Standing in the Space Between

At the Dharma talk today at LP Chalee Hermitage, Ajarn Bryan gave one of those teachings that opens the mind but keeps your feet on the ground. He spoke about Theravada Buddhism in a way that felt alive. Not a list. Not as a set of rules to memorize. It’s more like a map. One path flowing into the next. It felt less like learning doctrine and more like remembering what it means to be human.

He reminded us of the point of Dharma. Liberation from suffering. Not escape but clarity. Escape is only a brief slipping out of mind and body. From there he moved into the Four Noble Truths. Life carries dissatisfaction. Attachment gives it shape. Craving feeds it. Yet there is a way out. And that way is the Eightfold Path.

He described the path not as steps but as supports, like spokes on a wheel. Right view shapes right intention. Right intention guides action. Each part leans on the others. Then came the Five Remembrances: aging, illness, death, loss. The simple recognition that everything we love will change. All is impermanent. When we hold these truths, small disappointments lose their sting. Bigger ones become manageable. This leads naturally to the Five Precepts. Not commands, but commitments. Ways to keep the path clear so our mind does not trip over its own actions. These are living reminders.

He also spoke about the three kinds of craving. Craving for pleasure. Craving for what we want. Craving for freedom from what we do not want. Someone later asked about emptiness. That’s where he entered the heart of it, emptiness and no self. Anatta. The self is not fixed. It shifts. It moves. It transforms. When we see that, craving softens. When craving relaxes, suffering loosens. The grip loosens.

He also reminded us that Dharma practice is not about chasing light or waiting for special signs during meditation. That’s not the point. The real work is quieter. It’s accepting the truth and letting that truth move through our daily life.  

I stayed after to talk about craving. I told him I have all three. They are roots of my suffering. I had named them but not accepted them. This past week, I finally said them out loud. Saying them aloud made everything click. The pain I feel. The habits I cling to. The questions I keep turning over. The missing gap I try to fill. The story I try to rewrite. Each one pulling at me in its own way. I find myself standing in the space between two truths. I know, on one hand, what would help me heal. On the other hand, I am still grieving a sudden rupture. That grief pulls me between mind and body.

During Q & A, people asked about meditation styles. Each one aims at the same thing: bringing mind and body into alignment. For me it feels like aligning mind and brain. Ajarn Bryan said mind and body lean on each other. I agreed. My experience shows the same. I pictured a wishbone. One side is mind. The other side brain. When they meet in the middle, things work. When they snap apart, suffering comes.

For now my work is retraining my brain so it can lean on my mind. My brain tries to protect me. Many truths can live in the same space but I do not have to spin inside all of them. I can love. I can care. I can hold compassion without abandoning myself.

My goal is not nirvana. My goal is a middle way that brings less pain. Not holding too tightly. Not turning away completely. Just standing in reality and accepting it. Not just acknowledging it but truly accepting it. One more tiny step on the map. One more spoke in the wheel. One more breath in building wisdom.

I wish you all a peaceful holiday season. Thank you for reading my experience. See you in 2026.

A single winding path through a forest or along a hillside