January 4 – Convinced that this is possible

Dear Friends,

Gil Fronsdal brings out a third aspect of saddha that I hadn’t really considered before, that of conviction.
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11059

He does note a caution with this word – that there are some people do things out of a sense of conviction without regard to the impact on others. We’ll talk about balancing the faculties more later this month – for now, we want to be aware that any faith, confidence, or conviction we develop is also balanced with wisdom.

What Gil is tapping into in terms of the conviction here is a strength in our practice that helps us persist in spite of difficulties.

Gil talks of some of his early experiences in meditation – where he experienced quiet and stillness, and there was an absence of agitation. From this experience, he says, “I became convinced this was possible. … I had a conviction that, ‘Yes! There is another way.'” And he later adds, “we can meet obstacles with the conviction that, ‘Yes, I can do this. I can practice through this.'”

Jack Kornfield describes something similar in A Path With Heart, in the chapter on “Take The One Seat” (also reprinted in Tricycle):

We each need to make our lion’s roar—to persevere with unshakable courage when faced with all manner of doubts and sorrows and fears—to declare our right to awaken. We need to take the one seat, as the Buddha did, and completely face what is true about this life. Make no mistake about this, it is not easy. It can take the courage of a lion or a lioness, especially when we are asked to sit with the depth of our pain or fear.

When we take the one seat on our meditation cushion we become our own monastery. We create the compassionate space that allows for the arising of all things: sorrows, loneliness, shame, desire, regret, frustration, happiness. … In the monastery of our own sitting meditation, each of us experiences whatever arises and again and again as we let go saying, “Ah, this too.” The simple phrase “This too, this too” was the main meditation instruction of one great woman yogi and master with whom I studied. Through these few words we were encouraged to soften and open to see whatever we encountered, accepting the truth with a wise and understanding heart.

https://tricycle.org/magazine/take-one-seat/

Gil reminds us: “It takes time. It takes patience. It takes love. It takes compassion. It takes a lot of care, but it is worthwhile.”

Practice:
Gil led a meditation on “this too” practice, that uses this phrase to meet the challenges that may arise in meditation (33 minutes):
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11560

Approach practice with patience and gentleness, and yet with whatever conviction you might have or develop that, yes, we can do this!

With good wishes,
Andrea