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Dharma Samadhi (2 of 5) Gladness and Joy

So the title of the talks this week is Dharma Samadhi, and Dharma Samadhi is a teaching from the Buddha of five different mental emotional qualities that we enter into, as we would enter into a stream and be carried by the currents. And so there's a way in which we practice, and sometimes it can feel a little bit like practice is a lot of work, and sometimes it is, especially when we first start. But at some point, we enter into a stream, into a momentum that's not of our doing and not part of our effort, but rather it's something that begins to move through us.

This can be as simple as we sit down and we don't do much except maybe be present. We can start feeling that things begin to shift, that maybe our shoulders relax a little bit, and the belly softens. It wasn't necessarily that we initiated that; it just happens on its own. Some people notice that in the course of a thirty-minute meditation, by the end, things are much more settled in the body—more ease and relaxation. And it wasn't that we did any of it so much, we just stayed present, stayed with the breathing, stayed out of the busy mind that gets stressed out, and things just kind of shed and relaxed. And so that's kind of the stream of relaxation we allow. We want to get out of the way. As we relax, then there can be a feeling of pleasure or goodness or rightness, and that can give a sense of gladness or joy, or a sense of, "Yes, this is good." And that sense of gladness that can come from that can be seen—it's not something we intentionally create or do, but almost a byproduct of the settling in there that goes on and can go on in practice.

So this idea that there's something else going on here besides what we are engineering, that we're allowing for something. And the stronger our practice is, the more regularity, the more we know how to really show up and be in the present moment, the more we're capable of also opening up and allowing this flow to happen. This unfolding to happen, that is a Dharma flow. And it's intentional to use this language of flow, because the Buddha himself said that at some point the practice puts us in a current, and we're carried along by the current, that current in the river. And the word for current is sota^[1] in Pali, and it's often translated into English as stream. In the terms of someone who has really entered into the flow of the Dharma has become a stream-enterer, but this word stream-enterer doesn't quite capture the idea of being now being carried by a flow. And that is lost by choosing stream when the word literally means current, so someone has entered the current.

So this Dharma Samadhi is beginning to enter a current that has five different things. It has gladness, joy, tranquility, happiness, and concentration. And the flow goes from one to the next. And now it's a remarkable thing that these wonderful positive states of mind are our potentials or capacities that are within us, that the practice creates the conditions for this good stuff to kind of begin to flow. Kind of like the practice has the capacity to help us relax and let go, and it's almost maybe connected to that: the more we can let go, the more that feels good.

So today the topic is the first two of these Dharma Samadhis. This is what I'm using the translation of gladness and joy. There are other choices for these two words. The Pali is pāmojja^[2] and pīti^[3]. Sometimes the first one is translated as joy, and the second one is rapture. There's the idea from the ancient times that the first one is the weak form of the second one, so joy, and then rapture is a much more strong, intense densification of joy. And I offer you both possibilities as a kind of an assignment. Maybe you can think about and reflect and have conversations with people about what words you would choose for these first two Dharma Samadhi qualities. Would you use gladness and joy? Joy and rapture? Would you use something else? But maybe you want to reserve happiness for the fourth quality that we get to. And the idea that you can find your own word or find what works for you is a very important principle in this practice, because if it doesn't work for you, the language, the ideas, then you know it's a little bit more difficult for it to open in you or to live in you or to unfold in you. And so don't take English translations of Buddhist terms as being the fixed idea, "This has to be that term." It's more like a general suggestion, and you can kind of begin finding how it works for you.

But in any case, the first one is gladness. And I like the word gladness because gladness to me is a little bit of an appreciation. It's a little bit evaluative. It's a little bit understanding the context of something: "Ah, this is good." Whereas joy can also be that, but it's much more the delight, pleasure, the joy that comes from really being absorbed and engaged in meditation itself, in the activity we're doing. It's the self-enjoying feeling, the self-enjoying joy of being engaged and present for what we're doing. And it doesn't, not so much, it's an evaluation in comparison to something else, but it's just kind of the joy of the activity itself.

Whereas gladness is more evaluative, and it's in comparison to other things. So for example, to have been really caught up in the hindrances^[4] for a long time, caught and swirling around in desire, ill will, and so forth, and then finally the fantasies, the illusions, the distractions of these things settle away, and it feels like, "Oh, I'm back. I'm myself finally again. I'm here, and I'm no longer being pulled away by all these things." And this feels good. And that feeling of good there is more of a gladness in comparison to being caught or being lost. The Buddha talks about a variety of things that give rise to this gladness. And that's one of them; one of the predominant ones is no longer being caught by the hindrances. And that can be a long slog. It takes a long time, sometimes years, for people to have the hindrances abate. Then we start feeling, entering into the river, the flow of gladness that's there. "Ah, this is nice."

An interesting other one is that he talks about virtuous behavior, living a virtuous life. So our conduct, what we actually do, is not harming anybody else intentionally, violating the precepts. And this idea of living from wholesome qualities, feeling inside of us also that we have wholesomeness, we're dedicated to being wholesome and skillful and living a good life. And that leads, he said, to a feeling of non-regret. And this non-regret, not having regret for not doing anything harmful, that can be a source of gladness. And there's plenty of people I know who are really living basically good lives, but there's such a strong inner critic that many people have that they don't avail themselves, they don't appreciate that actually they haven't killed and stolen and engaged in sexual misconduct or lied or been intoxicated recently. And that time that we haven't, that's a good thing. And the gladness of that, the joy of that, is something that the Buddha said you can avail yourself of, that you can open to and allow, or that can just be recognized: "This is good."

It's interesting that this emphasis on experiencing gladness or joy from our ethical life is something that scholars have said was also prominent among the ancient Greeks and also the early Christians. That there was an understanding that an ethical life was the source for a kind of joy or happiness that was lost within Europe around the time of the Protestant Reformation and the rise of capitalism, where there was a greater emphasis on the individual. And in the modern 20th, 21st century, a lot of the emphasis on joy and happiness, I think, in kind of European-centric currents of our modern world, has been focused on personal psychological well-being. In personal psychological terms, what happiness is. Whereas the ancients, including the Buddhists, had a very clear sense that it was something that we did in community, and that how we behave in community ethically is also a source for our joy or gladness.

And the other thing the Buddha talked about that gives birth to this kind of gladness is having an upright mind, or what is often translated into English as a straight mind. But an upright mind, an honest mind, an honest heart. And to really feel that we have a goodness inside and we're honest. That is part of the products of mindfulness practice because mindfulness is a practice of being honest and learning how to be more and more honest with ourselves and our world. And then that can bring a sense of gladness, that we have uprightness, or this dedication to being honest. And we might not always be completely ethical to our standards, or always as upright as we'd like to be, but one of the sources of joy and gladness is that we're dedicated to it, that it's our intention to keep doing better, keep trying again. "I'm so glad that I'm trying, that this is my inspiration."

And then the last thing I'll say, which I mentioned yesterday, is Bhikkhu Bodhi^[5] translated that inspiration in the Dharma can give a source of gladness—that we read the Dharma, we hear the Dharma, and we're so glad to be connected to it, to know what feels right. But the actual word is not, I don't think, inspiration. The word is more like to have a feeling for the Dharma. And this idea that it's not so much that you read the Dharma and think, "Oh, this is really right," but to have some intuitive or felt sense: "I feel this is what it's about. This kind of ease or freedom or peace or openness or compassion, this is good." So there's all these different things that we can appreciate, we can open up to, we can spend time connecting to what's inspiring, so that some feeling of gladness arises.

And the gladness is not so much manufactured as really connecting to what inspires us, and then allowing it to live there, and recognizing it. As the practice deepens and gets stronger, then that gladness is a support, or a fuel, or a foundation for the next Dharma Samadhi quality, which is joy, pīti, that some people translate as rapture, because it's very physical and it can sometimes be quite intense with a lot of energy that's there. Technically, it's considered to be a mental phenomenon, mental delight and joy. The mind has been lit up with delight and the engagement in the practice and doing it. And generally, this happens when people can really stay in the present moment. And then there's a gladness with that, a joy and delight in it, in the involvement, in staying present with the breath and staying in the present moment with experience. And it's not necessarily something we have to make happen, but it is something that as we start to feel and get a sense of relaxing, of letting go, of just the simplicity of a mind which was not caught up in unfortunate mind states and activities, then we avail ourselves, we tune into the well-being, the joy, the goodness of that.

And this is part of the art of Dharma practice, the art of opening up our attention not to deny what's difficult, but to include what is not difficult. To include where the gladness is, and where the joy is, where the delight is. To include the light of engagement, the light of being here, the light of not being caught anymore, the light of the goodness of being honest and having an upright mind, or being deeply connected.

And this willingness to open and say yes to what is good, without denying what is bad and wrong or difficult, is the door through which this flow, this current, can begin moving within us. And we're waiting or looking, or we're kind of allowing this current of the Dharma, the Dharma Samadhi current, to move through us. So gladness and joy, or other people call the first one joy and the second one rapture. Or maybe you have your own two words for what you'd like to call these, and think about that.

Tomorrow we'll talk about the third factor that flows out of or continues this movement of the flow into tranquility. And in the meantime, for today, for this next period until tomorrow, please spend some time looking for this Dharma gladness and Dharma joy. See if it's here for you. See if maybe there's a way of saying yes and opening to your experience that, even when things are difficult, allows some kind of spark, some kind of little tingling, or a little something, or a big something of joy, of delight, of gladness to be part of your day for the next 24 hours. May you enjoy your day. Thank you.