Just a reminder, this entry is the final section in an email I sent to my teacher, Mae Yo, outlining what I see as a road map to practice. If you have not done so already, do go back and read the Last Blog before continuing: _______________________________________________________________________

Part 3: A Few Words on Ideas From the Buddha

At risk of this email turning into a multi-volume desk set, I will try to keep this short. But here we go…before I recently went to Hawaii I had spent some time contemplating and came to the conclusion that the 4 noble truths, plus right view, may be enough to walk the path.

Before I went to Hawaii a friend made some off-hand comment about the 4 noble truths and it got me to really start thinking about them, considering whether I understand them. Once I was in Hawaii I started contemplating hotels.

We have been to Hawaii 3 times and stayed in different hotels each time. This was not driven by external factors alone (or even mostly) like price or availability. It was driven by us wanting certain things out of the experience and striving to get them. I’ll spare writing the full details, but I noticed first we wanted location and quiet, then more luxury and service then more control over diet and anonymity. Each hotel had its benefits but there were also things we perceived as faults, discomforts, so we kept striving for more… I decided to try out considering the subject in terms of the 4 noble truths.

A Short Summary:

The first Noble Truth –Life entails Dukka (unsatisfactoriness, suffering)

From Alana’s Hotel Experience:  I am uncomfortable at home and I want to travel. When I do, each spot I visit is a little off– too loud, too public, too basic, no kitchen, wrong location. I feel dissatisfied in some way. Even the best place, even when I was overall comfortable, there were little things…there was Dukka

The second Noble Truth — Dukka (unsatisfactoriness, suffering) arises based on a cause. The cause is Thanha (craving)

From Alana’s Hotel Experience: My discomfort (Dukka) arises because of things I want (Thanha) — specifically, both physical comforts (luxury, cleanliness, location) as well as identity wants (to be someone who is luxurious, to be someone who takes care about what they eat, to be someone who is off the beaten track) and the desire for control (to be able to cook, to be able to come and go unnoticed).

The third Noble Truth: When the causes of Dukka are eliminated,  Dukka is eliminated.

From Alana’s Hotel Experience:  If I didn’t have a bunch of conditions around travel then I could be ok with a broad range of situations and I wouldn’t suffer. I wouldn’t hotel hop, I may not even go in the first place…If there were no causes the results would cease.

The fourth Noble Truth: The Buddha has taught the path to the cessation of Dukka, i.e. the Eight Fold Path, beginning with correcting wrong views

From Alana’s Hotel Expereince: By extension of #3, if I want the suffering to cease I need to uproot the causes. To do so I need to examine and change the wrong views that give rise to the discomfort.

Wrong View From the 8 Fold path: A few that I found in the Hotel Story:

1)  That I can control–that I can both get the things I want but avoid the ones I want. The evidence however is that there are trade offs with each hotel. The wrong view though causes me to keep looking.

2) That I am a type of person, that types of people always do the same things, that the places I go can reify the person type I see myself to be.

3) That any hotel, anything is perfect. That it can stay perfect, it is repeatable from one visit to another. That it will bring me comfort and happiness. In reality, I know from experience travel is a mixed bag.

4) That I can carve out a time or place in my life that is special, removed from the sufferings of this world. That I can control it by hopping on a plane or having a comfy bed. That the flowers I get at the reception desk will protect me from unhappiness, at least for a little while.  That I can create and hold on to special moments, schedule them and share them with Eric on command. Unraveling this is a whole separate email…

Alana’s later day note: Mae Yo read my roadmap and confirmed it was correct. This particular contemplation is one I have gone back to over and over. It confirms that, in my own heart, in my own words, in my own experiences, I understand the path to enlightenment. From the smoking story, I have a template that I can follow for all my contemplations, for my whole practice. From the hotel story, I have my own evidence that what the Buddha laid out in his very first sermon, the core of the teaching, is accessible to me, is the map he left and which I understand the language and the markings well enough to follow. I still have a long way to go, but I know I can find my way back to the path, even if I get lost.