Adding On and Not Adding On

In the summer of the 12th year at MAPLE, during an Awakening Period, the Head Teacher Soryu Forall was speaking to the group about sharing our realizations and insights with him in Dharma Discussions and with the group in the retreat culminating Expressions period.

He spoke about a recent example where one student, the head monk, went on and on offering extraneous thoughts about their practice and insight, not being able to state a clear realization, just adding on and on. After a long while, the head monk said: “this functions without understanding”, which went beyond extraneous thinking, which clearly stated his realization.

Soryu shared this example with the group, narrating figuratively how when the student was going on and on with extraneous thinking (papanca, in Pali), the other students in the dharma discussion were wretching—they had gotten up and were being sick, throwing up in the corner of the room, which drew laughter from the group, as this didn’t literally happen (dharma discussion is a time for sharing our practice in relative stillness, so everyone was sitting on cushions the whole time, not actually wretching in the corner). Soryu continued: when the head monk shared his insight clearly, the others floated in on gentle clouds to return to their seats and were braced in full lotus (a very difficult posture, not literally demonstrated).

Later in the retreat, during the Expressions period, I, Virabhadra shared my practice with the group by exhaling audibly and slowly, stating my meditation goal/assignment of “no extraneous thinking”, and continuing to demonstrate the breath and finish the expression.

After the expressions period, in the final interviews, Soryu asked me “Were you even tempted to add on anything?” (as I was offering my expression) and I responded “No”. This interview was a time of celebration and joy for myself and Soryu seemed to be joyful as well. He said “this joy, that we do not ask for, saves the world”.