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<\/a><\/div>\nToday is my last day in my apartment in Montana. I\u2019m off to L.A. via Salt Lake City, and then Fo Guang Shan<\/a>\u00a0Monastery in southern Taiwan via Taipei.<\/p>\n Back in the US, I have exactly 5 airport-free days<\/i> before making my way to London and then India to teach. From there, some time in January, I will head to Korea and (and maybe other SE Asia destinations), then back to the US. Then around April I\u2019m heading back to the UK to finish up my doctoral studies.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re anything like me, you\u2019re feeling a little\u00a0queasy\u00a0at the moment just thinking about it. Just the stretch from Taiwan back to the US, on to England, India, and Korea is a complete circling of the globe<\/b>.\u00a0If there\u2019s a hell realm for excessive carbon footprint in this life, I\u2019m shortlisted for it.<\/p>\n On the other hand you might be envious or feeling mudita<\/i>\u00a0(sympathetic joy, one of the \u2018divine abidings\u2019 taught by the Buddha). All of this traveling really is\u00a0incredible\u00a0and wonderful. Sure to be one amazing opportunity and discovery after another.<\/p>\n But opportunity doesn\u2019t come without a cost. Something<\/i> and often someone<\/i>\u00a0is always left behind. I cannot take my \u2018stuff\u2019, my comforts, my favorite radio shows, places to hike or watch a sunset, my friends and family. But then all of this \u2018my<\/i>\u2018ing reminds me of the Buddha\u2019s teaching:<\/p>\n neta\u1e43 mama, nesoham asmi, na meso att\u0101\u2019ti.\u00a0<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is not mine, I am not this, this is not my self.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This uprooting process is a great teacher \u2013 experientially \u2013 of the fact that none of these are mine<\/i>. None is nicca<\/i>,\u00a0permanent, and despite how wonderful they are, each has in it the seed of dukkha<\/i>, suffering.<\/p>\n The topic of many discussions in my Buddhisty circles lately has been distraction<\/b><\/i>. Yes, our society is filled with it, but even if it weren\u2019t our minds would seek it out. This is the human condition. Ever since I got the job in India I\u2019ve been distracted \u2013 often with simple random things, then with planning, seeing friends and family, and then a little more planning. So really <\/b>feeling<\/b><\/i>\u00a0what is happening has been difficult. <\/b>Both recognizing all that is being left behind and<\/i>\u00a0all of the wonderful experiences ahead of me has come slowly.<\/p>\n Surely enough though, reality makes itself felt. Recognizing that the feelings, positive (sukha<\/i>), negative (dukkha<\/i>), and neither\/nor (adukkhamasukha<\/i>) are not mine or permanent helps unhook things, lets the flow return, like little rainbow trout caught\u00a0and released\u00a0by this young man in Missoula\u2019s Clark Fork River. We cannot overcome the vicissitudes of life, the bumps and smooth stretches. But we can learn to flow with it. This is the flow of the <\/b>dhamma<\/b><\/i>, truth, not the flow of society.<\/b> This is why the Buddha described his teaching as\u00a0Pa\u1e6disota\u1e43<\/i>, against the stream, referring to the habits of sensuality, desires, conflicts, war, and so on in the world around him.<\/p>\n Yet at the same time, the term \u2018stream enterer\u2019 is used for a disciple who has unshakable confidence in the teachings and the order, as well as perfected morality. The conditions for achieving this are\u00a0companionship with good people, hearing the true doctrine (sadhamma<\/i>), intelligent reflection, and living in conformity with the Dhamma.<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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So perhaps we can say that at a simple level at least, Buddhism<\/a> is really black and white, dualistic. Either you\u2019re going according to the societal stream, or the Dhamma stream. Tibetans capture this well in the second circle of the Wheel of Life:<\/span>
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