Duka – The Suffering Of Non-Self-Realization

Difficult to be present. Present to all that we have in our heads, which we do not avoid, but allow to pass. Rather a special position! – not avoiding, and yet letting thoughts pass. Letting thoughts pass because they will go their own way; if we keep them in our heads, they stay simply intellectual. What remains in the body is feeling; its impression remains during zazen, having an effect on our breathing, and we can observe it. Not going against it, but respecting: if we try to influence it with our will, we make it worse, so the only thing to do is to give up: give up hope of resolving the problem.

Duka is the suffering of non-self-realization. When we look at our difficulties, whatever they may be, they are fundamentally bound to this suffering of non-realization of the self. Not realizing one’s self means not being fully here, not being fully intimate with what we are living. Living here where we are does not necessarily mean being accepted by society; it means having the feeling that our existence is truly connected to the world. Lacking this, we invent activism and social positions for ourselves. Self-realization is the story of each moment.

Helping all beings to self-realization is the first vow that the bodhisattva makes. In Mahayana, one of the schools of Buddhism, it is understood that one cannot self-realize if one has not contributed to the realization of everyone, without picking and choosing.

Faced with this suffering that we have in observing the world, it is necessary for us to be present – whether this be in zazen or in daily life. Not easy … we have things to do, obligations, in which we can quickly get lost if we do not come back to essentials. We can dwell a long time on the question of ‘how to realize one’s self’; but formulating the question is not enough to resolve it: even this question must be given up; we must remain awakened.

How do we help with the realization of everyone – and thus our own realization, since ‘everyone’ is also oneself? This is the teaching of the Hannya Shingyo, the Sutra of Great Wisdom: to become aware of the relativity of things; not to delude ourselves about what exists; and, together, to live truly.

by Patrick Malle, 28 November 2007