 2009
    Thankyou for the warm welcome, guys. :) I look forward to the discussions here and learning a lot from you.
  • sarasara
    edited April 2009
    Lovely post Glow, nice to meet you.

    I'll be printing that off to re-read and re-read!
  • JasonJason God Emperor Arrakis Moderator
    edited April 2009
    Welcome, Glow. That reminds me of something a friend of mine once said concerning samara and nirvana. He said "... it seems to me that the separation of samsara and nirvana, is part of samsara. So the flowing river embodies the peace its rapids contradict. Blake says: 'Eternity is in love with the productions of time.'"
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