“Being stuck is not the problem. Staying stuck is.”

~ Genpo Roshi, 21^st century Zen Master

from Integral Institute workshop, November, 2005

Dukkha. I was originally introduced to the concept by Genpo Roshi during his lecture on Big Mind. (Big Idea coming soon.)

Dukkha. The word is translated as “suffering” and is prominently featured in Buddha’s First Noble Truth.

The word has a much deeper meaning, however.

In classic Sanskrit, dukkha is used to describe a potter’s wheel that is stuck and screeching as it turns. Contrast this with its opposite, sukkha—which represents a potter’s wheel that is freely flowing.

The idea is that suffering occurs only when we’re stuck. Specifically, when our minds are stuck—when we can’t shift our perspective and take more spacious view of the world.

How amazing is that?

Reminds me of the flowing essence of the Tao, or even Flow, the state of optimal human experience defined scientifically by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Are you stuck?

Get unstuck. Stop the suffering.

Flow.

(Persona Yoga and Subject/Object and Big Mind are AWESOME ways to get unstuck.)

In the practice of Buddhism one does not simply stop self-generated suffering or “stuckness.” What they do is begin a committed practice of actions and techniques to help them awaken so they can see the unconscious habits they have acquired that makes their life unnecessarily difficult. I’m saying that they don’t just get unstuck right away because they come to realize they are living with self-imposed difficulties. Instead they begin by practicing The Eightfold Path: practicing Right View, Right Intentions, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livlihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. I tried to practice each of these as my focus each week for several months.That definitely helped somewhat getting unstuck but any serious Buddhist knows that a lifetime of devotion is necessary to the awareness necessary to fully get unstuck. Not everyone must study Buddha’s ways to wisdom, however, they probably need to dedicate themselves to an equivalent commitment of a lifetime of improvement.