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Guided Meditation: "No-ingly" Aware; Dharmette: Buddha Before Buddhism (2 of 5) Not Clinging to Views - Gil Fronsdal

The following talk was given by Gil Fronsdal at Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA on December 03, 2024. Please visit the website www.audiodharma.org for more information.

Guided Meditation: "No-ingly" Aware

Hello and welcome to our meditation session. I am delighted to see the names I recognize, as well as some names I don't see very often. I am just very happy you are here.

Yesterday, the theme was "saying yes"—not to accept everything, but to say yes to the possibility of neither accepting nor rejecting. To say yes to letting go of our clinging, preoccupations, and concerns. We aren't accepting or rejecting our concerns; we are saying yes to something better. We say yes to the awareness that knows it, yes to freedom, and yes to the space between the knowing and what is known. There is a distance, a spaciousness there. To enter into this quiet, still awareness—knowing recognition of things in a peaceful way—is so good.

Whatever comes into awareness, we say yes. Not to reject it, condemn it, accept it, or praise it, but to say yes to that which holds it—that which is bigger and freer. It doesn't matter what object is coming into awareness; what is important is the fact that we are aware.

The same movement can happen with saying "no." Sometimes, "no" is really helpful. When we are meditating, we aren't just addressing our conscious mind—who we think we are when we are thinking—but sometimes we are addressing subconscious parts that are perhaps not so rational, wise, or developed. Maybe there is a childlike part of our subconscious.

I learned raising children that they were actually happier sometimes when we made very clear lines of what they could not do. We said "no," and then they knew the limits and felt secure within them. They knew they could find their way and what to do. When they didn't have limits, they were stretching against the outer rim to see how far they could go—where is it still safe? It is almost like they needed to have clarity about the zone of safety.

There might be a subconscious part of you where a loving "no" is really helpful. Rather than going off into thoughts and concerns on automatic pilot, or repeating the same loops of desires or aversions over and over again, the subconscious hears from you: "No." No, this is not healthy. This is not necessary. This is not the way forward. Just a "no."

With a "no" to that, there becomes an alternative. We don't move away from something or reject it, but find a wider, more expansive way of being. If we said "no" to our young kids, we didn't say "no" and pivot around and walk away. It was a "no" where we would stand there and just be there—loving, clear, and available. When they were really small, we would sometimes get down to their level so they would not see us towering over them, and say, "No, you can't do that."

If you find yourself preoccupied, caught up in thoughts, desires, or feelings, gently, kindly, but clearly—with a non-aggressive strength—say "no." You might have to experiment with saying that a few times until you find how "no" is being said from a very quiet, peaceful place deep inside that is independent from what you are saying no to. You are not rejecting it; you are becoming bigger and more expansive. You are creating the larger room to hold it so it knows you are here and safe, but "I'm not going to play with you." No.

Assuming a meditation posture, if you are sitting cross-legged on the floor, maybe it is nice to be at the level of your subconscious. Gently close your eyes and take a few long, slow, deep breaths. Settle in as you exhale.

Let your breathing return to normal. With a normal breath, continue to relax your body and settle in for a few breaths.

Center yourself at the place that is your central focal point for breathing. Even if you have a wide area, center yourself in the middle of that area. For a few breaths, relax and settle into that central focus point.

On the exhales, relax the thinking mind. Then, again, center yourself on your breathing. You might limit the "no" practice to discursive thinking—to thinking about anything which is not the meditation. Whenever you inhale, let that inhale come along with a gentle, kind "no" to whatever thinking has arisen. On the exhale, let the thinking mind be quieter and stiller.

Say gently to yourself "no" as you inhale. No to thinking anymore. The word "no" has a delightful wordplay between N-O and K-N-O-W.

And to keep you engaged, you might reverse it. Say to yourself on the inhale "Know" (K-N-O-W)—know what is here, know if you are thinking. On the exhale, let go of thinking with a "No" (N-O). Maybe an extended "no," almost like a mantra.

As we come to the end of the sitting, take a few moments again to relax the body as you exhale. Maybe relaxing micro-muscles throughout the body, softening. Relaxing micro-muscles in the mind, in the brain, in the head where you think—a softening on the exhale.

Relax your emotional center, maybe in the heart area or wherever it might be for you. Relax the micro-muscles associated with feeling emotions, mood, and attitude. Appreciate whatever degree of calm, subtleness, or relaxation is here for you in the body, in the mind, in the chest.

For a few moments, appreciate how you are breathing with how you are. With a gentle "no" to anything that takes you away from the settled way that you are, so you can better feel and sense how you are at the end of this meditation.

With whatever way you are aware in your subtle state, gaze upon the world kindly. Bring to mind the people and activities you will be doing today, and wish everyone—yourself included—well-being, calm, peace, support, love, and care.

May we end this meditation with a wish to bring with us into the world today an aspiration to live for the welfare and happiness of all beings, self included.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be free.

Thank you.

Dharmette: Buddha Before Buddhism (2 of 5) Not Clinging to Views

Hello everyone, and welcome. Today I am continuing to introduce to you this ancient text. It contains perhaps the earliest teachings we have of the Buddha. The language is archaic, and the context is old—before all the teachings of Buddhism built up over the forty or forty-five years in which the Buddha taught. He slowly built up and expanded on his teachings, organizing them in various ways. We certainly know that after he died, his teachings kept being organized, expanded, and added to. Much of how we understand Buddhism as a religion wasn't there at the very beginning, where the message was very simple.

I have this image of this man living outdoors, mostly wandering around India as a monastic, meditating much of his time. He was available to meet people, walking around and encountering those inspired by his peace and presence. He would offer teachings that were very simple.

These teachings are in this book that I call the "Book of Eights." The Pali word is Atthakavagga¹, which means the "Chapter of Eights." It is in my book that I published through Shambhala called The Buddha Before Buddhism, and I'm going to talk today about the first of four themes that exist in this book.

The first theme is letting go of views—letting go of opinions regarding religious doctrine or spiritual ideas. Having a view that we should stop for red traffic lights is not a problem, but having metaphysical views about "Ultimate Reality"—views about what is really true—can be. People often want to know what's true and want to hold on to the truth; they "have" the truth, they "know" the truth. The Buddha was very sensitive to the movement of clinging to so-called truths, doctrines, and ideas. Sometimes we cling to things that can't really be known for ourselves but are clung to out of faith, intuition, logic, or because "my teachers told me it's true" or "it's in my sacred text."

None of those sources of truth were interesting or reliable for the Buddha. What was reliable was what we can experience for ourselves. The primary thing that he kept pointing to in this early text was non-clinging: not clinging to anything. The absence of clinging is where peace is found. As long as there is any clinging at all, the Buddha understood that there is agitation. Without clinging, there is no agitation.

One of the primary things he was concerned about—and this ancient text talks about it repeatedly—is clinging to religious doctrines, ideas of what is "Ultimate," and clinging to what we think is ultimately true. He was very aware that in saying this, he was going against the current of the different religions of his time in India. There were lots of religious teachers who held up "this is true, this is true." In fact, back then there was apparently a rich culture of debate where religious teachers came together to debate in the presence of judges, who would then decide who had the best arguments to champion the truth.

The Buddha didn't participate in these debates. As you will see today, he saw the debates as being pointless.

The predominant teaching regarding views is the importance of not clinging to any opinions, philosophy, doctrines, or religious teachings. That is a powerful message. As I wrote in my introduction to the book:

This includes views about ultimate religious truth. The text teaches that to find peace, a follower should shake off every view without embracing or rejecting anything.

Shaking off views without embracing or rejecting anything—this includes views about views. A number of verses are critical of any assertion that one's own religious beliefs are the truest or best, while others are inferior. For many readers, this seeming "no view" teaching is a radical message. It undermines the importance of doctrines that underlie many religious traditions, including some Buddhist ones. The teachings in the Atthakavagga provide no support for the idea that one should believe teachings just because they are found in certain Buddhist texts—including this one.

Finally, the goal of practice is often described in terms of letting go of views. Those who have realized the goal, called the sages, are not attached to views and so avoid debates, quarrels, and any conceit that their views are better than others. Letting go of their attachments, sages have no need for any doctrine in terms of theories, abstract concepts, or beliefs. With no reliance on any doctrines, the wise person does not oppose anyone else's doctrine.

This is a wonderful teaching that appears in this text: not to oppose other people's teachings. Have no views, including views about other people. This is stated explicitly in the following verse:

They, the wise ones, are not an enemy to any doctrine seen, heard, or thought out. Not forming opinions, not shutting anything out, and not filled with desires. They are sages, wise ones, who have laid their burden down.

In ancient India, there was a lot of emphasis on purity—attaining some kind of religious purity, doing rituals to purify oneself, and somehow tapping into the highest purity there is. That notion of purity was a very important doctrine. So the Buddha says:

They say, "Only here is purity, only here in these doctrines." They say no other doctrines are pure. Entrenched in truths of their own, they call good what they're attached to.

Lusting for debates and plunging into assemblies, they take each other to be fools. They speak relying on what others have said. Passionate for praise, they call themselves skillful.

Wishing for praise while debating in an assembly, they become anxious. Refuted, they become depressed. Criticized and shaken, they seek their opponent's faults. One whose doctrine is called deficient by the judges, rejected, will then despair and grieve. The inferior debater moans, "I have been defeated."

Renunciants² are elated and deflated by the disputes that arise among them. Seeing this, you should abstain from disputes. They provide no benefit other than being praised.

When being praised for proclaiming their creed in assembly, they laugh and become conceited, having gotten what they wished. While that conceit is a basis for distress, they still speak with arrogance and pride. Seeing this, one shouldn't dispute. "Disputes don't lead to purity," say those who are skilled.

The Buddha continues:

Wishing for an opponent, you roar like a hero nourished on royal food. Run off, oh hero, to where the fight is! As before, there is no fight here.

In other words, the Buddha is not going to debate with anyone. That's not the place to get into a debate.

If grasping to a view and disputing, they say, "This alone is true." Tell them: "In this dispute, you have no opponent here." What opponent would you get from those who live without opponents, who don't counter views with views, who don't grasp anything here as ultimate?

For now that you've come here speculating, thinking out viewpoints with your own mind, you're paired with someone cleansed, and so you can't proceed.

There is no way of engaging in debate with someone who is not involved with debating right and wrong, or with ideas of ultimate truth. I find this delightfully refreshing. Without wanting to criticize any views, it is a critique of any clinging to views. It is not even a critique of people clinging to views; it is simply that the sage, the wise person, doesn't get entangled in the world of views. They are not involved in being "for" or "against" religious ideas, spiritual ideas—even Buddhist ones.

They don't argue for the "true teachings" of the Buddha, saying, "This is what's really important, it's all about not-self," or "It's all about emptiness," or "This is the most important thing and we have to teach this or debate this."

What this ancient text points to over and over again is not a doctrine, not a belief, but the simple act of not clinging. Simple, but profound. A non-clinging that brings with it a peace. To be deeply at peace, deeply experiencing a sense of well-being.

The primary goal in this ancient text is defined by peace, not by "Enlightenment" (I think the word Enlightenment exists in the texts, but it's not the focus) or "Liberation." These are more important later in Buddhism. But peace is something simple. Peace is something human. I love the very deep human, naturalistic quality of this teaching.

Find your peace by non-clinging, and then live a life engaged and active in the world—but don't give up on that non-clinging. There is a gentle "no" you can say to any tendency to cling to anything. Stay close to your peace.

Thank you.