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Conditionality

I always want to say it's nice to be here. I can't help it, because it is. It's nice to be here.

Not too long ago—but it seems like almost another lifetime ago, another parallel universe in some way—I went to the movies. Actually, now that I think about it, this was maybe a few years ago now, but I went to the movies with a friend of mine. I hadn't been to the movies with this person, and we watched a movie that I probably wouldn't have seen on my own accord. But in the spirit of going to the movies, I went. It was an action movie, and it included a lot of profanity by the characters, a lot of swearing.

And I discovered that when we left the movie, afterwards just talking, like, "What did you think about it? How was it?" I was amazed how many four-letter words just fell out of my mouth. I was cussing up a storm. I couldn't believe it.

So just this recognition that the environment we're in, what we are being exposed to and what we're experiencing, has an impact. It affects us. Of course it does, and how can it not? Are we allowing things to impact us or affect us in a way that is supportive, and that is going in the way that we would like them to?

This is generally called conditionality, this idea that things happen dependent on a number of conditions. I was cussing after the movie; I wasn't cussing before the movie. The conditions of having surround sound and getting immersed in the movie created the conditions for me to come out and to be cussing a lot.

So conditionality can be used as a perspective or a reference that we can use to view our experiences. That is, we can use it as a way to recognize the connection, like, "Oh, okay, I'm feeling this way because this happened earlier." And this recognition can help guide us towards more freedom. It can help us to become more sensitive to, "Okay, there's a little bit less freedom here. What are the conditions? What was happening right before then that made me feel like there's this contraction or this tightness?"

This is the recognition that nothing happens out of thin air. Things aren't random. Even though we might feel like they're random—we might not see the connections, we might not understand the connections—there isn't magic.

I remember when I was young, I had this idea that when I lost something—I remember being young and losing scissors. I don't know what happened to them, and there were probably some bad consequences to my losing the scissors, which is why I remember it. But I just had this idea, "Oh, they just disappeared. They don't exist anymore." And it wasn't until later I realized, "Oh no, it's not that they don't exist anymore, it's just that I don't know where they are." So I had this kind of magical thinking that things just went away. Things just don't go away magically, but things arise and disappear due to conditions.

And of course, many of you will be familiar with this, that the Buddha summarized this key teaching with: "When this is, that comes to be." Pretty straightforward. And then, of course, that's true: "When this isn't, that doesn't come to be." So certain things arise when certain other things arise. When there are rain clouds and other atmospheric conditions, it rains. If there are no rain clouds, it doesn't rain.

So this flow of conditions is orderly. There's a force, a law to it. It's not random, as I said. But we don't need Buddhist teachings to tell us this. We all have this experience. We all know that if we are tired and hungry, and perhaps running late, our response to dropping our phone or forgetting our phone is different than when we're not tired and hungry or running late. Or when we stub our toe, it is different when we are tired and hungry. Everything is different when we're tired, hungry, and running late than when we're not. Our capacity to be with the experience is different, and our responses to that are different. So feeling stressed makes it more likely that our responses will not reflect our best selves.

This is really obvious; we all know this, you don't need me to tell you this. But it is worth reflecting upon. We are always creating conditions for something to arise. We are always creating conditions. There are consequences to our actions.

So when we find ourselves perhaps not taking good care of ourselves, or maybe gossiping, or blaming others, we're creating the conditions for particular outcomes. Maybe we don't know exactly what those outcomes are, but we do know that those outcomes are different than if we were taking care of ourselves: eating well, sleeping well, exercising—all these things that we know are good to do. If we aren't gossiping or blaming others, or filling our minds with ill-will or harmful thoughts, the outcomes are different. Understanding this conditionality can support this path to greater freedom and greater ease.

For example, how might we create the conditions for a regular meditation practice? I know some people that send each other a text message: "Okay, I'm going to sit now." As far as I know, there aren't long sentences or anything like this, but just kind of the support of knowing that other people are going to be meditating. Or putting a meditation in our calendar, or creating a space, whether it's indoors or in a park-like setting in our backyard, where it's nice to meditate. Create a place that's inviting, encouraging us to meditate. All these things that we can do create the conditions and make it easier to meditate, make it easier to do whatever it is that we want to do.

I know for me, I have these—it's a little bit silly—but I have these socks that I really like. I have a couple of pairs, and they're all brightly colored. There's something a little bit endearing about them in that there's one that has an 'R' on it, and one that has an 'L' on it, and I don't know why, I just get a kick out of this. So I put these socks near my walking shoes just to remind me to go for a hike, go for a walk. It just makes it more likely that I'm up to do it because I get to wear these socks that I think are kind of fun in some kind of way.

So what are some of the things that you might do, some of the conditions that you'll put in place? As opposed to this idea that I must make myself do something, what are the different supports that you can put into place that make it incredibly more likely that something will happen? As opposed to this feeling like "I have to end this suffering," that can feel constricting and takes so much responsibility. And I'm sure you've all noticed there are only so many things that we actually can control, if anything.

So this idea that we're going to end this suffering, this difficulty, or make it go away usually just ends up in frustration, and maybe a sense of constriction and disappointment in ourselves. We don't directly control the elements of the universe, but we can create conditions which make more outcomes likely. It's a different way to consider how we want our life to unfold, how we want things to unfold. Instead of insisting or badgering or pushing, it's like, "Okay, so what are the conditions?" And there might be a myriad, a whole mixture of conditions that we might be able to put into place.

And for some people, their difficulties, their suffering, are a mystery to them. They're not sure why it's happening. Or maybe they don't want to look at their difficulties; they're afraid that they won't be able to handle it. Or maybe we're emotionally bound up with our experience and our difficulties, and it doesn't even occur to us to inquire, "How did I get here?" In a way that isn't blaming, in a way that isn't creating fuel for anger, but kind of unpacking a little bit: What are the conditions that led to this difficulty, this suffering? What's underneath it? What's fueling it? What's supporting it?

And sometimes it's difficult to see what it is that we're doing that's supporting this suffering. It might be really subtle, it might not be obvious. Of course, this is where having a quiet mind can help. Maybe it is subtle and only becomes apparent when we've settled down and our mind is a little bit less busy, let's say that. But it also may just be a habit of the mind that we're so accustomed to that we don't see it, because we just feel like, "Oh, that's just the way it is. That's the nature of the universe."

The habit of mind might be something like, "The world is an unsafe place." And we have this belief that it doesn't matter where we go or what we do, it's always unsafe, not recognizing that there are some times in which we feel safe, some conditions in which we do. Maybe with certain people, or with certain blankets, or whatever it might be—certain settings, certain locations, while listening to certain music, while meditating, whatever it might be. But we might have this underlying belief that the world is an unsafe place. And not only do we have that belief, but we are holding on to it, and so that leads to our feeling unease, and maybe having to feel like we have to be vigilant all the time.

So what might be underneath, what might be creating the conditions for our suffering, might be something that takes some opening and some quieting to be able to see. But even if we don't see or don't understand, one thing that the Buddha points to is that chances are it involves some holding on, some grasping, some clinging, some attachment in a way that doesn't allow things to flow naturally, doesn't allow things to shift and change in a way that everything just wants to shift and change. But our holding on makes it seem like it's always constant. We're often looking in the wrong places for our suffering. We often look elsewhere, and we're blaming other people, and we're blaming institutions.

And to be sure, there are people and institutions that are doing oppression and wrongdoing. But we can make this distinction between pain and injustice, and our continual suffering, which involves a holding on, a clinging, or some tightness. I don't want to make it sound like we're responsible for all the difficulties in our lives. I want to encourage us to look at what we do have. Therein lies some of the doorways to freedom: recognizing that there are conditions that lead to greater contraction and suffering, and there are conditions that lead to greater freedom, openness, and ease.

And a big part of Buddhist practice, a big part of meditation practice, is discovering what are those conditions that lead to greater freedom and what are those ones that lead to greater suffering. And in this way, there's a sense of maybe some openness or some possibility, and not feeling stuck, which of course is its own sense of suffering.

So there's a way in which we can bring attention and care to our difficulties, and in an upright way, to look at them honestly, without self-pity, without blame, and just to see what's underneath. Is there something that's fueling it? Is there a way in which there can be some greater freedom, some greater ease, a movement in that direction, so that we can understand? And we look at this and we inquire not so that we can suffer better, but just so that we can understand how it arises, recognizing that when this arises, that arises; if this doesn't arise, that doesn't arise. If we want the suffering to not arise, what are some of the things underneath it? Is there a tightening? Is there a drivenness? Is there a compulsion? Is there some holding on underneath it?

Becoming free of quarrels, becoming free of conflicts, is a frequent theme in the Buddha's teachings. In some discourses, he applies this principle of conditionality to describe conditions that are present for interpersonal conflicts. In one discourse, he says that it begins with sense contact. That is, eyes seeing objects, the body feeling forms, the ear hearing sounds, the nose smelling odors, the tongue tasting flavors, and the mind thinking thoughts. It all starts there.

And then as a consequence of some of our sense doors being impinged by sense objects, there's feeling tone: it's pleasant, it's unpleasant. Based on that pleasantness or unpleasantness, there are some perceptions that arise, some labels that get assigned. Based on those perceptions, there are some thoughts that arise. And then those thoughts start to proliferate; there's a thought train that happens.

And sometimes we might not even notice that, maybe because we are uncomfortably hot, feeling like there's a lot of heat, and we just have this wish that we want to go into a place that's cooler. We may not notice how that is really influencing our experience of listening to somebody speak. We might be thinking that what they're saying isn't worth listening to, not recognizing that actually we are just feeling uncomfortable and really want to go outside where it's cooler. But instead, we're just thinking like, "Oh, what this person is saying isn't worth listening to," or "They don't know what they're talking about," or "I may as well just go outside," and not recognize that little pressure, that little push leaning towards the discomfort. And perhaps if we had heard the exact same thing, and the conditions were outside when the temperature is lovely and we can see the stars and we're strolling, we might have a completely different response.

So though we might not think about the origin, or the way that conflicts or quarrels arise, as starting with sense contact, I guess technically if you think about it, where else would they begin except with our experience? And so this points to the fact that when we want to look to what's underlying some difficulties, maybe it is to look broadly, as opposed to looking for a specific cause as to what the dispute is about. If we look for conditions, we would look at maybe a whole bunch of things: whether we had eaten or not. That may not be the cause for being angry—maybe they did say something that was upsetting—but how we were feeling, our mood. Maybe we had just had a difficult conversation with somebody else and we were feeling tender, or maybe we are feeling hungry. Or maybe we just had a nice walk with our dog or a loving session with our partner.

So this idea of conditions is broader than looking for causes. And it doesn't require that we have to pin it down precisely, but you can just have a sense of a hunch: "Oh yeah, okay, this has a condition that I know contributed to it." I can take care, and just recognize that when I'm tired and hungry, I'm not going to bring my wisest self, my most compassionate self, my most patient self.

So we can intentionally create conditions for greater ease and greater freedom. And as I said in the guided meditation, all of our actions have consequences, including our subtle mental actions and our large, gross behavioral actions—things we say, things we do. But also implicit in this is that we have the capacity to make a difference. We do have the capability to effect change. This, of course, is different than controlling everything, but we can effect change by putting conditions in place so that things are more likely to happen.

And part of the teachings is to see ourselves as someone who has a certain effectiveness. Of course, right? We wouldn't even be on this path of cultivation, this path of development, if we had no agency or no efficacy. But part of the teachings is to see ourselves as having the capacity to walk this path to greater freedom, greater ease, less suffering, all the way to the ending of suffering.

And so part of meditation practice is to allow the mind to settle, the body to settle, so that we can see the more subtle ways, the quiet ways, maybe the ways that aren't obvious, that we don't know about, we don't understand yet, or haven't tuned into yet. The way that we can become more and more sensitive to, "Oh yeah, this movement of the mind leads to a little bit more tightening. This movement of the mind leads to a little bit more spaciousness and ease."

So meditation practice helps us to see it in the subtle ways, and we can see this in large ways just in our daily life. Then we can gently inquire: what is it that is supporting or fueling some tightness or difficulty that we're experiencing? Maybe during meditation, we feel some tightness, maybe in the heart, or maybe some pressure of the thoughts to be thinking. We can do a gentle inquiry: What's underneath this? What's fueling it? There might be some emotions. What's creating the conditions for this to arise?

And then, of course, implicit in this is that we have the capacity to effect change, so that we can intentionally develop positive mind states with specific practices. So mindfulness meditation can quiet the mind and help us to see perhaps some subtleness that we might not have seen or been aware of. But we can do loving-kindness practice, soften the heart, get acquainted with the heart, gain some easy access to warm-heartedness. We could practice generosity, generosity in terms of giving people the benefit of the doubt, or generosity in giving our time and resources. We can cultivate some compassion, of meeting suffering with some wish for it to be alleviated, but without getting drawn into it in a way that's not helpful. But instead to keep our uprightness and sincerity and warm-heartedness when we meet with suffering, including compassion for ourselves.

For this simple teaching: "When this arises, that arises. When this doesn't arise, that doesn't arise." Actually, the English that I said doesn't match that Pali^[1] exactly, but that idea: "When this is, that is. When that isn't, that isn't," or "When this isn't, that isn't." I think you understand.

So may we put in place the conditions that we may have greater ease and greater peace, greater freedom, an end of suffering. And may we also put in place conditions so that others can have greater ease, greater freedom, and less suffering, greater freedom and ease. With this understanding of conditionality, may we put in place things that are supportive for everybody we come in contact with, and may it ripple out from there. May this teaching not be just for ourselves, but for how we show up in the world and how we affect others. Thank you.