When The Conditions Are Right, This Will Happen

Buddha Land - Wat Pasantidhamma

The Dhamma

The word "Dhamma" (Dharma) is a cousin to our word for Earth (Terra). As far as science is concerned the conditions were right and Earth happened. This is the Dhamma that we understand.

When the conditions are right, this will happen. That's what Dhamma is. Dhamma is the foundation, the piles, the pile caps, the grade beam and the truth. So when the conditions are right things happen. 

Right does not mean good or bad. Right means fecund, fertile or ready. If the conditions are right you will have an accident. If the conditions are right you will save money. If the conditions are right your life will end. All of this is Dhamma!

The Four Noble Truths

The Noble truth of suffering is based on the conditions are right for suffering truth. The first truth is that There Is Suffering. The second Truth is that there are Causes to Suffering. The third truth is that All Suffering Ceases (When the Conditions are Right). The fourth Noble Truth is that Suffering Ceases when the Noble Eightfold path is observed.

The Noble Eightfold path is based on finding the conditions right for ending suffering through observant action. Either way the conditions will always be right for something to happen. Observing the Noble Eightfold Path creates the right conditions for non-attachment to endless conditions which create suffering.

The Noble Eightfold Path

1. Right View - Observing that all dhammas are temporary and dependency creates suffering

2. Right Resolve - Deciding to create the conditions within the mind to let go of suffering.

3. Right Speech - As this is a multi-verse of beings it is important that the truth, kind words and speech that is liberating is used.

4. Right Action - Performing activity that is blameless within one's own mind and the shared space work with others.

5. Right Livelihood - Making your way in this world without killing, selling weapons, selling intoxicants and honest labor. 

6. Right Effort - Strategic effort that follows the conditions to make the desired results happen and also eliminate the efforts that do the opposite.

7. Right Mindfulness - Fully putting your mind to work in ending suffering. 

8. Right Concentration - Focusing on the exact activity you are working on. 

Training

In Buddhism, meditation is the practice of arriving to the right conditions. When you start any activity the conditions will always be wrong! The conditions are wrong because the result is not there. In other words the conditions are right for change. 

In order to arrive at the right conditions we practice. We practice meditation on wisdom (Vipasana) and we practice meditation on Concentration (Samadhi). 

Vipasana is extracting the truth of Dhamma from the waste of good advice, rules, regulations, scriptures and the whole lot that is distributed. Vipasana creates an inner condition where the mind understands without having to prove anything. Vipasana brings forth a condition without conflict.

Samadhi then is concentration. During meditation one can observe the breath. When the mind is presenting a multitude of ideas there is a training shift to the breath, or skin, or teeth or any number of objects that have been designated as the one that reinforces concentration. 

Doom

The only reason to want to end suffering is the arrival of Doom. This is the feeling that all is hopeless. A healthy feeling that birth, aging, sickness and death are inescapable. If this was a fraction or equation it would be Doom/Dhamma. Doom is suffering. Doom is Dukkha. Dukkha is gravity. Gravity/Dhamma is a whole. Dukkha/Dhamma when the conditions are right. 

Doom then is suffering. In the the Dhammachakkapavatanna Sutta (The Turning off the Wheel of Dhamma) there are illustrations of suffering. Basically it is this: if you have this desire for something it is suffering and if you have something that you like it can be (it will be) lost. All conditions are suffering. The conditonless (Nibbanna) is the end of suffering. 

Happiness

To fall into the condition where there is no conditional attachment is Nibbanna. This is developed by practice. So when the conditions are right this conditonless state also will happen. It's the center of the equation. You will find it there.