Community Blog

On the night of the Buddha’s awakening, he vowed: “I shall not give up my efforts until I have attained liberation by perseverance, energy and endeavor.” This demonstrates the quality of virya, courageous energy, the fifth parami (manifestation of the awakened mind). The Buddha’s awakening demonstrated the power of indefatigable energy arising from spiritual urgency—the recognition that now is the only reality.

Wisdom, the fourth parami or emanation of an Awakened Being, is not accumulated by long periods of study or linear thinking, or attained by amassing power. We’ve all met people who are intelligent and powerful, and yet not wise.

Renunciation is the 3rd Parami or emanating aspect of an Awakened Being. Learning renunciation is key to freedom, it appears to the worldly mind as depriving ourselves of everything we love, the pleasant and enjoyable. This is understandable, as it is the way the worldly mind conceives of letting go. But renunciation is actually an attitude, a way of approaching life, that invites us to give up what binds us—the mentally fabricated condition that to be happy or fulfilled, our experience must conform to our ideas and expectations or exhibit certain pre-ordained desirable qualities. Instead, our energy can be directed to understanding experience itself, however it is. Life unfolding is the constant opportunity to understand more deeply that whatever forms or flavors arise are Dhamma, offering surprise, delight and deepening wisdom and compassion.

Sila—ethical conduct, or integrity—is the second parami. We are invited to do no harm through wise speech, wise action, and wise livelihood. We resolve to act, and do act, in wholesome and skillful ways, consciously choosing to refrain from behavior that causes fear, confusion and suffering. The Buddha said such ethics have freedom from remorse as their purpose. Imagine a life without remorse!

Buddhism often cites the annihilation of the fear of death as a primary benefit of meditation practice. Some teachings imply, and others outright state, that Buddhism is the only way a person can ever truly come to grips with the inevitability of death- our own and those we love. As I understand the logic, unless you intensively train in what are traditionally called the marks of existence- impermanence, suffering and non-self, you’re destined to kick, scream and gnash teeth on your deathbed in bitter remorse for having not meditated more while you were alive. There’s just one tiny problem with this idea in my opinion; it ain’t true.