The snake.

In France I taught Vipassana retreats at Vajjra Yogini, a large Tibetan Buddhist Centre in the south, and these were always well received with a good attendance.

I met Isabelle many times there and on one occasion she gave me the opportunity for an impromptu Dhamma Talk in the afternoon.

We had the habit of sitting together on a small bench in the garden after lunch, where we would each smoke a cigarette in silence, a habit still fashionable in those days.

One day a senior Tibetan monk came to me and in his lovely smiling voice pointed to my cigarette and exclaimed, "Ah, so this is your nadhi!"

He then explained that 'nadhi' is a spiritual grounding device, and without it until awakening, we would simply float up into the universe and disappear. Only when we are ready can we let it go, until then it can be seen as a safety device, to keep us on the earth.

I was happy for this and continued to smoke for several years until, as the monk pointed out, the moment arrived and it was no longer necessary.

One day Isabelle, having finished her cigarette, left and headed back to the main house to prepare for the afternoon meditation session.

I waited several minutes and then rose to follow her. I was surprised to find her frozen in a posture in the distance and so I carefully approached her to ask if everything was alright.

"Michael," she said when I was close enough to hear her whispered voice, "don't come closer. There is a snake."

In those days she had a very strong fear of snakes and lying there, coiled up in the grass was a large snake. Now I, for whatever reason, do not feel afraid of these beautiful creatures and so I gently took her arm and carefully led her away.

The first Dhamma talk that afternoon was based upon this experience and was something along these lines:

Imagine you are afraid of mice and a special group of people are able to capture and kill all the mice that live on this planet and send them into outer space. Do you still have fear?

Of course you do. The fear just transfers to another object, perhaps a snake or an elephant or more subtly, the fear that possibly one mouse survived and is now waiting under your bed to attack you whilst you sleep.

You have to understand that the fear and the mouse are two separate things.

The fear is not the mouse, and the mouse is not the fear. The mouse (in this illustration) is the mouse, and the fear is the fear. We must understand that the mouse is the condition for the arising of fear, but is not the fear itself. This is very important.

So, the work for us is to let go of fear, and not confuse our practice with the objects of the fear.

Fear is fear, that's all. No need to make a fuss. Accept the feeling as much as you can and allow it the space to pass by itself.

This applies to all objects of fear, even the most subtle one like death.

What does it mean when you say 'I have a fear of death?' Reflect.

We don't know what death is and so we create an imagination around it. If you say it is the fear of 'not existing' we cannot know what that is really like, and so we compromise our ideas and say that we are 'afraid of the unknown.' 

But again reflect, if it's unknown, how can we be afraid of it?

What we are afraid of is losing the known, even if that known is difficult, unpleasant and painful. Because we know it, it is familiar, and that's what we don't want to lose. The familiar!

Don't take my word for it. Look in the world and how people hold on to a life that they think is completely unsatisfactory, but won't change anything of significance. People are afraid to let go, to jump into the abyss of Love. They are afraid they will lose everything. 

The truth is that the only thing they really lose is their fear and the millions of objects that condition that fear.

A mouse is just a mouse. A snake is just a snake. Old age, sickness and death, is just old age, sickness and death.

Understanding in this way is called Awakening, and Awakening is true liberation.

FOOTNOTE:.

I do not tell you to live recklessly. Take care of you. Don't pick up venomous snakes. Respect them and treat them with the wisdom arising from a loving heart, but don't allow fear to dictate your life.

Dhamma is everywhere and in every moment and in every situation we have the possibility to see the truth manifest in front of us.

May all beings be happy.

 

(Excerpt from A journey to Awakening)