An Upward Spiraling Trend

0:00Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life. Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners. If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebudastodio.com forward slash donate. Thank you and happy listening. One and again, the links repeating themselves, experience of pain, not wanting and so it goes round and round. However, between the feeling of the pain, say that's the, that's my example, and craving of not wanting it, there is a little gap where we have a choice, where I have a choice. And instead of reacting to the pain, through practice, I can start applying mindful awareness. I can start bearing with my experiences just as it is, and I can start noticing that

1:02actually it has an ever-changing nature. These sensations come and they go. And I began to cultivate more and more what we know as the creative mind, the tendency of our mind to stay in that gap and to open out. And again, it is not a magic bullet, it doesn't happen once and for all, as we all know, it is a long practice, but through meditation and through reflection, we can start seeing that gap and we can start staying in that gap more and more and more often. And therefore, reconnecting with that openness and that liberation, that creative tendency. And this awkward spiraling trend of conditionality that arises from that gap, from that choice we make, is a very important part of our understanding of conditionality as Sangha Rakstha has thought it. This spiraling trend can be traced back to the very early disciples of the Buddha, especially his female follower Dhamma Dina, who is mentioned as a very formal teacher.

2:06And this spiral path is the ever unfolding chain of positive mental events or states that lead to liberation. Those states are usually listed as faith and joy, rapture, tranquility, bliss, concentration, knowledge and vision of reality, disenchantment, dispassion, liberation. So there's a whole wealth of positive mental state arising if we manage to keep that moment of choice and that gap often. And the creative mind finds that gap in the wheel of life time and again and makes the choice not to follow the reactive cycle. So what is then this creative mind? Sangha Rakstha describes it as, the creative mind is above all the aware mind. Being aware, the creative mind is also intensely and radiantly alive. One might say, it is the spirit of life itself arising like a fountain of infinite depths of existence. We befying through the creative person, all with whom it comes into contact.

3:11Really really strong description of what creative mind has potential for. The spiral path opens this to us. And through that we can gain knowledge and vision of reality, which again deepens our trend to move towards liberation. And personally I find this through hugely inspiring and motivating. I keep thinking it is far too easy to see spiritual life as a continuous struggle, full of challenges, full of difficulties, fear of change, I'm not saying it is not that, but it is also a life lived for that creative mind to arise and manifest more and more strongly. And if we see that positive spiral, if we worked towards that creativity, it becomes easier to bear those challenges and difficulties and it becomes more natural to identify with the reactive mind, to disengage with the old habits and resist the braw to go around the wheel again.