The point here is that by understanding this by seeking to understand this dependent origination as we live with and through disease can be the cause for our entering the realm of pratyekabuddhahood.
As I have been studying this and thinking deeply on the subject it is easy to see that these very same principles can be applied to any and every aspect of our lives. What condition or realm of the Ten Worlds do our experiences cause to arise? When we navigate our lives what is our perception? What delusions to we suffer from and thus cause the arising of conditions which only ensure continued suffering? Are we able to transform our experiences and use them is wholesome and skillful ways to cause the arising of higher realms which enable us to reduce our suffering and also enable other to begin to eliminate their suffering? I think these are interesting questions which arise from our understanding and contemplation on disease and dis-ease.
So throughout this book we have learned how imbalances have been created in our lives which lead to various experiences of disease. When we focus to heavily on physical body, life, and wealth we create imbalances; any singular focus inherently ignores something. Singular focuses also increase the level of stress due to the constant vigilance on one aspect which over time drains of the energy and resources to focus on the larger picture of the many aspects of wellness.
We too have learned that if our spiritual practice if our attention to mind and spirit have been neglected then we deprive ourselves of the vast resources and healing power of mind and spirit. If we are not able to have calm forbearance, or if our resolution is weak, we leave our spirit unguarded and vulnerable.
Also if we are not diligent in our actions, not only in relation to our health and wellness but also in our actions in society and the environment we subject ourselves to dangers of misfortune. We can not lightly misuse or abuse our environment either large or small, immediate or further beyond, without avoiding the accumulation of a myriad of negative effects. Our causes have effects consequent to them.
Further, if we lack wisdom or have little wisdom and if we fail to penetrate understanding of disease and the transient nature of suffering, emptiness, no-self this leads to further and increased suffering from illness and disease.
If however, your illness causes you to expand your life and have compassion for others who suffer from illness and disease, if you have pity for others in their pain and limitations then disease arouses compassion. The arousal of compassion due to our own awareness of living through and in illness and disease hopefully will lead to making a vow to help others. This compassion helps us see that since all phenomena are insubstantial and transient then for us to abandon our own suffering without regret is made easier. In accord with the principal of attaining calm endurance with no regret and increasing our efforts of correct intentions and awakening. These are the causes of dis-ease that arouse the realm of Tripitaka bodhisattva of the six perfections.
Contemplating dis-ease and becoming aware that disease arises from delusion, perversion, misconceptions, passions and its afflictions, in this life and previous existences helps us to realize and awaken to the reality that both self and nirvana are empty. In this case dis-ease is the cause of the realm of the bodhisattva of the Shared Teachings.
Going even deeper still in our contemplation of dis-ease we find that dis-ease is ultimately empty, that there is no place of self that experiences disease yet all experiences are conventionally experienced. That is when we make our experiences more solid then we become attached to the experience which is a hindrance. Again, understanding that there is not fundamental self that self is an empty concept except, yes there is a physical body, there is a thinking mind but going deeper beyond that there is not self that resides permanently and independently of the entire universe.
I share with you one of my favorite ways of imaging this concept. If you consider a wave on the ocean, you can see the wave arise from the surface of the ocean. There are many factors that cause a wave to arise. Some of those factors are the relationship between the earth and the moon, the geological formations under the surface of the ocean, the temperature of the water and the ever changing circulation of water because of the temperature, winds on the surface also affect and cause waves, then too there are the effects of geological phenomena such as volcanoes or earthquakes. In short there are numerous causes for the arising of waves.
While I am no expert on waves it might be safe to guess that perhaps no two waves are exactly identical, after all the water is constantly circulating and never in the same spot for long. And as someone who has surfed and who swam in the Pacific Ocean in Hawaii I can say that waves have personalities almost, some are favorable for surfing if you catch the right spot, some not so good.
We can look at waves and discern that some waves are different in appearance and also in behavior. Each wave or group of waves has characteristics that may be similar to others around it, sort of like how we group up in society.
But when you examine a wave you see that fundamentally it is only the water of the ocean which has formed in such a way and will only exist for a limited duration of time. At the end of the cycle of life of the wave what is it? It is simple the water of the ocean. The water retains no identifiable marker showing it was a part of wave number six on Sunset Beach Hawaii at six o’clock in the morning on March 8, 1975 and ceased to exist 20 minutes later. The wave existed and then the wave didn’t exist. The water continues the wave does not. There is no fundamentally permanently existing wave unique and continuing.
Our lives are similar in many ways. We came into existence because certain conditions were favorable to our live. We live and we travel on the ocean of life as our named wave. Here is the thing though we are not separate from the universe and the essence of life throughout time and space. We have this illusion that I am unique, I am special, I am permanent, I am forever. These attachments are convenient until they cause us suffering; suffering of expectation of perfect happiness, perfect health, longevity, importance, uniqueness, and desire for permanence and eternity as self. The only thing that separates each of us simply our karma, the accumulation of previous causes.
Some people may find this troubling, I understand that. It has taken me a long time to grapple with this to embrace it in peace and to let go of the fear of impermanence. I find it quite liberating. It was not easy and even still it does require maintenance especially when I become attached to memory.
When our experience of dis-ease in disease causes us to extinguish experience and accept enlightenment then it is the case that dis-ease is the cause of the realm of the bodhisattva of Distinct Teachings.
Throughout all of this we can see that it is possible for dis-ease to cause us to gradually step-by-step give rise or elevate our condition of life to higher levels of attainment. This is the conceivable-realm and helps us understand what is not desirable to contemplate.
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