All Compounded Obstacles are Impermanent

The last couple of days I have been watching a teaching by HH the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa on the Four Seals of Dharma as seen on Youtube, and thought to formalize my hearing, I would do well to post something, if only in the end to get used to some of the ideas myself, and deepen my relationship with them. A lot of what I have been trying to get used to, as a practitioner involved with UD, is to find what ways I can talk about the Dharma that are clear and useful, so this post is also an attempt to continue that enterprise.

One thing that struck me in his discussion of the first seal, i.e. all compounded things are impermanent, is his short discussion of obstacles that get in our way of practicing the Dharma. The usual ones we think about, finances, shelter, health, he acknowledges are only the common obstacles (I paraphrase). They are not necessarily unique to anyone. Rather the most critical obstacles are the shape and attitude of our mind, the various subtle displays of emotion that keep us from practicing regularly or sincerely. In fact, when we feel obstructed by outward physical things like these, we should remind ourselves that they are directly the consequence of a more fundamental obstruction of the mind that has allowed them to thus arise.

Here, I'm beginning less to paraphrase what he said than to discuss what it meant to me. (In any case, rather than read me paraphrase, one ought rather to watch the video oneself!) For the past several weeks, I have been increasingly conscious of the first of the Four Thoughts that Turn the Mind: "For this lifetime I have obtained a body of evident leisure and endowment which has been extremely difficult to find and will easily be lost..." My practice, on the brink of becoming a father, seemed (as all unstable compounded phenomena are) threatened in the face of change. And so I was extra conscious of keeping precious the time I did have for practicing the Dharma even if only for that day. However, if I bring H.H. Gyalwa Karmapa's discussion to bear upon my this, I find that this really isn't the concern. In this life (unstable/changing/impermanent), we will always be faced with the possibility of something taking over or compromising our relationship with the Dharma. Instead, if we take care of our minds, then we will always have "the leisure" for our practice.

I was very inspired by this talk and hope to finish the last nine parts, covering the next three seals. (Three more postings?--maybe!)

For a link to the YouTube video click here.