The Practice

                                                                                                                    North Berwick

We must teach ourselves by practicing for ourselves. The results will arise at the practice, not at the teaching. Any teaching can only help us get an initial understanding of something. This is good and necessary, it can be the spark of inspiration for a path to something, but that something is going to come with the practice. It is going to be realized as something known due to the practice; the actual experience of the practice. I play golf. I have read books on the technique of the game and have taken lessons from a teacher. These have been enormously helpful to my initial understanding, however, it has proven to be the countless hours of practice that have given me the knowledge and the skills to excel at it. It is only through the practice of anything that we gain true experience and then the knowing or the wisdom of whatever it is. If you truly know it, you know it through the practice. If you doubt it, you doubt it through the practice. Teaching from books or masters may be true enough, but simply reading or listening is not enough to fully realize it. These teachings merely point the way to realization. To fully realize something we must take these teachings into a practice.  This is the same for my engagement with life itself. I must practice certain principles that lead to a better quality of life and conversely practice avoiding those that do not. So I seek out teachings that help point the way and then teach myself these things by practicing them daily, to“know”them.
It has been said that those who simply believe others are not truly wise. A wise person practices until he is one with that practice. A wise person gains the actual experience of doing something to gain the mastery that leads to the fulfillment of it. Having faith in something without knowing it is the antithesis of wisdom. It has also been said that faith without works is dead. To truly have faith in something it must be preceded by work or experience and these come by actually doing the work, having the experience, engaging in the practice and realizing the it of it through these. Then faith in something blossoms forth because it is known, not because someone told you to have it. A wise person does not readily believe before he considers something. He does not believe something before he tries it himself and actually gains the experience necessary for the wisdom to emerge. Only then does he believe. Only then does he develop faith. Even with this level of faith or understanding or wisdom our student keeps an open mind to what these represent because they are impermanent. And, impermanence is one of the cornerstones to reality; without knowing everything is impermanent we are living in an illusionary place.
To function in the world it is helpful to have convictions, opinions, beliefs and certain perspectives, but when we hold on to these without the willingness to look further we close off our path to deeper understandings and the wisdom that they bring. All of these convictions, opinions, beliefs and perspectives should be appreciated as things subject to change; subject to the same thing all phenomena are subject to and that is impermanence. If we hold on to them too tightly they will become less and less relevant, because everything does change. There is no stability or permanence. We would like to have some stability in our lives, but to fully appreciate there is none is one part of the path to become awakened to reality. The reality is: everything is impermanent, things arise and then cease, cease then arise, manifest as one thing and then something else. This includes our thoughts as well as our bodies. My friends in Scotland say if you do not like the weather wait a minute. Things may persist, but they do change and they will change much more fluidly if we do not try to hold on to them. Holding on to convictions, opinions, beliefs and perspectives means we are holding on to our thoughts and our thoughts are the most impermanent of all phenomena. And, when we cling to anything we are initiating a most unsatisfactory way of being in this world. If I tell my golf coach, this is the way I do this and cling to the belief that it is my way, I leave myself closed off to the possibility of improvement. The key, once again, is not to just believe him, but to try the new way and to see for myself . The very best teachers do not say here is how to do something, they say try this and see for yourself.

I have to remember that mind precedes all phenomena and mind matters most. My thoughts become my speech, my actions and ultimately my habits. If my speech, actions and habits are grounded in wisdom gained from my experience of knowing then happiness will follow. If my speech, actions and habits are anything less than this then suffering arises. It is through the cultivation of right understandings and thoughts that lead me to an awakened state, an appreciation for reality and happiness.