{"id":1543,"date":"2018-02-27T19:00:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T19:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zatma.org\/new-wp\/?p=1543"},"modified":"2018-03-03T21:34:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-03T21:34:17","slug":"a-deeper-embrace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/?p=1543","title":{"rendered":"A Deeper Embrace"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

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A Deeper Embrace<\/h2>\n

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Listen child of God\u2026attend to the message you hear and make sure it pierces your heart.<\/p>\n

Benedict’s Rule<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here, Benedict asserts the imperative that one go beyond an intellectual understanding of spiritual truths to a deeper embrace, one which emerges from a piercing, personal experience of the teachings.<\/p>\n

Recently, I experienced a crisis in my spiritual practice that has moved me to a heartfelt re-dedication to the messages I hear.<\/p>\n

The 4 Noble Truths are the core message of Buddhism.\u00a0 The First Noble Truth: There is suffering.\u00a0 I know that I have a tendency to put myself above other people.\u00a0 I know this is one of the ways I suffer. \u00a0This tendency was apparent this past week, however, I was blind to it as it unfolded.<\/p>\n

My pride is an example of the Second Noble Truth: Suffering is caused by our ego\u2019s craving for life to be more, less, better, happier than it is.\u00a0 I had become hooked into striving for superiority, and in my disappointment with myself, I plunged into despair and frustration.<\/p>\n

Desperate to feel better, I determined to fix myself, once and for all!\u00a0 Soon I recognized that this too is a pattern.\u00a0 When I want to be the best and brightest, I suffer.\u00a0 And, when I want to fix that habit, I suffer. \u00a0Eventually, I saw that I was piling craving upon craving.\u00a0 It led me to this: \u201cNothing I do works. I DON\u2019T KNOW.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although I hold dear the wisdom of the Third Noble Truth, that there is an end to suffering, still I DID NOT KNOW.\u00a0 Here, my pain met the truth of the teachings and my heart was pierced.\u00a0 There was a way through my suffering.\u00a0 I began to see it.<\/p>\n

The Fourth Noble Truth tells us to follow the 8-Fold Noble Path to put an end to suffering. The Noble Path teaching which pierced my heart during this recent experience describes Noble Effort.<\/p>\n

The efforts of spiritual seekers must be directed toward seeing what we are doing in every moment; as we cross the street, as we talk to a friend, as we make dinner. Unless we are serving the Buddha with consistent attention fixed on\u00a0what is<\/em>, the ego slips in, our thinking gears up, and our habits take over.\u00a0 When we do find ourselves caught in craving, our efforts must orient toward dis-identification with what we want, what we think we know, how we think we can fix. \u00a0Though I fully understood these teachings, I was not applying my efforts effectively to my practice.<\/p>\n

Egoic thoughts and feelings plant their first seeds of discontent, of the craving described in the Second Noble Truth, in a mind that is unaware. \u00a0I had been unaware when pride first crept into my thinking.\u00a0 A spiritual student, utilizing Noble Effort, resides\u00a0continually\u00a0<\/em>in the gap between her presence and her ego\u2019s desires. \u00a0In that gap, she can recognize when suffering\u2019s cause is upon her.\u00a0 In this full and concentrated presence, being Buddha, she sees that her ego\u2019s drive is a delusion born of false truths.\u00a0 Her efforts have led her down the path of freedom from the attachments of the ego.\u00a0 I, in my unaware state, allowed my pride to grab hold and run the show.\u00a0 I had squandered a precious opportunity to put an end to a bit of suffering.<\/p>\n

Such is Noble Effort; the full application of all one\u2019s energy towards the study of the delusions of the mind so that one can let them go.\u00a0 Noble Effort requires moment-to-moment dedication of a heart that is penetrated by a fervent wish to end suffering.<\/p>\n

\"Humming<\/p>\n

Author:\u00a0Getsu San Ku Shin<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ZATMA is not a blog. If for some reason you need elucidation on the teaching, please contact the editor at:\u00a0yao.xiang.editor@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you in a spiritual crisis?
\nDon’t forget the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS….a monk in training reminds us of the power of these teachings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-by-yao-xiang-shakya","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1548,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1543\/revisions\/1548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zatma.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}