Ayya Santacitta: Iddhipada IV: Integration ~ Not Relinquishing One's Seat In the Midst of Challenges

So last session we've had breakout groups with the prompt what capacities you did not know you have are emerging through earthworm practice and earth listening and that was quite a you know lovely lively discussion and and we are currently working with what's called the four itty-patter the four bases of power that's one of the many lists in the early canon and so far you know we have been discussing the first two which is vision and effort these are the first two qualities of how energy can express itself on the path through us and generally I know through any living being they also undergo a similar unfolding of the application of energy and the next and third quality is integration which is you know the correct application of energy in order to create order sustainability big picture thinking you know after we have been following our vision with a lot of effort courage then you know we come to a certain phase in the unfolding of something you know where we need to come to the big big giant integrate like the archetype of an ideal king or queen you know kind of a leader figure which oversees their rhyme and keeps a lot of different considerations in mind and in the pili that that word is translated as cheetah itty-patter cheetah means you know the heart mind my name Santa cheetah comes from that word also meaning serene or peaceful mind so it's an an integration of our personal vision of goodness or what we want to accomplish of how we want to live into the big picture of life and society of a particular time in history and where we are and that's you know more like the energy application of a marathon and and bop can probably relate to that because bop is the treasure of the son a local foundation we are in a marathon you know we always think oh now we got and then the next thing comes up and the next question comes up and then that's just the way it seems to be if you want to manifest something unique guided by the evolutionary forces that emerge spontaneously from within the cheetah you know if we have connected with a vision with a quality which we want to bring into manifestation then there's this spontaneous process happening and we can't control it but we can keep up with it and be moved by it and the principles are always the same you know certain basic laws of nature which are making the evolutionary unfolding of life on earth possible and the most obvious one is impermanence on it and then also duke unsatisfactoriness in the sense of you know our personal preferences and opinions are quite regularly challenged and and getting used to that you know and seeing that there's nothing wrong with that but we can actually call that practice you know like the stones which get tumbled in a in a tumbler and get smoother and smoother the edges everything gets polished and that's you know quite uncomfortable at times but if we look back at it it all makes sense you know couldn't have been different so it's a trusting into what we have connected with or sensed as our vision and from there on meeting our daily life from that vantage point and that requires patience and perseverance and the kind of devotion to our vision like a cool-hearted energy of the ideal of the ideal king or queen you know sitting on the throne just as an image you know sitting on a throne and and looking at the horizon and seeing things in context so it's a cool-hearted energy of devotion and in the buddhist you know the buddhist cultures like thailand for example the word cool-heart you know is is a great aim everybody wants to be chai-yen and the hot heart you know is looked down upon if people you know lose their composure it's very uncool and my name actually santa chita can also be translated as cool-heart you know and that's you know like an aim to develop that in the hot season in thailand you know to stay cool is not easy so for our practice that would mean to stay in a benevolent relationship with our body and our experience and our mind with the long-term view of transforming difficulties into a path of wisdom and compassion and that you know saying I have quoted many times already but I say it again obstacles are not in the way but they are the way you know and in the beginning we think it's all about you know finding a path which doesn't have any obstacles and then we find out that number one it's impossible and number two it's where where we learn you know when we come up against those challenges then we are training ourselves in you know not relinquishing our seed in the midst of those challenges staying in the seed and the challenges are just passing by and then some of them you know we give them a little seat to sit down but we stay in this central seat and allow whatever is coming through to inform us and then we decide you know what to do with that information because there's a true devotion that is willing to be informed by circumstances by causes and conditions on how to proceed you know to manifest the vision and it's a deep grounding inside a new way of looking at ourselves and and where we are you know no longer coming from the viewpoint of the we are like a human being inside of an environment which is here for us as a resource but rather trying on this new view you are now seeing ourselves as saddles inside of a vast being we are participating with and we are not in control but we can attune and that's the control we have the control to attune and come back to our bodies you know which are like organs of listening or organs of perception not just like the brain or the mind but the the whole body is we can't really say where the body ends and the mind starts it's one process it's co-evolved so maybe we can now begin with the meditation and find that posture which you can sustain for about 45 minutes and settling in you know noticing what's here and you're maybe for a moment you know visualizing ourselves like we would be a king or queen ideal archetype you know sitting on a throne and looking out and all around and all the components all of the considerations everything is there but also there's an awareness of the relationships between all of these different details the fluidity the flow and you know there's an increasing awareness that's the relationships which need our care it's not the things themselves because there are no things our language with its many nouns you know is quite misleading here and in a way you know we can we can say that what's happening in our circles or in in at least in parts of society that that becomes conscious you know it isn't about trying to figure out things or how to organize things but it's much more about the relationships the relationships do our experience but also the relationship with each other and not just humans but also with the modern human world that we are all in relationship and it's you know letting go of this old world view like doing what we can to emerge out of that shell that old shell which is becoming increasingly problematic and then you know as we are emerging from that there's an increased vulnerability also this newness and the role of that but in the big picture it makes so much sense because that shell you know kept us kind of protected for a few centuries you know as a as a culture and now it turns out to be a real liability at the root of the polygrazes and we need to let it go and the devotion that requires to be willing you know to engage in that way like a snake you know which is shedding the skin it's like quite a messy affair but without that shedding there's no growth possible and in the beginning it seems like you know like too much and too painful and too scary and all of that there's a beautiful quote by lintwist who is one of the three co-founders of the patramama alliance that just had their 30th anniversary and I was there for the ceremony in san francisco last sunday and the quote is first pain pushes and then vision pulls you know if we can befriend the pain as a as growing pains then at one point it starts to shift and and vision pulls and it becomes easier because the pain is the the result of the resistance mostly and what was really interesting at that ceremony there was a a part was a a cow cow ceremony with a equatorian shaman manari ushigua from the sapara people from the sapara nation and afterwards I went up to him because I I plan to go to the equator in amazon in 28 and there was somebody translating for me and and then he showed me he had a a Buddha on his altar that was quite surprising a small buddhist that year out of I think it was dharkois and and I said you know I plan to come in 28 so he gave me a hug it was real sweet and he was wearing like a jacket made out of a tree bark and I said you know I was from the forest tradition and so on so it was quite a promising connection I hope I can meet him in 28 and I have sometimes shown a video of him an ikaro medicine song so the big big chain of all of these traditions somehow meeting each other and weaving a new a new way of looking and sensing into the aliveness the vibrancy of the body for the mind to to rest into that awareness to rest into that fullness of aliveness and being the knowing if any thoughts anything comes up we can just come back to sensing and being with the aliveness and allow the awareness to rest on the body just as the body rests on the cushion on the chair and that's what it's meant you know by not relinquishing the seat the center of seat the throne but coming back to that simplicity of being being alive in this human body is which is considered a very fortunate birth in the buddhist way of looking a very fortunate birth for becoming more clear about what is happening about who we are and where we are and how it is you know as a chanchaa you know has said if you understand one thing well you understand everything because all the phenomena you know which we can know are impermanent constant flux constant flow constant change and conditionality the relationships unfathomable depths of relationship or impermanent and then there is that which knows awareness the deathless that which doesn't change the sky behind the clouds and that's what's meant you know by not relinquishing the seat is resting as that awareness being that sky and from that vantage point or from that knowing you know participating in the in our lives in a way which brings benevolence and kindness and which stays informed not trying to grasp onto something and just not wanting it to change because we want it to be like that whatever it is you know even you know the way buddhism is expressed not in its foundational principles but in the the language the words finding words which are more able to express the flavor of the time so there's more possibility and not to really be intimate with our experience different people need different flavors and you know this here being one one flavor and we need a lot of different flavors sometimes and sometimes we just want to stay with one that is individually different and that's nothing wrong with that we just need to find the right situations to to have that satisfied you know that that wish there's so many teachers and teachings out there how the teaching is expressed so sensing you know a safe sails in a vast body earthworms inside of the body of the earth participants of something so vast we can't really wrap our mind around it but we can connect with that aliveness which permeates everything so energetic presence which can be sensed in which can speak to us you know in a non-diverable way rather than gating you know caught up in some stories you can have that direct intimate contact which clarifies and you know a chun sumaita called that intuitive awareness he was the first western disciple of archang jar and i you know lived and trained with him for about 15 years in the uk and he developed that you know teaching further which he received from archang jar and resting as the knowing that's really the central teaching of the tai forest tradition or a refuge in buddha we're returning to that again and again you know when we notice that we are caught up in thinking and the projecting stories because that's what we are used to do so and for that you know that we naturally need to relinquish the habitual patterns and touch into that which is always already here awareness to remember that's a sati you know the root of sati is smirkti is to remember it's all about that to remember to step out of habitual ways of trying to explain our life to ourselves and allowing ourselves to keep it open for responses to emerge rather than being clung to and you know in allowing the habitual patterns to just you know burn themselves up which is not necessarily a comfortable feeling but that's what needs to happen that transformation and not relinquishing one seed so to really be with that simplicity of change but not relinquishing the seed not relinquishing one squad unquote home refuge in buddha and then contributing from that intimate knowing what's appropriate in our lives and our actions and whatever you know we do on the path is part of that flow which never ends until there's a stepping out an end for an individual consciousness to participate that's called liberation and whatever happens you know in our lives all of the challenges and the joys they're all part of that path of refining our capacity for not relinquishing the seed and contributing in a benevolent way to this earth which is in increasing distress because of so much ignorance and technological prowess you know of our species very little ethical understanding and a lot of power with fossil fuels and other technologies and that awareness is like a mirror reflecting but not being changed by that awareness just is and we can remember to tap into it again and again so abiding as that knowing the refuge in buddha and being with the simplicity of change you know which is operating as this planet for over four billion years and in the beginning you know pain pushes us and then once we get the hang of it it's that understanding of how to participate the vision which begins to gently show us the direction in terms of how to participate with the noble and full path as our instruction and then bringing that teaching into the contemporary language not forgetting to the next thing or our charging but being more intimate with what is and allowing you know the next steps to be revealed through the fire of not relinquishing one seed in the midst of challenges that is the itty-batter of integration cheat the itty-batter the marathon of what we call life human life close out with a so prayer from the su nation third lighland grandfather great spirit all over the world the faces of living ones are alike the tenderness they have come up out of the ground look upon your children that they may face the winds and walk the good road to the day of quiet grandfather spirit grandfather great spirit fill us with the light give us the strength to understand and the eyes to see teachers to walk the soft earth as relatives to all that live teachers to walk the soft earth as relatives to all that live