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The Roots (2 of 5) Lack or Fullness

The theme for this week is the roots—the roots of wholesome and the roots of unwholesome behavior. The roots of unwholesome behavior are greed, hate, and delusion. The roots of wholesome behavior are non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. To see and feel this distinction is really central to the teachings of the Buddha. Making that distinction allows us to become our own teacher and allows us to see where the path of practice opens up for us.

There is a wonderful little dialogue in the suttas. There is a whole series of texts where someone asks a question in verse, and the Buddha replies in verse. In the Connected Discourses, there is a poem where someone asks: "From whatever one reins in the mind, from that no suffering comes to one. Should one rein in the mind from everything, is one freed from all suffering?"

This is an easy conclusion to come to: that somehow the Buddha's teachings are a way to just avoid everything—to avoid life, to pull ourselves in so far that we become disconnected. We might think the goal is to go into some deep, maybe disembodied state that has no contact with the world or to oneself; there are such reified meditation states, for example. The assumption is that only by having no contact with the world, pulled back fully, can you be free of suffering. This person comes to the Buddha with this claim, and the Buddha responded, "One need not rein in the mind from everything. When the mind has come under control, from whatever it is that wickedness comes, from this one should rein in the mind."

So there is a checking of the mind, a holding back of the mind, but not from everything. Rather, we rein it in from where evil comes, from where wickedness and harm come. We do not want to do that. This is the emphasis of the Buddha. So we do not disconnect from the world. We disconnect from the very things that lead us to cause harm.

Not disconnecting from everything goes along with being able to see the difference between what is wholesome and unwholesome. The wholesome is what allows us to thrive, to grow, and to become full. "Thrive" is not a word often associated with Buddhist texts or teachings, but there are words that could easily be translated as thrive. For this growth and fullness, there is a beautiful analogy using the moon: "Just as, during the bright fortnight, whether by night or day, the moon only increases in beauty, roundness, and brightness, in diameter and circumference, so too for one who has faith in wholesome qualities, whether by night or day, only growth and not deterioration in wholesome qualities is to be expected."

It is possible to thrive and grow so that the inner life feels like the full moon—full and shiny. To do that, we have to have faith in our capacity for wholesome qualities. Wholesome qualities mean qualities of character, qualities of the heart and mind. There are these beautiful things that we can develop. That is the direction we are going. It is not a direction of greater and greater disconnection or emptiness, where we become empty of any contact with life itself. We are talking about becoming fuller in life, more enhanced in life, but without any conceit, without any selfishness. That is the art of this.

To understand the unwholesome roots—how we do the opposite—is actually quite important. I encourage all of us to have a deep appreciation for when we experience something like greed, as it gives us the opportunity to study it and see it well. We do not study it so we can be more greedy or better at our greed, but to really become familiar with it. We want to understand how it feels physically, mentally, and emotionally, and what comes along with it. In mindfulness practice, we are being asked to really understand what is happening for us in a deeper way.

With that in mind, Nyanaponika Thera^[1], one of the great scholar monks from the last century, gives a nice list of the aspects of greed. If greed is the umbrella term for the category, these are all the little aspects within it. Surprisingly, some of the words he uses are not ones we would normally associate with greed. It is kind of a koan^[2]—how could this be greed? Rather than just batting it away and saying, "That's crazy, that's wrong," it is more interesting to ask the question: in what circumstances is this the case? His list includes: liking, wishing, longing, fondness, affection, attachment, lust, cupidity, craving, passion, self-indulgence, possessiveness, avarice, desire for the five sense objects, desire for wealth, desire for offspring, desire for fame, etc.

That is a big list, and some of those things we do not automatically associate with being unwholesome. But we are not being asked to conclude that all these words inherently point to something unwholesome. It is our job to discover in ourselves when there is unwholesomeness in these kinds of desires.

I think of "desire" as being an umbrella term that is even broader than the word "greed." Desire encompasses both wholesome desire and unwholesome desire. Unwholesome desires are the desires that diminish us. They come from a feeling of lack, fear, frustration, or even anger that we are not getting what we want. This sense of lack or wanting is a big drive for greed.

For wholesome desires, I like to use the word "aspiration." Aspiration is related to the word breath in its Latin roots. When the breath is at ease, when we breathe easily and feel at home in our breath, at home in our body, and at home in ourselves, what are the desires that arise from that ease? They are the desires that help us grow and develop in good qualities, to become like the full moon, and to thrive.

We learn the difference between the kinds of desires that diminish us and the kinds of desires that enhance us; the desires that have suffering and harm inside of them, and the desires that are beneficial, supportive, and healing. Human desires are central to being human. We are kind of human "desirelings" more than human beings. We want to be very careful not to make the automatic assumption that we should rein ourselves in from all desires. We want to rein ourselves in from those desires which are wicked—as in that poem—or harmful.

In investigating this, can we feel inside what drives our attention? What drives our concern? What is the source of what we want to do? If we are mindful enough, it is possible to feel and sense a sense of lack. There is a place of contraction and tightness; it actually feels very uncomfortable. With greed at the forefront, the idea of it—the wish for something, the anticipation of it—can feel pleasant. There can be a drive for pleasure in greed. However, at its root, it will feel like something is off. Something does not quite feel right, and we are not settled in ourselves.

There is a whole other category of desires where we are settled in ourselves, where there is no harm. In fact, it feels good, satisfying, nourishing, and nurturing. One of the healthy desires I mentioned already is faith^[3]. Faith is classically understood as a kind of desire for something—a moving towards the object of faith, not out of neediness, clinging, or lack, but out of a sense that this is the direction of growth. This is the direction of the moon becoming full.

Another healthy desire is generosity. The desire to give may or may not be wholesome, but the desire to be generous comes from the goodness of the heart. Generosity is considered one of the classic descriptions of non-greed. When we want to be generous, with mindfulness practice, we want to feel and sense the consequences and the effect of how we live. If we act from generosity, it is possible to feel and grow from its goodness. It can be so good that, while we want to be wise about it and ensure it supports others, the personal satisfaction comes simply from how good it feels to be generous. It feels good to love, rather than just wanting to be loved; to give, rather than to get.

So there is a fork in the road. Our attention or thoughts can go in the direction of greed and unwholesome desires, or they can go in the direction of wholesome desires. If you are settled and mindful enough, it will feel pretty natural to go in the wholesome direction. That is the way the seed grows and flowers.

But this takes exploration. Discovery takes time. It takes a willingness to look at what is difficult in oneself. It takes a willingness to see where the sense of lack is and where the sense of neediness is. The art of all this is to meet the lack, the neediness, the fear, and the frustration with a wholesome mind and wholesome attention. Meet it with kindness and goodwill. Meet it with generosity. Meet it with the faith that it is possible to let your inner life grow, so the clouds can part and the full moon can be seen.

Thank you for today, and I look forward to our time tomorrow.