Seven Factors of Awakening

Last night I gave a Zen talk on the Seven Factors of Awakening. Melissa and I are in the middle of leading a week-long home-practice retreat in Portugal (Zoom is a wonderful thing!) focusing on these teachings as the theme, so it made sense to continue the exploration. And, subconsciously, I wanted to give us all a respite from the fever pitch of hope, fear and endless speculation that is here this week before the Presidential election.

Since Buddhism was an oral tradition for several hundred years before any of the teachings were written down, many of the core teachings are numerical—the Three Refuges, the Four Boddhisattva Vows, the Six Paramitas, the Four Marks of Existence, etc. There is a whole sutra, the Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, that organizes the teachings by the ones, then the twos, then the threes, etc.

Like all things, it is endlessly complex. There are hundreds and thousands of sutras in the Buddhist tradition. Sutra is a Sanskrit word that means to stitch together and refers both to specific teachings and the various collections of these teachings. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, there is no agreed upon root text. Each teaching itself contains the whole tradition and is, at the same time, only a tiny part of a vast and dynamic web of insight. As teachers we attempt to present the core meanings and we elaborate the living meaning that appears in on our own experience.

The Zen tradition holds that all the sutras are superseded and contained in this moment. All the sutras, all the teachings are just pointing us to the mystery and wisdom that is already abundantly here—that is who we already are. The point of Buddhist teachings is not to memorize or study a list of theories or propositions, (which makes my head hurt just to think about it) but to wake us up to the infinite and ungraspable aliveness that is present right here.

The Buddha did not intend his teachings to be believed or not believed. He said that his followers should not hold a position for or against any proposition. He offered his teachings, not as doctrine but as pointers. Reporting from his deep experience of being human he points us to our own. In Zen, we approach the traditional teachings as ways to understand and explore the many states that we encounter in our meditation practice and on our journey of awakening.

The Seven Factors of Awakening are wonderful teachings that point us to the many qualities that arise naturally as we look deeply into the nature of being human. Here is the list with the original Pali word second and some explanatory words following:

1. Mindfulness – sati – remembering what is most important, paying attention
2. Investigating the moment – dhammavicaya – curiosity, perceiving what is actually here
3.  Energy – virya – effort, diligence, determination
4.  Joy – piti – happiness, rapture
5.  Ease – passaddhi – tranquility, spaciousness
6.  Absorption – Samadhi – calm abiding, concentration
7.  Equanimity – upekkha – awake to reactivity, graciously accepting what is here

In the Nikaya Sutra, one of the sutras where the Seven Factors appears, it comes in a dialogue between the Buddha and one of his beloved disciples, Kassapa, who is ill. A bit of the conversation goes like this:

“Well, Kassapa, how is it with you? Are you bearing up: are you enduring? Do your pains lessen or increase? Are there signs of your pains lessening and not increasing?”

“No, Lord, I am not bearing up, I am not enduring. The pain is very great. There is a sign not of pains lessening but of their increasing.”

After this interchange, the Buddha offers him the teachings of the Seven Factors of Awakening and, according to the story, Kassapa makes an immediate and full recovery.

So now I pass these teachings on to you and to all of us in this fearful time of political and social discord. Take some time to consider how these teachings might be part of the medicine you need as you move through this coming week and into the many weeks that will be coming after.