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Mindfulness of Emotions (5 of 5) Closing Down or Opening Up

So we come to the fifth and last talk on mindfulness of emotions. I like to think that all our emotions should be respected, and that one of the great places to do that is in meditation, where we don't act on the emotion or act out of them, but we allow them their freedom to move through us with mindfulness. With this very special awareness that makes room for things but doesn't pick things up, or doesn't react to things, or doesn't get caught up in the story side of emotions—the story, the predictions, the interpretations, the meaning making, the conversations that kind of keep the pot stirred up, keep the motion of emotion going and flowing.

Maybe I said this, that the original French word from which "emotion" comes apparently means "to stir up." In Buddhism, we talk about whirlpools. The whirlpools of life are the suffering. But the current of the river that flows freely and doesn't get swept up in a whirlpool, that's where freedom is: the current and the flow.

So, what I'm saying this week is that there are four different perspectives, or frames of reference, with which we can look at emotions. The very act of choosing to use these four different perspectives to look at what we call an emotion, whatever that is, is a movement of freedom. It is a movement of stepping away and not being enmeshed or caught in the emotion. Stepping away to take a look at it—"Oh, what is this? What is this experience?"—there is a kind of freedom there in that "what is this?", as opposed to wallowing in it, or being caught in it, or indulging in it, or whatever it might be.

And so, each of these four perspectives... and the last one is the foundation of Dhammas^[1] (or Dharmas). Exactly what that means has been one of the great challenges of studying the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, because "dhammas" means so many different things. But if we look at what the Buddha actually teaches in the fourth foundation, there are a few things that are relevant in terms of looking at emotions.

One is that, just as in the second and third foundation, there is a kind of division between looking at the things that are suffering, or surface-like, and those which have to do with freedom, or the depth of our being, the inner life. That division also exists in the fourth foundation. On one hand, it's looking at the ways in which we get caught, the ways in which we cling or crave—the very sources of the movements of the mind that bring suffering and persistent suffering. And then, also beginning to look at the movements of the mind, or the inner life, that lead to freedom—both in terms of the states of mind that come up (inner qualities, wholesome qualities) and the insights that bring freedom.

In a very simple way, when we look at emotions, it's to notice if there is some closing down, contraction, clinging, or a dimming of the inner light that goes on when we get caught up, or when these emotions are strong. In particular, where is that clinging? There can be strong anger flowing through us, and the clinging might be our identification with it, our believing it, our resistance to it, our horror at having it, or shame, whatever it might be. That's where the clinging is. But if we look really deeply into the anger, we probably find that deep inside, anger only arises because somewhere in there, there is something we were clinging to. Clinging to our preferences, so we were frustrated; clinging to our desires and not having them fulfilled; clinging to not having some experiences, or all kinds of things. So, look at where the clinging is, where the craving is, in relationship to the emotions that we have.

The Buddha talks about the Five Hindrances^[2] as examples of this kind that involve contraction, some clinging that hinders, obscures, or closes down wisdom and opening. He also talks about something called the fetters^[3], the ways in which we get knotted up. The Pali word literally means a "knot." So, where we get knotted up... there's an object, like a bell striker, and there's my seeing of it, and then there's the knot that gets formed between the two. In the sense that if I really crave this knot, or think this is an important knot, and that my very status as a Dharma teacher is dependent on having a really nice striker, and I am really clinging to it and preoccupied with it, there are all these mental knots and preoccupations that go on, metaphorically, that exist between my seeing of it and the striker itself. To loosen and let go of those knots between them, and let there be space and openness: there's just a striker, and there's a seeing of it, and I'm not messing with it and complicating it with all my craving and clinging. So he talks about this.

We get knotted up as a way of getting caught. As we get unknotted, there is this unclinging and opening up more widely. And as we get a little bit more in the flow of practice, really trusting the present moment, staying present and not drifting off into our thoughts (the whirlpool of thoughts), we can start noticing that there's more going on in our emotional life than only things which are difficult, afflictive, challenging, or hard. We start to notice more of the good qualities that are there.

This is an emphasis in Buddhism: to not deny what's difficult, to not pretend it's not there or bypass it, but also to not bypass, avoid, or deny that there are also beautiful qualities present and available. For most people, there's much more inner beauty, much more inner goodness that's available than they avail themselves of, that they allow themselves to feel. Sometimes it's because we're not brave enough to experience it, sometimes we feel we don't deserve it, sometimes we're afraid of it, sometimes we're just preoccupied and don't even know it's there.

As we meditate and look more deeply at emotions, we don't want to be only fixated on the challenging ones. We want to also begin looking around and start appreciating that in the mindfulness, in the openness, the open awareness of things—this stepping back and seeing an emotion, even a difficult one—in that opening and seeing, there starts to be little hints, and then eventually strong hints, and a strong presence of really good qualities.

In the fourth foundation, the Buddha is talking about noticing how what he calls the Seven Factors of Awakening^[4] arise. These are: noticing mindfulness itself, awareness itself, as a wholesome quality. Noticing investigation—this kind of looking more clearly and precisely at what's really going on here—is a really good and enlivening quality. It's not meant to be stressful or closing down, to analyze in some close way, but it's more like opening the windows to see more clearly, cleaning the glass maybe. Then there's a wholesome kind of energy that can arise, an enlivening kind of feeling of presence and engagement. There can be joy, happiness. There is also available a feeling of calmness, tranquility, subtleness that can be really, really sweet. And there can be samadhi^[5], unification, subtleness, harmony, being centered on experience. It feels really good. And finally, in some ways it's hard to believe, but the most sublime, meaningful, valuable, satisfying experience is the seventh of the factors, which is equanimity. Not an indifference, not an aloofness, but a kind of very profound sweetness and satisfaction of a mind and heart which is spacious and holds things, but is not reactive. It maintains its peace.

So, to have the ability to begin opening—there's more going on here—and also appreciating that in this emotional life, there are also these good qualities. To support them by making room for them, and seeing them more, and including them. Take the time for them. If we live a busy life, busy running around physically, or busy running around mentally, there's no room for these Seven Factors of Awakening to come. And as we recognize them and slow down our life just enough—it doesn't have to look slow, but so that we can be present for our experience—then these beautiful qualities can come. That changes the dynamic. It changes the ecology of our inner emotional life. To have some of these Factors of Awakening present means that when difficult emotions arise, we can have a very different relationship to them than if we get preoccupied in the busy, contracted mind that is just caught up in the drama of the moment.

Then the last part of this fourth foundation, and it's built into the fourth foundation all along, is to notice, to observe, how all these things that we might call emotions are actually inconstant phenomena. They're actually coming and going. And when we're not fixating on them, holding on to them through concepts and ideas and stories, everything is flowing. Everything is coming and going, appearing and disappearing, arising and passing. There's this current that's moving along.

And to see that deeply, and to see that in relationship to our suffering. To see whatever our profound suffering is—rather than fixing it, we see through it. And we see through it by seeing that it's not solid, it's not fixed. There are gaps, there are spaces. It appears in awareness, in reflections and thought and ideas, and also it disappears very, very fast, moment by moment. In a certain sense, it's flickering through. It's a kaleidoscope of experiences coming and going. To see it arise, see it pass. And see that in that gap—almost like in the gap when things are no longer there for a moment—there's freedom.

And to trust this flow of things. To trust to be quiet enough, and still enough, or open enough, to let this emotional life come and go, and flow, and change, and morph. Then we start seeing they're not the whole picture. It's almost like there are gaps, and pauses, and spaces in our suffering where freedom is, where liberation can be, where there's ease and peace.

So, four different perspectives for looking at our emotional life. There are many perspectives for looking at our emotional life. I'm not offering this as being the "right" one, but for people doing mindfulness practice, these Four Foundations of Mindfulness are really central to understanding our practice. And so, it's interesting to take a central aspect of mindfulness and apply it to something like emotions, and maybe to find more freedom, more respect, and more benefit from the wonderful emotions, the wisdom of emotional life as well. And maybe the wisdom of emotional life that leads us onward to greater and greater freedom.

So, thank you very much for this.