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Pāramīs (8 of 10) Determination

Introduction: Mahapajāpatī and Taking a Stand

As I said before the meditation, we now have Mahapajāpatī^[1] on the IMC altar, who was the foster mother of the Buddha. The Buddha's mother died when he was a baby, and so his aunt Mahapajāpatī raised him—at least during the early years of his life.

At some point, she became determined to be ordained as a monastic and took a long trek by foot across northern India to where the Buddha was. She traveled with an entourage of other women from their home country who also wanted to be ordained. They requested ordination, and it took a little bit of time, but eventually, the Buddha agreed. She is considered the founder of the nuns' order. We have this wonderful statue here at IMC that was made for us almost twenty years ago. I'm happy to have it here to share with you.

I thought that maybe on Friday after 7:45 am, those of you who would like to can join a community meeting for those of us who participate in this 7:00 am early morning sitting on Zoom. I'll provide the Zoom link, and I can tell you a little bit more about Mahapajāpatī and the history of her statue here. It's a wonderful story of how we installed it and the variety of things we've done around Mahapajāpatī here. It's a story I like to tell. Then we can answer some questions about anything at all, and maybe also do 10-minute breakout groups of four or five so you can meet each other. It's nice to have connection and talk about the Dharma and your practice. We'll do that for about 45 minutes, until about 8:30 or so. I'll provide more information about that later.

The Eighth Pāramī: Determination

Here we are at the eighth pāramī^[2], the eighth perfection, which is often translated into English as resolve or determination. These are wonderful qualities. They are qualities of strength. Tapping into our capacity for personal strength and living from that strength is one of the great blessings of life.

It is sometimes said that some people are afraid of their own strength. Sometimes they are afraid they are going to hurt people, or they are afraid they are going to be hurt if they live in a strong way. As a result, the idea is to live in the shadows on the side, not so centrally, so we are not so easily threatened by things. But to be able to take our place and really feel like we are here in a definitive way—that we have a right to be here, and we are allowed to stand tall, stand straight, and be a valuable person—is one of the things that comes slowly through meditation practice.

Through mindfulness, as it gets more and more sensitive, we start feeling over time that anything short of taking our place is a kind of suffering. It is a diminishment of ourselves and a kind of limitation that just seems like, "Why bother?" It is unfortunate to do that. With practice, there is a growth of strength and power.

This eighth pāramī builds on all the others. To have this expression of strength in terms of resolve and determination is something that has been building slowly over time through practicing generosity, ethics, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, and truth. As we connect more to what is really true, that provides a healthy basis for determination and for being resolved.

Adhiṭṭhāna: A Higher Stand

The Pali^[3] word for resolve or determination is adhiṭṭhāna^[4]. Adhi means something like "higher" or "special" in this context, and ṭhāna means "to stand" or "to take a stand." So, it is a higher taking a stand. I like this because it suggests a physical component where we stand on our two feet firmly, strongly, and uprightly. We are really rooted in the place we are at, feeling the strength of the presence of being here.

What do we get resolved on? In the course of cultivating these pāramīs or cultivating mindfulness practice over time, it becomes clearer and clearer what is worthwhile being resolved on. Being resolved on buying the latest technological device and spending a lot of time concerned about that is not a very valuable place to be rooted, grounded, and taking a stand.

Instead, we learn through practice that taking a stand in freedom, in our non-clinging, and in the practice itself is valuable. For some of us, we will feel that one of the most valuable things we can do with our life is to really be here and present in a mindful, clear way. That is a valuable place to take a stand. It is much more important than many of the experiences we are searching for in life, such as acquisitions, material goods, relationships, or jobs. There is something very significant about being rooted or grounded in mindfulness as a high value.

The Four Resolves

The Buddha taught four different things that he emphasized a wise person would be resolved in—a higher stand to take. It's an interesting list. They are: wisdom, truth, letting go, and peace.

First is to take a stand on wisdom. Here it gets very interesting because of the definition the Buddha gives for what it means to be a wise person. A wise person, the Buddha said, is someone who is concerned for the welfare of self, the welfare of others, the welfare of self and others, and the welfare of the whole world. To take a stand in being wise is not taking a stand in reading a book or gaining some knowledge about Buddhism. It comes from what is growing and developing through practice: a real, experiential reference point of what is harm and what is welfare, what is suffering and what is happiness.

To have a clear sense of that and be inspired that it is valuable—not to suffer, not to harm oneself, not to harm others, but rather to be concerned for the welfare of all. This gaze upon the world with care is all-inclusive; it includes ourselves. That is why it can grow, develop, and become a strength. We include ourselves in our own personal growth, development, and freedom. That is taking a stand on wisdom.

Second is to take a stand on truth. That has many meanings. Truth can mean simply being truthful and honest, but it can also mean taking a stand on the truth of the Four Noble Truths^[5]. Here we have a very central Buddhist teaching that is not a propositional truth, but an experiential truth. It comes clearly out of our experiential contact with suffering and the release from it—the possibility of not suffering, of letting go of whatever activities we are doing in the mind and the heart that are harmful to ourselves. We take a stand on this simple but profound understanding of how we suffer, how we contract, how we limit ourselves, and how we can release all that and be free. We take a stand on those truths: this is true, this is the orientation, and this is the perspective on life which is valuable.

Third is taking a stand in letting go. The Pali word cāga^[6] is often translated as relinquishment, but it also has the meaning of giving and generosity. I love this connection because sometimes the idea of letting go or relinquishment in English can seem like bad news. It can sound like Buddhism is saying, "Here is just one more thing I have to let go of, and I become less and less." But it can actually be seen as an act of generosity to let go of our attachments. It is an act of generosity to give away—not necessarily to anyone else, but just to let go of the ways in which we limit ourselves and get caught in ideas and identities that cause us to suffer. To relinquish that and to take a stand in freedom is to take a stand in relinquishment and letting go.

The final one is to take a stand in peace. The word upāsama^[7] is often considered synonymous with awakening itself. One of the positive ways the Buddha talks about awakening is that it is a form of profound peace. To take a stand on that peace means to value it, to love it, to connect to it, and not to sacrifice it for anything that diminishes, belittles, or causes us to lose that peace and suffer. We develop such a clear sense of peace as a reference point that we know it is helpful and valuable, and anything else is a loss. Then, we learn to live a full life from that peace and with that peace. We can be engaged in the world in a great, wonderful way, but without losing our reference point to that peace.

Becoming Our Resolves

All these things are easier said than done. These four resolves are called resolves because they are not easy to do. But at some point in practice, we have a very clear sense that these are worthwhile places to be committed to, to be determined on, to love, to bring forth, and to take a stand with. We protect them so they can grow further and we don't easily sacrifice them.

The value of determination is that it allows us to stay close to something valuable that we have discovered for ourselves over our time practicing. With that determination—that taking a stand—those qualities can grow and develop further and further until, at some point, resolve or determination may no longer be needed because they have become who we are. We are peace. We are wisdom. We are truth. I don't know if we are letting go, but we have let go. Determination is one of the higher pāramīs that the practice comes to at some point.

Thank you very much, and I look forward to our time tomorrow. I hope that in these next 24 hours, you will consider this topic of determination, resolve, taking a stand, and commitment. Maybe you will have a better word for yourself than any of the words I have offered here today. If anything I said today resonates with you, what is it that you can be more committed and dedicated to? What is it that you know is worthwhile taking a stand in so that you don't easily lose it, but instead live that way in your life? Please reflect on this, discuss it, and write about it as preparation for tomorrow.

Thank you.