Quotes on Doubt & Step Two

NOTE: This week at the group we talked about working with doubt in our meditation practice and as related to Step Two ("Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity"). Below are some quotes I shared related to this topic in case you want to read them for further reflection:

Seeking the Heart of Wisdom by Joseph Goldstein & Jack Kornfield, pg. 35:

Doubt can be the most difficult of all (the hindrances) to work with, because when we believe it and get caught by it, our practice just stops cold. We become paralyzed. All kinds of doubt might assail us; doubts about ourselves and our capacities; doubts about our teachers; doubts about the dharma itself—“Does it really work? I sit here and all that happens is my knees hurt and I feel restless. Maybe the Buddha didn’t really know what he was talking about.” We might doubt the practice or doubt that it is the right practice for us. “It’s too hard. Maybe I should try Sufi dancing.” Or we think it’s the right practice but the wrong time. Or it’s the right practice and the right time, but our body’s not yet in good enough shape. It doesn’t matter what the object is; when the skeptical, doubting mind catches us, we’re stuck.

A Burning Desire by Kevin Griffin, pg. 150:

Ultimately, I think we should be most concerned, not about the accuracy of our beliefs, but about their efficacy. Oftentimes I can’t know if they are true, but I can usually tell if they are helping me or not. And that’s what I want to know. Are my beliefs leading to the end of suffering?

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions, pg. 29: 

Now we come to another kind of problem: the intellectually self-sufficient man or woman. To these, many AA’s can say, “Yes, we were like you—far too smart for our own good. We loved to have people call us precocious. We used our education to blow ourselves up into prideful balloons, though we were careful to hide this from others. Secretly, we felt we could float above the rest of the folks on our brainpower alone. Scientific progress told us there was nothing man couldn’t do. Knowledge was all-powerful. Intellect could conquer nature. Since we were brighter than most folks (so we thought), the spoils of victory would be ours for the thinking. The god of intellect displaced the God of our fathers. But again John Barleycorn had other ideas. We who had won so handsomely in a walk turned into all-time losers. We saw that we had to reconsider or die. We found many in AA who once thought as we did. They helped us to get down to our right size. By their example they showed us that humility and intellect could be compatible, provided we placed humility first. When we began to do that, we received a gift of faith, a faith which works. This faith is for you, too.”

A Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield, pg. 160

(The Buddha says:) You may be puzzled, Kalamas, and in doubt, and your doubt has arisen about what should be doubted. Do not believe me either. If you wish to know spiritual truth, you must investigate it this way… (continues on--click here for full sutta)

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn, pg. 8:

While it may be simple to practice mindfulness, it is not necessarily easy. Mindfulness requires effort and discipline for the simple reason that the forces that work against our being mindful, namely, our habitual unawareness and automaticity, are exceedingly tenacious.

Rumi Poem (from January 14 Group)

"The Guest House"
by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Berkeley Dharma & Recovery Schedule

The Berkeley Dharma & Recovery Group meets weekly each Tuesday night at the Northbrae Community Church in Room #1 from 7:30 - 9 pm. We meditate for the first 30 minutes, then have a short talk and discussion on topics related to the intersection of Buddhist practice and recovery from addictions of any kind. Here's the upcoming schedule for the rest of this year:

Tuesday, December 17 - Walt Opie

Tuesday, December 24 - NO GROUP DUE TO HOLIDAY

Tuesday, December 31 - NO GROUP DUE TO HOLIDAY

Note: The group will resume on Tuesday, January 7. In the meantime, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

Akron AA Pamphlet Quote on Buddhism

Last week I mentioned an old AA pamphlet Kevin Griffin showed me that directly references Buddhism. Here is what it says: 

"Consider the eight-part program laid down in Buddhism: Right view, right aim, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindedness and right contemplation. The Buddhist philosophy, as exemplified by these eight points, could be literally adopted by AA as a substitute for or addition to the Twelve Steps. Generosity, universal love and welfare of others rather than considerations of self are basic to Buddhism."

Berkeley Dharma & Recovery Schedule for November 2013

Here's the upcoming schedule for November:

Nov. 5 - Walt Opie

Nov. 12 - Walt Opie

Nov. 19 - Kevin Griffin

Nov. 26 - Walt Opie

Ryokan Poem

[Note: I read this poem to the group recently and was asked to post it here. Photo by Walt Opie taken in Bali.]

Leave off your mad rush for gold and jewels--
I've got something far more precious for you:
A bright pearl that sparkles more brilliantly than the sun and moon
And illuminates each and every eye.
Lose it and you'll wallow in a sea of pain;
Find it and you'll safely reach the other shore.
I'd freely present this treasure to anyone
But hardly anyone asks for it.

-from "Dewdrops on a Lotus Leaf: Zen Poems by Ryokan"
(translated by John Stevens)

The Bamboo Acrobat Sutta

SN 47.19 Sedaka Sutta: The Bamboo Acrobat

translated from the Pali by Andrew Olendzki
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn47/sn47.019.olen.html

[The Buddha addressed the monks:]

Once upon a time, monks, a bamboo acrobat, setting himself upon his bamboo pole, addressed his assistant Medakathalika (which literally means "Frying Pan"): "Come you, my dear Medakathalika, and climbing up the bamboo pole, stand upon my shoulders." 

"Okay, master" the assistant Medakathalika replied to the bamboo acrobat; and climbing up the bamboo pole she stood on the master's shoulders.  

So then the bamboo acrobat said this to his assistant Medakathalika: "You look after me, my dear Medakathalika, and I'll look after you. Thus with us looking after one another, guarding one another, we'll show off our craft, receive some payment, and safely climb down the bamboo pole."  

This being said, the assistant Medakathalika said this to the bamboo acrobat: "That will not do at all, master! You look after yourself, master, and I will look after myself. Thus with each of us looking after ourselves, guarding ourselves, we'll show off our craft, receive some payment, and safely climb down from the bamboo pole. That's the right way to do it!" 

[The Buddha said:]

Just like the assistant Medakathalika said to her master: "I will look after myself," so should you, monks, practice the establishment of mindfulness. You should (also) practice the establishment of mindfulness (by saying) "I will look after others."  Looking after oneself, one looks after others. Looking after others, one looks after oneself.  And how does one look after others by looking after oneself? By practicing (mindfulness), by developing (it), by doing (it) a lot. And how does one look after oneself by looking after others? By patience, by non-harming, by lovingkindness, by caring (for others). (Thus) looking after oneself, one looks after others; and looking after others, one looks after oneself.

Key Principle:

BY PROTECTING ONESELF, ONE PROTECTS OTHERS.

Translator’s Note (by by Andrew Olendzki): 

What a vivid image of insight meditation!

The practice of mindfulness requires the focused attention of an acrobat balancing on a bamboo pole. One lapse, one moment of distraction or carelessness, and he tumbles to the ground. The picture is one of intensive inner awareness and concentration — almost a matter of life and death. [And for alcoholics/addicts it literally can be a matter of life and death. -Walt]

But the Buddha's parable goes even further, for the safety and well being of the bamboo acrobat's beloved assistant also hangs upon the master's successful practice of mindfulness.

The story is telling us that ultimately we are responsible for our own balance, and would be foolish to direct our attention to others while neglecting our own inner focus. And yet others are directly affected by how well we do this. Insight meditation is not a selfish undertaking, because the quality of our interaction with all those around us depends on the degree of our own self-understanding and self-control.