This Dhamma QA was given by Luang Por Sumedho on 15 January 2024 at Amaravati Buddhist Monastery, UK.
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Good afternoon good afternoon so today is Monday the 15th of January 2024 thank you for taking some time to do another Q&A today I wanted to ask you about a question that arose as I was talking with a friend recently he was mentioning How in meditation or maybe meditation reveals it he realizes that he’s experiencing a lot of worry and anxiety and fear and it’s not fear experien as personal fear like he’s in danger of harm personally at the moment but maybe just more in a general sense that he feels it very physically but he’s
Speaking more of a general sense of fear that there’s war in the Middle East that there’s climate change uh afraid of being bullied by other people in school and this fear arises particularly in the evenings when he’s trying to go to sleep but more recently he’s even
Sort of wondered if when he’s meditating it’s not letting his mind run wild and kind of feeds the fear and the worry did you say something towards that please well in the world that we experience through the body and the senses there’s a lot of fear and now we’re exposed to so much
Inform information to worry about and you know the mass media the internet so in news is usually about what’s wrong or war or scandals so what are you going to do about it you know in meditation we think meditation is trying to get rid of it uh fear or worry or
Anxiety then you’re kind of creating more problems with with just the attempt to resist it or get rid of it but to recognize that the awareness itself is not frightened you’re aware of fear or anxiety or worry and and that which is aware of those states of mind is not
Worried or anxious or frightened so you begin to take your stand with awareness which is Clarity and seeing things as they are rather than trying to uh get rid of these kind of emotions and just notice how much of life there’s a lot to be frightened of in life you know when
You’re very vulnerable bodies easily damaged we can be insulted or bullied or treated unfairly that that possible for any of us and then then uh there’s old age and sickness and death in the you know that is what we’re all going to experience so when we we think about that you
Know uh what happens when you die or what will happen in the Middle East or what’s going to happen the climate change then you don’t know none of us know and so that not knowing recognize that that the future is unknown none of us can predict or know the
Future in the present because the present is where we experience here and now so it’s learning like proper meditation is establishing oneself in the present moment is like this fear or anxiety worry is like this and and just by relating to it in an objective way rather than seeing that in personal
Terms like there’s something wrong with you or is it Neurosis or is you know we can blame ourselves or blame the world blame the society blame the schoolmates or whatever but uh you know so we tend to blame our suffering on external sources where the Buddha encourag us to use suffering recognize understand
Suffering uh that that we we we relate to as as an object of observation rather than as some kind of personal problem because what can any of us do about the Middle East or the Ukraine or climate change you know we can be more careful or or forgiving or
We can operate from ideas ideals but the direct path is to recognize that what you’re feeling in the present is impermanent it’s Rises and ceases because one is certainly not anxious all the time or or frightened all the time or worried all the time but none of us want to worry or
Feel anxiety or fear but this realm where you’re you’re incarnated in a human form is a very delicate form it’s very sensitive and so the you know just not realistically speaking that’s possibility of being damaged at any moment from birth to to death and uh in wisdom we recognize that
And not take it personally not make it into some kind of personal problem I’m an anxious person I I should be brave I should you know try to get rid of this habit of worrying about the future because all these attempts from the ego to stop it or resist it just increase
The the the the fear and anxiety and worry that’s why mindfulness awareness here and now like in meditation be rather than trying to get rid of wandering thoughts and and worries and anxieties use them for just obser they’re the way they are and you’re letting when you do
This then you’re letting go of them rather than getting caught up and increasing them or trying to resist them and and suppress them but you’re actually using the experience in the present moment with wisdom which see that that the the anxious anxiet in the moment is impermanent and it’s not
Personal with worry anxiety and fear very often has a tendency to become obsessive and a bit of a runaway train how’ you deal with that well just like I have been saying just learn to change your attitude towards it because you know when one is a is an obsessive
Warrier and one tries to to uh then you start worrying about worrying it’s a vicious cycle that you can’t ever win but you can wisely observe I understand the point you’re making but sometimes people describe kind of these situations even though changing the attitude is correct good advice sometimes they feel like they
Need something more tangible to latch on to than just change your attitude in terms of just sort of medit more meditation techniques that they can just get a handle on that’ll take them to changing their attitudes you have any advice on that no well one can change the subject of thinking of
Thinking such as well like met practice loving kindness towards worry and anxiety which means accepting it is it and change which is a way of letting go of it actually because the the whole emphasis on letting go because like any form of resistance or attachment is is the cause of the
Suffering because there is lot to worry about and uh in the in the world and so you you can’t ever not wor wor about things in terms of just uh not shutting the world out but to be the knower of the world what they call the Loca we do the
Knower of the world is one of the names of the Buddha so the world is this way right now Modern Life in England is like this and your relationship with your family is like this your relationship to to the office uh your business or partners are like this and it’s it’s not critical
It’s not you’re not trying to blame anybody for it but recognize that when you meet this person this is what you feel and you might have the ideal of loving kindness towards all sensient beings as an ideal but the wisdom approach is to be the witness to the anxiety you
Feel when certain people come into view or the future the future is is is unknown you don’t you know you can’t you can kind of go to Fortune tellers or astrologers and people that can say they can see into the future but in terms of actual of reality
In the present moment the future is imagine it’s it’s thought you have to think about tomorrow in the present moment and tomorrow right now is an image in my in my consciousness and it it’s practical there’s nothing wrong with it but you know right now tomorrow isn’t doesn’t exist but it’s imagined or
Anticipated you mention thinking is thinking seems to play a big role in giving rise to and then feeding worry anxiety and here how do you how do you recognize this fear that is just normal fear from living in a biological world like that story of the Cobra that
Was in the toilet at your CTI when you were inat just survival Instinct and then the type of worry and fear that’s just generated through a lot of thinking is there a difference and if yes how do you how do you recognize a difference well when there’s IM imminent danger the survival mechanism
Operate like the Cobra in the toilet in the Bathroom uh I never worried about that you know before I just never occurred to me that I’d find a angry C in my bathroom and then when I recognized it I didn’t think I wasn’t frightened I recognized an immediate danger and managed to get away by leaping over a cobra which was
Coming toward me and and after I got out of the bathroom I began to shake with fear I noticed this is quite an Insight dur in the immediacy of of imminent danger present danger in such a situation that you had no time to think you know the danger was so here and
Now that you you had to operate from spontaneity from from uh which surprised me because I’ve never leaped over a angry cobra in my life or never anticipated such an event but it’s when when you know I’ve heard stories of people drowning you know almost drowning and
They managed to get themselves on in on Shore before they actually drown and then they start shaking with fear but when they’re actually in the process of survival they’re not frightened they they’re just the the the natural inheritance of survival takes over it’s part of the human experience when you’re born as a
Human being male or female you’ve got this this uh survival Instinct it’s not something you acquire it’s natural to the species but if you think about it like when monks want to go to Thailand you know then they hear stories about snakes and mosquitoes and and dangerous things you might you know
When you’re here in England snakes aren’t really a big problem it’s not something you grow up with worried about and and malaria is not part of them here so so uh but you can be sitting in a CTI here at aror buti and worrying about when you go to
Thailand about malaria and and dangerous creatures what if a lion attacks or you know you can you can speculate you can ask people what you should do if a lion attacks you or a tiger or something but that’s and but when that actually is happening you have to depend on instinctual survival mechanisms
And they’re natural they’re not created you you can’t you can’t just say I’m going to you know you can say I’m going to be brave and face the music but that’s that’s just the ego speaking like thinking is is a suffering because it’s very divisive you know you can imagine
Anything like all these conspiracies theories that are presently popular amongst people because you know you can imagine deep States or secret societies or or groups that want to annihilate you or uh you know you can imagine all there something to to uh what whatever you tend to Incline to
You can create images of that that’s thinking you’re thinking about that affects you emotionally and what you think is you know you think of problems in in the Middle East and you want to solve them and then you you know that’s it’s thinking that’s thinking about the Middle East it’s not wrong
In order to have to be concerned about what’s happening in Ukraine and Russia in the Middle East but but it’s recognizing that it’s what they call conceptual proliferation thinking about something if we can do something about it if I was invited to the Middle East to solve the problem
Between Israel and the Palestinians you know I would and I thought I’d be a good influence I’d go but I’ve never been invited and and I don’t know how I could influence them told to be mindful of the of what’s going on and I think they have a lot to worry
About because they’re an imminent danger Present Danger so it’s really a lot about recognizing how thinking is involved yes thinking you know like Revenge wanting to seek revenge on those who harmed you in some way or insulted you that’s thinking so somebody insults me last year somebody might I
Remember this is is not this didn’t really happen but imagine if I was insulted a year ago then whenever I think of that person I want to seek revenge you know and I noticed this in my early years with L for was living in a couti and getting
Caught up with with anger over things that happened 20 years before and I thought this anger has nothing to do with the present situation I wasn’t as angry with acha or the monks or the situation at what but when you’re alone in your couty then you you you fall back into habits of
Resentment about how you were treated when you were a child and educational problems and and social relationships or being brokenhearted or misunderstood and and all these kind of memories can when you’re sitting in a nice couti and the ti Forest you can bring back all the resentment all the memories to resent
About life not being fair and you’re not being misunderstood and not treated properly and one can get oneself into a real frantic state of wanting to say you know I the if you can do something you know that if you can seek revenge physically get even with them by slaughtering them
Or are making them apologize you know is less violent then all this is thoughts isn’t it imagination and so once you have that realization then what’s the Refuge well just and you know like I did a lot of meditation on time and uh you know just the past is a memory
The future is the unknown and so then you investigate memories like being misunderstood or abused in the past is a memory in the present and then the tendency individual tendency to to uh feel resentment carry negative thoughts wanting to seek revenge wanting to the person to apologize to me uh wanting
Or maybe I’m more idealistic wanting to forgive and saying life is like this and I should have met up for for the people who have wronged me in the past which is a a beautiful ideal but but you don’t always feel that way and where the direct approach is
Being the witness to the feeling whatever it is whether it’s a kind forgiving one or a nasty revengeful one no anxiety and you know worry just part of life and when you study the history of civilizations you know it seems like human beings just love Wars and taking sides like in the sports
Are all about taking sides with one team and delighting in their in the opposite loss of a of a game or feeling resentment feel blaming the Umpire you know one how one reacts just in sports because the there’s two teams one you favor when you you don’t and then that’s thought that’s about
Thinking and uh you know I’m a fan of a certain football team and I want them to win every game and be Champions that’s the ego it’s me so made are wanting my side to be the best and the witness to that is is a is not an
Ego the awareness mindfulness is not an ego but thinking is about ego it’s about me and my thoughts and my rights and what is mind and right and wrong and moral morality and immorality and true and false it goes on you know when you you the The Observer of thought it’s all very
Divisive it’s it’s that’s its nature thinking is is a critical function where dhama or conscious awareness isn’t critical so and that’s where we don’t suffer even though we’re caught in the midst of maybe a terminal illness or an unfair situation or a war whatever you know the awareness is is the The
Refuge that the Buddha pointed to in his teachings we’re taking sides winning a war is you know how many you know winning a war you feel exalted you know we we were right and we we uh won over the evil forces of the enemy and and that’s he that’s thinking
Like just the word enemy is is a is a thought that arises in Consciousness or friend my best friend I have other friends but this one is my best friend I mean that’s not I’m not criticizing because we all do it but it’s it’s just you know if one feels
Betrayed by One’s best friend that is a lot of suffering so being betrayed when you think you’ve been betrayed by your best friend you know then you this is what you feel you you’re caught in in anger or resentment but all these are human emotions that we experience
But are you really a human being is that your position in life a physical form a man or woman you know the the bodies are either male or female and there kind of issues around transgender and lgbtq and that is where we take signs and we make value judgments moral
Judgments right and wrong true and false and that’s all thought but whatever you’re how whatever you feel whether you’re transgender or gay or whatever these are positions you take in life that you you create with thought and I identify with with the Tendencies karmic tendencies that you inherit
So we inherit you know the our genes from our parents our mother and father were brought up in a society that might be very fair and just and Democratic or very dictatorial very narrow-minded that affects us how we were conditioned by our culture by our social experiences but
Witnessing or being aware of that isn’t being critical of it but being it is thinking it’s illusion it’s memory so the past is is a memory the future is the unknown now is the knowing I wrote a some published one of my talks years ago called doubt is the knowing
So just in the news about in the United States the Evangelical Christians or the white is is America a a white Christian country you know that’s that’s debatable some people well try to chase it back and established as a by Christians and by white old white men and so these
Are you know these are thoughts that people cling to and fight over that’s what war is about and so is America you know is it does it belong to White Christians or you know white people who came to America and took it over you from the Native
Americans that’s not right when you look at early history about how the the Native Americans were treated and abused and that’s that’s history now and then there’s movements to try to suppress that kind of knowledge because it’s it’s embarrassing we don’t want to think of with it we we tried to get rid
Of the Native American population but because white good white Christians are kind and compassionate that’s what that that’s the image we like we would like to have but can we really be kind and compassionate uh you know in the present moment is what we do when we’re
Mindful of the way it is not not saying it shouldn’t be but it like this having information reading a book on the invasion of North America by the Europeans and how that registers in ctive you see it personally then then you’re you’re caught in in guilt and shame and and uh
You feel kind of angry with the government because they won’t admit it they want to America is white man’s Christian country is a position that one takes and so that position is is justified by deleting the the embarrassing moments of American of the invasion of the North American
Contin we don’t want our children to know about that but uh when you kind of have knowledge of the rise and fall of civilizations you know it’s all about migrations like our immigrants is that they they don’t have the right to come here because they weren’t born here this
Is a position one takes but when you study the history of humanity it’s all about it migrations of human groups tribes or and it’s all about war and abuse that that when you’re taking over you know you’re you’re moving on to some place that somebody else own feels they own and
This is what happened is the world something you really want to identify with because it’s it’s it’s not a beautiful peaceful perception but when we when the Buddha taught the for noble truths to understand suffering the the being identifying with your own body is is suffering is this what I am this
Physical body cuz I can find fault with it it’s not perfect body it never was but it is what what it is and then one suffers if one’s not goodlook or tall enough or too fat or too thin or black or white male or female or whatever you
Know these are these are conditions that we either reject or gross but wisdom is letting go of these this this habit of grasping phenomena not getting rid of it but just not holding on or resisting it so in like moral training you know when you really observe you you can have
Violent uh feelings towards somebody but moral precepts is that you do not kill and so you don’t when when you have no moral precepts guidelines for action and speech that anything goes you feel anger at somebody you slit that throat or and you you know that’s what being a psychopath is
But when you’ve got some kind of moral position like in budism the five precepts then that that helps to guide towards because we can’t help sometimes wanting to Slit somebody’s throat but we don’t do that or telling a lie or stealing something you know or sexually abusing something somebody else you know it
Isn’t that none of us ever have these thoughts or feelings but we don’t act on them because the the respect for the five precepts or in the Buu life the 227 precepts so like we can’t eat food in the afternoon after 12 but that doesn’t mean we don’t want
To it means that we we observe the precepts but we’re aware of our own habit of wanting three meals a day or whatever your conditioning is thank you for these Reflections on