Let me start by reiterating that integrating mind, energy and body is not enough; more than the 3 tenets of Zandtao described in the Treatise is needed. Firstly there needs to be a process of integration, a completion process that integrates the 3 tenets, and as part of the mental development there needs to develop a sila-consciousness as described in Ch 11. But completing the 3 tenets is not enough, these 3 tenets needs to be integrated within the context of Dhamma or Gaia-consciousness. In this chapter I will try to explain what this means.

When I began working on integrating the 3 tenets within the Dhamma I began to understand how I fitted a piece in the puzzle – anicca. Whilst I knew of the 3 characteristics anicca, dukkha, anatta, I had never seen where anicca fits in. Once we move beyond self where does direction come from? It is always said that direction, the path, is always there, we just have to develop the mind so that it can connect with the path. Now consider what state the mind is in once there has been integration and there is a recognition of anatta. All the prior conditioning says there must be self yet we are beginning to see that there is no self. It would be nice if all such conditioning were to immediately disappear but consciousness is attached to self; our consciousness has been used to self, now what is it going to do?

Our awareness needs to be trained into seeing there is no need for self, and this training needs to be ongoing because conditioning will always try to take us back to self. There is integrating consciousness that has become aware that there is no self but there are the ego-consciousnesses, shadow-consciousnesses and body-consciousnesses all of which are still attached to self. In a sense they have seen the self as there permanently, all these consciousnesses were still connected to the self-consciousness and that attachment needs to be broken. This is where anicca comes in.

There is nothing about who we are that is permanent including self. “Remove I and mine from the 5 khandhas” is the Venerable Buddhadasa phrase that makes so much sense to me. There is no self needed; these attributes of body, feelings, memories/perceptions and mental operations are enough – there need be no self. To highlight that there is no need for self, the Buddha asked us to work on the fourth tetrad that Venerable Buddhadasa describes in Mindfulness with Breathing, and to do this we begin with focussing on impermanence - anicca.

As bhavana improves we begin to see that nothing is permanent, so where does our direction come from? In this talk on anapanasati-bhavana Venerable Buddhadasa says that “Anicca means that ... it’s the constant flux, the perpetual flowing of things”; to me that means it just happens – not self making it happen. “Also our life will have the correct... life will be traveling correctly or walking, following its path correctly. You may not have realized this before, but life is following a path, life is a traveling or walking along a way or a path. Though you may not have realized this, this is the way it is. In life, there is a constant development, life is developing, moving onward, lifting up further and further and further. There’s this development in life or this following of a path or we can see it as an evolution of life. Life is constantly evolving. All that constant change can be an evolution toward the goal of life, the highest thing which man can achieve, women as well. This will be correct and proper through the fulfilling the four tetrads of mindfulness of breathing. If all four tetrads are practiced fully and correctly then life will be following the right path. And it will follow the path correctly, successfully and efficiently, so that the goal of life will be achieved before the body dies. This is very important – through practicing the four tetrads correctly and perfecting them, then life will travel along, will follow its path to the goal of life and reach the goal of life before the body dies.”

There is no need for self, life just happens as it is meant to if mental development has integrated mind, energy, body and developed impermanence so that there is recognition that there is no need for self. But where does this constant flow or flux come from? In this series of talks on idappaccayata, Venerable Buddhadasa talks of nature as the Buddhist God, I interpret this constant flux as nature – or as I called it above Gaia-consciousness. Looking at this meme



then we can place anicca in context. The 5 khandas, body, psyche with consciousness make up self and the other egos. We move beyond self, develop the mind through anicca consolidating that we have learnt there is no self, and then what directs us? The constant flux, sunnata, "Sunnata means free, or void of ‘self,’ that there isn’t anything that could be called a ‘self,’ if there’s anything at all it’s just the flow of idappaccayata [p6]", what can be thought of as Gaia-consciousness.

In this first talk about idappaccayata Venerable Buddhadasa describes this God as nature as the law “idappaccayata”, the Dhamma – “Dhamma (here with the meaning of the ultimate truth - the way things really are - hence it’s spelt with a capital ‘D’) has four meanings : nature itself; the law of nature; the duty to be done according to the law of nature; and the fruit, or result arising from doing or not doing that duty [p6].” So far I could suggest that we have been focussing on the first of these meanings, nature as the constant flux, sunnata. We have integrated mind, energy and body, and with this integrated consciousness through the recognition of anicca we have accepted we are part of the constant flux, sunnata.

Somehow we need to recognise what the laws of nature are. This is very difficult in our society because of the preponderance of intellect. Mental proliferations are so all-pervasive that it is difficult for people to stand up and say this is a law of nature, because sankhara (mental proliferations) just says prove it. Laws of nature are just true, proof is not needed, but sankhara demands truth and because we are so far from our paths we listen to sankhara instead of accepting truth. Somehow we need to reconnect to the Dhamma, and relearn the laws of nature. We could seek help from the indigenous who are more likely to have held to their traditions that were governed by the laws of nature, but of course in many cases they have been forcibly re-educated.

Once the laws have been recognised we need to understand our roles or duties according to these laws. These duties need to be recognised within political theory. There is a movement to recognise the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine, not issues I will be investigating in the Pathtivism manual, but what are the implications for this when we understand our societies by the bell hooks’ clear description “white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy”. There is no inconsistency but much careful thought needs to go into rationalising apparent contradictions.

But recognising these laws and practicing our duties brings with it the fruits of the Dhamma. There is nothing better than presence or the feeling of rapture which come as part of our journeys. When we feel the lights or the bells and banjoes, these are carrots on the path that tell us keep going, we are doing it right. When I think of these experiences and those who mock the path I feel sad for how people are missing out.

But what does integrating within Dhamma mean? How can I do that? Quite simply I can’t. In a sense within Dhamma I does not exist, I cannot be Dhamma. If there is still a recognition of I - other than in the expression of thought or language, then integration within Dhamma is not occurring. When we integrate mind, energy and body the I starts to disappear because there is no need for an I. Once mind, energy and body have been integrated there is an alignment to the khandhas, but what directs us? Through our conditioning the answer to that question has always been self, I am in charge. But once there is alignment of mind energy and body, there needs to be direction and that direction is Dhamma – or what I am calling Gaia-consciousness. Once aligned directing consciousness is the Dhamma or Gaia-consciousness.

When Ven Bdasa talks of the 4 Dhamma comrades of mindfulness, wisdom, sampajanna and concentration, there might be a usage of language that says “I am mindful” but if we feel “I have mindfulness” then the alignment is still not true. If there is mindfulness present than we are aligned, if there is wisdom present then we are aligned, if sampajanna directs our actions then we are aligned, if there is proper focus then we are aligned. When these Dhamma comrades are present there is direction, that is why there is no need for I.

This alignment of the 3 tenets produces the spiritual awareness – awareness within Dhamma, that enables the direction of these Dhamma comrades. There are other Dhamma comrades such as the 4 brahma-viharas – metta – loving kindness, karuna – compassion, muditta – empathy and upekkha – equanimity or non-attachment. This means we can be loving-kindness without having to feel that I love and I am kind, we can be compassion without having to feel that I am compassionate, we can be empathetic without feeling I am empathetic, and there is no attachment to I as there is just Dhamma or being.

When there is integration of the 3 tenets there is alignment, when there is alignment there needs to be direction the fourth tetrad of Dhamma provides that direction.

Whilst for me such an understanding is fine, how do we understand it without it being couched in Buddhist concepts and terminology? We have a special problem because our conditioning is intellectual. For those dwelling in the intellect the above is reacted to as rubbish or even with anger. The intellect is threatened and reacts with anger.

Let’s begin with some intellect responses “I think therefore I am”. Let’s try to unravel this axiom because for many it is an axiom. Let’s examine I think to begin with. Examine thoughts, all of them, are these thoughts always characteristic of us as we know ourselves. Do thoughts arise that are not characteristic of us? For example I like to think of myself as peaceful but do thoughts arise that are violent? I think these thoughts of violence therefore I am violent; I hope this is not true for you because you will conduct acts of violence that are not you. For most people these thoughts of violence arise and are ignored. It could be said that I ignore those thoughts, and if you accept self that is a reasonable thing to say but already there are weaknesses in the Cartesian hypothesis “I think therefore I am”.

The intellect must then investigate what chooses to ignore thoughts, what recognises some thoughts as mine and some thoughts that are not mine. Yet I have all those thoughts even those that I then choose as not mine. There is another level of I that discerns. I have not proved there is no I because proof is part of intellect but I can show intellect that the intellectual position is not consistent. Where does discernment come from, is it thought – an object of thinking? Can an object of thinking be discernment? So I has to be more than thinking. So what is more than thinking? Is there more than intellect? Is there more that cannot be understood as proof? Investigation can continue in this way if there is a stubborn adherence to the I – to the self - there might well be dubious answers. But such questioning creates doubt, that is all I am doing. There is no doubt in Dhamma, it is just that Dhamma rejects self – sees self as a glorified ego. There is no inconsistency with Dhamma, no tortuous rationalisations. Gaia-consciousness is, no doubt or confusion.

“Where do I come from?” Conditioning. As part of our upbringing and instinct we identify as I to protect ourselves, then as adults when we understand there is Dhamma and all the dhamma comrades directing us there is no need for I and we can stop attaching to I. Where do I come from? Conditioning. The I that moves and breathes is simply dhammas and khandhas, a part of Being or Gaia-consciousness directs the khandhas. Whatever the conditioning the dhammas and khandhas continue to function. So when I ask “where does I come from?” and the answer is conditioning, then the question becomes what happens to I when our integration takes us beyond conditioning. If I comes from conditioning and we go beyond conditioning then the I just disappears, it is let go just like any other ego. If we focus on the dhammas and khandhas we can see there is no need for I, the dhammas direct the khandhas and there are the fruits of the dhamma. And there is none of the suffering of I, neither dhammas nor khandhas suffer; suffering only occurs with attachment.

There is still probably too much Buddhist terminology so I will try to avoid terminology. There is only Being. If we can align ourselves by integrating the 3 tenets, then Being happens. Our minds are free, there are no egos, we are authentic, following our paths, and we are simply part of Being.

For me I prefer Gaia-consciousness to Being. My being is part of the life of Gaia, my path is part of Gaia’s path, my authenticity is Gaia’s authenticity. Where is universal consciousness in this? I don’t know but what a pointless question? What is the difference between Gaia-consciousness and universal consciousness in our daily lives? If you can genuinely give an answer to that question, good for you, go with your answer. But if your answer cannot be experienced, then it is an ideal – a mental construct. Experience your answer or accept my pragmatic assertion that the question is not relevant. Take your energies and fruitfully align yourself.

At this point I want to practically bring together the integration of Ch10 and the 4th tetrad of reconnecting with Dhamma. In Ch10 I looked at various shadow processes that help release conditioning, but in this chapter there is a recognition that this is not enough – it is not complete. In Ch10 there were practical tools to release conditioning but how do we know that we are completing the process and reconnecting with Dhamma? Quite simply, the path, Gaia-consciousness, shows us. How do we recognise what the path is showing us? Awakenings. Buddhadasa calls these awakenings nibbana-dhatu – glimpses of Nibbana – glimpses from the path.

When I talk of awakenings I am not talking of some huge mega-event that leads to perfect bliss and harmony within this world. Some people seek such perfection, this is not something pathtivism addresses. Glimpses are however far more common-place – with common-place words such as intuition, insight, ah-ha moments, “eureka”. There are glimpses that we see and feel when we get back to nature after the stress of lives in the cities. There are the more powerful blissful experiences that might come under the description of “bells and banjoes”, and Eckhart speaks of firstgrace where such a glimpse is both powerful and not necessarily arrived at through discipline.

Because of meanings associated with Awakening, Enlightenment, Nibbana and Paranibbana, seekers might be deluded into thinking that awakenings are just the bliss belonging to the occasional spiritual leader/avatar. Maybe there are such experiences for these great people, I cannot address that question. What I am concerned with is encouraging seekers to recognise that awakenings can be part of their lives – and are already likely to have been so. If seekers can recognise levels of awakenings in their lives they can begin to trust the path – have faith in the path. For completion, seekers begin to recognise awakenings in their lives and with this recognition have faith in the path.

Once a seeker recognises awakening, they can recognise the path, have faith in the path, and reconnect with Dhamma; such awakenings are very much a part of the 4th tetrad – becoming mindful of awakenings, mindful of the reconnection with Dhamma.

Journaling and writing have helped me develop awareness, through Zandtaomed seekers are encouraged to develop awareness through . Zandtaomed has developed a completion tool in line with z-quests called the Seeker Story. Through the first part of this story the seeker uses integration processes (shadow processes) developed in Ch 10 to release conditioning. But this is not completion until the seeker recognises awakenings in her/his life, so the second part of this story is a personal history of awakenings. The background to the processes of releasing conditioning is in Ch10. Aspects of awakenings are discussed throughout the Treatise and Manual but to help the Seeker Story of awakenings I have included in Appendix I my own story of awakenings – some have been discussed elsewhere, in a different context. For integration and completion the seeker could use the tool to write their own Seeker Story that is written in Appendix H. If you are considering this Seeker Story, please be warned. Releasing conditioning can be quite traumatic, releasing conditioning will often release trauma – not cause trauma, but because it is powerful it is best to work with an elder or kalyana mitta; it is not advised to go through the process of writing a Seeker Story alone.

Releasing conditioning and recognising awakenings to develop faith in the path are essential steps for completion, hopefully writing the Seeker Story will lead to completion for you.

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