Tesshin started this week’s talk by asking the group if there is such a thing as “Unconditional Love” or “Unconditional Happiness.”  He cautioned us to consider the ideal versus reality.  How does the reality of day to day life affect the bond between two people or one’s general disposition?  For instance, what is your feeling towards your partner after a long day at work?  Is this different than after a romantic dinner and a concert?  How is our general outlook during a vacation as opposed to the minute after a particularly uncomfortable meeting with our manager?  The message is that these feelings are never unconditional or permanent, but strongly affected by conditions.

If conditions are so important, does it not stand to reason that we need to put the correct conditions in place in order to foster things such as love and happiness.  Tesshin noted that this is one of the key messages in Buddhism – we are in control of the conditions which affect our lives.

Tesshin next related a story this past week.  As a bee-keeper, he is commonly called by friends who have “bee issues.”  This past week, a friend had a dead tree which had a hive inside.  The plan was for Tesshin to transfer the bees from the tree to a new bee box so that they could survive.  He took every precaution he could think of in order to ensure the bees settled into their new home.  However, two days later, the bee box was completely empty!  This got Tesshin thinking … did he consider every condition which would lead to a successful hive?  Was he ignorant of key issues?  For instance, perhaps the Queen died when he tried to remove the bees from the hive – this would cause the colony to scatter.  Perhaps the new location was too far from their chosen food source?  Perhaps the way he moved them was too traumatic.  The lesson here is that there could be many conditions which affect an outcome and even with great care there are always hidden conditions which need to be considered.  This is why life, relationships, and even the spiritual live are never really totally solved – there are always new conditions which must be considered.  It is always a work in progress.

Tesshin then emphasized that proper conditions must be setup for our practice.  This is why Buddhism has elements like a community (Sangha), teachers, and periods of intensive retreats.  These are nothing more than proven techniques to ensure that practice is strengthened.  Tesshin wrapped up by then asking us to consider what other proven techniques are available for us to eliminate suffering in ourselves and others.  He reminded us that only the individual is in control of ensuring that positive conditions are prevalent in life.