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The 2nd Noble Truth in Buddhism points to the causes of suffering (the tendency to add extra stuff on top of existence). I would like to suggest you inquire into this truth for yourself. What is truth? In this moment what is here now and what is the extra stuff added to experience. Who are you?
I went to the InsightLA speaker series a couple of weeks ago and Robert Thurman said, “The 2nd Noble Truth is you against the universe, the universe wins.” As I sit with this statement, I begin to wonder exactly what he meant by you. And of course if a huge tornado comes through your backyard, the universe will naturally win. At some point, I must turn my attention inward to question the internal process of the mind.
As I look closely, it becomes apparent that there is a tendency of identification that happens. We become engrossed in our experiences, sensations, stories, ideas, and beliefs of who we are. We are born into the world of form. We become someone each minute with each breath. And at the same time, the more we recognize this pattern we can begin to drop away from all this. We can stand back and realize that with each breath we also die. The gap in between is there all the time.
This process is natural. It is simple. We cloud it up with our expectations and with the grasping motion of the mind. We want keep the pleasant and get rid of the unpleasant. This is natural. Who wants pain? When we relax into death and birth we can sit with the joy and pain in the moment. We can begin to recognize where we stumble and where we get sucked into thinking this is really who we are. We can wake up to knowing the deep truth of being alive and even if there is loss or grief, there is no need for anything extra.
I am. I am a wife, student, teacher, etc. One place I am one way and another place I am another way. When the process of identity is fluid we can flex and flow in the moment without forcing it to be a certain way. It is what the mind does. It is part of who we are. We are children of the divine and with that we individualize. We separate out to realize that the child is still part of its mother. It will always have part of its mother and father. We just get lost in misunderstanding. We take our body, mind, and spirit to be ours. And they are and they aren’t. We can see all of this arising, being, and passing away. Who we are is both solid and flexible. We can change in the moment and at the same time we can rest between form and emptiness. We can be suspended in midair.
