Dukkha-the second of the three characteristics broadening our understanding of what dukkha means can help us to recognize. In turning towards rather than away from we find a gateway to understanding that leads to freedom.
Can we look into the clear mirror of the dhamma? Can we face the "looking glass" with a willingness and humility and keep looking into this mirror of our 'self' without interpretation or judgement? It is only then that we begin to see and know the impersonality of presently arisen thoughts, censations,feelings and states of mind. Can we keep looking until we begin to experience and know that it's not all about "me" and teach the heart/the mind of freedom.
The Buddha offers us a recipe for cultivating a strong and clear mindful attention that's grounded in kindness and patience that meets the experience of the moment and sees it clearly, just as it is. We can learn to experience afflictive emotions without getting caught up or swept away and overcome by them. It's as though we learn to see them so clearly, that we see through them, just like we see through the colors of a rainbow.
Paying attention...a non-judgemental, non-manipulative, non-grasping, non-rejecting, kind of attention to the body in the body...just the body as such...not one's feeling, ideas, concerns, or interpretations about it. How do we know the body? How are we established in this first domain of mindfulness? Are you looking in the right place and in the right way for the happiness that you are seeking?
