Embracing the Difficulties - Summer of Love Retreat - 2nd Evening Dharma Talk

I think it's a little troubling for me why it's so hard.

I mean, this is the most simple thing in the world, to sit here, no distractions, pull up a chair and just sit, just be, just exist.

People I know that don't do this type of thing, neighbors, friends, family, they ask me, What do you get out of going on a retreat? It's hard to put to words sometimes.

And then they almost inevitably tell me that they could never handle the silence.

And I tell them the silence isn't the hardest part for me.

It's what happens in the silence, what comes up when we sit with ourselves.

And for me, I feel like the last 10 years of my life, I refuse to live a life that I can't sit quietly in a room by myself.

A life where I'm disconnected from the preciousness of the moment that I'm living in.

And it's really hard, but it's really worth it.

During the interviews today, people shared with me about their experiences, what's going on in your heart and mine.

And they shared with me there's busyness, distractibility, there's mind wandering, boredom, the comparing mind, loneliness that's been arising for many people in the silence.

the inner perfectionist that wants to get it all right.

And people even sharing just the utter overwhelm of all of it.

And so I know why it's hard.

That's why it's hard.

Because that's what comes up.

That's what we're experiencing.

The Buddha calls this dukkha.

This is his first teaching.

And he says, have you noticed how hard it is to sit with yourself, to be in this human existence? He says, more directly, birth is dukkha, stressful, uncomfortable, dis-ease.

Aging is dukkha.

Sickness is dukkha.

Death is dukkha.

Encountering what is not dear is dukkha.

Separation from what is dear is dukkha.