Unconditioned Peace

This was one of the first blog posts I ever wrote, and I think it holds up well. The fact that it also fits nicely into my new “blog within a blog” series (Power, Practice, and Peace) prompted me to update and highlight it. Certainly, there is much more to say regarding how to build a peaceful world for all living beings, but I think the information contained herein will go a long  way toward fulfilling that aspiration. I hope you enjoy it!

What would it take for you to really be at peace? Would it take a change of jobs—with a little less stress and a little more money? Does your retirement account need to reach some certain level? Do you need to find that perfect life companion—someone who’ll make even the most mundane aspects of daily living seem just a little bit brighter? Hey, maybe all you need is for the little one to start sleeping soundly through the night! Yes, there always seems to be something standing between us and contentment. There always seem to be some conditions that need to be met before we can finally be at peace.

An unwavering candle flame

I suspect such tendencies are rooted in our DNA. After all, in the realm of nature—red in tooth and claw—survival doesn’t go to the complacent or contented. Survival goes to the hypervigilant. Survival goes to those whose number one concern is for survival. We didn’t get to the top of the food chain by resting on the success of our last hunt or basking long in the warm glow of our fires. We got here because we could always feel just a little bit safer, have just a little bit more, and watch just a little bit more closely. This is our shared human karma. 

There are various ideas floating around as to what karma is. Habit energy is the one that resonates with me. Karma is habit energy. Karma is the creation of patterns. Our DNA is one such created pattern that has been transmitted down through the ages, carrying with it the information necessary for our survival as human beings. Then, over the course of our upbringing, we acquire additional habit energy that gives this basic human form personality and individuality. We begin acquiring our own unique karma. We become our "selves." 

Evolution is fascinating. Things might plod along for millions of years without much happening, and then enormous changes seem to happen overnight. Think about all the insects that swirl around your porchlight in the summer. Over the course of millions of years, they acquired the karma (habit energy) of navigating by the light of the moon. But now all over the world are millions and millions of false moons luring hapless insects toward their deaths. They’ve not yet evolved the ability to discern the false moons from the real one. The karma that once aided their survival now dooms them prematurely. You probably know where I’m going with this, don’t you? 

We humans are not all that different from the insects swirling about our porch lights. We have this tremendous storehouse of karma driving us forward, making us vigilant, ensuring that we survive. The only problem is that it largely blinds us to the fact that our basic survival needs are hardly in question anymore, at least not in developed parts of the world. No matter how rich we might become, though, we still tend to approach life with the same perceived sense of lack as if we were naked in the jungle. Unfortunately, our obsession with security has become more of a liability than an asset. It is now actually hastening our destruction rather than ensuring our survival. 

Just as moths need to wake up to the false moons in their midst, so we need to wake up to the peace that is already ours. True peace is not dependent on anything being accomplished first. It’s not dependent on us setting up certain conditions outside of ourselves. True peace is simply a matter of stopping what we are doing. When we engage in Zen meditation we are, at least for a time, stopping our habit energy. Our body becomes still. Our mind becomes still. Our emotions become still. And as all of these aspects of our karma become still, we wake up to the peace that is within us all the while—nirvana—unconditioned peace. 

Some refer to nirvana as the “windless state.” So often we exist in a state in which we are buffeted by the winds of craving and aversion born of our karma-driven existence. When we bring our habit energy to a halt, though, these winds become still. Think of a candle flame burning brightly in a room without any breeze or disturbance. Such a still flame illuminates the entire room without casting false shadows. In this state all is seen clearly, all is at peace. 

Sure enough, our habit energy remains strong. Once we rise up from meditation, we begin feeling our karma pushing and pulling us back into our old ways of being. Our flame begins flickering and casting false shadows once again. That’s why we keep sitting. Because day after day and week after week, as we catch glimpse after glimpse of this unconditioned peace, we begin to change our karma. We become more adept at discerning the false moons from the real one, and we begin to live the life we always thought required something outside of ourselves.

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This post is in the Power, Practice, and Peace series.

Find a running list of all posts in this series by clicking here.

Images courtesy of the author

Copyright 2011 & 2024 by Mark Robert Frank