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Questioning (5 of 5): Questioning and Freedom

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. So this morning I'd like to continue this exploration of the topic of questioning as practice. In some ways, to question, the act of questioning, is an expression of freedom. It's a manifestation of freedom. It's demonstrating that we're not locked in, we're not stuck, we're not in the blind grip of what's happening. But that we're able to be separate enough that we can ask, "What is this?"

We're asserting some kind of freedom and we're acknowledging that another experience at that moment is possible, that the universe of experience is larger than just that moment. To question, "What is this?" or "Who is it that's doing the knowing?" or "What is doing the knowing?" In some kind of way, we could understand that liberation itself is seeing things differently. It's not having the same relationship with experiences, with sensations. And to question is also to help see things differently, to shift our relationship with what we're experiencing.

And in some ways, liberation is where this—maybe we could think of a coagulation, a stickiness, which leads to suffering—is no longer there, is no longer present. This center, from which all the experiences feel like the center is here and experience is somewhere over there, that has drained away. And instead, there's just acknowledgment that experiences arise, phenomena arise, sensations arise.

Two Types of Questions

So there are two types of practices that are using questions. I'd like to explore a little bit how they're related with freedom. There are questions that are related to the Buddhist teachings, and there are questions that are related to our experience.

There are these beautiful teachings that can be intellectually satisfying, maybe puzzling, head-scratching, but something that could be worthwhile to engage with, to inquire into. They may be even emotionally nourishing just to hear them. But the encouragement is not just to stop there, but to engage with them, to engage with the teachings and let them stretch our understanding. Let them stretch our interpretation, our understanding of our experiences, and let them become our own knowledge. Let them become part of what we know, or our repertoire of experiences or understanding.

So the encouragement is to hold the teachings up to scrutiny. Engage with them, investigate them, ask about them, and let the teachings hold you up to scrutiny also. There's a number of ways we can understand that. One way is, "Is what I'm doing wholesome? Is it helpful? Is it skillful? Is it beneficial?" To ask these types of questions: "Is this onward leading?" And we can also ask questions like, "What is this seeming center to all experiences?" If we have a feeling that there's a center here and everything else is there, what is that?

Questions About Freedom

So there are also questions about freedom itself that we could ask. Maybe we don't even entertain the possibility of asking the question, "What is freedom? What is liberation? What is awakening? What is enlightenment? What does it mean? Maybe it's possible for me. What would it involve?"

Often we don't ask those types of questions, these big bold questions. Maybe our inner critic gets in the way. The inner critic might be saying something like, "Well, what does that have to do with me? I'm hopeless, or I'm not worthy," or some version of that. But maybe it has a grip on us so that we don't dare inquire about some of these big bold questions about awakening, enlightenment, freedom, and movement along the path in that direction.

And this question about, well, what is the path of liberation? Certainly, here in the 7am^[1], we emphasize meditation. And then we have Dharmas^[2] where there's teachings. But many of you know there's an Eightfold Path^[3] that has lots of different elements, including ethics: how we show up in the world, how we treat others, how we treat ourselves; concentration practice; wisdom teachings. Can we inquire about all these and about how they might support us in this movement towards freedom?

Questions About Our Experience

And then there can be some questions that are more explicitly about our experience, about what's happening right now. We might be asking, "What is this?" as a way to help us engage and be intimate with, and have contact with our experience. But we could also be asking, "Who or what is doing the asking? Who or what is doing the knowing?"

And this might help us to see some of the ways in which we might be constructing a sense of self—the sense of there being a constant center to experiences, a sense of location. "I'm here, and everything else is out there," in some kind of way.

Of course, we have a sense of self in terms of a personal history. These are things that happened in the past. These are experiences that were had. I have a sense of self as a sense of location, of a body in physical space. Of course, we have social roles. All of us are a child, might be a sibling, probably have all been customers in a store. So we all have a version of a self.

But if we do this gentle inquiry in this field of warmth, we won't find a stable, enduring self^[4] that is a subject that is having all the experiences. There might be a feeling that somehow there should be a self that's a passenger in this body, but we won't find this stable, enduring self if we just kindly, gently ask the question, "What is this? What is this feeling of having experiences? Who or what is doing the knowing?"

And is the thought, the sense, the feeling that there is an I, there's a me, is it myself, and these things are mine? If there's a sense of that, well, isn't that just another sense experience or thought that is arising? Just like all the other ones that we've had, that have been experienced.

So this is a way in which we can bring questioning to our practice about our experience. We can have this inquiry, "What is this?" about the experiences out there. We can also in some ways turn it around, about what's the sense of experience here. If there feels like a center to experience, what is that? What is that center?

Scrutinizing the Teachings and Ourselves

So in this way, questioning—whether it's about the teachings, and using questions as a way to really engage with the teachings, whether it's our questions about authority (external authority or internal authority), or questions about, "Is that right? Let me see if that's true in my own experience"—we can also have questions about the teachings and scrutinize them, and allow the teachings to scrutinize us. Both in terms of what the teachings say and in terms of our experiences.

"Is what I'm doing leading to greater freedom? Is this sensation created by me?" There are all these different questions that we could use as a way to be a support for practice, to be our practice.

So many of you know that the Buddha said—there's a number of different ways we could understand this, but I'll present it this way—the Buddha said, "Be a lamp unto yourself."^[5] That is the way I understand it's like being a way which shines the light of awareness that illuminates our experience, our teachings, in a way that we can find our own way.

This practice isn't asking us to be anything or anybody different. But we can use questions to help us find our way, our own way, and to help us test our ideas of truth, and test our assumptions, test our expectations, so that we can find greater and greater experiences of freedom, all the way to complete freedom, the ending of suffering, liberation, awakening.

Reflections

And in this way, might our practice, our practice of questioning, be a support for ourselves, and of course for everyone that we come in contact with, maybe directly or indirectly? So that the practice that we do here together, and on our own, may it be for the benefit of all beings everywhere. Thank you.