BASIC BUDDHIST IDEAS
These meditation sessions got their start with specific mindfulness teachings of the Buddha. In these sessions I talked about Buddhist ideas.
One thing that you need to understand about the Buddha is that he spent six years in quiet meditation. Finally he made a resolution:
‘I shall sit under this tree and meditate upon my questions. And I shall not move until I have my answers. Even if my skin rots and my body decays, I shall not budge till I see the light,’
He spent seven weeks under the Bodhi tree without moving. During this time he was closely observing himself. He came to understand reality as it is. This means he became able to see his own mind and how it creates its own reality based on preferences and aversions, preferences and aversions that become your own conditioning. He was able to see all of this, and in that seeing, became free of it all.
So Buddhism is based on deep and careful examination of one’s own existence, not on some kind of mystical experience.
The basic practice: calming the mind and generating deep insight apply to all kinds of Buddhist meditation, both mindfulness and loving‐
kindness – metta – meditation. Buddha actually practiced mindful breath watching to find enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.
From this examination and understanding Buddha taught for 45 years. There are many teachings attributed to him directly. Sometimes I talk about some basic ideas, ideas that underlay all of his teachings.
The first of Buddha’s teachings is Impermanence. The Pali word, the language of the Buddha, related to Sanskrit, is Anicca.
Impermanence means "inconstancy,” in other words, change. All things change. All phenomena and things are subject to constant change, to rise and fall, and no permanent states, either physical or mental, exist. The dynamic nature of phenomena is today a common understanding in science. But until quite recently many physical features of the universe were considered immutable, and in the human plane the belief in enduring states or characteristics is still an article of faith in many religious systems. The principle of anicca establishes impermanence as a basic universal law.
This means that no lasting happiness can be found in this impermanence. How can you get lasting happiness from a changing thing? And we all want happiness, especially happiness that lasts.
This doesn't mean that happiness, success, and bliss are bad, or that it's wrong to enjoy them. If you feel happy, then enjoy feeling happy. Just don't cling to it. Enjoy it while it is there, let go of it when it is over. This is what we learn in mindfulness practice: take whatever is there, notice it, then let it go as it passes.
VIDEO: IMPERMANENCE BY THE DAILY CALM