The Dalai Lama states:
"The destructive effects of hatred are very visible, very obvious and immediate.
For example, when a very strong or forceful thought of hatred arises within
you, at that very instant, it totally overwhelms you and destroys your peace
of mind, your presence of mind disappears completely. When such intense anger
and hatred arises, it obliterates the best art of your brain, which is the ability
to judge between right and wrong, and the long term and short term consequences
of your actions." (Ibid., p. 250.)
However, the role of Buddhism in creating healthy life-conditions does not involve
miracle cures, but employs methods for dealing with the emotional elements that
accompany pain and even intensify it. The Dalai Lama indicates that happiness
is not merely a feeling, but is the result of right thinking. Our problems begin
with negative thinking. However, negative thought is not intrinsic to our minds
and the mind can be trained to develop positive attitudes of love, compassion,
patience and generosity. This approach has taken form in what is known as cognitive
therapy, which seeks the source of negative and self-defeating ideas. Right
thinking is not just a matter of correct information and belief. Right thinking
in Buddhism means a transformation in one's understanding of the nature of existence.
Enlightenment is transformation of one's total being.
I should point out that there are forms of therapy based in Buddhism. From the
Pure Land tradition, there is the method of Naikan therapy which is a system
of introspection to make one aware of our interdependence with others and to
arouse the sense of gratitude for their contribution to our lives. This positive
force can offset personal problems that induce negativity.
There is also Morita therapy based in Zen Buddhism and is reality therapy, that
is living in harmony with reality as it is. According to Morita therapy, "the
gap between the world as it is and the world as we think it ought to be can
fill with pain. When we do not look the way we think we ought to look and when
we cannot accomplish our goals as rapidly and effortlessly as we think we ought
to be able to accomplish them, we worry that either there is something wrong
with us or we are victims of injustice. Rather than futilely railing against
nature or trying to force it into complying with our ideals, we can learn to
live in harmony with it. To live in harmony with nature, we accept as parts
of ourselves our talents, imperfections, painful feelings and real desires."
I should conclude by indicating that Buddhism has all the elements of folk religions
common around the world. There are Buddhas and bodhisattvas who offer healing
and prayers requesting their blessing. There are shrines and services where
people seek alleviation and healing from their illnesses. Among the most common
figures are: Yakushi Buddha, the Buddha of healing; Kuan-yin, the Bodhisattva
of compassion (a central figure in healing); and Jizo Bodhisattva who cares
for children and the dead and also heals. Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra devoted
to Kuan-yin presents the blessings she gives to her devotees. The text called
the Heart Sutra, a profound philosophical text which is one page, is often recited
in times of disaster and personal problems. There are practitioners who are
considered to have special powers for healing and are consulted for many problems.
There are practitioners in this community, some well known and others not.
In addition, there is the Daishi-sama cult based in Shingon Buddhism. The central
figure is Kobo Daishi, a great teacher in ninth-century Japan who founded the
Shingon sect. He became known in popular tradition as a healer, as well as culture
hero. Many people in Hawaii also pray to Kobo Daishi.
Much of Japanese religion focuses on healing using different methods. The popular
religion is focused on benefits in this life of health, wealth and success --
though still holding traditional beliefs about the afterlife. The modern new
religions also maintain this emphasis.
Buddhism is a complex of spiritual principles, practices and practitioners all
designed to enhance the life of people corresponding to the level of their understanding
and devotion. The heart of Buddhism is the Buddha's compassion, which takes
many forms and applications.
*********************
News Letters
1999
Toowoomba Buddhist Society (TBS), Australia:
A sizeable Buddhist Society is now meeting regularly in Toowoomba. The group
evolved out of a course entitled 'The Buddhist Way of Personal Growth' offered
through the Adult and Community Education (ACE) program at SQIT over the last
eighteen months. The SQIT courses have all recruited well suggesting a great
deal of interest in the community at the moment in Buddhism.
The interest seems part of a boom Australia-wide. Figures from the census bureau
indicate a trebling of people involved between the 1981 and 1991 census, making
it the fastest growing 'religion' in the country. This growth also seems to
be a worldwide trend in Western countries and it seems in part to be the result
of disillusionment with materialism. Also Buddhism represents a 'Middle Way'
between the extremes of 'heaven or hell' in the traditional religions and the
nihilism so typical of modern materialism. Neither of these extremes is very
appealing from a Buddhist point of view. Instead Buddhism emphasizes ethical
responsibility and a non-theistic, practical approach to direct contact with
the transcendental.
The SQIT course stresses the fresh, open and eclectic approach of the emerging
Western Buddhism. Buddhism in the West at the moment represents a unique historical
occurrence - the coexistence in one single country of all the various types
of Buddhism existing in the world. The new Western Buddhism (which has been
around only for about the last three decades) has gone right back to the core
of the Buddha's teachings and tends to be more open, inclusive, non-dogmatic
and non-hierarchical than the ethnic or cultural Buddhism of Asia. In particular
it transcends the rigid split between monks and laity so typical of the latter
forms of Buddhism.
The essential teaching of the Buddha emphasizes 'Going for Refuge to the Three
Jewels'. The Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha
is not considered a God but rather the embodiment of human enlightenment, which
any human being is considered to be potentially capable of. The Dharma is the
Teaching or method of achieving this goal, and the Sangha is the group of fellow
aspirants who tread the path. So the Buddha represents the ideal of human enlightenment
or the possibility of us breaking free from the suffering that is so much a
part of the human situation. The Dharma is the detailed and practical methodology
of how to do this. The Sangha functions as a support group of like-minded people
whom practice and study together and support each other on this difficult path.
Together they are described as 'true' refuges, as opposed to the 'false' refuges
thrown up by an immoral and materialistic world. They are considered to be true
because they represent a solution to unhappiness as opposed to the false refuges
of short-term pleasure and hedonism, which can not give lasting happiness. So
in a sense Buddhists are spiritual refugees.
The Buddhist teaching, more commonly described as the Buddha Dharma (The Teaching
or Way) rather than as a 'religion', is an exceedingly clear and systematic
method of personal, psychological and spiritual growth. It is also a very positive
teaching considering the potential for such growth in any individual to be infinite.
It is also emphatically non-dogmatic even in relation to its own teachings.
It stresses to its followers to try the teachings out to see if they work in
an experimental fashion and not to accept anything on the basis of 'blind belief'.
The simplest way of describing the essence of a Buddhist practice is that it
consists of practising ethics, meditating, and studying and realizing insight
or wisdom. These characteristics of the Buddha Dharma plus its emphasis on taking
responsibility for oneself and one's own actions and its overwhelmingly practical
or applied nature seems really appealing to the pragmatic nature of Australians.
The group is in the process of attempting to set up a Buddhist Centre out of
which it will run meditation and other related classes. When it has achieved
this then Toowoomba will be one of only three Western Buddhist centres in Australia
(the other two being in Melbourne and Sydney) perhaps suggesting the pioneering
spirit for which this region is so well known.
Some Aspects of Western Buddhism
Most people would be aware of the enormous impact of Buddhism on Eastern cultures
but perhaps less so of its impact in the West, which is now becoming considerable.
Buddhism originated in the 6th century BCE (Before the Common Era is used now
by students of comparative religion rather than the Christian calendar notation
of BC and AD). There is evidence of contact between Buddhism and the West as
far back as the time of Alexander the Great (356-323BCE). In fact as I understand
it the first figures of the Buddha were created in ancient Greece.
Historically speaking, however, the dominant Western attitude to all things
Eastern, according to Stephen Batchelor's book The Awakening of the West, has
been blind indifference. Accept for a period in the 13th century, that is, when
Genghis Khan made his presence felt over an enormous amount of Eurasia, from
Korea to Poland, the largest land empire in the history of the world. After
this there was much more communication between East and West and Buddhism became
known in Europe. From then until the 18th century the European attitude to Buddhism
Batchelor characterizes as self-righteous rejection-it was dismissed as heathen
idolatry (and probably still is in some quarters).
From the latter part of the 18th century a marked interest in Buddhism began
in the West. This is when the Western word 'Buddhism' was constructed (and other
new words like 'Hinduism'). As I've pointed out in a previous article, Buddhism
was not known as such in the East. It was simply referred to as the Dharma,
which means variously, 'the teaching', 'the truth' and 'the way' as in 'the
way through the teaching to the truth'. During this time Buddhism attracted
a spectrum of interest. Victorian scientists, busily rejecting the traditional
religions because of their metaphysics and lack of empirically observable facts,
were drawn to Buddhism and considered it as a field of rational, scientific
knowledge. The Buddha's teaching was considered to be empirical based as it
was on inner observation. It also attracted the eye of missionary and other
scholars who translated much of it into English using cumbersome, Western Christian
style terminology. It also influenced certain Western artists and philosophers,
Edwin Arnold's poem The Light of Asia, for example, being particularly popular.
Buddhism was also central to the early Theosophists such as Madam Blavatsky.
Batchelor describes the Theosophists as romantic fantasists (not fanatics) in
contrast to the more scientific and scholarly interest in Buddhism. Madam Blavatsky
and her partner were the first Westerners to publicly embrace Buddhism in Sri
Lanka in 1880. The Theosophists were instrumental in bringing Buddhism into
Australia at the turn of the century and I've been told that there has been
Theosophists in Toowoomba right up to the present!
Interestingly Paul Crouch in his book A History of Buddhism in Australia (1848-1988),
suggests the historical involvement of Australia could have started much further
back in time. In fact, he quotes A. P. Elkin who wrote a book in 1945 entitled
Aboriginal Men of High Degree (as I recall he was a professor of anthropology
at Sydney University at the time). In this work, which is a fascinating read,
Elkin suggests that things like aboriginal ignition rights and special powers
were influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. I can't help but feel that such claims
at that time in Australia must have branded him as quite an eccentric. There
are even assertions that certain aboriginal rock-paintings in Northern Australia
depict the Buddha! Far fetched as these may sound Crouch points out that it
is well known that Asian traders were here long before Dampier and Cook. It
is highly likely that navigators from China and certainly from Indonesia, which
was influenced extensively by Buddhism, interacted with Northern Australia.
Maybe these traders brought Buddhist monks with them, who knows?
In the five decades since WW2 there has been a massive upsurge of interest in
Buddhism in the West. The Dharma has firmly established itself in the Western
countries of the North Americas, Europe and Australasia. Between the 1960s and
70s Asian teachers, particularly Japanese Roshis and Tibetan Rinpoches carried
out most of the Dharma teaching. During the 70s almost every extant form of
Buddhism in the world arrived in the West. These traditions established urban
Buddhist centres and rural retreat centres and widespread teaching programs.
The influx included representatives of the Tibetan Gelugpa, Kagyupa, Nyingmapa
and Shakyapa traditions. From Central Asia came Japanese Soto and Rinzai Zen,
Chinese Ch'an (the original Zen), Korean Son, Vietnamese Thien, as well as teachers
from Burmese, Thai and Sri Lankin Theravada Buddhism.
Significantly, at the same time, new Western Buddhist organizations appeared
for the first time. A handful of Westerners who had travelled to the East and
studied Buddhism and become ordained Buddhists returned to the West in the 60s
and began to establish groups of their own. Even the Asian Buddhists had already
been adapting their teachings for Westerners. (It is a historical fact that
Buddhism has always adapted itself to the cultures it's spread into; that is
why there are so many varieties). People like Sangharakshita, an Englishman
who spent 20 years as an ordained monk in India, founded the Friends of the
Western Buddhist Order (FWBO). Others included Robert Aiken Roshi, who founded
the Zen Diamond Sangha in Hawaii, Philip Kapleau Roshi, founder of the Rochester
Zen center in New York and Lama Aangorika Govinda's (a German national) who
founded the Arya Maitreya Mandala in Germany. The FWBO, as an example, now has
something of the order of 79 centres in 23 countries including Australia and
New Zealand.
So what are some of the features of this emerging Western form of Buddhism?
I'll only touch on a few of these this week as from now on there will be a regular
series of articles appearing in the Star exploring the nature of Buddhism from
this perspective. The first and most obvious is the coexistence of all the major
Buddhist traditions in Western countries for the first time in Buddhist history.
So not surprisingly Western Buddhism is eclectic - it borrows from a great range
of teachings and techniques and adapts them to Western needs. Again this has
been typical of the whole history of Buddhism as it encountered different cultures.
A simple historical example is the fact that Buddhism when it first moved from
India to China taught its doctrines using the concepts of the indigenous Chinese
Taoist philosophical tradition. In fact a distinctive Chinese form of Buddhism
known as Ch'an (Zen in Japanese) resulted from the intermingling of Taoism and
Buddhism.
A second feature that has come from this recent diaspora of Buddhist teachings
into the West is that they are now being translated much more clearly into English.
There has been an explosion of scholarly interest. Consequently much more systematic
and in-depth knowledge is coming through. It's also being translated much more
accurately as it is stripped of its earlier quasi-Christian terminology. The
Canons of Buddhism are monumentally extensive dwarfing the Bible and the Koran
and as this detailed knowledge comes through it impacting on Western fields
like psychology and the new physics.
Western Buddhism, as exemplified by the FWBO for example, consciously addresses
issues peculiar to the contemporary Western situation. What is the relationship
of Buddhism to Western culture? How do contemporary political, economic, environmental
and social ethical issues effect its practice? How does a Christian (or post-Christian)
upbringing effect one's attitude to ethics and spiritual matters? How can one
combine having a family with one's desire to practice the Dharma? As I mentioned
in a previous article Western Buddhism doe not favour the lay-monk split typical
of traditional ethnic Buddhism-more about that in the next article.
We live in trying times in the West. There is a lot of negativity around. Late
capitalist societies, like Australia and NZ, are now riddled with social problems.
These include unemployment, inequities in income distribution, poverty, homelessness,
drugs, crime, massacres and right wing fanaticism to name a few. Contemporary
governments obsessed with an ideology of economic rationalism have elevated
the market place and the dollar above all else to the neglect of social and
environmental issues and the neglect of their citizens. Buddhism represents
a profound critique of this trend. But it also offers practical advice for people
disillusioned with materialism and looking for ways out of all the negativity.
To conclude, one simple meditation practice, which Western Buddhism has discovered
to be of particular significance for contemporary people, is the metta bhavana
practice. It means 'making to become' (bhavana) 'loving kindness' (metta) and
has become a foundation practice. In the first stage of it you give rise to
a strong feeling of loving kindness to yourself. Then you spread it to others
and the whole world. A lot of Western people have a great deal of difficulty
with the first stage. They discover that they don't much like themselves. At
this point I'll simply pose the question as to why this is the case in Western
societies. It is worrying if our society has created a situation wherein people
fundamentally don't like themselves or feel that they are flawed in some way
or are simply outright angry. It's worrying because we inevitably project what
we feel inside onto the outside world. There does seem to be an undercurrent
of dislike and anger in our societies. The metta bhavana practice helps individuals
transform this negative emotional energy into positive. This Anzac weekend a
group of people from the Toowoomba Buddhist Society is going on a weekend meditation
retreat to deepen this type of meditation practice. Soon the society will be
offering an introduction to Buddhist meditation course that includes it.
Beyond The Monk-Lay Split:
Whilst the history of Asian Buddhism is largely the history of Buddhist monasticism,
western Buddhism seems to be moving in a different direction. Most of the Buddhist
organizations in the west today concern themselves with teaching different varieties
of 'lay-Buddhism'- they've moved beyond the traditional monk-lay split. They
are trying to create some kind of accommodation between the demands of a Buddhist
practice on the one hand, and those of a modern western lifestyle on the other.
It seems (according to recent scholarly research) the division between monk
and lay developed in the early Buddhist sangha as the result of cultural processes
and altered the nature of the community the Buddha himself established.
So in Western Buddhism lifestyle is considered secondary to commitment. In other
words it's possible to be actually more spiritually committed as a householder
than a spiritually apathetic monk. That is not to say, however, that is not
possible to be in a monastery or single sex community and committed as well.
It's the commitment that is primary and the lifestyle that is secondary. The
principle commitment a Buddhist makes is to Go for Refuge to the Three Jewels-the
Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
It's considered that only these Three Jewels can give lasting happiness, peace
and security. People are usually going for refuge to what we call the 'false'
refuges, things like drugs, gambling, craving material possessions and so on.
They are seeking happiness in short-term hedonism and external material possessions
but because nothing lasts frustration and suffering are inevitable; that is
why they're described as 'false' refuges. The Buddha said that just as the ocean
has but one taste that of salt so too the Teaching has but one flavour that
of freedom. So going for refuge means literally to seek true freedom and safety,
to escape from suffering.
The first jewel, the Buddha, symbolizes the possibility for any human being
of achieving the emancipation of Enlightenment, as did the historical Buddha.
The act of bowing to a Buddha figure (rupa) is simply a ritualized acknowledgment
of this fact; it certainly isn't bowing to the Buddha as some sort of a God.
The Dharma is the second jewel. It's the teaching, the philosophy and the vast
array of practical tools like meditation techniques that can help you become
Enlightened or at least grow. The Sangha is the fellowship of practitioners
all striving for the goal who provide support for each other on the path.
So in western Buddhist organizations like the Friends of the Western Buddhist
Order (FWBO) the order is neither lay nor monastic. Some members choose to be
celibate, others not. Some live with their families and hold regular jobs, others
live in single-sex residential spiritual communities and work in Right Livelihood
businesses. There has been a call as well for a western Buddhist monastic system,
which would be an interesting development'
Buddhism - Its Starting Point:
One of the distinctive features of Buddhism, compared to the other traditional
'religions', is that it starts with the mind. In some respects that is why the
word 'religion' doesn't sit easily with Buddhism. Most religions involve belief
in a creator God, and in dogma, and devotional practices that celebrate that
God and those beliefs. Buddhism in contrast starts with working directly on
the mind, your own every day mind. It is intensely practical and this is one
of its features that contemporary westerners find very attractive. The Buddha
in his teaching said that Mind precedes all things, mind is supreme, mind-made
are they . The distinctive thing about our species that distinguishes us from
the other animals is that we have self-consciousness. We can look into our own
minds, we can make choices. That is why we named ourselves homo sapiens, 'wise
man'. But from a Buddhist point of view this ability of human beings for self-consciousness
is a double-edged sword-it cuts two ways. It is the root of our creativity.
However, as we will see in next week's article, it's also the root of our destructiveness.
With it we can choose to behave ethically. We can also use it to work directly
on our own mind by meditating to eradicate negative mental states and replace
them with positive ones. That's all, in essence, a practicing Buddhist does!
The Mind - A Double-Edged Sword:
Last week we established that Buddhism, unlike other religions, starts with
the mind. The human mind is unique in that it has self-consciousness. This sets
us apart from the other animals. Whilst the other animals are generally speaking
simply aware through their senses and driven by their instincts we have what
philosophers and psychologists refer to as 'reflexive' consciousness. If you
look the word 'reflexive' up in a dictionary you'll find it means to bend back
on itself. In other words, we are not simply aware through the senses we are
aware that we are aware. The mind bends back on itself and can look into itself.
Because we are aware of something being aware we have consciousness of a self.
We are taught to label this 'something being aware' as the 'self' or 'I' from
an early age. Now once we become aware of ourselves as a self we experience
that self as separate from everything else. Because we experience ourselves
as separate from everything else we can manipulate the world around us.
This is where the double-edged sword idea comes in. Self-consciousness allows
us many advantages and creative potential. With it we have a sense of autonomy
and can make choices and engage in purposeful behaviour to ensure our survival.
We can make and build things and pass this knowledge on. We can reason, remember
and imagine and all of these abilities come from the mind being able to look
into itself. However, on the other hand, the experience of separation from everything
else (including other people) is dangerous. If mistaken for a reality it becomes
from a Buddhist point of view a dangerous delusion (moha). In fact, from this
perspective nothing can actually be separated from anything else; everything
is part of an interwoven flux of ever changing conditions. Ultimately the human
being can not exist separate from the air they breath, the water they drink
and the plant and animal world that sustains them. They are part of the natural
environment. They also do not exist independently of other human beings; they
depend on them for psychological nourishment and even our own individual personalities
are shaped by our interactions with family and friends.
So the experience of separation is apparent rather than real. Einstein described
it as a sort of optical delusion. From a Buddhist perspective it is a very useful
illusion because it does enable us to manipulate things and thus helps ensure
our survival. However, unless it is grounded in an actual experience of the
unity of all things (which is part of the Enlightenment experience) it remains
a very dangerous ability. Consider the consequences of manipulating the natural
environment on the basis of a belief that it really is separate from us when
in reality it is not?
The Deluded Mind:
In the last article we saw how the fact that humans have self-consciousness
is like a double-edged sword. It cuts two ways being, at one and the same time,
the root of our creativity as well as our destructiveness. We are in a highly
paradoxical position as a result of having self-consciousness. We are part of
Nature, part of biological evolution, but that part which is conscious of itself.
Hence we experience ourselves as separate from the rest and yet we are not.
The experience of separation enables us to manipulate the rest to a far greater
extent than any other animal. Together with self-consciousness this experience
of separation, which is inherent in self-consciousness, means human beings have
tremendous power. We have more power in relation to other species and our own
than any other living being. And yet we are part of Nature, part of evolution.
So we are in a difficult and paradoxical position. From a Buddhist perspective
the experience of separation is considered apparent rather than real. If believed
to be true, that is an actual separation or disconnection from the rest, then
it is a delusion (moha). Unfortunately, because this predisposition is 'hard
wired' into us (part of our physiological make up), we do as a species automatically
fall foul of this delusion. However, the Buddha Dharma teaches that it is possible
to escape the delusion. It is possible to resolve the paradoxical position of
humans in a correct fashion.
Last week we posed the question of considering the consequences of manipulating
the natural environment on the basis of a belief that it really is separate
from us, when in fact it isn't? If it really is separate from us we can do anything
we like to it without fear of consequence, like for example changing the physical
and chemical properties of the atmosphere. The fact that this inevitably rebounds
on us (the perpetrator) as pollution, acid rain and global warming simply indicates
that we are not separate from it in the first place.
Unfortunately when we look around the world today we can only conclude that
our western worldview has reinforced a belief in this deluded view that we really
are separate. Environmental degradation is occurring on a scale never before
witnessed in human history. When we look at the larger picture of geological
time, there may have been eco-catastrophes in the past that drove species to
extinction (eg. meteor impacts), but never before has this been done by one
species to other species and potentially to their own!
The materialistic worldview has also, in defining Nature as nothing other than
collections of dead inert, matter, led to a disrespectful attitude to Nature.
In Buddhism Nature is respected as profoundly alive and mysterious. We also
live in very selfish times when people are encouraged to separate themselves
out from each other more than ever before in human history. Next week we investigate
from a Buddhist point of view how the delusion of separation creates these tendencies
within the individual and how they are also the root cause of our own suffering.
The Three Poisons
Once self-consciousness creates the experience of separation between self and
other, as discussed over the last few weeks, certain negative tendencies automatically
follow. An unfortunate by-product of self-consciousness is that, because we
do experience ourselves as separate, a deep, existential state of tension follows.
It could be characterised as a deep sense of aloneness , incompleteness and
therefore insecurity. It is very deep in the sense that it is 'hard-wired' into
us. It comes, in other words, from our physiology, our senses and our brain,
which enables the experience of consciousness of self and perceiving the world
dualistically and fragmented into a myriad of separate objects.
According to the Buddhist teaching (Dharma). in order to overcome this tension
or insecurity two primal tendencies arise-craving and aversion. Craving plays
the role of attempting to incorporate into out self-system, in order to give
us more security, those things we perceive as pleasant. Aversion attempts to
repel or push away the things we perceive as unpleasant and threatening to our
self and its sense of security. This is what modern psychology describes as
approach-avoidance tendencies inherent in perception. According to some psychologists
we spend 80% of our time seeking 'love strokes' and the other 10% avoiding threats!
Both these tendencies of craving ( ) and aversion ( ) are rooted in the basic
delusion (moha) of separation which generates them. Together they are known
in Buddhism as the three poisons. So named because not only do we experience
world as a delusion (dualistic and fragmented when in fact a whole but e introduce
as subjective filter that breaks the world up into pleasant unpleasant attractive
etc-poison the mind.
The Possibility of Change
Last week we discussed the negative tendencies that automatically arise in the
human mind because of our experience of separation from the Other. The experience
of separation comes from self-consciousness and we try to overcome the tension
created by this by craving the pleasant and repelling the unpleasant. In this
way we try to secure our fragile ego. Traditionally, greed, aggression and ignorance
operating within the human mind are known as the Three Poisons in Buddhism.
These three poisons have now spread beyond the confines of the human mind to
manifest as real, observable poisons effecting the global environment. The commentary
on the Cakkavattisihananda Sutta of the Pali Canon, (thousands of years old;
a sutta or sutra is a single teaching given by the Buddha on a specific theme),
spells out this human-environment link between human morality (or lack of) and
environmental consequences:
'When humanity is demoralized through greed, famine is the natural outcome;
when moral degeneration is due to ignorance, epidemic is the inevitable result;
when hatred is the demoralizing force, widespread violence is the inevitable
outcome.'
These tendencies, according to the sutra, contribute to an unsustainable situation
and the end result is devastation and a shortening of the life span of the population.
A cursory review of the world today would suggest that all of the above negative
situations are present around the world on scales never before witnessed in
human history.
However, the sutra's discussion of the link between the human mind and the environment
continues as follows:
' ... If and when humanity realizes that the large-scale devastation has taken
place as a result of its moral decline, a change of heart takes place ... As
morality is renewed, conditions improve through a long period of cause and effect
....'
Buddhism has a cyclic view toward all natural phenomena. It considers that when
people wake up to the fact that their actions are impacting negatively on their
quality of life, there is a change of heart (down in the emotional realm). The
situation described in the quote also fits what many people hope is happening
at the moment throughout the worldwide community in relation to environmental
issues.
Buddhism is (and always has been) very optimistic about the human condition
and its potential to develop higher ethical sensibilities. This is possible
within the individual as well as within society as a whole (as in the quote
above). No matter how unskilful we have been, no matter how much we have allowed
craving, aggression and confusion to drive us, we can always reverse the situation.
A Buddhist monk I met once in China quoted me the following verse, which illustrates
this point nicely:
No matter how far you swim out in the bitter sea,
You can always return to the beach.
Put down the killing knife!
In the west we tend to have a fixed view of the self - we are what we are what
we are; a leopard can't change it's spots, and so on. The Buddhist conception
is much more fluid and positive. There is literally nothing we can not make
of ourselves.
It is Fortunate to be born Human (article for 'Star' newspaper 14/6/99 by Roger
Bastick):
As we have seen, deeply ingrained in the human psyche is a fundamental delusion
(moha) that we are apart from everything else. This produces the two primal
tendencies of approach and avoidance, craving and aversion. These volitional
tendencies or samskaras drive our habit energies and generates our karma that
results in us becoming what we are today and what we'll become tomorrow. All
of this is an unfortunate by-product of self-consciousness. But there are 'wholesome
roots' or tendencies as well that are an inherent part of our nature. In a sense
they are deeper still, because karmically they have resulted in us being born
as humans. The Buddha considered this as highly fortuitous. He likened the probability
of being born human to the probability of a small turtle rising from the floor
to the surface of a vast sea just as a piece of wood with a hole in it floated
by. Imagine the probability that as the turtle stuck its head out of the water
it emerged through the hole in the wood. That's the probability of being born
human, said the Buddha.
Because humans have self-consciousness we can look into and control our minds
if we choose to. In other words, part of our karmic conditioning is that we
have self-awareness and volitional choice itself. Thus the human potential for
growth is unlimited from a Buddhist point of view. The fact that we can all
also potentially be very evil means that the matter can't be left to chance-the
stakes are too high. From a Buddhist perspective it's crucial to accept the
challenge of consciously encouraging our good impulses and transforming the
negative.
However, people tend to be overly cynical about the ability of humans (including
themselves) to grow and be skilful. As stated last week the western view of
the self tends to be a fixed one. The Buddhist view is that we can transcend
the 'self', the self that is causing the problems and our own suffering. This
'petty' self is actually a fraction of our total being and our potential. In
the Mahayana schools of Buddhism this potential became described as our inherent
'Buddha Nature'. We all have it as our birthright-it is the 'embryo' of Enlightenment.
The latter may be a long way off but spiritual change (a movement toward Enlightenment)
can start immediately if we so chose. We can thus see that the Buddhist perspective
on our basic human nature is profoundly optimistic.
We need to take heart in the Buddha's message that all obstacles, no matter
what they might be, really can be overcome. That we, whoever we may be, are
capable of overcoming them. In the longer-term course of one's life, there is
no limit - absolutely none, according to the Buddha-to what men and women can
make of themselves. This is the objective potential of being human. We all have
this enormous potential. It's worth reminding ourselves of this objective fact
often; otherwise our cynicism can undermine our natural self-confidence. Confidence
that we can change ourselves, at least by degrees, is the foundation of the
whole spiritual life.
Buddhism distinguishes between 'worldy desire' (kammachanda) and spiritual desire
(dhammachanda) - the aim isn't to eliminate desire, but craving.
The Four Noble Truths
The distinctly human trait of self-consciousness, as we have seen, has positive
aspects to it and negative ones. It enables us to experience ourselves as a
separate self and thus enables creative activity such as autonomous decision-making,
reasoning, imagination and manipulation of the surrounding environment through
the manufacture of tools and technology. However, it also produces a sense of
discomfort, of existential tension. This may be at such a deep level that we
are largely unconscious of it (maybe we have hidden it from ourselves). We experience
ourselves as alone, as separate from the environment (including other people).
Hence we feel incomplete. Many a western tradition, biological, psychological
and spiritual, recognizes that only a sense of connection with the surrounding
environment, a sense of union with the Other (usually described as Love) can
provide a feeling of completeness for us. Buddhism agrees entirely.
The Buddha started his teaching (the Dharma) by addressing this peculiarly human
situation. The most concise exposition of the Dharma that he gave is probably
the Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth states that dukkha, variously translated
as suffering, pain and unsatisfactoriness, is an inevitable and universal part
of life for all sentient beings. The Second Noble Truth is that the origin of
dukkha lies in craving. The Third is the Truth of the end of suffering through
the extinction of craving. The Fourth Noble Truth is the Path leading to the
extinction or cessation of craving and thus suffering. It's known as the Noble
Eightfold Path.
The First Truth is saying that all sentient beings, all beings aware of things
through the senses, are subject to suffering in their lives. It's an inevitable
by-product of being born into a body. The Buddha stated that birth is painful,
disease (and accidents) is painful, aging is painful and death is painful. Not
all sentient beings are thinking beings but they share with us the pain of old
age, decay and death. They also feel pain as we do, especially the more evolved,
because of their senses. That is why Buddhists traditionally avoid harming,
if possible, other living beings and indeed feel a bond with them.
Some of this suffering is unavoidable. Disease, old age and death are unsatisfactory
situations that arise unavoidably because we are born into these bodies. However,
humans also create for themselves 'avoidable' forms of suffering and this is
because we are thinking beings. These types of suffering or unsatisfactoriness
are the products of craving, as in the Second Noble Truth. According to the
Buddha they are to do with being united with what one dislikes, or separated
from what one likes and not getting what one wants. They are mental or psychological
forms of unsatisfactoriness based on our craving things and not having that
craving satisfied. Furthermore these types of bodily and mental suffering overlap
with each other. We crave to be, to live on and on, but we don't, we die. We
get sick or depressed but we crave not to be sick or depressed thereby doubling
up the suffering.
However, according to the Buddha, these forms of suffering are avoidable. With
the extinction of craving they end. Thus Buddhism is again a profoundly optimistic
teaching. It faces up to the toughness of life, it doesn't run away from it,
or seek an answer in an afterlife. The Third and Fourth Noble Truths say that
suffering can be overcome and offer a detailed Eightfold path to achieve this
in this lifetime. With the end of suffering comes permanent, lasting happiness.
So the Four Noble Truths are one of the most positive teachings ever formulated.
The Law of Conditionality:
Underpinning the Four Noble Truths outlined last week is a concept of conditionality.
An essential part of the Buddha's Enlightenment was insight into what has become
known as the Law of Conditioned Co-Production (Pratitya Samupada). According
to this law everything in the phenomenal world comes into existence dependent
upon a set of conditions complexly interwoven with each other. When these conditions
cease the phenomena ceases. The Buddha himself expressed it thus: This being,
that becomes, from the arising of this, that arises; this not becoming, that
does not become; from the ceasing of this, that ceases.. In many ways this is
why Buddhism is so clear in its teachings. Some have likened it to an almost
scientific way of viewing things.
In relation to the Four Noble Truths the law of conditionality works as follows.
The first Noble Truth says that a thing exists or event occurs. In this case
that the occurrence of dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, is a universal
characteristic of life. The second Noble Truth says that this thing or event
(dukkha) exists or occurs in dependence upon particular causes or conditions-the
occurrence of craving. The third states that in the absence of these conditions
or causes (craving) the thing ceases to exist or occur. The fourth Noble Truth
says that there is a way (the Eight Fold Path) to ensure that the phenomenon
in question (suffering in dependence upon craving) is not produced and, therefore,
no longer exists.
This is pretty easy to understand at the intellectual level. However, to solve
the problem it's not enough to just understand it at this level. Instead the
truth of dukkha, that suffering, anguish and unsatisfactoriness are 'part and
parcel of life', and originate from craving, has to be understood at the emotional
level, in our hearts. Then its origins have to be let go of, its cessation has
to be realised, and the path leading to its cessation has to be cultivated.
So in one way the four truths are challenges to act, to undertake a course of
action. In this sense the Buddhist path is one of effort not to be lightly undertaken.
Practitioners clarify their views through understanding the teaching; but then
must use their own self-awareness to observe these processes in their own minds.
They need to see if the teaching is correct or true and if it is, and they really
wish to end suffering, they need to commit themselves to the course of action
necessary to end it. The Dharma has often, throughout its long history, been
likened to a healing process. But to achieve the healing the medicine needs
to be taken. It's like that old saying Physician heal thyself! Next week we'll
investigate the nature of craving, the cause of the problem, in more depth.
A Healing Process (2/7/99):
Last week we saw how the Four Noble Truths related to the Law of Conditionality
or Causality that underpins the Buddha Dharma (Teaching). Suffering, pain and
anguish (dukkha) come into existence because of the presence of craving. When
this condition or cause is removed suffering ceases. The Fourth Truth states
that the Path leading to its cessation is the Noble Eightfold Path (wrongly
referred to as the 'right' Fold Path, in last week's article-a typing error).
The Teaching has often, throughout its long history, also been likened to a
healing process. The Four Noble Truths are based, according to this view, on
an ancient Indian medical formula. The First Noble Truth is the disease or its
symptoms (dukkha). The Second is the deep underlying cause that needs to be
diagnosed. The Third identifies the cure and the Fourth prescribes the treatment
and provides the medicine. The cure is to extinguish or to 'let go off' of craving.
The complete removal of craving is one meaning of the word Nirvana, meaning
literally blown out. At a deeper level it means a mind beyond all conditioning
including the way craving conditions the mind.
Now a crucial distinction between 'desire' and 'craving' needs to be made. Buddhism
is not against all desire as is misconstrued in many quarters. Many of our natural
desires, such as hunger and thirst, serve the purpose of ensuring our survival.
If neglected or repressed we will die. Also desires such as ones like the wish
to help others, to become educated and to grow psychologically and spiritually
are considered very healthy in Buddhism.
There is a world of a difference between healthy desire and craving. The latter
is selfish, self-centered and implies a neurotic clinging to the object desired.
The problems start when our inner, psychological hungers and thirsts get caught
up with our normal physical hungers and thirsts. When we are stuffing ourselves
with food or pouring alcohol down our throats because of a feeling of inner
emptiness and confusion. When this is happening our attachment to things like
these as well as drugs, gambling, sexual partners and all sorts of material
things is neurotic. It's neurotic when we are projecting onto the thing far
more than it can possibly satisfy. There is also a world of a difference between
healthy self-interest and unhealthy and destructive selfishness. People seemed
confused about the distinction these days. Or perhaps they are just conveniently
hiding it from themselves?
If we feel hunger or thirst and desire for food or drink and when consumed feel
satisfied and leave it at that, then it's normal health desire. If we go completely
to pieces when our partner leaves us, or the thing is taken away from us, then
this is a sign that we have been neurotically attached. Our relationship with
it has been based on craving. Also there is the issue of are our motives based
on health self-interest or selfishness? How many of us can pass this test? Much
of our craving is largely unconscious and quite subtle. It needn't be a gross
addiction.
If you don't pass the test don't worry. From a Buddhist perspective we are all
considered more or less neurotic, some more, some less, till we become Enlightened.
The Buddha himself is actually on record as saying we're all mad till we're
Enlightened! To overcome the illness, to achieve healing, medicine needs to
be taken. And we can only take it ourselves and willingly. It's a bit like the
old saying Physician heal thyself. The medicine in Buddhism is the comprehensive
Eightfold Path.
The Threefold Path (9/7/99):
The Fourth Noble Truth, as we have seen, is a comprehensive prescription (to
continue the medical analogy) for the overcoming of suffering. It is the cure,
the process necessary for healing known as The Noble Eightfold Path. However,
it does require effort and it is challenging because it's the methodology to
be deployed to extinguish craving. It is so named because if trodden it guarantees
the practitioner the permanent end of suffering and residence in the Noble realm
of Nirvana. This is a state of everlasting peace, freedom and happiness considered
by Buddhism as attainable in this life itself.
The Eightfold Path describes a way to live, think and meditate which will enable
a person to bring the unsatisfactoriness inherent in life (dukkha) to an end.
It's accomplished by a gradual and interconnected practice of eight aspects
of mainly mental training. The Path could be described as one of 'living meditation'
that leads to a gradual slowing down, calming down and eventual cessation of
a person's delusions that cause suffering in the first place.
Each of the stages of the Eightfold Path are prefixed with the Sanskrit word
Samyag which means 'proper', 'wholesome', 'thorough', 'integral', 'complete',
'perfect'. However, it is very commonly translated as 'right', which has the
unfortunate implication in the west of right versus wrong, which it is not meant
to have. So I'll use both translations. The Path is not so much a series of
steps that must be followed one after the other, as a set of limbs each of which
augments all of the others. They are 1) Right View/Complete Vision, 2) Right
Intent/Complete Emotion, 3) Right/Complete Speech, 4) Right/Complete Action,
5) Right/Complete Livelihood, 6) Right /Complete Effort, 7) Right /Complete
Mindfulness and 8) Right Meditation/Complete Concentration (Samadhi).
There are two 'short-hand' versions of the Path as well. One is twofold breaking
it into the Path of Vision and the Path of Transformation. The Noble Eightfold
Path starts with a View or Vision, without which it simply can not start. Unless
a person has some sort of insight into the unsatisfactoriness of this life and
the desire to end it, they won't start on the Path. For this reason not everyone
comes to Buddhism. Once they have a heart-felt desire to end suffering then
the Path of Transformation, which incorporates the seven other limbs, can begin
to unfold. Not surprisingly this transformative path starts with the stage of
Right Intent or Complete Emotion.
The Threefold Path, which will be elaborated over the next few weeks, consists
of 1) Ethics, 2) Meditation and 3) Wisdom or Insight. Ethics subsumes the stage
of Complete Speech, Action and Livelihood in the Eightfold Path. Meditation
subsumes Complete Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration and Wisdom, Complete
Vision and Emotion. Again all three stages of this Threefold Path augment and
reinforce each other.
The Path of Ethics (14/799):
The Threefold Path mentioned last week starts with ethical practice. Buddhist
ethics is concerned primarily with the motivational states of the mind. The
Law of Karma, which states that any conscious mental decision will result in
repercussions - the fruits of karma, governs this realm. Actions cause consequences.
This type of karma is to be distinguished from the Hindu version where any act
has repercussions on the individual. In Buddhism only consciously motivated
volitional decisions have consequences. If one accidentally runs over a dog
in a car (as opposed to consciously deciding to) it doesn't generate karmic
consequences whereas in Hinduism it does. Any thought, word or deed that is
motivated by 'the three poisons'(craving, ill will and delusion) is considered
unskilful (akausalya) because it will not be conducive to spiritual development
or self-transcendence. Motives and actions grounded in loving kindness, generosity
and clarity of mind, in so far as they are conducive to self-transcendence and
thus spiritual development, are considered ethically skilful (kausalya). The
words 'skilful' and 'unskilful' are used rather than 'right' and 'wrong', which
imply a divine absolute.
Buddhists everywhere practice a minimum of five basic ethical precepts (panca-sila).
Put simply they consist of refraining from killing, stealing/exploitation, sexual
misconduct, lying and intoxication from drugs to the point where mindfulness
is lost. The opposite traits of loving kindness, generosity, contentment, truthfulness
and clarity of mind are encouraged and also taken as precepts. The basic ethical
principle threading through all the precepts is non-violence (ahisma). The first
three cover the deeds or acts performed by the physical body, the fourth covers
speech and the fifth covers the mind; thoughts, words and deeds. They also address
the three poisons in the sense of undertaking to avoid craving, aggression and
confusion and cultivating the opposite states of mind. The ethical precepts
in Buddhism are aimed to encourage the unenlightened, developing practitioner
to behave as an enlightened being. They also act as safe guards for them because
they may not have yet developed the clarity of mind through meditation to distinguish
clearly just what the real motives and volitions are that are going on in their
minds. It must be emphasized, however, that the ethical precepts of Buddhism
are recommendations and guidelines rather than a set off commandments delivered
by a God which must be obeyed or else! By adhering to them a person is giving
himself or herself a fighting chance of not acting unethically.
Another important reason the ethical code is practiced is, as in accordance
with the Law of Conditionality, because they help set up the conditions necessary
for successful meditation. A mind dominated by craving, anger or confusion can't
achieve the calmness, happiness and concentration (psychological integration)
necessary for successful meditative absorption (dhyana).
Ethics and Happiness (26/7/99):
The five ethical precepts practised by Buddhists (discussed last week) in a
sense imitate the spontaneous, virtuous behaviour of an Enlightened being. The
two primary virtues in Buddhism are Wisdom and Compassion. So the ethical precepts
reject violence and the Power Mode, which uses other people and beings. Instead
they endorse the Love Mode, which empathises with and cares for the Other. In
English the five precepts are as follows:
1) I undertake to abstain from taking life. 2) I undertake to abstain from taking
the not-given. 3) I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct. 4) I undertake
to abstain from false speech. 5) I undertake to abstain from becoming intoxicated.
The positive counterparts are stated as follows:
1) With deeds of loving kindness, I purify my body. 2) With open-handed generosity,
I purify my body. 3) With stillness, simplicity and contentment, I purify my
body. 4) With truthful communication, I purify my speech. 5) With mindfulness
clear and radiant, I purify my mind.
As you can see the positive precepts endorse the opposite mental states to those
found in the negative form of the five precepts (negative in the sense of undertaking
not to do something).
So the practice of the ethical precepts in Buddhism results in sensitive and
harmonious behaviour toward the Other as the result of skilful mental states.
Ethical behaviour, in turn, produces skilful mental states. In Buddhism an ethical
lifestyle is seen to be a necessary prerequisite for happiness. Happiness doesn't
necessarily mean feeling elated with joy (which can easily collapse into the
opposite)-it seems to have more to do with an absence of inner conflict and
guilt, and a feeling of contentment. Ethical behaviour in this sense is about
doing things that promote positive states of mind. As part of the Threefold
Path, Ethics therefore also sets up the right conditions for Meditation. It
really is only possible to concentrate with ease when you are happy. A concentrated
person is a happy person; a happy person is a concentrated person. So there
are important connections between ethics, happiness and concentration. These
factors also effect your effectiveness in life.
Ethics and Happiness (30/7/99):
As we saw last week, the practice of the ethical precepts in Buddhism results
in sensitive and harmonious behaviour toward the Other as the result of skilful
mental states and motivations. However, the practice of ethical behaviour, in
turn, helps produce skilful mental states. In Buddhism an ethical lifestyle
is seen to be a necessary prerequisite for happiness. Happiness doesn't necessarily
mean feeling elated with joy (which can easily collapse into the opposite)-it
seems to have more to do with an absence of inner conflict and guilt, and a
feeling of contentment.
Ethical behaviour in this sense is about doing things that promote positive
states of mind. Behaviour or action in Buddhism is thought of as involving the
body (eg., hitting someone, taking something), speech and the mind. If you look
at the five ethical precepts that all Buddhists practice as a minimum, they
cover the body, speech and mind. Sometimes this is rendered as thoughts, words
and deeds. Precepts one to three cover actions with the body, the fourth speech
and the fifth the mind. Even if you do not actually hit someone, therefore,
but still give rise to the ill will toward that person behind it in your mind,
then you have acted unskilfully in Buddhism. All actions have consequences.
For example, an angry mind is not happy or peaceful. Thus it is hard for it
to concentrate or meditate.
As part of the Threefold Path, Ethics therefore also sets up the right conditions
for Meditation. It really is only possible to concentrate with ease when you
are happy. A concentrated person is a happy person; a happy person is a concentrated
person. So there are important connections between ethics, happiness and concentration.
These factors also effect your effectiveness in life.
Going Back to Spiritual Kindergarten
As part of the Threefold Path, Ethics sets up the right conditions for Meditation.
It really is only possible to concentrate with ease when you are happy. And
we tend to be happy and guilt free when we practice an ethical lifestyle. The
next stage of the Threefold Path is meditation. Meditation in turn sets up the
right conditions for Insight into Reality or Wisdom.
Many Westerners come into the Buddhist Path in a back-the-front type of fashion.
They tend to start with the Wisdom/Insight aspect, but only at the intellectual
level, most commonly by reading books on Buddhism. There are so many books on
Buddhism these days. Despite being very interested in the philosophy, and reading
widely in it, they find that they aren't changed by it. So they start to meditate
but, because they are partying to all hours, over indulging in intoxicants,
giving into hedonistic craving, sleeping in, and so on, their meditation practice
is irregular and going nowhere. Their minds aren't peaceful and contented enough
to make effective concentration possible. It's not until some form of disciplined
and ethical lifestyle is established that progress in meditation becomes possible.
This has been referred to this as going back to the spiritual kindergarten!
Buddhism teaches many forms of meditation, there are literally thousands of
practices. Traditionally, Buddhist meditation is divided into two types, samatha
and vipassana, or tranquillity and insight. Tranquillity meditation practices
prepare the mind for insight by purifying, integrating and refining it. Insight
meditation is the application of the mind, made subtle and concentrated by tranquillity
meditation, to perceive the true nature of reality. To see things how they really
are. Our ordinary mind is unconcentrated. In Buddhist texts there is frequent
reference to the idea that 'one who is concentrated sees things as they really
are.' This is how meditation sets up the right conditions for the third part
of the Threefold Path.
Meditation in Buddhism (12/8):
Continuing our review of the Threefold Path in Buddhism, we've seen to date
that the first stage, Ethics, sets up the right conditions for successful meditation.
Meditation is the second phase of this path. It subsumes Right or Perfect Effort,
Mindfulness and Concentration-the last three aspects of the Eightfold Path.
We'll return to them in a future issue.
In essence meditation in Buddhism is working directly on one's own mind. Remember
the starting point of Buddhism is the human mind. So we do not meditate just
to relax or cope with stress, although these are welcome by products of the
practice. Last week we talked of the two great traditions in Buddhist meditation
of samatha (tranquillity) and vipassana (insight). Samatha practices aim at
making us more calm, tranquil and concentrated so that we can see things as
they really are and thus gain insight into Reality.
The reason we don't see reality, or things as they really are, is because we
are un-concentrated. Our minds are preoccupied and chronically distracted by
discursive thoughts and a cavalcade of emotional reactions to things and events.
Most of these if dug into reveal themselves to be concerned with our desires
and longings and the frustrations of not satisfying them. There is thus a subjective
filter, based on our egocentric view and our likes and dislikes, between us
and how things actually are. Our view of things is clouded.
The aim of meditation is to purify the mind in the sense of clearing away these
clouds of subjective distortion. To do this all the scattered energies within
our psyches have to become integrated so that they are pulling together. The
chaos in our conscious mind is mightily reinforced by the turmoil in our unconscious
and all of this erupts in the mind to cloud it. These scattered energies can't
be integrated until we become aware of them, or conscious of them. This is the
aim of meditation.
Once we're aware or conscious of what's going on in our conscious mind and in
the unconscious we're in charge of ourselves. Things calm down and a hitherto
unknown state of tranquillity can be experienced. Once this happens we're on
the way to seeing things as they are.
Meditation-a Unity Experience (20/8/99):
We established at the beginning of this series of articles, that as human beings
we experience ourselves as separate from everything else. This is a by-product
of the unique human faculty of self-consciousness. We are in fact not separate
from the environment and human society so the experience of separation is apparent
rather than real. To mistake it for a reality, as we tend to do, is a fundamental
delusion from a Buddhist point of view. When we do, it creates a deep sense
of existential unease in us and that's why we get caught up in craving for pleasant
things to secure ourselves. We feel incomplete and deep down seek a unity with
all things.
One function of meditation is to help overcome this experience of separation
and achieve unity. But ironically it starts off based on the experience of separation.
The fact that we can reason and make choices is because we can separate ourselves
out from ourselves-there is the 'reasoner' and what is being reasoned about.
So we use this ability to convince ourselves of the desirability of meditating
and then choose to sit down and meditate. Without this meditation cannot begin,
so again it's a uniquely human enterprise. Once we start meditating on an object-the
breath, an emotion, a candle-we are actually in an acute state of separation.
There is you sitting there observing and concentrating and there is the thing
you're concentrating on.
Paradoxically, if we persist then the separation disappears and we become 'one'
with the object. So human beings are capable of both giving rise to an experience
of separation and of unity. Furthermore, once enlightened they are capable of
experiencing both of these states simultaneously. Next week we will talk about
how the unity experience in meditation is one of integrating all our scattered
conscious and unconscious energies and how this in turn gives rise to higher
states of consciousness.
Meditation and Integration (26/8/99):
There are two aspects to integration in meditation-a horizontal and a vertical
one. Horizontal integration refers to the collecting together of our psychic
energies in the conscious mind. Vertical is about integrating the energies of
the unconscious with the conscious mind.
Usually we are in a chronic state of distraction in our conscious minds. Our
thoughts and emotions are all over the place and we are not very aware of them.
So horizontal integration is about developing more self-awareness of what is
going on in our conscious minds. In this way we become more aware of what we're
feeling and thinking. Usually our energies are scattered and we are driven from
one mental state to another at the mercy of our thoughts and emotions. They
in turn are usually simple reactions to external stimulants of one kind or another.
In this state we are scattered and reactive; in what you might call the guest
rather than the host position in our own minds.
Meditation practices like the 'Mindfulness of Breathing' (annapanna sati) help
to develop more calm, more integration and self-awareness. In Buddhism this
is called mindfulness and is very important indeed. It helps us become the host
in our own minds by creating a strong centre of self-awareness that is, as it
were, the master of ceremonies, or the shepherd that rounds up the rest of the
herd and moves them in the right direction. Mindfulness helps to focus and channel
our previously scattered mental energies. In this way we can become creative
in our response to circumstances instead of merely reactive.
Given that the unconscious is the bulk of our psyche it is incredibly important
that we also integrate that into our conscious minds. It has been likened in
psychology to an iceberg. The vast bulk of it is under the surface of the water
(unconscious). The small bit above the surface is the conscious mind. Often
the energies of the unconscious are pulling us in a very different direction
to the one in which we want to go in our conscious minds. So, from a Buddhist
point of view, no real psychological or spiritual growth is possible unless
we harness these energies behind our conscious aspirations. More about the role
of meditation in achieving this next week.
Meditation and the Unconscious 3/9/99:
Last week we looked at the notion of meditation and horizontal integration.
This means the shepherding together of our scattered mental energies in the
conscious mind so that we are more self-aware or mindful, and capable of more
concentration and focus. Today we look at vertical integration, the process
of bringing more and more of the depths of our unconscious mind into consciousness.
It's not easy. The Buddha himself acknowledged that control of the mind is the
most challenging and the most rewarding of human tasks, and did not underestimate
its difficulties. The mind has a depth, he suggested, far greater than the deepest
sea, and all the way down it churns with powerful emotional currents and vortices
of which we are barely conscious, but which virtually dictate thought and behaviour.
In its depths lie untapped sources of great power: desires and drives of such
magnitude that the mind is rarely under any control; it simply moves about as
it likes. To train these forces to obey the conscious will is the only way to
be free of the mind's evolutionary inherited urges and predisposition's. The
method for training the mind is meditation, said the Buddha.
As the forces of our conscious and unconscious minds become integrated through
the process of focused, conscious self-awareness (which is meditation) we experience
higher states of consciousness. These traditionally are known as the dhyanas
or levels of meditative absorption in Buddhism. They are higher levels of concentration
in the sense of being beyond our normal waking consciousness, which is scattered,
un-integrated, full of discursive thought and a kaleidoscope of emotions. The
dhyanas are much more lucid, concentrated and peaceful. In a word they're more
integrated. Indeed they result from our psycho-physical energies becoming more
integrated. The level of meditative absorption or the state of higher consciousness
is a function of this.
More about these next week. But one last point is that meditative states are
not to be confused with child-like states, trances, blank or induced hypnotic
states where there is a total absence of self-awareness. They can't be because
they are states of greater and more concentrated self-awareness.
Higher States of Consciousness (9/9/99):
The levels of meditative absorption you get into when you meditate, as we saw,
are known as the dhyanas. They are levels of progressively higher states of
consciousness because our psycho-physical energies have become more integrated
and focused compared to our normal, 'waking' level of consciousness. A great
deal of mental and physical tension is released as our energies begin to flow
together and hence they are accompanied by intense rapture, bliss and equanimity.
Traditionally there are considered to be eight dhyanas.
The Buddha used four symbolic descriptions to characterise the first four dhyanas.
The first he likened to a situation in which soap powder and water are mixed
to make a cake of soap. The soap powder is completely suffused with water and
all the water is absorbed into the powder. The second he likened to a calm pool
of water with a deep subterranean spring bubbling up into it. The third was
like a perfectly still pond in which a lotus plant had fully blossomed so that
its petals were completely permeated by water at the surface of the pond. The
last was like a person who had stepped out of a tank of water after bathing
and was wrapping themselves in a dazzling, white towel.
I wonder if you can deduce what the symbols represent? Maybe just close your
eyes for a moment and call up the images and reflect on their meanings. The
first represents what we have been calling horizontal integration - the coming
together of all the conscious mind's energies. The second is vertical integration
as the unconscious wells up into the conscious mind, which is now like a still
pond. The third is a state of complete permeation of the mind conscious and
unconscious as their full integration has flowered. The last reflects the fact
that when such total integration of psychic energies has occurred there is a
palpable radiation of energy from the person out into the environment.
The next six week Introductory Buddhist meditation courses commence at the Buddhist
Centre at 23 Bridge Street on Tuesday night the 21st of September 7-9pm and
during the day on Thursday the 23rd September 10-12am.
Mental States in Meditation 16/9/99:
Last week we looked at the Buddha's symbolic description of the first four levels
of meditative absorption. These higher levels of consciousness are referred
to traditionally as the dhyanas. Again tradition enumerates five positive mental
states accompanying the dhyanas known as the 'dhyana factors' (dhyananga). Dhyana
does not consist only of these factors but contains other positive qualities
too.
All five are present in the first dhyana and they are initial thought, applied
thought, rapture, bliss and one-pointedness. One-pointedness is present in all
the dhyanas because it is our ability to concentrate, focus and pay attention.
It becomes much stronger in the dhyanas. Initial thought is thinking 'of' something
and applied thought is thinking 'about' something. However, unlike our normal
scattered, discursive thinking, this type of thought in the first dhyana is
very lucid and completely under our conscious control.
Rapture is the experience of the physical enervation's accompanying the process
of integration of our psycho-physical energies. It's sometimes referred to as
tension release. As the body releases its tensions we experience 'goose pimples',
hairs standing on end, shocks of rapture and then intense waves of rapture.
Bliss is more subtle than rapture and occurs as the enervation's of rapture
calm down. In it's own quite way it is even more intense.
From the second dhyana on there is no more thought. In the second there is rapture,
bliss and one-pointedness present. In the third there is bliss and one-pointedness.
In the fourth there is only one-pointedness but because this complete concentration
is suffused with bliss it becomes known as equanimity. So the dhyana factors
are both 'cool' in the sense of increased concentration as in one-pointedness,
initial and applied thought and 'warm' in the sense of positive emotion-rapture,
bliss and equanimity.
An introduction to traditional Buddhist meditation class has started this week
at the Buddhist centre (23 Bridge Street) on Tuesday evening 7-9pm and Thursday
morning 10-12am.
A Good Meditation 24/9/99:
If we experience the dhyanas or higher states of consciousness whilst meditating
then obviously this is a good or successful meditation. We become aware that
our normal, 'taken for granted' level of consciousness is not the full story.
That our normal, ego-centric experience is not the definitive one. In other
words, we become aware that there is something to us way beyond the usual experience
of self. The possibility of self-transcendence arises.
However, more often than not, we do not experience the dhyanas; we do not become
absorbed in the object of concentration as we meditate. We do not experience
the higher states of consciousness. This is because certain unskilful mental
states arise that prevent or 'hinder' us from becoming absorbed or concentrated.
Traditionally they are known in Buddhism as the 'five hindrances'.
Before we describe them the main point to be made in this article is that if
we spend the whole of our meditation sit wrestling with these hindrances, applying
the traditional antidotes, this is also considered a good or successful meditation.
In this way, Buddhist meditation-the mind working directly on the mind-is quite
different from other forms of meditation. If we become absorbed, concentrated
and experience the dhyanas that's good. If we don't and spend the whole time
working with the hindrances that's also good.
The five hindrances are craving for sense pleasure, ill will, restlessness and
anxiety, sloth and torpor and indecision and doubt. In a way they are an elaboration
of the three poisons-craving, ill will and delusion (or confusion). Inevitably
as we become more aware of what is going on in our conscious and unconscious
minds (horizontal and vertical integration) we will experience these hindrances.
They are there in us inherited from our past actions and habit tendencies and
they underpin the mental states that distract us from becoming concentrated.
We are the hindrances and will have to deal with them through meditation if
we are to progress.
Next week we investigate the traditional antidotes to apply to the five hindrances.
The Five Mental Hindrances (1/10/99):
The last couple of weeks we've been talking about the higher states of consciousness
known as the dhyanas accessible through meditation. The first level of meditative
absorption (dhyana) is characterised by the absence of negative emotions. We're
going to elaborate on the nature of the five mental hindrances shortly. Unless
the mind is clear not only of the five mental hindrances but also of fear, anger,
jealousy, anxiety, guilt, remorse, at least for the time being, there is no
entry into the higher states of consciousness. They have to be eradicated or
suspended to achieve them. That is why the path of ethics described over preceding
weeks is the necessary prerequisite for effective meditation.
The first of the five hindrances is desire for sense experience (kamma chandra).
Our minds instead of concentrating on the meditation object (say the breath)
keep getting drawn to sense objects through any of the six senses such as, sounds,
smells or colours. But it also includes images and attractive thoughts, which
are objects of what in Buddhism is known as the sixth sense, the mental sense.
The traditional image of this hindrance is again water obscured by coloured
balls.
The second hindrance is ill will (vyapada). This is actually the reverse side
of desire for pleasant experiences because it wills or desires ill for something.
Our minds this time get caught up in some painful experience. They are drawn
towards some irritating event or person and we can't stop thinking about it
or resenting it. Perhaps there is some external sound or smell that is irritating
us. It's practically impossible to get away from sound when one meditates so
it's a common experience to find one's mind reacting irritably to sounds. The
traditional image is of water boiling and hissing. In these two hindrances we
are strongly caught up in the object; this is less the case in the next three.
Over the next couple of weeks we'll outline the next three hindrances, investigate
the traditional antidotes to apply to the five hindrances and how the hindrances
are there outside of meditation as well.
The Hindrances Continued (8/10/99):
As we saw last week the first two hindrances to becoming absorbed or concentrated
in meditation are desire for sense experience (kamma chandra) and ill will (vyapada).
The third hindrance is restlessness (uddhacca) and anxiety (kukucca). Restlessness
is physical restlessness and turbulence; anxiety is more mental-usually some
form of irrational, discursive thought. Together they make us too 'speedy' and
obviously distract us from being able to concentrate.
The traditional image is water chopped up into waves by the wind.
The fourth hindrance is sloth and torpor, the two aspects being physical sloth
(thina) and mental torpor (middha). The body feels heavy and the mind vacuous.
The combined result is drowsiness and before we know it we've tipped forward
off our meditation cushions as we briefly fall asleep. When sloth and torpor
gets a grip on us it feels almost impossible to shake off. The traditional image
is stagnant water choked with mud and reeds. Again both these hindrances are
two sides of the same coin and we can oscillate between them.
The final one is doubt (vicikicchai) and indecision. We start to doubt ourselves,
the meditation practice, and whether we really can get anywhere in terms of
our spiritual growth. As a result we have very little conviction or commitment
to meditate. We sit there caught up in a crisis of doubt and lack of involvement
in the practice. This image is turbid water, water with a great deal of sediment
in suspension.
So these negative mental factors prevent us from becoming concentrated in our
meditation session. They will inevitably arise for all who meditate because
they are originate in mental tendencies, impulses and predispositions that have
become habitual because they were built up over long periods of time. However,
there are in Buddhism traditional antidotes to the five hindrances, but before
we can apply them we have to recognise or acknowledge that we are caught up
in a hindrance. This is a crucial step and failure to do it means the antidotes
cannot be applied.
The Antidotes to the Hindrances (15/10/99):
The first step in working on the hindrances is to acknowledge that the hindrance
is actually there. It's no good carrying on meditating regardless, trying to
ignore it or wish it away. In meditation you need to acknowledge each new mental
state as it arises-that's what self-awareness is. So in terms of the hindrances
this means to recognise which of the five mental hindrances (discussed over
the last two weeks) it is.
Is it desire for sense experience, ill will, restlessness and anxiety, sloth
and torpor, or doubt and indecision that is preventing you from deepening your
concentration? To be able to recognise which hindrance is present in your mind
takes time and practice. Meditation like any other skill requires practice and
the more you do it the better you become at it. You will become not only more
adept at concentrating but more aware of the nature of the mental events arising
in your mind and whether they are skilful or unskilful.
It is after all a process of gaining self-knowledge by looking within. But for
most of us this type of activity is unfamiliar, we are chartering unfamiliar
waters, and so inevitably it involves a learning curve. It's a bit like the
situation alluded to in the old western mottoes of 'Know thyself' and 'Physician
heal thyself'.
The traditional Buddhist antidotes that are used to work with the hindrances,
after the all-important step of recognition (self-awareness), are fourfold.
They are 1) to consider the consequences of remaining in that state, 2) cultivating
the opposite, 3) developing a sky-like attitude and 4) suppression. We'll elaborate
on them next week.
A combined 'drop in' introductory Buddhist meditation class and brief introductory
talk on Buddhism will be held at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre on Saturday the
23rd of October. The meditation will be between 11am and 12am and the talk between
12 and 1pm.
The Antidotes to the Hindrances (22/10/99):
After acknowledging the existence of the hindrance, that it is actually present,
interfering with our meditative concentration, we can apply the traditional
antidotes. The first of these is to consider the consequences of allowing the
hindrance to continue unchecked. What if we simply do nothing and allow the
tendency to distraction, to hatred or to doubt to remain? Clearly, it would
increase and our character would become progressively dominated by that trait.
If we reflect on this, the importance of what we're trying to do will become
clearer and we'll be more inclined to ignore the hindrance and turn our minds
back to what we're concentrating on.
The second antidote is to cultivate the opposite quality. If there is anger
cultivate loving-kindness (metta). If there is doubt cultivate confidence. If
there is sloth cultivate energy. If there is restlessness, cultivate contentment
and peace. If the mind is too tense relax it; if it's too loose sharpen it.
So we try and cultivate the opposite quality to the negative mental state that's
interfering with our concentration to overcome or neutralise it.
The third is to cultivate a sky-like attitude. Sometimes the more we resist
a hindrance the stronger it gets. If the previous two methods don't work, we
try the 'sky-like' attitude. We accept that the hindrance has 'got in' and we
simply observe it like a cloud in a vast blue sky. In this way we give it some
space and allow it to play itself out. By watching it and not getting involved
we allow the fantasies, worries, the images to arise and dissolve. Gradually
they lose their power and disperse.
Finally there is suppression. We simply push the hindrance out of our minds
or 'leap frog' over it back to our concentration.. This is different from repression,
which is unconsciously pushing something down into our unconscious. This antidote
is a last resort. We are convinced of the pointlessness of playing host to the
hindrance and we simply say 'no' and push it aside. It's best used with weak
hindrances. With stronger ones, even if we suppress them, we eventually have
to come back and deal with them.
Effort and Mindfulness (29/10/99):
The stage of meditation in the Threefold path subsumes the stages of Perfect
Effort, Perfect Mindfulness and Perfect Meditation in the Eightfold path. Over
the last few weeks we've been looking at meditation and this would not be complete
if we didn't refer to effort and mindfulness.
Of course, any attempt at growth requires effort-unremitting effort. We may
fail again and again, but that doesn't matter so much. The important thing is
that we make the effort, we try. Each time we fail we just have to pick ourselves
up and try again. Apparently there is a n old Sufi poem that goes something
like this: Come, come, no matter how many times you've broken the precepts,
come, come.
Often when we fail we tend to wallow in irrational guilt and shame. The danger
with this is that we end up reinforcing a fixed view of ourselves that will
prevent us from trying to grow. Then the gravitational pull of inertia comes
in and pulls us down. If we don't continue to make the effort, despite having
failed, no growth is possible. We have to realise that thinking we are a failure
and dwelling on a negative view of ourselves is just as fixed and conceited
as thinking that we're great and having an over-inflated view of ourselves.
There is potentially a much larger self we can experience, however, we never
will if we stick to these lesser fixed views of our self. We have to get beyond
them.
It is difficult work. But it's a bit like the speck of dust in an oyster that
becomes a pearl. In the same way these irritating (dukkha) aspects of life can
provide the stimulus for personal evolution. In many ways it's the same thing
as working with the hindrances-each time we become distracted we have to work
with the hindrance and then return our attention to the object of concentration.
That requires effort.
Right Effort (5/11/99):
At the moment we are talking about Right or Complete Effort. This is the sixth
stage of the Eightfold Path and part of the Meditation section of the Threefold
Path. Traditionally in Buddhism the formula for Complete or Perfect Effort consists
of the following four dimensions. 1) The prevention of the arising of unskilful
mental states that have not yet arisen. 2) The eradication of unskilful mental
states that have already arisen. 3) The development of skilful mental states
that have not yet arisen. 4) The maintenance of skilful mental states already
arisen.
These days sometimes the first and second steps are reversed because more often
than not we find ourselves already in unskilful mental states. Just to remind
you unskilful mental states are those motivated by greed, anger and confusion
(the three poisons). Skilful ones are based on generosity, loving kindness and
mental clarity.
Traditionally the first effort is carried out by 'guarding the gates of the
senses'. Through mindful self-awareness we attempt to maintain awareness of
what is coming in through our six senses (in Buddhism the mind is considered
to be the sixth sense and mental factors the objects of this sense). It's often
likened to the historical role of a sentry at the city gates observing what
is coming in. The main thing is to be aware of how our minds are reacting to
these sensory stimuli and whether they are unskilful reactions or skilful, creative
responses.
We achieve the second effort of eradicating unskilful states that have arisen
by applying the antidotes to the hindrances discussed over the last couple of
weeks. The best way to perform the third effort of developing skilful mental
states is considered to be by meditating. The fourth effort of maintaining these
is achieved through perseverance. That is, to use a fashionable word, by sustaining
a regular practice.
Mindfulness (11/12/99):
I think the Threefold Path is an excellent formula for the practice of Buddhism
in contemporary society. It consists of the practice of Ethics and Meditation
with a view to gaining Insight into the nature of Reality. Mindfulness is the
next aspect of the Meditation part of the Threefold Path. It is a very important
part of this path, in my opinion, and yet it can be neglected by practising
Buddhists.
The Buddha is on record as saying that if you can maintain Mindfulness uninterrupted
for seven days you will achieve nirvana (the extinguishing of craving-the goal
of the Buddhist path) here and now, or at least the point of non-return (from
which you cannot slip back and so are guaranteed to gain Enlightenment). A pretty
potent recommendation for practising mindfulness.
In formal, sitting meditation you're deepening your knowledge of yourself and
developing more integration and tranquillity. This is known as samatha. With
mindfulness you then spread this samatha (tranquillity, calmness and integration)
into your daily activities and encounters with the environment (human and non-human).
So it's like broadening the vertical work of meditation into a more horizontal
spreading out of peacefulness and sensitivity into the world. You're creating
a 'ripple-like' effect.
However, too often people who meditate tend to 'clock-off' after the formal
sit. They become just as un-mindful as other people do. Being unmindful could
be described as being forgetful, distracted, having only weak powers of concentration
and no sense of continuity of purpose in what you're doing. The word for mindfulness
in Pali is sati and as well as having the connotation of 'awareness', it also
means 'recollection' and 'memory'.
So to be mindful means to be in a state recollection as opposed to forgetful.
You remember who you are and what you're doing and why you're doing it! Furthermore,
it's a state of undistractedness, concentration and steadfastness of purpose.
One could say that it is also a state of more true individuality because these
elements of mindfulness when present allow one to take responsibility for their
lives and thus to grow as an individual. When being unmindful we are merely
a bundle of conflicting selves reacting to the world.
An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy course of six weeks starts at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre, this Thursday morning (18/11/99) at 10am in lieu of the SQIT
course, which was cancelled this term.
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness (19/11/99):
In traditional mindfulness practice we start with the self. We bring the self
to the self. So often these days, because of the pressure of work, stress and
stimulus overload, people get so 'speedy' that they by-pass themselves. The
traditional practice of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (sati) is a way
of bringing us back into contact with ourselves.
Let's take an every day example. We come home from work, or looking after the
kids, and we feel at one and the same time completely exhausted and yet 'het
up'. I'm sure we've all experienced this condition. People in this condition
often head straight for the pub after work to relax and wind down. Studies have
shown that, because they're not really in touch with themselves, they tend to
throw back the drinks, their blood sugar levels rise and as a result, after
awhile, they feel energetic, even 'high'. They feel that now they've wound down
and relaxed. Actually it's just the raised blood sugar levels and the studies
conclude that this type of situation could lead to problem drinking.
Let's say that instead we come home and 'do' the four foundations. We sit down
or lie down and start with being mindful of the body. We deliberately become
aware of our body, its position and movement. We scan through it with our awareness
and relax any tension we discover, perhaps starting with the forehead, eyes,
mouth, jaw and gradually work our way through the whole body. By doing this
we're getting out of our heads and our fast moving thoughts and emotions and
contacting the slowest moving part of ourselves, the body. In this way we 'ground'
ourselves back in ourselves.
The second foundation is to then become aware of physiological sensations or
feelings and whether they are painful, pleasant or neutral and whether they're
strong or weak. The third is to spend a few minutes becoming aware of our emotional
tone by directly experiencing it (not analysing it). Are we happy, unhappy,
tired, anxious, frenetic and so on? So now we've shifted our awareness to the
faster moving parts of ourselves. Finally we become aware of our thoughts and
what is going on in our thinking mind.
To go back to our example, by doing this, by bringing ourselves to ourselves,
we usually discover that under the speedy, het up feeling we're actually exhausted.
We may even start to feel sleepy and actually have a rest or nap. If, after
doing this, we still feel inclined to go to the pub for a drink (in moderation),
we find that we don't feel the need to throw them back. Instead we have a few
in a steady, mindful way and avoid the problem drinking.
Mindfulness in Everyday Living (26/11/99):
Generally speaking our actions are impulsive. Desires are immediately translated
into deeds, without a thought being given to the consequences or whether they're
skilful or not. When we act with mindfulness, however, we analyse our motives
before allowing them to determine conduct. What follows from this are not only
the abstention from unskilful courses of action but also the acquisition of
an undisturbed and tranquil state of mind.
If we undertake even the most commonplace activities of life in a clearly conscious
manner, we introduce space or a pause between our thoughts or intentions and
the execution of the deed. Within this interval our unwholesome impulses expend
their force. With the practice of mindfulness the tempo of our day to day existence
slows down. Behaviour becomes smoother, slower, more sensitive and more deliberate.
These days people are under too much pressure and rush too much. One of the
secrets of longevity is not to rush through life but to slow down and keep the
mind peaceful. One result of mindfulness is bodily composure and gracefulness.
This in return conduces to an ever-deeper quietness of spirit.
Through the practice of mindfulness and self-possession the most trivial occasions
of life
become part of a spiritual practice. Eating, drinking, dressing, the processes
of excretion and urination even, are transformed from hindrances into aids to
concentration, from interruptions to the spiritual life to its continuation
in another form. The distinction between things sacred and profane becomes obliterated.
When one is behaving ethically and clear consciousness is established in all
activities, then not a minute is wasted from dawn till dusk. From morning till
night the current of spiritual development continues uninterrupted. Even in
sleep, if the practice is intense enough, the clear consciousness still shines
even as the moon does in the darkness of night.
Ways of Practising Mindfulness (3/12/99):
We can extend the practice of mindfulness into the daily arena of living in
many ways. The Buddha, for example, spoke of practising mindfulness and self-possession
whilst advancing or withdrawing; in looking forward or around; in bending and
stretching the limbs; in dressing and wearing clothes; in eating, drinking,
masticating, and tasting; in answering the calls of nature; in walking, standing
and sitting; in sleeping and waking; and, in speaking and keeping silence. One
could also add in dealing with objects.
In this way even the most mundane activities can become delightful routines
of incredible precision. These days their exists a modern terminology that talks
of body ballets, time-space routines, place choreographys and place ballets.
Body ballets are sets of gestures and movements which sustain a particular task,
such as, washing up, dressing, sweeping the floor, ploughing, house building
and gardening. Time-space routines are habitual bodily behaviours in time and
space like bathing, sewing and cooking. Place ballets extend time-space routines
and body ballets into all types of environments - indoors, outdoors, streets,
neighbourhoods, market places, cafes and transport depots. Most of the time
these activities are carried out in a mechanical and distracted fashion, yet
in all them there are opportunities for practice.
Another model speaks of four levels of awareness. 1) Awareness of ourselves
using the four foundations of mindfulness to bring ourselves into contact with
ourselves. That is awareness of the body and its movements, of sensations or
feelings, of our emotional state, and of our thoughts. Then we can extend the
mindfulness to 2) awareness of Things or the Environment. Then there is 3) awareness
of Others. Finally, there is 4) awareness of Reality. We'll talk more about
these four levels next week.
A 'drop in' meditation class consisting of a led practice of the Metta Bhavana
practice which is about generating loving-kindness (metta) for oneself and others
will be held at the TBC on Saturday the 11th of December at 11am.
Awareness of the Self (13/12/99):
As one's practice of the Buddha Dharma deepens one attempts to maintain a degree
of self-awareness and self-possession all the time. Traditionally it's spoken
of in terms of awareness of the body and its movements, of sensations or feelings,
of our emotional state, and of our thoughts. So a practising Buddhist is continuously
monitoring their psycho-physical states. This is the only way we can transform
our mental, verbal and bodily actions from mere, unskilful reactions to circumstances
to creative responses. This is the only way we can break out of the reactive
pattern of conditionality that drives us round and round in circles-what Buddhists
refer to as the 'Wheel of Life'.
To maintain self-awareness like this may sound a tall order. However, the more
you practise it the easier it becomes; as with any skill in life it takes practice.
Buddhism is an applied practice; it's a voluntarily undertaken, personal training
or education program. One reason why we recommend 'Mindfulness of Breathing'
as a foundation meditation practice is simply because it helps you to become
more mindful, to be able to focus your mind and concentrate. Something people
are finding increasingly difficult to do these days. One of the main objectives
of starting a daily meditation practice is to simply develop more concentration
and mindfulness!
So we try and be aware of ourselves all the time. But not in an alienated way!
Not by stepping outside of ourselves and watching ourselves from the outside.
The danger of this is that we do not experience ourselves-this is alienation.
To be mindful means to fill what we are observing or what we are doing with
our mind.
Some people set the alarm on their watch to go off hourly to remind them to
be mindful. Some times it's a good idea to do the practice of mindfulness more
systematically. For example, just choosing to be mindful of the body and its
postures for a day. This can actually be done as a formal meditation practice
known as Mindfulness of Walking. Or you might decide on one particular day (or
week) to concentrate on awareness of your emotional states, or speech or thoughts.
In other circumstances it might be more appropriate to maintain a more panoramic
form of mindfulness.
2000
Domains of Mindfulness (14/2/00):
I've been away for the whole of January hence the non-appearance of this column
for that month. For a large part of that time I was on a long retreat in New
Zealand. It was an intensive study retreat (although there was lots of meditation
too) and provided me with a wonderful opportunity for spiritual nourishment
and the chance to deepen spiritual friendships.
The theme of the retreat was the 'Transcendental Principle'-in many ways the
goal of Buddhism. No doubt we'll touch on this issue in ensuing weeks. But for
the time being we need to finish off our treatment of mindfulness.
Another four fold model of mindfulness consists of 1) awareness of oneself,
through the four foundations of mindfulness-posture, sensations, emotions and
thoughts. Then extending this awareness to 2) awareness of people, 3) awareness
of things or the environment, and finally 4) awareness of Reality.
In this way the increased concentration and sensitivity developed in formal
sitting meditation practice is extended out into the world and informs one's
relationships with people and the environment. A practising Buddhist does not
'clock off (or ought not to) at the end of the period of sitting practice. Instead
the awareness is carried over into these relationships making them more sensitive
and ethical. Indeed it's possible to relate to one's immediate environment,
defined as what one is conscious of from moment to moment, in this fashion.
One could describe this as the bottom line of an individual's environmental
responsibility. Because if everyone was doing this, that is relating sensitively,
mindfully and ethically with other people and the environment, we wouldn't have
social and environmental problems!
An Practical Buddhism course starts at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre, next Tuesday
(22/2/00 from 7pm-9pm) in lieu of the cancellation of the SQIT course 'The Buddhist
Way of Personal Growth'.
The Path of Wisdom (18/2/00):
To continue our treatment of the Threefold Path in Buddhism (Ethics, Meditation,
Wisdom) we now turn to the Wisdom or Insight stage. Over the last few months
we've investigated Ethics and Meditation. We saw how the practice of ethics
sets up the right conditions for successful meditation. Meditation in turn sets
up the right conditions for Insight or Wisdom. Complete Wisdom in Buddhism is
of course expressed as Enlightenment or Nirvana and involves what is often referred
to as Transcendental Knowledge.
Prior to Enlightenment more partial Insights can occur building up to the bigger
picture. Insight is an experience, and it yields experiential knowledge, not
mere intellectual knowledge; it's known in the heart and as such is ineffable.
The knowledge it brings cannot be denoted or captured through concepts or the
words of any language. So in that sense the experience is impossible to describe
or capture in words.
The Buddha did use language to indicate the nature of the experience. Also Buddhism
itself has developed elaborate philosophies over its history that attempt to
articulate the knowledge of Enlightenment. However, the approach is to gain
the experiential knowledge first and then attempt to articulate it, albeit in
a necessarily limited way at the conceptual level. One can't gain enlightenment
by reasoning or intellectualising about it alone. This is one of the major differences
between Western and Eastern philosophy, with the former believing it's possible
to completely comprehend Reality through reasoning and the latter considering
it impossible.
According to Buddhism one has to rise to a higher level of consciousness through
meditation and use intuition to directly encounter Reality and know it. Thus
meditation is the necessary step to see Reality (hence 'in' 'sight' - intuitive
seeing). In fact Insight and even Enlightenment itself is most simply described
in the tradition as 'seeing things as they are! We will elaborate on this theme
next week.
Due to popular demand there is a possibility that an Practical Buddhism daytime
course will start as well at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre, next Thursday (24/2/00
) in lieu of the cancellation of the SQIT course 'The Buddhist Way of Personal
Growth'.
Seeing Things As They Are (25/2/00):
Traditionally Insight and Enlightenment have been described simply as seeing
things as they are! The implication being that we don't perceive things as they
are. As the result of a mixture of physiological and socialisation factors we
'construct' the world we perceive from an early age. For example, at the physiological
level, we have two eyes at the front of our heads and so binocular vision is
'hard-wired' into us and as a result we can see three dimensionally. Through
socialisation we are taught to label and thus separate things with names like
'me', 'you', 'table', 'chair', and so on.
The end result is that we perceive a world of seemingly separate phenomena spread
out in space. We perceive ourselves as one object separate and apart from all
the others. Furthermore we 'essentialise' things - we attribute permanent essences
or a sense of solidity to the perceived phenomena. Finally, subjectively, we
prefer certain things to others. Some give rise to pleasant sensations when
we perceive them, others unpleasant repulsion, and others still neutral feelings.
Now in reality nothing is, as it seems. As modern ecology demonstrates, nothing
exists independently of anything else. We cannot be separated from the air we
breathe the water we drink or the food we eat. If we are for too long we actually
go out of existence. We can't be separated even from other people. We depend
on them for psychological support and guidance. Our education, our personalities
and our self-image are all derived from our interactions with other people.
Modern physics also demonstrates that far from being a world of solid objects
it's all just a constant, dynamic, interactive flux of energy and matter.
The views of modern physics and ecology are congruent with those of ancient
Buddhism. According to the latter, nothing is permanent and nothing is separate
from anything else. All there is in Reality is impermanence and interrelationship.
Moreover, nothing is actually better (in the subjective sense) than anything
else, just different. But we try and live in the other world that we have constructed
thinking we are separate and independent like other objects and pursuing the
ones we like and trying to avoid the ones we don't and hoping for permanence
in all our activities. As a consequence, because we have mis-matched Reality
and the perceived world, according to Buddhism, we suffer - that's Reality.
More next week.
The Three Characteristics of Conditioned Existence (3/3/00):
The real world of phenomenon, of which we are a part, is a conditioned world
according to Buddhism. As we saw last week, modern ecology agrees in demonstrating
that nothing exists independently of a set of conditions (eg., nutrients, air
and water). These conditions ultimately link everything in the natural world
together. According to the Teaching (Dharma) of the Buddha this conditioned
existence has three characteristics (laksana): unsatisfactoriness (dukkha),
impermanence (anicca) and insubstantiality (anatta).
Let's deal with them in reverse order because the second and third explain the
first. Insubstantiality follows on from what we've just been saying. It means
that in so far as no thing (nothing) or phenomenon can exist independently of
anything else it has no separate, unchanging, inherent quality. Nothing is discrete
in the sense of having an independently existing, self-subsistent, inner essence.
Everything (including us) arises in dependence on a network of interconnected
conditions. When these conditions cease the phenomenon ceases. It is all a process
in space, if you like.
Impermanence is like the process of conditionality in time. Things/phenomena
arise in dependence on conditions, exist for awhile, and then cease when the
supporting conditions cease. Nothing lasts forever independent of this process
of conditionality through time. According to the Buddha, human beings are no
different; they do not have a permanent, everlasting 'soul' at the core of their
being. They are simply an impermanent and insubstantial flux of mental and physical
conditions arising and ceasing. Self-conscious awareness of these processes
(which is also a process) deludes us into thinking we have some permanent essence
at the centre of our being.
As we saw last week, we try and secure the self we are conscious of by clinging
onto what we perceive as the pleasant and repelling the unpleasant. And we don't
want to die; we'd rather last forever (or at least a bit longer). But because
of impermanence everything pleasant we cling to doesn't last, and we can't forever
avoid what we perceive as unpleasant or threatening. Also there is ultimately
nothing solid or substantial that we can cling onto. And so we suffer, which
is the third characteristic of conditioned existence. Conditioned existence,
by its very nature (impermanent and insubstantial), can't provide lasting happiness,
and so is inherently unsatisfactory in that sense. But that doesn't mean, according
to Buddhism, that there is nothing, just annihilation at the end of life. More
next week.
The Gaining of Insight(10/3/00):
As we have seen the purpose of meditation is to learn to concentrate so that
we can see things as they are. The world we perceive as reality is an illusion
because we see it as consisting of separate fragments, whereas (in Reality)
it is all interconnected. Furthermore, there is a subjective distortion overlaid
on this perception, which is our seeing of the world as divided into pleasant
things and unpleasant things. Another person may see what you perceive as pleasant
or unpleasant as entirely different; it is subjective in that sense.
In meditation we go beyond our normal ego-centric form of consciousness by becoming
absorbed in the object of meditation. In going beyond the normal self-centred,
subjective way of perceiving things we have the opportunity to see things more
as they are. In this way Insight may be gained. We can see that conditioned
existence has three characteristics (laksana) mentioned last week: unsatisfactoriness
(dukkha), impermanence (anicca) and insubstantiality (anatta).
We see through our clear perception that all conditioned or worldly things by
their very nature cannot give permanent and lasting satisfaction. For that we've
got to look elsewhere! We also see that all worldly things are impermanent;
we can't possess any of them forever. Also all conditioned things are insubstantial,
only having relative existence. They have no absolute, independent existence.
Now contemplation of these three characteristics can give Insight into Nirvana,
the Unconditioned. Thus they're also known as the three gateways or entrances
to liberation (vimoksa-mukha).
Penetrating unsatisfactoriness one gains knowledge that is Unbiased (apranihita)
or objective if you like. Things are not perceived on the subjective bases of
greed and aversion, but simply as they are. Fathoming impermanence and emerging
as it were on the other side one gains knowledge of the Unconditioned as Imageless
or Signless (animitta). This means that nothing can be frozen and delineated
by words, labels or concepts. Plumbing insubstantiality leads to knowledge of
the Emptiness or Voidness (sunyata) of all things. Though the three characteristics
are ultimately inseparable, one can begin by concentrating on any one of them.
Nirvana - The Unconditioned (17/3/00):
The conditioned world is known in Buddhism as Samsara. As we have seen it has
the characteristics of unsatisfactoriness, impermanence and insubstantiality.
As conditioned beings ourselves we can never find lasting happiness as we try
and inflict our subjective view of the world on this shifting mass of conditions
in an attempt to secure ourselves. The goal of Buddhism is, however, to achieve
lasting happiness and this is to be found in Nirvana.
Samsara is, according to the technical terminology of the Dharma, 'put together'
or 'compounded'; which are expressions of the fact that ordinary existence is
the result of conditions. With the cessation of these conditions the phenomena
they support cease. So things come into existence or have a birth, live, and
then cease or die. The Wheel of Life, which we travel around in dependence on
these conditions, is often depicted in Buddhism as being in the jaws of the
Lord of Death. This is because it involves a never-ending cycle of birth, life
and death.
Nirvana is therefore described variously as the 'not put together', 'uncompounded',
unconditioned and 'the deathless'! But Nirvana or Enlightenment is not something
completely or absolutely separate or distinct from Samasara. In fact it is stated
in the teaching that Nirvana is in Samsara and Samsara in Nirvana! Buddhism
is not about, as mistakenly assumed in many circles, some sort of search for
and re-acquaintance with an absolute, Universal Consciousness. That is far too
abstract and vague.
It is about finding the Unconditioned right in the midst of the conditioned.
It doesn't exist anywhere else. In the words of the Heart Sutra Form is no other
than Emptiness, Emptiness no other than Form; Form is only Emptiness, Emptiness
only Form. Just as, according to Chinese Buddhism, one can only delineate fingers
as solid forms because of the spaces between them and the spaces as such because
of the co-exiting forms of the fingers; one can't have the conditioned without
the Unconditioned. So Nirvana in Buddhism is no further away than within your
own, everyday, conditioned mind.
Human Enlightenment (24/3/00):
With this article we finish our coverage of the Buddhist Threefold Path-Ethics,
Meditation and Wisdom (new directions in buddhism next week). To finish off
the Wisdom section it seems appropriate to say a few words about Enlightenment.
Notice that I have used the expression 'Human Enlightenment' in the title. Humans
need ideals from which to gain inspiration. The ideal person for a Buddhist
is an Enlightened Buddha. But we can relate to the Buddha because he was born
human and became enlightened by his own efforts.
Enlightenment is described in terms of firstly, pure, clear, radiant, awareness
- knowledge of Reality which transcends sense-based awareness - it is continuous,
non-dualistic and free of confusion. Secondly, it consists of an intense, profound,
overflowing feeling of love and compassion for all living things. Thirdly, it's
an experience of inexhaustible mental and spiritual energy.
These qualities of awareness, love and energy are considered to be germinal
in all of us. Thus Enlightenment is considered to be a natural, ideal, human
state. It's what we're all striving for to complete ourselves. In the Mahayana
traditions of Buddhism it's spoken of as the Buddha-Nature within all of us,
which is simply obscured by our subjective desires and delusions. It is like
the sun or moon obscured by clouds. We need to clear the clouds away or pierce
through them to discover our true nature.
The principle tool to achieve this in Buddhism is meditation. By learning to
concentrate and break down the dualism of self and other, and to penetrate through
our subjective, desire-based distortions of how the world is, we can reveal
this inner nature. For most of us, so externally oriented, this inner journey
is one into unfamiliar territory. That's why we often avoid it. An Introduction
to Traditional Buddhist Meditation course will be starting at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre the first week of April.
A Buddhist Easter Message (10/4/00):
Easter dates back to pre-Christian, European pagan associations. This time of
the year in Europe is spring, so Easter was a sort of 'spring festival' symbolizing
a new 'life', a quickening after the 'death' of winter. This type of spring
festival occurs in many different cultures (eg. China). Also early Christianity
was not so much a religion of dogma as one of the celebration of 'mysteries'
(the Eastern Orthodox traditions still speak of these mysteries). The mystery
celebrated is of course Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. From a Buddhist
point of view, whilst accepting that the crucifixion may have occurred, the
resurrection and ascension (physically into heaven) of the Son of God are considered
to be myth.
The primary significance of such a myth (again found in many different cultures,
including the intiation rites of Australian aborigines) is the notion of spiritual
rebirth after a spiritual death. In the Zen tradition of Buddhism it's spoken
of in terms of dying the great death before one can gain Enlightenment and experience
the 'mystery' of Nirvana. In fact the word 'resurrection' means re-birth. The
word 'Easter' in the English language is traceable back to the Anglo-Saxon word
oestre, the name of a pre-Christian British goddess of fertility (as in estrogen).
The Easter 'egg' is also a universal symbol of fertility. The unbroken egg symbolizes
new, renascent life and again is found in most religions.
The Buddha spoke of the Bodhisattva emerging from the eggshell of ignorance.
The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order in Britain often used the egg as an
image in its advertising accompanied with the admonition to 'break out'. So
there's no harm in celebrating Easter from a Buddhist viewpoint as a triumphant
emerging of a new mode of awareness, or of Being, from the old!
Buddhist Easter Eggs! (14/4/00):
Last week we talked of the universal spiritual symbolism of the egg. The unbroken
egg is a universal symbol of a new life found in practically all religious traditions.
For example, in Etruscan tomb paintings dating back to 1000 BC the dead are
often depicted on the walls of tombs reclining in couches holding an egg in
their outstretched hands, a symbol of their belief that death wasn't the end,
but would be followed by a new life.
Last week we established that notions of spiritual death and re-birth are a
very common form of myth in many different religions and cultures. And often
such myths are celebrated in association with spring festivals after the death
of winter. The timing of Easter in our Southern hemisphere calendar coincides
with spring in the Northern hemisphere. From a Buddhist point of view, the Christian
celebration of the mystery of Christ's death and resurrection are mythical rather
than literal. The symbolism of the myth is one of simply breaking out of the
old and being re-born in the new. In other words it's a symbol of spiritual
growth.
In Buddhism we encourage people to break out of a sort of karmic egg! The eggshell
symbolises the well-worn habits we have built up over our lifetime that act
to define us and confine us. It represents a ceiling, or a set of limitations
we have placed on ourselves. And there we stay, inside, perhaps pretending to
be asleep. The Tibetans say it's harder to wake someone up who's pretending
to be asleep than someone who really is asleep!
One thing a regular practice of ethics and meditation does is bring us to a
fuller awareness of the unskilful patterns in our life that prevent our growth.
Ultimately meditation itself is a type of spiritual death because it takes us
beyond our normal experience of ourselves. It helps us to take the risk of breaking
out of the eggshell and moving beyond our self-imposed limitations. Easter is
a fitting time of the year to reflect on this process of spiritual renewal.
Consumerism and Greed (21/4/00):
The tendency for greed in human beings is, from a Buddhist point of view, deeply
rooted. We have established in many previous articles that an unfortunate by-product
of our distinctly human trait of self-consciousness is a sense of aloneness.
In a very deep sense this comes from the experience of separation from everything
and everyone else that accompanies consciousness of being a distinct self. In
an attempt to overcome our basic feeling of insecurity we crave the things we
perceive to be attractive and pleasurable. We try to incorporate these things
into the world of our ego-identity to secure it. This tendency is hard-wired
into all of us as human beings. This constant under-current of desire and craving
leads to attachment and defines in many ways what we become.
Ultimately from a Buddhist point of view, these desires and cravings can not
lead to a lasting sense of satisfaction and so they're referred to as unskilful.
They are destined to founder on the rocks of impermanence-nothing, in the conditioned
world, lasts. Craving just leads down deeper and deeper into a vortex of never-ending
temporary pleasure and frustration. In the famous words of 'The Stones' song,
I can't get no satisfaction. But still we struggle on looking for one more hit,
preoccupied with gaining more and more pleasure to make ourselves feel comfortable.
Unfortunately, the late capitalist societies we live in reinforce this tendency
toward craving for pleasure in the external world. They reinforce this already
deep and unskilful tendency. Consumerism, which is so fundamental to the unfortunate
economic machine we've inherited from the past, is all about stimulating unnecessary
wants as opposed to satisfying necessary needs. The advertising (or persuasion)
industry, using the concepts of Western psychology, plays a powerful role in
stimulating these wants. The Government itself endorses the use of consumerism
as one of the major driving force of the economy. We're made to feel guilty
if we don't spend more and more. There seems to be no limit to what human beings
can want. But there does seem to be a limit to what the environment can assimilate
from our discarded consumerables and the by-products of their manufacture!
The Greedy Society (28/4/00):
Last week we talked of the insidious force of consumerism reinforcing our deep
tendency toward craving and greed. We are all prone to craving from a Buddhist
point of view because we feel insecure and attempt to secure our ego-identity
by feeding it with what we perceive to be pleasant things. Of course these 'things'
include material possessions. It's well known in Western psychology that we
actually identify with a lot of these possessions like cars and clothes; we
adopt roles and respond to fashion trends. At base these all help us to establish
our status and sense of belonging amongst our peers and the wider community.
The advertising industry actually plays upon these human traits and psychological
needs.
Greed is defined in one dictionary I looked at as excessive desire for acquisitions,
power, fame, wealth, etc. It's worth going back to basic definitions like this
because people seem confused about these issues these days. Partly this is due
to the rise of the New Right and economic rationalism in the last few decades,
which has so stressed individualism and competition, as an almost 'noble' pursuit
There's nothing wrong with healthy self-interest and healthy competition, but
there's a lot wrong with them when they become outright selfishness. Not long
ago a Harvard professor of economics coined the phrase greed is good. We live
in times that emphasise selfishness - looking after number one (numero uno).
People have forgotten that in our traditional Christian societies greed was
always considered fundamental to the seven deadly sins (gluttony, envy, covetousness)!
An unfortunate part of our modern, Western, materialistic societies is that
they do emphasise excessive desire for what is often described as 'unnecessary
wants' as opposed to satisfying our basic needs. The central place of consumerism
and materialism in our societies reinforces a trend toward an external, pleasure-seeking
orientation in people and a neglect of the inner world. A sense of inner impoverishment
is a characteristic of modern humans in the so-called 'developed' countries.
Sooner or later external gratification fails to satisfy these inner needs and
people are left with a 'black hole' consuming them from within-angst, unhappiness,
restlessness, confusion, suicide-are rife. According to the Buddha Dharma, it
needn't be like this at all!
Inner Impoverishment (5/5/00):
The emphasis on materialism and consumerism in our modern, Western societies
(and more and more in the rest of the world), to continue the theme of the last
couple of weeks, can encourage inner impoverishment. They promote an irresistible
orientation toward external pleasure-seeking activity as we grasp for more and
more material things, be they possessions or substances. This external focus
is all about sense pleasure, about gaining pleasure through the stimulation
of the five senses.
Take TV for example, one of the most prized of material possessions these days
(and the bigger the better). It stimulates our strongest two senses (vision
and hearing) in a most powerful way. The result is that some people literally
become addicted to it (the well-known 'couch potato' syndrome). At the same
time it is a very powerful advertising agent that stimulates our desires for
more and more material possessions. They dance before our eyes presented in
the most alluring fashion to this strongest of the five senses.
So we tend to live 'out there' in the external world of sense perception, known
traditionally as the kamaloka in Buddhism. This literally means the realm of
sensuous desire, or the territory in which we try to secure ourselves through
the desire for sense pleasure. This becomes so habitual and so familiar, reinforced
continuously by the pressures of our materialistic society, that our 'inner
worlds' or territories become neglected, unfamiliar, and thus impoverished.
There's no one at home there anymore and so it becomes dark, dusty and full
of cobwebs-deserted and neglected.
In fact, because we are so used to the world of sensory stimulation to secure
ourselves, to shut this down and journey inwards is perceived to be (or even
experienced as) uncomfortable. And yet, from a Buddhist viewpoint, whilst external
pleasure-seeking undeniably produces pleasures of one form or another, they
don't last, they don't take us anywhere. Lasting happiness in contrast is an
inner experience. Buddhist practice, especially meditation, is a direct way
of building this and freeing us from outer addiction.
Buddhism and Sustaining the Self (12/5/00):
The word 'sustainable' is very fashionable these days-it basically means to
maintain or to make last. It may seem strange that Buddhism could be interested
in building a sustainable self. People often think of it as being about going
beyond the self, or even destroying the self (in the sense of the ego). But
actually it's very much about building and becoming a healthy, sane self as
well. Yes, Buddhism is in many ways about self-transcendence-but how can you
transcend yourself if you're not a self in the first place?
More to the point, in terms of recent articles, there are a lot of unsustainable
selves around these days. People are confused, uncertain, depressed and suicidal.
Australia along with countries like the UK and USA vie year in and year out
for the highest youth suicide rates in the world. And this is occurring in the
industrialised, late capitalist, so-called, 'more developed' countries. Along
with other symptoms it indicates that all is not well in our societies in their
current form.
To commit suicide is the opposite of sustaining the self! The reasons for it
amongst the young (and old) are of course complex. The issue of inner impoverishment
mentioned in the last couple of articles is undoubtedly one of the factors involved.
We've spoken of how a materialistic, consumerist society encourages an external
form of pleasure-seeking, which in turn leads to a neglect of the inner world.
Sooner or later the pleasure seeking becomes stale and leads nowhere. When it
does people have nothing to fall back on, nothing inside to sustain themselves.
In such an externally orientated society we have lost the skills of how to enter
within ourselves, to communicate within and to engage within. We aren't trained
in developing a positive, fulfilled 'inner' sense of self.
This need not be the case. The Buddhist Teaching (Buddha Dharma), for example,
is very practical about this issue. In many ways Buddhism is a form of training
or education that shows you how to enter within and build a very positive, stable
home capable of withstanding all the fluctuating and insecure currents that
break against us in this (or any other) period of uncertain times. More on this
issue next week.
Buddha Day (19/5/00):
Last Thursday the Toowoomba Buddhist Society (TBS) celebrated Wesak, the major
Buddhist festival of the year. It commemorates the birth, Enlightenment and
death of the Buddha and is usually held on the first full moon day in May (Wesak,
or Visakah, being the name of the month in the Indian calendar). Regarding the
birth of the Buddha the TBS noted that it is a relatively rare event for a Buddha
to be born into a world system considering the enormous time span involved in
the evolution and destruction of these systems, which is counted in aeons (kalpas).
So for us to be born within a mere 2,500 years of one is fortunate indeed.
Note how I said 'one', because traditionally the historical Buddha (usually
referred to as Gautama or Shakyamuni Buddha) is not considered to be the only
one to have been born in the past. It's also considered that there will be Buddhas
arising in future times and worlds. Furthermore, the teaching of Gautama Buddha,
the Dharma, which he discovered through his Enlightenment experience, is considered
akin to a universal law that each Buddha 're-discovers'. Gautama Buddha, in
his own words said: Even so, monks, have I seen an ancient path, an ancient
track traversed by the perfectly Enlightened ones of the past.
The scriptures have described the Buddha's personality as a unique combination
of dignity and affability, wisdom and kindliness, majesty and tenderness. His
serenity was unshakeable, his self-confidence unfailing and he was always mindful
and self-possessed. He faced opposition and hostility, even personal danger,
with the calm and compassionate smile that has lingered down through the centuries.
In debate he was urbane and courteous, but not without a vein of irony. The
Buddhist Centre at 23 Bridge Street is holding an open day, combined with a
garage sale, next Sunday (28th May) from 10am on.
Buddhist Theory and Practice (27/5/00):
Many of us in the West are attracted to the philosophy of Buddhism. We are the
products of a culture that has extolled the intellect in the last couple of
centuries as the principle way of 'knowing'. And yet it is an axiom of Buddhism
that one must go beyond the intellect to fully comprehend the Truth. The philosophy
or teaching is meant to act just like a raft, according to the Buddha. Its sole
purpose is to ferry one across the river, to help one negotiate the currents
of life to get to the safe refuge of the other shore (Nirvana). It's a means
to an end.
Just as it would be foolish to stay in the raft being buffeted by the river
currents, if one is truly seeking safety and peace, so too it's silly to just
play around with the philosophy. To get to safety, to 'see' the Truth, one must
activate a different mode of knowing. Our intellect or reason works by fragmenting,
dividing, delineating, labelling and conceptualising. It cannot see the whole
picture because by its very nature it focuses and fragments and replaces 'things
as they are' with words, thoughts and concepts. These latter are constructs
of the thinking mind that borrow the ideas and mental formulae of the culture
we have been conditioned by to model the reality of the world.
A model is not the reality. To see the reality we have to go beyond the intellectual
mind to the intuitive mind that enters into what it's addressing and knows it
directly from within. Intellectual knowledge is 'second-hand knowledge', intuitive
'first-hand'. This requires practice and it is this practice, this applied work
that all the Buddhist philosophy and teaching is pointing toward as the necessary
prerequisite to gain safety and peace. We are so enamoured with the intellect
that we find it very difficult indeed, even when we have understood the intellectual
message, to go beyond it and put the message into practice. In essence, according
to Buddhism, we need to practice ethics and to meditate. Only the pure in heart
and the concentrated can see things as they are.
A new four-week course on bringing together philosophical theory and practice
in Buddhism is starting next Tuesday night (7-9pm) the 6th June at the Toowoomba
Buddhist centre.
Drugs, Ecstasy & Buddhism (2/6/00):
The word 'ecstasy' is commonly associated these days with a drug of that name.
However, the word itself has much more ancient origins and much more profound
implications than the modern day association. It derives from Latin and Greek
roots (like 'ex' and 'stasis') basically meaning to 'be outside where you stand'
or 'stand outside' your normal state of being. The modern meaning of the word
implies being overwhelmed or uplifted by pleasurable emotion so strong that
you feel you've gone beyond your normal sense of self (in this sense, outside
of it). So its use can still be related back to the original meaning.
Why do people take drugs? Is it because they are seeking this intense pleasure,
seeking ecstasy? Is the attraction so strong that they're willing to turn a
blind eye to the obvious negative effects that will flow on from drug taking?
If so, why is that the case? Doesn't that imply that they're not happy with
their present circumstances, their present state of being? And why is that?
These are the sorts of questions that a Buddhist perspective raises on this
issue. Buddhism is about ending suffering and to do this seriously, completely
and successfully (in other words, to be 'fair dinkum' about it), the deep underlying
origins of the symptoms must be addressed.
Over the next few issues we are going to explore some of these questions. The
first thing Buddhism does not do is 'write people off'. This is because it knows
that no matter how unskilful you have been, if you put the right conditions
in place, you can change-completely! It does not have a fixed view of human
nature. Human nature, like everything else in this conditioned world, is subject
to change. Great anger can be transformed into great love.
Furthermore, Buddhists themselves are actively seeking to go beyond their present
state of being. Defined in this way there is nothing wrong with seeking ecstasy.
One could argue that deep down we all are. However, it all depends where and
how you seek it. To seek it in a chemical, the effects of which quickly wear
off, and which damages (poisons) your body, is not satisfactory from a Buddhist
point of view. We're interested in a more permanent, less damaging form of ecstasy.
More next week.
Addiction and the New Buddhist Centre (9/6/00):
From a Buddhist perspective, all human beings are troubled by a deep insecurity.
This is because we experience ourselves as separate from everything else - an
unfortunate, but inevitable, by-product of human consciousness. Self-consciousness,
that distinctly human trait, gives us all our wonderful creative powers, but
it also makes us feel incomplete. We experience ourselves as ultimately alone,
split-off, fundamentally ill-at-ease and vulnerable.
This underlying existential dilemma is deep, so deep in fact we may be unaware
of it, but it's there nonetheless and it drives us on and on in a quest to find
some sort of ultimate security. External factors may exacerbate and deepen this
insecurity-how we're brought up (for example, our self-esteem), our education,
social forces like pressure from our peers, the speed of change, uncertainty,
unemployment and so on. But in the end the insecurity is inside us and it acts
as a powerful, but largely unconscious, driving force.
We can't escape this force-we're all driven by it, including Buddhists. But,
according to Buddhism, there is a genuine way and a bogus way of satisfying
it! The bogus way is to become attached to, dependent upon, and eventually addicted
to external pleasure-seeking. There's nothing wrong with enjoying pleasure,
the problem is when our need for it becomes neurotic, driven by the deep insecurity.
Some things we get addicted to, like chocolate or clothes are relatively harmless,
others like drugs are very dangerous indeed. Also the pleasure is short lived,
stimulates further neurotic desire and sucks us into a vortex of never ending
frustration.
The genuine way forward to achieve security in Buddhism is to solve the problem
at its source. To begin by learning to 'enter within' and build a sound, unshakeable
platform of calmness, positive emotion, serenity, confidence and security that
can withstand the external buffeting and enjoy pleasure without becoming neurotically
attached to it.
Entering Within (16/6/00):
Addiction can be thought of as a misguided seeking. As mentioned in previous
articles, we're all seeking a type of joy that transcends everyday reality (ecstasy).
Human beings have a deep need for this type of experience. We turn to it for
security in this uncertain world and times, and to fill the spiritual vacuum
within. The mistake is that we seek it in the external world and in material
substances. The more we do this the more we neglect the inner world and the
more unfamiliar it becomes. Ironically, the more we look for pleasure and happiness
in the outside world the more intense the vacuum or emptiness within becomes.
Running from the void within, engaging in 'displacement activity', leads nowhere,
except 'up the garden path'. Also the pleasures of the external world are short-lived,
tend to increase desire (and therefore frustration), and if dependent upon drugs
are downright dangerous. In stark contrast, it is possible to enter within,
to become familiar with our inner world, to build a positive felt-relationship
with ourselves, to feel calm, peaceful, content and strong. It's even possible
to start liking yourself! And not only that but to feel this self-like quite
strongly, even in a hot-blooded sort of way.
Out of this can come a sense of inner fulfilment and nourishment. As it does
the vacuum within, the 'gnawing' sense of emptiness, disappears. The word 'fulfilment'
suggests filling the emptiness till it becomes full - fulfilled! Gradually we
become at ease within ourselves and our dependency on external things and 'cheap'
thrills lessens. As with anything worthwhile this does not happen overnight
and it requires guidance (as opposed to mis-guidance). Meditation is a very
powerful aid to this process and thus overcoming addictions.
Addiction versus Happiness (26/6/00):
We are all seeking happiness aren't we? But what is happiness? From a Buddhist
viewpoint happiness doesn't necessarily mean feeling elated with joy. All too
often elation is not only short lived but it collapses into its opposite-we
go to extremes. Happiness seems to have more to do with a lack of inner conflict,
an absence of guilt, and a feeling of inner contentment-a more balanced, serene
state.
Perhaps that's too tame, not intense enough? But what would you rather have,
intense thrills now and then that inevitably disappear and leave a craving for
more, or a more steady, persistent state of serenity, calmness and contentment?
Buddhism does not deny that there is pleasure to be had in life, but simply
points out that it's transitory, ephemeral. If you get attached to it, dependent
upon it, addicted to it, you are going to get frustrated and suffer because
it is transient, it doesn't last. So in the Buddhist tradition one is advised
to enjoy pleasure like licking honey from a razor's edge! To be fully aware
of the dangers that come from being addicted to something that doesn't last.
The pleasure is undeniable but it doesn't lead anywhere. If you do become attached
or addicted you become a slave to the object of desire, sucked into a vortex
of craving, frustration and unfulfilment. The more we give into these cravings
the stronger they become and this leads to a state of agitation, restlessness
and anxiety. One needs more and more and you get angry when the desire becomes
frustrated. One begins to compromise one's ethics and morals and the end result
of all of this is guilt, inner conflict and restlessness-a state of constant
discomfort.
It's actually the opposite of what we defined as happiness. A more lasting state
of happiness is achievable by entering within and building it up within the
core of one's being by practising meditation and ethics. Courses in 'entering
within' (meditation and mindfulness) are held regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist
Centre (TBC). The Centre is looking for bigger premises at the moment as demands
for it services grow.
2001
Buddhist Retreats (5/2/01):
I'm just back from retreat. Most serious Buddhist practitioners go on long retreats
regularly. I try and make a point of going at least twice a year, in the middle
of the year and in January. They represent an opportunity, as the word "retreat"
implies, to leave the "mundane" world behind for awhile to give yourself
the opportunity to renew your practice in ideal conditions and to experience
where youíre at yourself more deeply. Usually the retreat centres are
in quiet, natural settings, which in themselves are conducive to spiritual renewal.
The retreat I went on was for two weeks and because it is for people who have
asked for ordination involved quite a lot of study as well as meditation.
For beginners we usually run weekend retreats that start on Friday night and
finish on Sunday afternoons. They're designed to be a gentle introduction and
usually emphasise a particular theme associated with meditation and/or reflection.
We have run several of these in Toowoomba at one of the local Catholic schools
retreat centre. They've been very successful. Other retreats are longer, usually
ten days, for people who feel up to it, and tend to be run in other centres
including Sydney, Melbourne and New Zealand. These retreats may be mixed or
single-sex.
Again, when one is ready for it, solitary retreats are highly recommended to
experience oneself even more deeply; at the moment we are looking for a suitable
site in the Toowoomba region. Just being on retreat in a lovely situation, meditating
daily and mixing with spiritual friends has an uplifting effect. One definitely
experiences a higher, more refined state of consciousness. Iíve certainly
come back feeling more relaxed and inspired. Of course, then the art is to try
and maintain this as you renters the mundane world, for you are hit by the coarseness
of this world as soon as you leave the retreat. The speed, the noise, the aggression,
the rampant consumerism and so on. The practice of loving-kindness towards self
and other (metta bhavana ) is very valuable in this regard.
A new six-week Practical Buddhism course is starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist
Centre (TBC) within the next two weeks.
Inquiries regarding courses and activities can be directed to the TBC at 4659
7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Entering the Stream (12/2/01):
A model for spiritual practice I often suggest at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre
(TBC) is known as the Threefold Path - the Path of Ethics, Meditation and Wisdom
or Insight. Each of the stages depends on each of the others they supplement
each other - you really need to practice all of them, not just one of them.
Of course the aim of Buddhism is to become Enlightened to escape the delusion
that binds us through attachment to the conditioned world. Only by fully de-conditioning
ourselves can we achieve total freedom Nirvana. Then we can live in the midst
of the conditioned world unconditionally, not dependent on the condition of
attachment to desires that we use to try and maintain our security.
Whilst Enlightenment may be a fair way over the horizon, in the meantime we
can plunge into the stream that will inevitably lead us there. As has been pointed
out in the last several articles in this column, once our regular practice begins
to break us out of the pull of the conditioned, we can increasingly rely on
being drawn on spontaneously by the pull of the Unconditioned, the spiritual.
This pull is often likened to a great river emptying into the ocean. We're standing
alongside that river and in the beginning of our spiritual journey usually just
tipping our toes in the water.
We could say that the distance from the point where we are standing to the edge
of the river corresponds with the first stage of the path, the stage of ethical
practice. This needs to be traversed before we can dive or (wade) into the river.
Once we've taken the plunge the distance from the edge of the river to midstream
corresponds to the second stage of the path, the stage of meditation. Once we've
reached midstream and begin to feel the mighty force of the current flowing
toward the ocean, we just have to abandon ourselves to it; this is the point
of Stream-entry, the point of no return. And the distance form there to the
ocean itself is the third stage of the path, the stage of wisdom. A new six-week
Practical Buddhism course is starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre (TBC)
on Tuesday evening the 19th of February 2001. Inquiries regarding courses and
activities can be directed to the TBC at 4659 7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Practical Buddhism:
A new day-time, six-week 'Practical Buddhism' course starts at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre (TBC) on Thursday the 21st February 10am-12noon. These courses
are for people who want 'to know' more about Buddhism before perhaps exploring
it more. It's clear that interest in Buddhism is increasing in the West. Our
centre is part of a pioneering movement that is helping Buddhism spread and
adapt to Western culture - and adapt it must, as it always has when it moved
into a new culture. For example, it adapted quite significantly when it moved
from India into China, because the Chinese civilisation was so developed.
Similarly, as it moves into the West, it is encountering for the second time
a highly developed civilisation. To survive in this Western context Buddhism
has to evolve past its traditional Asian forms. As they exist at the moment
they are too difficult to assimilate for the vast majority of Westerners, who
tend to see them as curiosities, or are attracted to their exoticness. But if
you want to really change and grow psychologically and spiritually you cannot
bypass your own Western psychological and cultural conditioning. All of us brought
up in Western cultures have been deeply, unconsciously, conditioned by its cultural
forces such as Christianity, scientific rationalism, utilitarianism, materialism,
commercialism, democracy, intellectualism, individualism and the doctrine of
rights, to name a few.
Part of the spread of Buddhism into the West involves an information explosion
on it (for example books, TV programs, the internet). Where there is lots of
information there is the also the danger of ill-informed views and opinions
and simply 'getting the wrong end of the stick'. So the 'Practical Buddhism'
course offered at the TBC goes back to the core teachings of the Buddha (which
have become known as 'Basic Buddhism'), that all major traditions share at their
heart. These include formulae like The Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path,
The Three Characteristics of Conditioned Existence, The Law of Conditioned Co-production,
the nature of the human condition and the origin of suffering. The course is
primarily designed to clarify views and clear up misconceptions through discussion
and exposure to people's different points of view. It is also taught in a clear
Western style of expression and English. For information please contact us on
46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddhism and Society (23/2/01):
The teachings of Buddhism have always been applicable to society at large as
well as the individual. You can't ever really fully separate the individual
out from society, so you can't talk about individual growth without taking into
account the state of the society. The historical Buddha himself had much to
say on these matters and was what we would call today a social reformer.
Just as the ultimate aim for the individual in Buddhism is to seek Enlightenment,
so too Buddhist social policy (if we can call it that) is centred around creating
societies that foster spiritual development. This is the bottom line; this is
where society should be heading. This may sound overly idealistic but I would
argue that its not. In fact I would say that to have such an aim is realistic
because it equates with what, perhaps at a pretty deep level, people really
want, and need. The institutions of government and policy ignore this at their
own peril. It is dangerous for them to do this because human nature will rebel
if their needs arent met!
So the ultimate aim is to create a society that helps spiritual growth, or at
least recognises this as a core value of society. Moving back from this ultimate
ideal, an 'enlightened' society at least recognises the importance of facilitating
the psychological and cultural growth of its citizens. However, it is no use
talking about these lofty ideals if people's basic needs of water, food, clothing,
shelter, hygiene, health, education and meaningful work are not being met. There
is a hierarchy of people's needs and you can't satisfy the higher ones when
and if the basic ones are not being met. This is where Buddhism starts.
When we examine current political and social policies in Australia (and in many
other so called 'developed countries') we have to say that from a Buddhist perspective
they are sadly lacking. They certainly lack an ideal vision for the society
for a start. Also I think its fairly safe to say that they have become overwhelmingly
and unhealthily obsessed with economic matters. They emphasise and concentrate
on matters solely that pertain to the 'economy' - that abstract entity that
no one, from leading economists to politicians, really understands anymore -
and neglect the more concrete, basic needs of human beings. People, citizens,
the electorate (being human beings) will not put up with this. The signs are
everywhere that they are indeed very 'fed up' with the current economic obsession.
More next week. For enquiries about courses and activities at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre (TBC) can be directed to the TBC at 4659 7760 or our website
at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba. An open day/garage sale is planned for sunday
March 11th.
Buddhist Social Policy (2/3/01)
In the last article we introduced the idea that Buddhism has a social perspective
as well as a spiritual one. In fact you can never really separate these two
aspects from each other. We pointed out that the focal point, therefore, of
a Buddhist social policy is to try and create social conditions that foster
Enlightenment or at least spiritual development. However, it is recognised that
people's more basic (survival) needs have to be met as a necessary condition
before spiritual development can be a realistic goal.
The trouble with the overwhelming orientation towards economic policy that seems
an 'obsession' of contemporary government policy is that it doesn't recognise
these broader needs of human beings. Karl Polyani in his book The Great Transformation
(published in the 1940s) pointed out that one of the unfortunate by-products
of capitalism is that it turns people into mere commodities and resources to
be apportioned at the whim of market forces. Prior to the industrial revolution
and the advent of capitalism, Polyani claims that earlier European societies
were organised more around co-operation and stability (eg. the guild system).
With the advent of international trade, industrialisation and laissez-faire
capitalism in the 17th and 18th centuries, the market place became the dominant
forces within society. The European countries and the Americas had to deploy
capital and labour into their new industries and market their products through
trade to maintain their comparative economic advantages over each other. This
is what Polyani meant by The 'Great Transformation'. A transformation from a
situation where societies were organised to meet human needs on a more cohesive,
co-operative basis to one in which competition dictated by market forces was
emphasised.
Looking at contemporary society one can only conclude that nothing much has
changed. Competition and market forces alone, from a Buddhist perspective, do
not create societies that meet peoples broader human needs, let alone foster
their spiritual development. Enquires about courses and activities at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre (TBC) can be directed to the TBC at 46597760 or our website
at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba. The open day/garage sale mentioned in last week's
column has been postponed till April due to the Toowoomba Show where we hope
to have a stall.
The Unfamiliar Self (9/3/01):
The other night, in the Practical Buddhism class that is being run at the TBC
currently, we were discussing the nature of self. We were talking about how
people become overwhelmingly identified with their interactions and relations
with things in the 'outside' world. Things like possessions, belongings, fashions,
friends, groups, beliefs, roles, qualifications, status, our profession or job,
and so on. We use these external orientations or interactions to define ourselves,
in fact, to define our identity.
Furthermore, we use their qualities or characteristics to distinguish us from
others, to set ourselves apart. Creating our identity also involves actively
'identifying' with these things; that is, equating our 'self ' with their qualities.
To put it simply, we use these external relations to give our self an identity,
and then 'identifying' with the identity becomes a powerful way of creating
and maintaining that sense of self.
But aren't we 'inside' too? Isn't there an inside world too and where is our
self there? Here I think we become less certain, less sure of our ground. We
know the external dimension of ourselves quite well because we identify so completely
with them they're more familiar. But trying to define or describe ourselves
from the inside is a lot less familiar. The situation has been likened to trying
to describe a hole in a piece of wood. The easiest way is to describe it in
terms of the colour, texture and shape of the wood that surrounds it "it
is a brown, round, smooth hole". The hole's identity (so to speak) is derived
in this way from the wood around it. But is this really the hole? The hole is
actually just empty space!
So it is with our self. Is the self really all those external things we identify
with? Or is it what is inside of them? How familiar is that to us? We all agreed
in our chat at the TBC that the inside part of ourselves was not very familiar
to us and like anything unfamiliar perhaps a bit frightening! In some ways it
is like a hole a sort of emptiness or space or even a vacuum. How easy it is
for our consumer-driven economy and society to play on this and drag us along
with it as we fall prey to all the advertising, because we identify with it.
Less so if we are quite comfortably at home or resident within. The Chinese
have a saying: "Are you a guest in your own house; or are you the host?"
For enquiries about courses (on entering within) and activities at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre (TBC) can be directed to the TBC at 4659 7760 or our website
at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
How We Create Our Self (16/3/01):
As well as maintaining our 'self' by identifying with our external relationships
with things - possessions, professions, friends, fashions, beliefs and so on
- we create ourselves from within with our own minds. The human mind is capable
of looking into itself or bending back on itself Technically this ability is
known as reflexivity. This term shares its meaning with the more common use
of the word 'reflex' describing the process of nerve impulses moving from a
stimulus to the central nervous system and then back out to a muscle.
Humans are not just aware, they're aware that they're aware! This is the mind
bending back on itself or looking into itself. The awareness of something being
aware produces our experience of self-hood - it is in fact self-awareness. Whenever
we think, our minds retreat inwardly in a sort of self-referencing arc. We can
close our eyes and consciously think about ourselves or analyse ourselves. We
can look back into our memories and construct a sense of our past, or we can
imagine ourselves in some future situation (try it). This is often called 'reflection',
another word that shares its meaning with reflexive.
Actually, our mind is doing this bending back on itself or referring back to
itself all the time. You could describe it as a process of self-referencing.
This self-referential process is happening continuously and very fast so that
it is largely unconscious. We're not aware that we're doing it (unlike when
we're consciously reflecting). We're continually remembering our self, imagining
our self, thinking about our self, generating feelings about our self, forming
attitudes toward our self, and so on. That is why we have expressions like 'positive
or negative self-image' or 'low self-esteem'. They refer to personal experiences
produced by these self-referencing arcs within our own minds.
In this way, according to Buddhism (and other Eastern traditions), the mind
'manufactures' its sense of self. But actually there is no real self! No self,
that is, in the sense of some independently existing entity, outside of this
process. There is simply the process of continuous self-referencing, which is
happening so fast that it's analogous to a cinematic film. The film actually
consists of a great number of single snap shots which when projected onto a
screen give the impression of a continuous event. Each of our mind's self-referential
arcs is like a snap shot which form a series happening so fast we think that
what they're projecting (the experience of a self) is a continuity - a solidly
existing and independent entity. But, actually, 'Who am I? The one who asked
the question, or the one about whom I asked the question?' For enquiries about
courses (on entering within) and activities at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre
(TBC) can be directed to the TBC at 4659 7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Goals in Buddhism (23/3/01):
The goal of Buddhism is usually described as Enlightenment or Nirvana. These
are profound states of being because they involve complete freedom or emancipation
from the process of conditionality. You are no longer at the mercy of these
conditioning forces, which are acting on us all the time. It's difficult to
imagine being completely free from the process of conditionality in a conditioned
world. This is one of the reasons Nirvana and Enlightenment are described traditionally
as states of being that are incomprehensible to the ordinary, intellectual mind.
You can only experience them.
In this sense, therefore, Enlightenment may be thought of as a long way off.
In articles over the last couple of weeks we've described another, more proximate
goal known as Stream-entry. This is where you have actually broken away from
the forces of conditionality to such an extent that you're guaranteed to eventually
achieve Enlightenment. This in itself is a pretty major goal. But what about
in the meantime? Well Buddhism makes this guarantee: if you practice it sincerely
and correctly then you will see results immediately, or at least within five
minutes! Buddhism teaches that you will definitely see results in this lifetime.
You don't have to wait until after death to reap the fruits of your spiritual
practice.
For example, if you are uptight and you sit down and do a meditation practice
like the mindfulness of breathing you will become calmer. If you start to meditate
and practice ethics on a daily basis, and you keep it up, you will definitely
experience a change for the better in your overall state of consciousness: you'll
become more tranquil and happier - guaranteed! In fact for most people coming
on the courses offered at the Buddhist centre this is a realistic, initial goal:
to become a saner, healthier and happier human being. Most people agree that
this is a worthwhile starting point. The TBC is running a stall at the Toowoomba
Show next week and then after Easter we're starting a new Introduction to Meditation
course. Enquiries can be directed to the TBC at 4659
Giving (1/4/01):
Last week we talked of a basic aim of Buddhism in the West being to help people
become saner, healthier human beings asa first step on the way to Enlightenment.
The old proverb springs to mind that a journey of a thousand miles begins with
the first step. Enlightenment may be a thousand miles away, but whatever you
do you won't get there till you take that first couple of steps. The Insight
into Reality that is at the heart of Enlightenment doesn't arise till you have
become a more concentrated and happier person. So the first steps are usually
about doing things to help you become more tranquil and emotionally more positive.
That is why in Buddhism the practical path starts with ethics. If you practice
an ethical lifestyle you become happier. This sort of happiness isn't a 'high',
or an extreme state like elation. It's much simpler. It's the feeling tone associated
with the absence of inner conflict, guilt or shame. You have peaceful mind and
experience contentment. Unethical lifestyles produce the opposite: inner conflict,
guilt, remorse and usually the restlessness associated with compulsive craving.
Serious Buddhists practice a minimum of five ethical precepts in their lives.
But the Buddhist path often starts with something even simpler still.
The first step is often the practice of 'giving' or generosity. So if practising
say five ethical precepts is too much for you can start with this simple principle
of dana or giving. This quality of generosity is something that strikes Westerners
when they visit traditionally Buddhist countries in Asia. People are always
giving each other gifts. This 'giving' is something sadly lacking in our societies.
We try and teach children to share, but don't do it ourselves as adults. We
often feel embarrassed and don't know how to respond when someone gives us something:
it's unfamiliar to us. Our lives have become so individualistic, so insular
that, if anything, we try and rescue ourselves from the insecurity this has
produced by hoarding our own material possessions, which is virtually the opposite
to giving and sharing.
The beauty of giving is that it is something you can do easily and straight
away. It's not complicated and it's something practical that anyone can do.
And it will have an uplifting effect on your mind. It also sets up and prepares
the ground for a more thorough practice of ethics. Give it a try. A new Introduction
to Meditation course is starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre on Tuesday
evening (7-9pm) April 24th. Enquiries can be directed to the TBC at 4659 7760
or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Simply Happy (6/4/01):
Through the practice of Buddhism it is possible to change from an unhealthy,
neurotic, unhappy state to a healthy, happy, human one. Often just to achieve
this is the starting point for many people who walk through the doors of a Buddhist
centre. Later it's possible to climb past this point and become a 'very' happy
human being experiencing an uninterrupted stream of higher levels of consciousness.
Actually it's interesting to reflect on this a bit more. There is the suggestion
in Buddhism that we accept far too low a level of consciousness as our normal
one, and that in fact this low level is not the normal, natural, human state.
Children are often seen to be in a very happy state, and indeed in many traditions
it is encouraged to 'become like a child again'. That is not to say that this
is a particularly 'spiritual' state because, even though happy, children are
often, if not usually, very self-centred. No, what we are talking about here
is simply a natural, human state of happiness that is available to all of us.
This state is often romanticized, as well, as perhaps typical of earlier humans
in the so-called primal societies. When we talk of happiness in these senses
we're usually talking about things like being care-free, spontaneous, taking
joy from living in the present, playing, laughing and so on.
The higher states of consciousness accessible through meditation are known as
the dhyanas in Buddhism and traditionally there are eight of them. Not only
can one experience them through meditation but also you can live in the first
one as your normal everyday consciousness. They are spoken of as 'higher' simply
because they are happier, more concentrated and more refined than our normal
consciousness, which tends to be distracted, emotionally stormy, and prone to
craving and aversion.
A new Introduction to Meditation course is starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist
Centre on Tuesday evening (7-9pm) April 24th. Also a daytime course Practical
Buddhism is being proposed to start on Thursday 26th April 10am-12noon for those
of you at home during the day. Enquiries can be directed to the TBC at 4659
7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddhist Easter Message (16/4/01)
According to the dictionary 'Easter' was named after the Old English Goddess
of Dawn. Dawn or sunset occurs in the east, and in fact the origins of the word
share this connotation of the word 'east', as in East-er. Dawn is obviously
the start of a 'new' day and the ancient festival of Easter is associated with
fertility and renewal. In the northern hemisphere the timing of the festival
is spring - the period when new life appears after the death of winter. So implicit
in the celebration are ideas of fertility, rebirth, new-ness and change.
According to Buddhism we tend to have a fixed view of our self and this is one
of the biggest hindrances to growth. The ideas associated with Easter can challenge
this. Our fixed view of our self is our habitual acceptance of our present experience
of 'our' self as being unchanging and ultimate. We can't believe that we can
change, can become a new self. Our whole culture is based on the materialistic
view that things are fixed and unchanging. Applied to ourselves we have sayings
like 'an old dog can't change its spots' and so on.
We are so familiar, so used to ourselves, so used to thinking of ourselves in
a certain way. We think, 'This is Me. I'll always be like this: I may change
a bit but I'll still always be the same old me.' We just can't believe that
this Self, this Me, this 'I' as we are experiencing it here and now, can ever
be completely changed, transformed, transfigured - consumed as it were by fire,
so that out of the ashes of that old self a new self can arise. We refuse to
accept that this can happen even once: let alone many times. Ancient celebrations
like Easter challenge this way of thinking. They are, therefore. a useful opportunity
to 'celebrate' the fact that self change is possible.
A new Introduction to Meditation course is starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist
Centre on Tuesday evening (7-9pm) April 24th. Also a daytime course Practical
Buddhism is being proposed to start on Thursday 26th April 10am-12noon for those
of you at home during the day. Enquiries can be directed to the TBC at 4659
7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddha Day (3/5/01):
This month we celebrate Wesak a major festival celebrated all over the world
by Buddhists. It usually happens on the day of the full moon in May (Wesak or
Veask is the name of the month in the Indian calendar). During this day people
celebrate the birth, Enlightenement and death of the Buddha, thus it is also
commonly known as "Buddha Day" - we'll be celebrating it at the TBC
on Monday night next.
Usually we tend to think of "the Buddha" as Gautama Buddha, the historical
Buddha born in our time (c.563BCE). But actually he is "a Buddha"
indicating the fact that that there is not one Buddha but many. In fact Gautama
Buddha himself said to his followers: 'Monks, it is just as if a person wandering
through the jungle, the great forest, should see an ancient path, travelled
along by men of former times ... So also monks, have I seen an ancient path,
travelled along by fully Enlightened Ones of former times ... And what is that
ancient road, that ancient path travelled along by fully Enlightened Ones of
former times? It is just the Noble Eightfold Path ...' (Sanyutta Nikaya, 12,
65).
It is quite commonly known in Mahayana and Theravadin Buddhist countries that
Gautama Buddha, although historically unique, cosmologically speaking is just
one of a long line of Buddhas, past present and future. In fact it is considered
that this particular kalpa (Aeon) - an infinitely long period incorporating
the existence of a universe (infinite numbers of universes coming and going
according to Buddhist cosmology) - that we live in happens to be a "Greatly
Auspicious" one (mahabhaddha-kappa) in which five Buddhas come into the
world. Those of the past were Kakkusandha, Konagama, Kassapa, Gautama, and the
future Buddha being Metteya (Skt. Maitreya). The attainment of Enlightenment
is a constantly reoccurring event in the universe - the rediscovery of a universal
law. A Buddha is someone who rediscovers it and teaches it to others.
An Open Day/Garage Sale will be held at the TBC (4 Thorn Street, Toowoomba)
on Sunday the 27th May 10am - 2pm. All are welcome. For enquiries about courses
and activities being run at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre contact the TBC on
4659 7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Becoming More Positive (10/5/01)
In an article a couple of weeks ago we mentioned the fact that through the practice
of Buddhism it is possible to change from an neurotic, unhealthy, unhappy state
to a healthy, happy, human one. Often this is the starting point for many people
who walk through the doors of one of our Buddhist centres; and this is often
a provisional aim of the courses we offer at the centre. If you keep up a basic
Buddhist practice, namely the practice of Ethics and Meditation, then you should
get happier - guaranteed. If you are not, you are doing something wrong, something
that is not a truly Buddhist practice.
Usually it is a case of simply not keeping it up on a regular, daily basis.
Sometimes it's because we want sudden, dramatic changes and we're not being
patient enough with ourselves. The practice works slowly and incrementally and
maybe we don't notice the changes, but they are happening. We live in times
where the 'quick fix' and gross highs are emphasised. It is well known in natural
healing that it often takes a slow, incremental process over time for us to
become unwell. To heal 'naturally' also takes a slow, steady, small step-by-step
process. So we have to be patient with ourselves and not unrealistically expect
dramatic, overnight results.
If you do keep up a basic practice you will definitely experience results for
the better. Some of the symptoms are the following: an experience of an inner
peace characterised by an absence of inner conflict, guilt and more contentment;
loss of interest in 'sitting in judgement' on yourself and others; an unmistakable
ability to enjoy the moment; a loss of the tendency to worry; taking delight
in the ordinary; a tendency to think and act more spontaneously; prolonged periods
of feeling happy for no apparent reason. Later it's possible to climb past this
point and become a 'very' happy human being experiencing an uninterrupted stream
of higher levels of consciousness. Increasingly we find ourselves having to
make allowances for unforseen positive events.
An Open Day/Garage Sale will be held at the TBC (4 Thorn Street, Toowoomba)
on Sunday the 27th May 10am - 2pm. All are welcome. For enquiries about courses
and activities being run at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre contact the TBC on
4659 7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
BUDDHISM NOT A PANACEA:
With the fashionable interest in Buddhism these days one gets the impression
that there is a perhaps overly-romanticized perception of it out there - that
Buddhism is a panacea or cure-all; a sort of magic potion. Some of the books
on Buddhism tend to paint a rosy, 'sugary-sweet' version of the teachings. What
they say about the Dharma is true but there is usually not much real practical
guidance on how you put it into effect in your life. So the writings seem somewhat
platitudinous and superficial.
For the Dharma to work it has to be put into effect in one's life. It's not
enough to just read books about Buddhism and to think how interesting or profound
the philosophy is, or how comforting the noble sentiments are that it espouses.
In reality the practice of Buddhism requires a lot of effort and quite hard
work. Conventional religion has been criticised as an 'opiate of the masses'
as something we can drug ourselves with, as it were, or comfort ourselves with
instead of facing up to reality. Traditional Buddhism is the direct opposite
to this; it's about facing reality squarely in order to truly escape from suffering.
So it is not for the faint-hearted, or those deluding themselves by projecting
onto it something that it's not. In the West we are all too good at first unrealistically
putting something up on a false pedestal and then, when it doesn't live up to
our projections onto it or our miss-perceptions of it, we tear it down, usually
having totally missed the point.
The practice of the Dharma requires effort, work, training, study, education,
meditating a lot of 'doing'. One who 'practices' the Dharma practices ethics
as training principles, takes precepts, and keeps up a daily meditation practice
day in a day out. Of course this work is not without its rewards and pleasures;
if it wasn't we wouldn't keep it up. But it does require constant effort a life
without effort is ultimately one of escapism.
New six week courses starting in June at the TBC are, Practical Buddhism on
Tuesday evening 12th June 7-9pm and Traditional Meditation during the day Thursday
14th June 10am-12noon; enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Aims Of the Buddhist Column (17/5/01):
I thought it might be a good idea to discuss some of the aims of this column
on Buddhism, as it's been going a couple of years now. By and large the feedback
from readers has been positive and supportive. People have reported things like,
for example, the articles sparking of some hope or a bit of inspiration for
them when life has seemed somewhat meaningless of late. When the 'Star' ran
a competition not long ago for a book on Buddhism they said the response was
good. Of course, inevitably, from time to time one also gets negative comments.
An obvious aim of this column is to inform people about the nature of Buddhism,
what may be for many an 'alternative' traditional of spiritual development.
To do this we draw on 'Basic Buddhism'. This is the core teaching or philosophical
formulae that are shared by all Buddhist traditions and go back to the Buddha
himself. Related to this is a concern to clarify the Buddhist teaching, known
as the Buddha Dharma, because there are all sorts of mis-conceptions about the
teachings out there. A lot of people read books about Buddhism (indeed it has
become quite fashionable) or study it on their own, and it's possible for misunderstandings
to arise, or to read into it a meaning, which isn't actually there. Discussing
these ideas in a study group with someone who has more experience than you can
help bring such matters to light. To foster this type of interaction is one
of the main functions of our study groups and they seem to go quite successfully
in this regard.
A more fundamental aim is simply to try and help people. To provide the reader
with some practical advice on how to draw on traditional Buddhist teachings
in a way that makes them relevant to dealing with the complex and problematic
aspects of living in modern, Western societies. So the aim is to help people
grow psychologically - in a word become happier - and spiritually. May all beings
be happy!
An Open Day/Garage Sale will be held at the TBC (4 Thorn Street, Toowoomba)
on Sunday the 27th May 10am 3pm. All are welcome. For enquiries about new meditation
and philosophy courses starting in June at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre contact
the TBC on 4659 7760 or our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Spreading the Dharma 31/5/01:
To spread the Dharma (the Teaching of the Buddha) has always been considered
important in Buddhism. But this is not trying to convert people to Buddhism;
actually you can't convert people to the Dharma, they can only convert themselves.
This is because it emphasises trying the teaching out in your own life to see
if it works, not blindly believing in some doctrine. It is offered to people
as a gift, because it can help people clarify their thinking and guide them
in their practice.
We've just finished another six-week meditation course at the TBC attended by
sixteen people and five people doing a daytime course on Buddhist philosophy.
The feedback from both courses has been very positive indeed. On the Queen's
birthday long weekend we're running a three day retreat for a mixture of beginners
and those more experienced in meditation. Our weekend retreats are usually from
Friday nights to Sunday afternoons, so this one will be a little longer (by
request).
Our approach on retreats is not to overload people with too much meditation
initially; also we rise at around 6.30 am or 7am for the first sit of the day.
We feel that meditation must be enjoyable otherwise people won't keep it up.
Doing too much too intensely on a retreat can end up with people barely surviving
the retreat rather than coming away inspired to keep up a practice. Later on
as they become more experienced the length and intensity of meditation is built
up on ten day and two week retreats in other centres.
The TBC is also running its first in-service training seminar for some dozen
or so teachers of the Study of Religion in Toowoomba schools next Monday afternoon
at the centre. The theme is 'Issues in Contemporary Buddhism in the West'. It's
quite common for high school students to do a project in year 12 on Buddhism
these days and as a consequence we've had a lot of students visit our humble
centre over the last couple of years. So the Dharma spreads. New six week courses
starting in June at the TBC are, Practical Buddhism on Tuesday evening 12th
June 7-9pm and Traditional Meditation during the day Thursday 14th June 10am-12noon;
enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Self-Awareness Not Just Thought (14/6/01):
We were discussing in one of our classes recently just how much we identify
the mind, or self-awareness, with thought. In other words, we tend to equate
self-awareness with thinking about ourselves. In the West we seem less used
to moving our awareness inside in a non-thinking way, whereas in the East there
is a long tradition of this. Basically we think a lot about everything about
ourselves and about other things. It has become a sort of filter through which
we relate to the world - analysing, interpreting, and making judgements.
In fact there is a point of view that we think too much. I seem to recall that
it was R. D. Laing who coined the phrase the 'pathology of over-thinking'. We
also live in a culture that has elevated the intellect to the main, or even
the only, way of gaining knowledge. So it's no wonder that we are prone to using
the intellect as our way of relating to everything. However, the intellect is
limited. For example, can you really 'know' yourself by reasoning about yourself
alone. The reasoning mind by its very nature splits itself into the 'reasoner'
and the thing being reasoned about. Ask yourself the question "Who am I?"
Are you the one asking the question or the one about whom the question was asked;
or are you the one who just asked that question?
In reality thinking is only one aspect of self-awareness; furthermore, it is
possible to be self-aware without thought. It is possible to direct one's self-awareness,
or mind, within (or onto anything for that matter) and experience oneself directly.
You can experience your felt bodily sensations and your emotions directly without
reasoning about them or analysing them. You can even experience your thoughts
without thinking about them! The practice of meditation deepens an individual's
ability to use this other, non-thinking aspect of self-awareness. Courses on
Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist
centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddhism in the West (21/6/01):
The Buddha Dharma must express itself through the culture in which it finds
itself neither compromising with it nor ignoring it. At the same time it must
remain Buddhism, faithful to the spirit of the tradition. Throughout its history
this has been its way. As Buddhism spread from India to Southeast Asia, Sri
Lanka, China, Japan, Korea and Tibet the essential teachings were expressed
in new ways in the new language and culture. Its different schools are not so
much exclusive, rival sects but the response of the Buddhist tradition to new
climates and temperaments.
What is essential about Buddhism is beyond specific times and circumstances.
It is universal in application, capable of expressing itself wherever there
are conscious beings. In this sense it is no more Eastern than Western and is
as relevant today as at any time in the past. However, the modern west presents
circumstances never encountered by it before. Apart from its entry into China,
Buddhism has never encountered such a highly developed culture. It would be
naïve of it to ignore this heritage and if it did it would have little
appeal. Few would be prepared to discard their own culture completely to adopt
that of a Japanese, Thai or Tibetan wayof life. Indeed those who do perhaps
hunger after the exotic and are disenchanted with their own culture.
There are also other features entirely new to Buddhism in the West. For example,
in Asia Buddhist institutions, practices and teachings evolved within agrarian
monarchies. This form of established Buddhism can't be directly transposed into
Western civilisation, which is so thoroughly secular, industrialised and urban.
Real Buddhism in the West must express the essentially timeless, traditional
teaching in a way that communicates to people in the West today. Courses on
Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist
centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Non-Existence of Self (28/06/01):
At the heart of the Buddha's Enlightenment was his insight into the Law of Conditionality.
The fact that every single phenomenon in the universe has evolved through a
gigantic network of causes and conditions. Everything we encounter is but a
temporary perturbation of energy and matter in a vast web of interconnected
conditions stretched out infinitely over time and space. One phenomena depends
for its existence on the properties of another phenomena. Everything we encounter
can be analysed and reduced to the conditions that produce it, spread out over
space and time.
For example, this computer I'm word processing on doesn't work with out the
electricity it is using, and that comes from a coal-fired electricity plant,
which burns coal that comes from the earth and was formed three hundred thousand
years ago by vast geological events in the earth's history. It also comes from
the glass and plastic and the human ideas that invented and created this technology,
and it doesn't work without human fingers dancing around on the key-board and
mouse. Everything in this conditioned world is contingent. Everything we know
IS NOTHING in itself; it has no existence apart from the many conditions that
make it possible it IS those conditions. Modern physics and ecology says much
the same thing as the Buddha said two thousand five hundred years ago.
However, because we have self-consciousness we experience ourselves as separate
from everything. As a result we feel incomplete, alone, insecure. But actually
we are inseparable from the environment around us. Taken to its extreme implication
this means we do not exist as we think we do that is, we are not a completely
independent existing self. In fact the implication is that we, as we normally
think of our selves, do not ultimately exist! Deep in our hearts we seem to
know this but we repress it and crave to be. So on the one hand we feel separate
and incomplete, on the other, we know we're not separate and therefore don't
ultimately exist. The result is a very deep sense of existential anxiety and
discomfort that fuels a quest for security. As Shakespeare said: "To be
or not to be, that is the question." Courses on Buddhist meditation and
philosophy are running regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) please
direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Dharma Day (4/7/01):
Last week we celebrated Dharma Day at the TBC whilst it's was being celebrated
around the world on or near the night of the full moon in July. This festival
celebrates the first public utterance by the Buddha of the Dharma after his
Enlightenment. The discourse he gave is now known as the Dhammacakkappavattana
Sutta 'Setting the Wheel of the Dhamma in Motion'. The significance to the Buddhist
is that in his First Discourse the Buddha made again available the Highest Truth,
a Universal and Transcendental Teaching.
A Buddha is actually someone who re-discovers the Dharma and reveals it again
for the first time in that particular era. The recent, historical Buddha (Gautama
Buddha born c.563 BC) described it as like finding an ancient rack that had
been overgrown in the jungle, and that others had trodden this track before
him. The Dharma itself is based on a universal law the Law of Conditioned Co-production
that all things arise in dependence upon a complex nexus of conditions. Although
what is rediscovered is perennialthat particular Buddha expresses it in his
own terms. Other Enlightened beings that follow become enlightened as a result
of learning from the Buddha. So although they share the enlightenment experience,
a Buddha is different in that he has discovered the truth for himself. But all
enlightened beings can become Buddhas. We use the festival to personally reflect
on the significance of the Dharma coming into the world. Many people in the
sangha and many people who come to the courses we run at the TBC are very drawn
to the Dharma. I have seen it inspire them, answer questions, give them peace
of mind. Many people report that when they encounter the Dharma it's like coming
home. I have seen the Dharma have a soft, steady and profound impact on people
and bring about unmistakable positive change, right here in the Toowoomba community.
On occasions people express gratitude for the opportunity of having been introduced
to the Dharma. I have experienced the benefits of the practice of the Dharma
myself and simply can't go past it!
Whenever the Dharma has entered into a culture it has had a profound effect
on it for the better. This can give hope to us as we witness its rapid spread
now in the West with all its social and environmental problems. We consider
it fortunate to be born so close to the advent of the Buddha and to be pioneers
in the spread of the Dharma in Australia. Courses on Buddhist meditation and
philosophy are running regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) please
direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Right Views (11/7/01):
One of the ways we secure ourselves is with our views. By this I mean our opinions,
beliefs and values. We often completely identify with our beliefs and blindly
believe in them. The fact that people use their beliefs, say religious beliefs,
to maintain their ego-identities is one reason why people are so defensive about
them. If we criticise or question their beliefs it's as if we're attacking their
very existence.
One of the important teachings that the Buddha is credited with is the recognition
that most of our views, beliefs and opinions are actually at base simply rationalisations
for us following our sense desires. In other words, they are in fact elaborate
constructs, which we create and use to justify to ourselves our doing just what
we want to do. So for this reason the clarification of views is considered very
important in Buddhism. Also, when we study the Dharma on our own it is possible
to misunderstand it, or read something into it that isn't there, or twist it
around to suitourselves.
This is particularly the case these days with so many books around on Buddhism
and the fact that it has become quite fashionable in the West. One often encounters,
when teaching the Dharma these days, the fact that people studying Buddhism
want it to be what they want it to be. Rather than taking it on its own terms
they twist it into something that suits them. Another example of rationalisation
and what we call wrong views in Buddhism.
So group study and discussion (even debate) is an important part of the Buddhist
practice to try and dig out and gradually eradicate these wrong views, which
can lead to confusion and suffering. Right views help lead to clarity and happiness.
Traditionally, views are evaluated in Buddhism by seeing if they make reasoned
sense, elicit an intuitive response, and if their validity can be tested out
in experience. Courses on Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running regularly
at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to 46597760 or
www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
The Benefits of Practicing Ethics (2/8/01):
One of the reasons a Buddhist practices ethical precepts is so he or she can
concentrate effectively in meditation. You see there is this simple relationship
recognised in Buddhism between being happy and being able to concentrate. The
happier you are the better you can concentrate and vice versa. One way of keeping
happy is practising an ethical lifestyle of non-violence, generosity, loving
kindness, contentment, skilful speech and mental clarity.
The type of happiness this produces is not some form of suspect elation, but
rather a steady peace of mind with an absence of conflict and guilt. The mind
of a person living unskilfully, dominated by craving, anger, aggressive speech
and mental confusion, is not at peace - it's not calm and still, it's stirred
up by these mental states. You can't describe such a mental state as a happy
one.
The more you practice ethics the more at ease you feel with yourself. You've
overcome unskilful mental states, you feel happy, triumphant, more 'together',
more balanced, more satisfied with yourself. The Buddha said in one of his discourses
you would feel within yourself "an unmixed ease". And this sense of
ease just gets deeper and deeper. You feel more whole, more complete in yourself.
You're able to cope better; you feel you have more strength, more confidence,
and more integrity and so you are less fearful.
You now act in a consistent way, you're not carried away by distractions or
unskilful mental states, or unskilful actions or words you're in control of
yourself. You feel that you are the host in your own house, not a guest. It's
very simple really this connection between ethics and happiness. A new six-week
Practical Buddhism starts at the TBC on Thursday morning August 9th 10am-12noon
please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Money and Buddhism (9/8/01):
The Buddha in his time gave lots of practical advice on social relations. One
of the most famous accounts is the Sigalaka Sutta: 'To Sigalaka Advice to Lay
People'. Some of the material in it indicates that in Buddhism there is no prohibition
against accumulating wealth. In one part the sutra says; "The wise man
trained and disciplined gathers wealth just as the bee gathers honey, and it
grows like an ant-hill higher yet. With wealth so gained the layman can devote
it to his people's good."
The key thing in Buddhist ethics is your motive. So making money is OK, or not,
depending upon whether your motive is greed, power, delusion, on the one hand,
or generosity, helping others and clarity of purpose, on the other. Traditionally
in Buddhist Asia the heads of the family accumulated wealth to help support
the family, and this in situations in which there was no social service system
as a back up. This is still very much the case today and often wealthy Asian
businessmen lead quite frugal lives.
There is nothing wrong in earning money, for example, by providing a genuine
service for people. Thus Buddhism is not necessarily against business, as I
suspect some people may assume. It certainly is of course critical of greedy,
exploitative business; but there is certainly a role for ethical business. Society
couldn't work without businesses playing a role. We're interested at the TBC
in setting up team-based Right Livelihood businesses that give Buddhists (and
others) the opportunity to earn a living and at the same time practice ethics.
In the same Sutra the Buddha also gave advice on dividing one's wealth (or income)
into four parts: one part to "enjoy at will"; two parts to "put
to work", for example to run the home; and one part should be "set
aside as reserve in times of need (in modern terms to earn interest or invest)".
There are still vacancies for anyone interested in joining the Practical Buddhism
course that started this week on Thursday morning 10am-12noon; contact the TBC
at (07) 46597760.
Habit Tendencies (16/8/01):
The Dhammapada is a collection of practical advice from the Buddha gathered
it seems from direct disciples to preserve what they'd heard. It's a sort of
ready reference guide or handbook on a whole range of issues and is very widely
known and read in the Buddhist world. It's only fitting that we should draw
on its advice from time to time. Verse 121 says: "Do not underestimate
unskilful actions, thinking, 'They will not effect me.' A water-pot becomes
full by the constant falling of drops of water. Similarly the spiritually immature
person little by little makes himself unskilful."
That's what happens according to the Buddha Dharma. Little by little our everyday
actions accumulate and cut a track in our consciousness building up habit tendencies
upon which future reactions to similar circumstances tend to run. These habit-tendencies
are known as the samskaras or karmic tendencies. For example, a person who repeatedly
gives way to anger gradually builds this into their character and this has consequences
for others and back on the person, such as, anxiety, risk of heart disease and
other ailments.
Verse 122 says: "Do not underestimate skilful actions, thinking, 'They
will not effect me.' A water-pot becomes full by the constant falling of drops
of water. Similarly the spiritually mature person little by little makes himself
skilful." Because it is easy to follow a well-worn reactive path of stimulus
and response, harmful samskaras are easy to form and get trapped in. So the
Buddha exhorted people to actively encourage the responses that do not come
easily love, forgiveness, patience, compassion in the face of hatred. Unskilful
habits are strong but skilful ones are just as strong this what the two verses
are saying. We always have a choice. If we do not shape our own lives our samskaras
will shape them for us. Courses on Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running
regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to
46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Stop and Realise (23/8/01):
Meditation in Buddhism is classified into two main types Samatha and Vipassana.
Samatha practices aim to develop tranquillity, concentration and integration.
Vipassana aims to develop Insight into reality. The relationship between the
two is that to see reality or, as it is traditionally expressed, "to see
things as they are", you need to achieve concentration. In our normal,
everyday level of consciousness we don't see things as they are. We see the
world dualistically, our self as separate from everything else, and everything
disconnected from each other.
We also find some objects pleasant and other unpleasant (what is pleasant or
unpleasant for one person may be different for another) and this leads to a
subjectively distorted way of seeing things. In reality, nothing is separate
or disconnected from anything else and things are neither pleasant nor unpleasant
they just 'are'. So our minds are actively engaged in creating this dualistic,
fragmented and subjectively distorted view of the world. They are stirred up
with thoughts analysing and interpreting the objects and they are reacting with
subjective emotions of craving and aversion toward the things that are perceived
as pleasant or unpleasant.
Such a mind is not calm or concentrated; it tends to be agitated and distracted.
So concentration is the first step in seeing things as they are and this is
the function of samatha practices like mindfulness of breathing. They get you
to 'stop'. The next thing is to 'realise' and this is the function of the vipassana
practices. A typical vipassana practice is to become very concentrated and then
to focus on an aspect of reality such as impermanence and to really 'see' this
happening around you and in your own mind. If you do really 'see' it then Insight
arises and goes deep into your heart and changes you forever. This is realisation.
Courses on Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running regularly at the Toowoomba
Buddhist centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Karma (30/8/01):
We at the TBC have just been on a weekend retreat the study theme of which was
karma. What we discovered was that karma is a complicated topic. There is also
a lot of misunderstanding around about just what it really is. Often the word
is employed to make it mean both action and the results of action. But technically
the word karma means action, and a separate expression, karma-vipaka or karma-phala,
is used to indicate the results of action.
The basic principle is that actions have consequences. But it is not a form
of fatalism or divine retribution in the Buddhist tradition. Only willed actions
of body, speech or mind have consequences for us; involuntary actions do not
constitute karma and thus will not bring about the results of karma. This doesn't
mean that such actions produce no results at all; the unintentional act of dropping
a brick on your foot certainly hurts as much as if you did it intentionally.
What it does mean is that unwilled actions do not modify character.
Karma, or acts of will, in the past (including past lives) inevitably results
in pleasant or painful results. However, and this is one of the most common
misunderstandings, a pleasant or unpleasant experience in this life is not necessarily
the result of karma. According to the Buddhist law of conditionality it may
have been produced by other causes, for example, operating on the inorganic,
organic or psychological level. It also may have been the result of karma; but
this is only accepted if it cannot be explained by conditionality operating
in these other areas. Courses on Buddhist meditation and philosophy are running
regularly at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) please direct enquiries to
46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Actions have Consequences (5/9/01):
One of the people in our current meditation course at the TBC raised an interesting
point the other night. We were talking about dealing with the hindrances mental
states that arise whilst meditating which hinder becoming concentrated. There
are certain traditional antidotes you can apply and the very first one, once
you've become aware that you're caught up in a hindrance, is to consider the
consequences. Consider the consequences, that is, of staying in that unskilful
state of mind, for example, anger or ill will. This person said that she thought
that we did not tend to do that much in Western culture consider the consequences
of our mental states.
It's an interesting point really. The whole of the Buddha's teaching hinges
around the notion of conditionality or causality. We in the West can happily
apply this principle of conditionality or causality to the observable world
around us, in the realm of physics, chemistry and biology/ecology. But Buddhism
says it also applies at the psychological level and the volitional level, the
latter being the mental area of decision-making, choices, and so on. That is
not so familiar to us in the West.
Really that is all the antidote to the hindrance is saying. That if you create
certain mental states and motivated by them you make certain choices and decisions
and act on that basis then this chain of mental conditions or causes is going
to produce further conditions or consequences, like actions, which will come
back on you. So it is a good idea to consider what the consequences will be
on you and others before acting on the basis of a certain mental state. Anger
can have dire consequences on you ranging from unpopularity and heart disease
through to revenge, feuds and prison. New courses on Buddhist meditation and
philosophy will be starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist centre (TBC) after the
school holidays; please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
On Hatred (13/9/01):
After the dreadful events of last week it seems unavoidable to make some sort
of relevant comment. In Chapter 1 of the Dhammapada, the words of the Buddha
are expressed as follows: "Hatred can never put an end to hatred in this
world only loving-kindness can. This is an unalterable law. People forget that
their lives will soon end. For those who remember, feuds come to an end (verses
5-6)." An unalterable (eternal) law, says the Buddha. Look to wherever
long running feuds and wars are occurring (Northern Ireland, Middle East, Yugoslavia)
and one can only conclude this is true. Generation after generation is brought
up on hatred and perpetuate it along with death and destruction over centuries.
This is not to say that those who kill should not be brought to justice. Of
course not you can't have people going around exterminating people on a mass
scale anymore than murdering individuals. But to look at the situation truly
objectively, that is, free of subjective distortions like hatred and prejudice,
one becomes aware of all the conditions that mix together and produce the never
ending cycle of death, retaliatory strikes (revenge), more death/revenge and
so on. After initial reactions of anger and shock many people in civilized countries
do seem capable of reflecting on the bigger picture and seeing the complex origins
of these situations, usually in which their own country has played a role in
contributing to the problem.
The enormous reparations (monetary payments) that the Allies forced on Germany
after the First World War impoverished the country to the point of common people
being reduced to eating horseflesh. This laid the grounds for the rise of Hitler
and the Second World War. To solve the problem at its root the solution based
on loving-kindness, as some politicians already 'seem' to be saying, is not
just military. It is also diplomatic, political and economic. "The world
will never be the same again" has been said many times before. Conditioned
existence by its very nature is impermanent, uncertain and insecure; the way
out of this according to Buddhism is to face this fact squarely. New courses
on Buddhist meditation and philosophy will be starting at the Toowoomba Buddhist
centre (TBC) after the school holidays (Tuesday 9th October 7-9pm and Thursday
11th October 10am-12noon). Please direct enquiries to 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
New Buddhist Courses (21/9/01):
Our next six week 'Practical Buddhism' course starts on tuesday night the 9th
of October from 7-9pm. In this course we teach what is known as 'basic Buddhism'.
These are the core teachings of Buddhism that are common to all traditions (although
they may be buried under a great deal of cultural accretion). They are also
'core' in the sense that they are the teachings that Buddha himself taught from
the beginning. They consist of The Principle of Conditioned Coproduction, the
Four Noble Truths, the Eight fold Path and the Three Characteristics of Conditioned
Existence.
Many people are learning about Buddhism these days from books and the internet.
There is a plethora of information out there; never before has so much been
published in English on the subject. It is very easy to pick up misunderstandings
or to read a certain meaning into something which isn't actually there. So the
beauty of these courses is that you have the opportunity to discuss these core
teachings with someone more experienced than yourself and also, through discussion,
to hear other people's points of view and queries. People tend to enjoy these
courses very much.
We're also starting an 'Introduction to Meditation' six week course on thursday
morning the 11th of October from 10am to 12 noon. In these courses we emphasize
two main meditation practices - the Mindfulness of Breathing and the Cultivation
of Loving Kindness (Metta Bhavana). The practices are led, which means you are
guided through them, and last about 20 minutes. The group discusses how they
find each practice and raise any questions they wish to. A comprehensive set
of notes is provided and these are studied to help people to set up the right
conditions to make a daily meditation practice successful. There is also plenty
of information on the higher states of consciousness accessible through meditation
(known as the dhyanas) and advise on how to handle the mental distractions that
inevitably arise. Both courses are $85 (or $62 conc.). If you'd like to enrol
please contact the TBC on 46597760.
Study and Practice at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre (TBC) (27/9/01):
Buddhism has always stressed both study and practice. Nothing can substitute
for practice as in meditating; but study can play an important role in clarifying
mistaken views and influencing the depth of insight gained from meditating.
The 'Practical Buddhism' course starting next week (Tuesday 9th October 7pm)
at the TBC is for people 'who want to know' to inform themselves more about
Buddhism. After describing the human condition and looking at the core teachings
('basic Buddhism') it focuses on the Threefold Path of Ethics, Meditation and
Wisdom.
The 'Introduction to Traditional Buddhist Meditation' course starting next week
(Thursday 11th October 10am) is for people 'who want to do'. It's more practical
and is open to anyone wishing to learn how to meditate. It does of course adopt
a Buddhist approach, which mainly recognises how important it is to set up the
right conditions to meditate. If you get these conditions right meditative states
should arise as spontaneously as an apple dropping off a tree when it's ripe.
We emphasise two practices that the Buddha himself particularly emphasised the
Mindfulness of Breathing (annapanna sati) and the Cultivation of Loving Kindness
(metta bhavana).
Finally on Saturday the 13th of October a senior order member of the Friends
of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO), Devamitra, who has been ordained for 27
years, is giving a series of four, forty-minute talks on the first chapter of
the Dhammapada, which is open to the public. The Dhammapada is an anthology
of verses attributed to Buddha long recognised as one of the masterpieces of
early Buddhist literature. It starts by saying that everything is led by the
mind and points out that a wise person heedful of this makes the necessary effort
to train the mind. Devamitra is a very experienced speaker who has given hundreds
of talks throughout Europe, USA, SE Asia and India. For details of these events
please call the TBC on 46597760 or visit our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Choices (18/10/01):
Last week we had a series of talks presented at the TBC by a senior order member
of the Western Buddhist Order, Devamitra. The ethical teaching of the Dhammapada
is expressed in the first pair of verses, often entitled "Pairs",
although Devamitra preferred rendering it "Choices". The main point
being made in this very early Buddhist literary masterpiece, is that the mind,
through its actions (karma), is the chief architect of one's happiness and suffering
both in this life and beyond. The first three chapters elaborate on this point,
to show that there are two major ways of relating to this fact. A wise person
is heedful enough to make the necessary effort to train his/her own mind to
be a skilful architect. An unskilful person is heedless and sees no reason to
train the mind.
The Dhammapada elaborates on this distinction, showing in more detail both the
path of the wise person and that of the unskilful one, together with the rewards
of the former and the dangers of the latter. The path of the wise person can
lead not only to happiness within the cycle of death and rebirth, but also to
total escape into the Deathless, beyond the cycle entirely. The path of the
unwise leads not only to suffering now and in the future, but also to further
entrapment within the cycle. The purpose of the Dhammapada is to make the wise
path attractive to the reader so that he/she will follow it. The choice posited
by the first pair of verses is not one in the imaginary world of fiction. It
is the dilemma in which the reader is already placed by being born. We can make
of ourselves what we want. Or be dragged around the wheel of life in endless
reactive fashion. The choice is ours. For details of courses being offered at
the TBC please call 46597760 or visit our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Healthy versus Neurotic Desire (25/10/01):
Craving is neurotic desire. Healthy desire is not a problem in Buddhism. We
all have healthy desires, for example, hunger, thirst and sexual desire. They're
instinctive and as such if we didn't satisfy them we wouldn't continue to exist
either individually (food and drink) or as a species (sexual reproduction).
These desires are rooted in our basic needs for sustenance as well as affection,
intimacy and love. We need them satisfied and they can be satisfied quite simply
- when we're hungry we eat, or thirsty we drink and then the desire is fulfilled
and it disappears.
Desire becomes neurotic, or turns into craving, when we 'project' onto the objects
of desire a role beyond what they're actually capable of performing. In other
words, when we want them to satisfy far more, say, than simple biological hunger
or thirst or sexual desire. When we're seeking to satisfy strong, unfulfilled
psychological needs and desires by using the drink, or food (or substance),
or sexual partner for this end. In this way our inner (psychological) hungers
and thirsts tend to become mixed up with our physical ones. More often than
not this process happens unconsciously and these tendencies become habitual.
The end result is that we become attached and addicted to these ways of trying
to satisfy our neurotic desires. But of course the underlying desires aren't
really being satisfied. The physical satisfaction is temporary and doesn't satisfy
the psychological nature of the underlying desire. And so we need more and more.
One test of whether we're neurotically attached to something is whether we can
do without it or not. If we find this difficult then that's usually a sign we're
dependent in some fashion.
Buddhism accepts that we're all prone to this tendency, because of our basic
insecurity, till we're Enlightened. Recognising this fact, the practice of Buddhism
involves developing sufficient self-awareness to know whether we are simply
satisfying our natural desires in a healthy way, or being driven by neurotic
desire, which is leading to attachment and dependency. For details of courses
being offered at the TBC please call 46597760 or visit our website at www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Getting Stuck (2/11/01):
Someone picked up on the notion of getting stuck in ourselves in a meditation
class this week. Traditionally in Buddhism there are ten fetters or chains that
bind us to the conditioned world and prevent us becoming enlightened. They have
to be broken to escape into Nirvana. The first of them is fixed view of yourself
or personality view. This is what we get stuck in. We think that at the core
of our being that we are what we think we are. In actual fact we're simply referring
back to ourselves or keeping up an inner commentary on this idea of ourselves
all the time. There is no real core self or nucleus separate from this process
of constant introspection.
As we've said many times human consciousness is reflexive - it can bend back
on itself - and it's this process of continuous self-referencing that gives
us the illusion that a solid self exists. It's a bit like a cine film - we see
solid moving objects on the screen but actually the film consist of a series
of still photographs that are moving very fast to create the illusion of solid
moving objects. In the same way we keep up a process of continuous reflexive
arcs or inner commentary - we think about ourselves, have feelings about ourselves,
we create images of our self, memories and so on - and really that is all we
are, a mental process.
This is not to say that the illusion of self is not useful. Of course it is.
Without it we could not be self-directing, purposeful beings. We couldn't make
choices about where to take our lives. But to become overly attached to this
sense of self, to really believe it exists as a solidly existing, independent
entity at the core of our being and to fully identify with it and cling to it
is a dangerous delusion from a Buddhist point of view. The reality is as Buddhaghosa,
the great teacher of the Theravada), put it: "No doer of the deed is found;
No one who ever reaps their fruit; Just bare phenomena roll on Dependent upon
conditions all." For enquiries about activities at the Toowoomba Buddhist
centre please phone us on (07) 597760 or visit our website www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Learning to Meditate (9/11/01):
The Toowoomba Buddhist Centre will be holding a daytime meditation course on
Saturday the 17th of November. It will be run as part of a weekend retreat stretching
over the weekend of 16th 18th November and held at the local retreat centre
we use in Toowoomba. The idea is that beginners can attend the whole weekend
retreat if they wish (cost $100 or $80 conc.) or just for the Saturday (cost
$30). The Saturday activity will consist of two, two-hour sessions from 10am-12noon
and 2pm-4pm. These will consist of led meditation practices, discussion and
study on setting up the right conditions for a successful mediation practice.
In between there will be lunch and an opportunity to explore the surrounds and
meet people.
The two meditation practices that will be taught are the Mindfulness of Breathing
and the Metta Bhavana the Cultivation of Loving-kindness (metta). These are
two meditation practices that the Buddha himself emphasised. They aim to develop
increasing mental clarity, tranquillity and positive emotion qualities badly
needed in the world today. Thus the practices can also help establish a basis
for starting the process of becoming a sane, healthy human being and more of
a true individual. The calm and concentration the practices yield also provide
a basis for developing insight into reality "seeing things as they are"
a process sometimes summarised as 'stop' and 'realise'. If you're interested
in booking in for either the day course or the weekend retreat please phone
the TBC on 46597760 or visit our website www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Religions are not all the Same (15/11/01):
From time to time it is important to clear up mistaken views. Buddhism and the
Buddha put a lot of importance on this. The Buddha himself said that most of
our views are rationalisations of our desires how we want things to be. These
days we live in societies where there are a great deal of beliefs, values, attitudes
and opinions being expressed through the various media. In can be quite confusing
for young and old a like.
A common view I come across these days is that all religions in essence are
the same. This is just demonstrably not true. They may have some similarities
like some aspects of their moral codes but there are fundamental differences.
For example, the Buddha was not a God. Buddhism does not start from the premise
that a creator God started this world and is all-powerful. The Semitic religions
are based on this notion - that their God is the one and all mighty. Some people
would point to this as a fundamental cause of war and conflict throughout Middle
Eastern and European history and it is still going on right up to the present.
The Hindus have a totally different notion of God again.
In fact Buddhists consider that there is a fundamental problem with the God-idea
and the God-religions, as the one Buddhist author describes them (K. Sri Dhammananda).
In essence they fail to encourage people to take responsibility for themselves
and their own moral lives. Instead they hand this over to some external agent.
This single point alone has very deep and profound psychological implications
on how an individual conducts their lives, which it would take some time to
elaborate upon.
Some religions try and depict the Buddha as just another prophet of God, like
Jesus or Mohammed or certain Persian mystics in more recent history. This is
of course a ridiculous notion to Buddhists who don't believe in the existence
of a creator God in the first place. There have been many attempts to portray
the Buddha like this in attempt to incorporate Buddhism into other religions.
There are also many other important differences between the religions, which
we will touch on from time to time. For example, the Buddha explicitly said
his teaching was a means to an end; many religions become ends in themselves.
The notion of Enlightenement is the hallmark of Buddhism and just what Enlightenement
consists of is very clearly outlined. The path to it that the Buddha outlined
is also very clear and is simply not found in the theistic religions. If you're
interested in courses on Buddhist philosophy and meditation we offer at the
TBC please phone 46597760 or visit our website www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Other Realms (22/11/01):
We were discussing 'other realms' the other night in our Practical Buddhism
course. The fact that there are considered to be other invisible realms and
beings according to Buddhism came as a surprise to some of the students. The
Buddha mentioned that there are thirty-one planes of existence in the universe.
One can be reborn into any of them depending on one's meritorious or unmeritorious
deeds. Right at the bottom you get the duggatis or 'woeful courses', which consist
of a hell realm, the animal realm and the realm of the hungry ghosts. These
are states of unhappiness and are also known as the apayas or 'downfalls'. Next
comes the human realm and after that the realms of the gods or devas (literally
'shining beings').
Six of the god realms (devalokas) are in the same realm of sense experience
that we humans experience known as the kamma-loka, but are infinitely more blissful
states than normal human existence. Then above these are sixteen realms of fine-material
forms (rupa-lokas) and above that four formless realms (arupa-lokas). All these
higher states are known as the suggatis or 'happy courses'. When the Buddha
addressed human beings to give his teachings he was also addressing the beings
in these thirty-one other realms. Thus the Buddha is known as a teacher of gods
as well men.
All of these worlds or planes are still in the conditioned world or Samsara.
Nirvana, the goal of the Buddhist life is in another dimension entirely. Given
that six of the god realms are in the same plane that we as humans share it
is considered that we could all be dwelling in a higher level of existence if
we but made the effort - we settle for too low a level of consciousness. These
god realms are also accessible through the levels of meditative consciousness
known as the dhyanas, and practitioners do talk of encounters with the inhabitants
of these realms on occasions. If you're interested in courses on Buddhist philosophy
and meditation that we offer at the TBC please phone 46597760 or visit our website
www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba. New course will now be running in February of next
year. An open evening consisting of a led meditation practice and question and
answer session will be held at the TBC on Monday evening the 3rd of December
7-9pm.
Becoming Integrated (30/11/01):
One of the key 'operational concepts' in relation to psychological and spiritual
development we use at the TBC is that of integration. The idea is that we consist
of a bundle of selves or several sub-personalities encompassed in the same physical
body. One self decides to meditate the next morning but then another self comes
on line in the morning and rolls over and goes back to sleep. These selves can
also reveal themselves, for example, in how differently we behave when at work,
when at home and when we are with particular sets of friends. The sub-personalities
are revealed in the paradoxes and oppositions in our character.
Usually these different selves are not pulling together. This is a state of
being 'un-integrated' our energies work against one another. To harmonise them
or galvanize them requires some element of discipline and regular meditation
practice supported by the observance of an ethical lifestyle. The aim of a regular
meditation practice is to achieve first of all what we call 'horizontal integration'
so that the various selves we are aware of in the conscious mind are pulled
or shepherded together. Once this happens we attempt to achieve 'vertical integration',
which involves bringing the unconscious together with the now integrated conscious
mind this is more difficult.
If we persist there is a gradual build-up of energy, which gains momentum until
finally we are capable of breaking free of all habits whatsoever, especially
the negative and unconscious ones. The very fact that our energies are not integrated
means it is certain that we are in conflict about how much effort we want to
put into our spiritual practice, a lot of us just says "Why bother?"
So we have to continuously remind ourselves of why we are on the path and of
what we want to become we have to find ways of continuously motivating and inspiring
ourselves. Mixing with spiritual friends at a centre is one good way of doing
this. The Buddhist philosophy and meditation courses that we offer at the TBC
will now be running in February of next year. Please phone 46597760 or visit
our website www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddhism and Uncertainty (9/12/01):
Buddhism is of course about spiritual development and this is normally thought
of in terms of growing beyond the normal conception of self in other words,
self-transcendence. The first fetter that holds us back from this growth is
fixed self-view. This can be defined as our habitual acceptance of our present
experience of selfhood as being fixed, unchanging, and ultimate. We are so familiar
to ourselves, so used to ourselves, so used to thinking of ourselves in a certain
way, so used to feeling a certain way about ourselves. And our habitually patterned
lifestyle is dedicated, as it were, to maintaining this familiar, felt-sense
of ourselves.
We think, 'This is Me. I'll always be like this I may change a little but I'll
still be recognizably me.' We just can't accept that this self as we experience
it now can be completely transformed, consumed, transcended. Indeed we are afraid
of this possibility because it involves entering a realm of uncertainty. A well
known paradox of self-growth is that someone who wants to grow is not happy
with how they are at present, by definition, but they find it hard to accept
that there are aspects of themselves they're not happy with. Also we're afraid
of the unknown potential we have simply because it is unfamiliar. So we shrink
back from growth to the safety and security of the familiar, the habitual.
Practising Buddhists accept that they're not satisfied with how they are and
use this as incentive to keep striving. They are prepared, as daunting as it
may seem, to enter into uncertainty, to face insecurity and the unfamiliar.
It's hard work, but what's wrong with hard work? This is another major difference
between Buddhism and the other religions. It deals with uncertainty and faces
up to insecurity. Other religions try to comfort the insecurity of their followers
by providing certainty, usually through blind belief. As a guest speaker at
the TBC recently commented you don't fly jets into sky-scapers unless you are
certain you're going to paradise! We had a very successful open evening at the
TBC recently. The centre will close on December 15th and reopen late January
2002 with new six-week courses starting in February. For information contact
us on 46597760 or visit our website www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
2002
The Age of Anxiety (23/1/02):
Sometimes we hear this age we are living in described as an age of anxiety.
There are many reasons for this feeling of anxiety in our societies. The speed
of change, increasing complexity of technology, social disruption and crime,
the disappearance of ethics in a climate of greed where the market and economics
has become all, increasing gaps between rich and poor, terrorism one could go
on and on. In many ways these are all symptoms of deeper, underlying cultural
forces - the ideologies driving our current approach to politics, economics,
science and technology, social issues, education, international relations and
the environment.
The dominant ethos in our Western societies at the moment could be described
as materialistic and techno-managerial. With it have come the de-sanctification
of Nature and the disappearance of what I call the mystery-principle of life,
the magical quality of existence. People no longer have any connection with
these qualities, with a deeper underlying mythology. The emphasis on the intellect
as the superior faculty has destroyed this. What this means is that people are
bereft of anything that engages their imagination, their intuition, their hearts.
There is no faith or trust in anything and where there is no faith or trust
there is no confidence. The word confidence derives from the Latin roots of
'with' (con) and 'faith' (fide). This includes no self-confidence. We are anxious.
On my last ordination retreat we explored the importance of discovering one's
own personal myth; the unconscious journey you are already on. From a Buddhist
point of view this myth (if it is a healthy one) is inevitably about a yearning
for self-transcendence. If you analyse most of our cultural myths or stories
they usually have this at their core, maybe wrapped up in a lot of symbolism.
Learning to tap into this myth rather than dismiss it (as 'a bit of a myth',
which our overly-intellectual contemporary culture tends to encourage) is really
important. It helps open you up to a larger universal myth and can help fire
up the imagination, inspire and bring confidence. The word for faith in Buddhism
is sraddha and is better translated as confidence-trust. The emotional security
it brings is always based on intelligent analysis and testing in Buddhism, not
blind belief. If you're interested in reading more of these articles you can
do so on our website. New Buddhist Philosophy and meditation classes start in
April. For information on courses and activities, or to enrol, please contact
us at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Practical Buddhism (14/2/02):
A new day-time, six-week 'Practical Buddhism' course starts at the Toowoomba
Buddhist Centre (TBC) on Thursday the 21st February 10am-12noon. These courses
are for people who want 'to know' more about Buddhism before perhaps exploring
it more. It's clear that interest in Buddhism is increasing in the West. Our
centre is part of a pioneering movement that is helping Buddhism spread and
adapt to Western culture - and adapt it must, as it always has when it moved
into a new culture. For example, it adapted quite significantly when it moved
from India into China, because the Chinese civilisation was so developed.
Similarly, as it moves into the West, it is encountering for the second time
a highly developed civilisation. To survive in this Western context Buddhism
has to evolve past its traditional Asian forms. As they exist at the moment
they are too difficult to assimilate for the vast majority of Westerners, who
tend to see them as curiosities, or are attracted to their exoticness. But if
you want to really change and grow psychologically and spiritually you cannot
bypass your own Western psychological and cultural conditioning. All of us brought
up in Western cultures have been deeply, unconsciously, conditioned by its cultural
forces such as Christianity, scientific rationalism, utilitarianism, materialism,
commercialism, democracy, intellectualism, individualism and the doctrine of
rights, to name a few.
Part of the spread of Buddhism into the West involves an information explosion
on it (for example books, TV programs, the internet). Where there is lots of
information there is the also the danger of ill-informed views and opinions
and simply 'getting the wrong end of the stick'. So the 'Practical Buddhism'
course offered at the TBC goes back to the core teachings of the Buddha (which
have become known as 'Basic Buddhism'), that all major traditions share at their
heart. These include formulae like The Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path,
The Three Characteristics of Conditioned Existence, The Law of Conditioned Co-production,
the nature of the human condition and the origin of suffering. The course is
primarily designed to clarify views and clear up misconceptions through discussion
and exposure to people's different points of view. It is also taught in a clear
Western style of expression and English. For information please contact us on
46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Fixed Self-View (21/2/02):
We usually have a fixed view of ourselves in the West. Quite often it's a negative
one, such as, that I am bad, no good, stupid and won't ever be able to change.
It's interesting to reflect upon where in our culture this negativity springs
from, this problem with appreciating ourselves. We even have a saying about
it that an old dog can't change its spots. The following words from Buddhaghosa,
one of the earliest Buddhist sages after the Buddha, put quite a different slant
on it: " No doer of the deed may be found; No one who ever reaps their
fruit Just bare phenomena roll on, Dependent upon conditions all."
This is the idea that we are not fixed, that instead we are an ever-changing
flux of conditions mental, physical, biological and chemical. The fixed view
of the self is just mental phenomena and if we ever stop to observe our minds
we discover that those phenomena are just changing all the time minute to minute
and day to day. They are certainly not fixed. They change in dependence upon
conditions and are thus impermanent. Just like all conditioned phenomena in
the world.
We can use this fact to help us. If we set up the right conditions it will change
our mental states, for example, from negative to positive ones. Instead of a
fixed view of yourself you can develop a more fluid one, such as, that you can
make of yourself whatever you want by putting the right conditions in place.
Some of the best conditions you can build into your lifestyle from a Buddhist
viewpoint are the practice of ethics, daily meditation and study. For information
on courses and activities at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre please contact us
on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
The Buddha's Death:(28/02/02):
On last Thursday evening (28th February) we celebrated Para nirvana day at the
TBC. This festival celebrates the passing away of the Buddha, which is traditionally
known as the Paranirvana. Yes, we 'celebrate' the Buddha's death. This is because
it represented the attainment of supreme nirvana, the extinguishment of all
craving and conditioning, the ultimate freedom and peace, beyond all conditioned
things, eternal and complete and self-illuminating. The aim of the Buddhist
life is to go completely beyond conditioned existence (samsara). It's easy to
keep coming back because we are so attached to the world. It's much harder to
stay away.
But where has the Buddha gone - where does an Enlightened being go? This is
part of the mystery aspect of Enlightenment central to the Buddhist teaching.
Traditionally the Buddha having experienced Nirvana is spoken of as neither
existing nor not existing! Also Nirvana is spoken of as in Samsara, and Samsara
is in Nirvana. These are mysterious words because they cannot be grasped, let
alone understood by the intellect. These notions are a mystery to the reasoning
mind (this is a root meaning of the word 'mystical'). And yet we need mysteries
because without them the world becomes a dry, arid place if the only way we
can relate to it is through the intellect.
We need the mystery principle to enchant the world, re-establish its magical
qualities. We need these dimensions to kelp open up our imagination and to stimulate
the emotions of awe and reverence that can inspire and motivate us. What Buddhism
seems to be saying is that we are trapped in the conditioned world in time and
space but at the same time we are part of something much larger beyond time
and space. Sometimes we can sense this. The more we open up our imagination
to this mystery, this Cosmic Myth, the more we become spiritual beings that
can rise into the unknown. For information on courses and activities at the
Toowoomba Buddhist Centre please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Spiritual Friendship: (7/3/02)
All Buddhists go for refuge to the Three Jewels. That is they seek security
in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The Buddha represents the ideal condition
of human enlightenment. The Dharma is the Teaching all the operational concepts
of Buddhism and its methods and practices of self-growth. The Sangha is the
fellowship of all the enlightened masters and sages of the past that have occurred
in the Buddhist tradition and who give us confidence that the goal is attainable.
The Sangha also involves all those Buddhists striving to practice the path and
this includes our spiritual friends. This is where we can find real security
or refuge in the Buddhist view.
We particularly stress spiritual friendship in Buddhism in the West, even as
a practice. It is wonderful to have friends with whom one can fully and frankly
discuss one's ideals. So often our friendships are based on more mundane factors,
such as, wanting to belong to a group, or simply physical attraction, or because
we perceive that they're popular and we want to be with someone like that. Spiritual
friendship is often with people who aren't like that at all and it is such a
relief and release of the heart to be able to talk and open up about our spiritual
ideals, which we often hide in the ordinary world.
Another really important aspect of spiritual friendship is that human communication
works on our emotions and can transform us. Often after discussing the Dharma
with an order member friend I feel very inspired and emotionally uplifted. So
the sangha can provide support for members when they're down or struggling,
as all do who attempt the spiritual life. Also there is a role for criticism
from our friends when we stray from the path or act unskilfully and can't see
it. For information on courses and activities at the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre
please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Contacting Our Emotions (11/4/02):
To manage ourselves skilfully it's important to know how we're reacting emotionally
to events and circumstances. However, in the West we tend to be not very good
at this. A popular book published not long ago called "Emotional Intelligence"
was all about this. About how intellectual intelligence is not the only component
of intelligence and how important it is to educate the young from an early age
in developing emotional intelligence. Buddhism has always seen intelligence
to be a combination of reason and emotion a combination of intelligent feelings
and 'feeling-full' intelligence.
One of the ways into our emotions is to acknowledge the basic feeling of pleasure
and pain when they arise. These are strong, simple signals that are often ignored
or covered up. But it's important to 'own' them because they are the originating
point of emotional reactions. You can make it a practice to ask yourself throughout
the day whether you are enjoying this experience or not, whether you feel something
or not. And if you can feel something is it a pleasant feeling or a painful
feeling?
This is a very good habit to get into and it will develop emotional accuracy,
truthfulness and mindfulness. If you're truthful with yourself about how you
feel, then you'll become more clear-minded and self-confident. You'll not be
pretending that you're enjoying something when you are not, or convincing yourself
that some experience will be unpleasant when you know that you'll enjoy it.
If you don't pretend, you give yourself more freedom of choice in your emotional
reactions. More about emotions next week - if you're interested in reading more
of these articles you can do so on our website. The new six-week course on Introductory
Meditation is starting at this stage on thursday April 18 10am 12. For details
please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Going Deeper into Emotions (18/4/02):
Last week we talked about being able to contact our emotions by being aware
of the primary feelings of pleasure and pain. One of the ways into our emotions
is to acknowledge the basic feelings of pleasure and pain when they arise. Another
way to get into them, is not so much to label and analyse them, but to 'experience'
them directly. Initially it may be useful to label them, but to really get into
them it's best to drop any attempt at analysing them along the lines of "what
type of emotion is this that I'm feeling?" Try and communicate with them
using a different language to that of the conceptual or intellectual. Use sensory
language. Try asking yourself what colour they are, what temperature, texture,
even what sound and smell they have? Are they hot or cold, smooth or rough that
sort of thing. Really try to "feel" them; what do they feel like,
what shape and where in the body. Get a felt sense of them and stay with the
felt sense for a while. As with meditation as your self-awareness goes deeper
and deeper into them they can begin to change. Eventually you can experience
them as raw energy and you can 'unhook' them from whichever part of your personality
they're stuck with. This way they can be transformed. The raw energy of depression
can be changed into a warm, compassionate feeling for yourself. Great anger
can be transformed into great love. This is the wonderful thing about self-awareness,
it's like bringing heat to water, which changes it from liquid to a gas. It's
a transforming agent. Next time you're in a mood try and sit with it, go into
it and explore it and let it 'be'. Then after awhile it will have 'been' and
you'll feel different. If you're interested in reading more of these articles
you can do so on our website. The next six-week course Practical Buddhism is
now starting on Tuesday 30th April 7-9pm and the next Introductory Meditation
is starting on thursday May 2nd 10am 12. For details please contact us on 46597760
or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Unconditional Being (27/4/02):
There are many schools of Buddhism in the West these days. In a way the western
cultures have become heirs to the whole tradition because never before in the
past were all the schools present in one country or culture. It seems to me
that whether they are vipassana (insight), Zen, Tibetan, Hinayana or Mahayana
schools of Buddhism they all seem to be emphasising some common themes as they
adapt to the West.
One of these is that if through the practice of meditation and mindfulness we
can break through or break out of our fixed, confined, mechanical mind we experience
a state of unconditional being. Our mechanical mind is reactive in the sense
that it reacts with pleasure or pain, attraction or repulsion to whatever it
encounters. Through mindfulness practice we learn to just watch these reactions
and not get caught up in them. We create spaciousness in our mind in which these
impulses-to-act just die out like aircraft vapour trails in the sky. This way
we get to know ourselves in greater detail.
Also through meditation we become more and more familiar with this fundamental
quality of spaciousness within our mind. Sometimes it is described as a basic
sanity or our potential Buddha-nature within. It's the region of our creative
potential that can allow us to respond rather then react to events. It has nourishing
qualities of freshness, openness, and goodness. It's beyond our normal, limited
egoistic view of ourselves, which we struggle so hard to maintain through desire
and aversion. Because it is unfamiliar territory and beyond our normal sense
of self it takes patience and courage to learn to dwell in it.
When we can, we discover a bravery within that potentially exists within everyone
without exception. It is our unconditional, pure being and it is where Nirvana
lives. If you're interested in reading more of these articles you can do so
on our website. The next six-week course Practical Buddhism is starting on Tuesday
30th April 7-9pm and the next Introductory Meditation is starting on Thursday
May 2nd 10am 12. We also have a retreat over the May long weekend. For details
please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Sources of Inspiration (2/5/02):
Meditation is a direct way of raising your level of consciousness. Higher levels
of consciousness have qualities like mental clarity, tranquillity, one-pointedness,
bliss and joy. There are also many indirect ways of raising your level of consciousness
and these can also be sources of inspiration. One of them is to get away from
it all for a while in a beautiful, natural setting for a retreat from the world.
Some of us are going on a long weekend retreat this weekend in Toowoomba and
the theme of the retreat is 'Sources of Inspiration'. It's being led by one
of our women order members this time her name is Vimoksalehi.
Other ways include leading a regular and disciplined lifestyle practicing moral
precepts, having regular hours for meals, work, recreation, study and observing
moderation in things like eating, sleeping and talking. Yoga, tai chi and related
disciplines like flower arranging can also help uplift the mind. Then there
is enjoying works of art poetry, music, literature, and paintings. These can
work on developing and refining the emotions. Living in clean, healthy, aesthetic
environments with good feng shui and communing with Nature are also helpful.
Association with spiritually minded people and spiritual friendship can be very
inspiring. Helping other people and even our means of livelihood can be indirect
ways of raising our level of consciousness. Chanting and ritual worship, devotional
practices, lighting candles, sticks of incense, making offerings of flowers
and other things, bowing, all of these can also have a powerful effect on our
emotions. In fact, if our everyday lifestyle can incorporate a lot of these
indirect ways, as well as include formal meditation, we could be experiencing
a higher level of consciousness as our normal one all the time. They would arise
as naturally as an apple falling off a tree when it is ripe. If you're interested
in reading more of these articles you can do so on our website. For details
of classes and open evenings and other activities at the Toowoomba Buddhist
Centre please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Clear Mind (9/5/02):
One of the root, skilful mental states in Buddhism is clarity of mind or lack
of confusion. The Buddha encouraged his followers to question and clarify their
unexamined beliefs and opinions. He said not to believe in his teaching or any
teacher's, just because of the teacher. He was about the only religious leader
in history who said not to blindly believe in what he taught. His teachings
were a means to an end, not an end in themselves. He advised that we examine
everything, including his teachings, and if after due examination they were
found to conduce to happiness, the good, the welfare of yourself and others,
then to accept and practice them.
Some of the key questions that Buddhism raises are: how does one become happy?
How does my behaviour affect me? What does the best in me long for? It's good
to put aside some time to reflect on such matters and to search for meaning
in your life. You can ask yourself whether it's objectively possible to grow
and develop. The answer has to be 'yes'! Then you can ask yourself, well do
you yourself want to grow? If the answer is again 'yes', then the obvious thing
to do is to decide to make a little effort towards it. If the answer to either
one of the questions is 'no', you haven't thought it through clearly!
Or perhaps you're stuck at the moment and right now you're not in the mood.
But even that is really evading the issue, because in the long term, if you
understand what personal development is, you'll surely want it. Or perhaps that's
the problem; you don't know what it means to 'grow and develop'. But that could
be doubt and you need to work at it again and again until you see it more clearly.
It can also be good to talk to friends about the issues the reflection raises.
For details of classes in meditation and philosophy, open evenings, our calendar
and retreats please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
To Be or Not To Be (16/5/02):
We do not exist as separate entities. We are not disconnected to everything
else. This is the topic we have been wrestling with this week in our Practical
Buddhism course. As I'm sure you are aware there are certain conditions that
we depend on for our existence and without them we'd cease to exist - air, water
and food to name three of the most basic. We are completely immersed in or enmeshed
with our environment; without its inputs into out biological system we wouldn't
exist. If we leave this planet we have to take an artificial environment with
us to survive.
So in this sense there is no self separate from everything else. Yet we have
a very definite experience of self and part of that experience is that we are
separate from other things. What a puzzling position to be in. The Buddhist
teaching on self that describes this paradoxical situation is that we as self
neither exist nor do not exist. In other words ultimately we do not exist as
something disconnected and completely separate and self-sustaining; and yet
we do exist as a self that is thrown up by various conditions. Our existence
as self is contingent on these conditions.
The principal condition is that our brains are capable of reflexive consciousness
a consciousness that can bend back on itself and be aware that it is being aware.
It is this continuous awareness of something being aware that gives us the sense
or feeling of being a self. But actually it is just a continuous process like
a series of snap shots strung together that give the illusion of solid reality
just as a film does. When the film is playing we see what looks like solid independently
existing entities. But when we stop the film and look at the reel we find that
it consists of a whole lot of single photographs.
This sense of self from a Buddhist point of view is very important. Without
it we would not have autonomy and the ability to make choices, like choosing
to grow and meditate. But we don't take it too seriously. We accept that the
experience of separation it bestows on us is apparent not real. Meditation reveals
to us how the self has no real substance and makes it transparent. We use it
to help us mange life but we don't take it to be the centre of the universe.
Meditation also overcomes the sense of separation and reveals something beyond
the illusion of self. For details of classes in meditation and philosophy, open
evenings, our calendar and retreats please contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
The Buddha's Enlightenment (23/5/02):
Last Sunday we celebrated the Buddha's Enlightenment along with Buddhists throughout
the world on Wesak, the full moon day of the month of May. Before the Buddha
became Enlightened he had to conquer the demons within himself. This was a very
important stage and he said that many famous sages of the past failed to proceed
past this point. In early accounts of this incident the demons attacking the
Buddha were personified as all sorts of frightening and ferocious beings attacking
the Buddha. They also included the seductive daughters of Mara the Evil One.
In the Life of the Buddha according to the Pali Canon (the earliest collection
of the Buddha's teachings), Mara is said to have sent nine squadrons of demons.
It is when we see the list that we realise these forces are actually personifications
of the Buddha's own mental states. They included sense desire, boredom, hunger
and thirst, craving, sloth and torpor, cowardice or fear, indecision and doubt
(uncertainty), ill will and obstinacy, gain, honour and renown, ill won notoriety,
self-praise and denigrating others. I think we can all relate to these mental
states and the fact that they threatened the Buddha before his Enlightenment
makes him less of an abstract figure to us; he was just a human being like us.
What happened next is often depicted in Buddhist art. All the monstrous beings
or forces attacking him when they encounter the Buddha's aura are transformed
into flowers that fall at his feet. At this point Mara departed in defeat. This
highly symbolic image shows how the Buddha's totally imperturbable calm self-awareness
was able to identify and transform these negative energies into positive ones.
Thus we find in the Buddhist tradition a lot of emphasis on not running away
from one's negative mental states but patiently working with them and capturing
their energy in order to transform them into positive ones.
In fact in the Abidharma, often referred to as a massive treatise on the psychology
of ethics in Buddhism in the Pali Canon, there is a list of twenty factors of
instability or negative mental emotions that we can use to help us identify
the demons we create for ourselves, some of which we didn't even realise existed.
Once we identify them we can work with them. So don't run away from them. Indeed
as one Buddhist writer has put it, without them, without Mara, the Buddha wouldn't
have awakened! So she says, weren't they his best friends? For details of classes
in meditation and philosophy, open evenings, our calendar and retreats please
contact us on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
Buddhism and the Environment (3/6/02):
Last Sunday we had a stall at the World Environment Day celebration at Lake
Annand Park - so I thought I'd say a few words about Buddhism in relation to
the Environment. I've seen Buddhism referred to as 'spiritual ecology' in the
literature on Buddhism and the Environment what does this mean? Well, ecology
studies organisms and their relationship with the environment, in contrast to
biology, which tends to study organisms in isolation. What ecology reveals in
its study is that everything is interconnected with everything else and knit
together by a complex web of conditions and causal chains occurring on the biological,
physical and chemical planes.
Buddhism has always accepted that all phenomena are interconnected and mutually
conditioning. However, it considers that this occurs not only at the material
level but at the immaterial level as well. In other words at the level of the
psychological, volitional and spiritual as well as the physical, chemical and
biological. Thus, just as the biophysical environment for example, the landscape,
the weather can affect human mental states, human mental states can also effect
the environment. The three poisons of greed, aggression and delusion operating
in the collective human mind can actually manifest as poisons or pollution in
the biophysical environment. This is one way Buddhism can be interpreted as
'spiritual ecology' it factors the human being into an intimate cause and effect
relationship with the environment. So the Laws of Conditioned Co-production
and Karma (that actions have consequences) are very relevant to the analysis
of environmental issues and problems and their relation to human ethics.
Next Saturday week the 15th of June, a Womans' Dharma day is being led by an
order member from Sydney. Her name is Satyaghandi and she will be further exploring
the theme of 'The Elemental Path to Insight' after giving a talk on the Thursday
night the 13th June at the TBC. We are made up of the elements earth, water,
fire, air and space and by understanding how the elemental energies manifest
in us we can develop greater awareness and equanimity. The theme will be explored
through meditation, guided imagery and discussion. For details of this and other
classes in meditation and philosophy, open evenings, our calendar and retreats
please contact the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre (TBC) on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba
Mysteries of the Human Psyche (6/6/02):
The human psyche is a mysterious thing! Anyone attempting to grow spiritually
sooner or later discovers this. One of the strengths of our teacher, the Ven.
Sangarakshita, is (in my opinion) that he has gone to great lengths to point
out how important it is for us to become psychologically integrated before we
can make spiritual progress. It's almost like psychological growth is necessary
before spiritual. He was one of the first teachers in the West to realise how
important an issue this is for western people.
In the early days people jumped in at the deep end with approaches like Zen
Buddhism and tried to appropriate experiences like their own ultimate non-existence,
when they weren't sufficiently psychologically integrated or 'together' to assimilate
the experience. In such circumstances these experiences can be psychologically
destabilising or even downright dangerous. In more recent times this danger
has become increasingly recognised as in the West the discipline of psychology
and Buddhism explore what they have in common. In fact this danger has now become
known as 'psychologically by-passing'.
We are a bundle of different selves all inhabiting the one body. Have you ever
noticed how one self might decide to get up early the next morning and another
comes on duty when you wake up and decides to have a sleep in? Often as well
these different selves or sub-personalities are in conflict with each other
and sabotage each other, often unconsciously as illustrated by the fact that,
even though we wanted to do one thing, before we're fully conscious of it we've
done the opposite. How can we grow or assimilate spiritual experiences whilst
this state of affairs exists?
One of the main aims of meditation is to pull all these scattered energies together.
To harmonise them, or balance them, and this is what psychological integration
means. Once drawn together then we have a chance to galvanise them in the direction
of our best interests. One of the most painful aspects of growth is facing just
how un-integrated we are. We want to change, so we're not happy with how we
are, but we don't want to face this fact or the demons within in any real depth.
The next Introduction to Buddhist Meditation course starts on Tuesday 23rd July
7-9pm and the next Practical Buddhism course Thursday the 25th July 10am-12noon.
There'll be an open evening preceding them at the TBC on Tuesday 16th July 7-9pm.
For details please contact the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre (TBC) on 46597760 or
www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba
Buddhist Centres in Toowoomba (20/6/02):
We have received some inquiries lately that suggest that people don't realise
that there are now two Buddhist Centres in Toowoomba. Our centre, simply known
as the Toowoomba Buddhist centre or TBC, opened in July 1999 at Bridge Street
and then in July 2000 moved to 4 Thorn Street where we are currently located.
The other centre, known as the Pure Land Learning College, opened in 2001 in
West Street. Although both are Buddhist Centres there are very big differences
in their approaches to Buddhism and their style.
The Pure Land School is a form of Chinese Buddhism that developed in China in
the third and fourth centuries C.E. (Common Era 3rd century A.D.). Their teaching
is that if you conscientiously chant the Amitabha Buddha mantra you can be re-born
in the Pure Land and proceed from there to enlightenment. The College is a training
centre attended by mainly Chinese monks and nuns (and some American ones) who
wear traditional robes and study the works of their teacher Master Chin Kung
and Pure Land texts in Chinese. They aim to train their people to spread the
Master's teaching, including over the internet. Like many Asian forms of Buddhism,
because of their longer history and support from Chinese communities, they have
considerable financial assets.
Our centre is an example of the 'new' Western style of Buddhism pioneering its
development in the West. It's only been around for the last four decades. The
centre is very 'grass roots' - a simple rented premises with a shrine room and
other rooms. The centre runs classes in Meditation and Introductory Buddhist
teachings as well as retreats and workshops, including for the local schools.
We tend to follow the teachings of the Venerable Sangharakshita who is an Englishman
ordained in the East and who has been one of the pioneers in adapting traditional
Buddhist teachings to be relevant to the modern Western cultural context. His
movement known as the Friends of the Western Buddhist order (FWBO) has order
members rather then monks and nuns and is very much lay-oriented.
The TBC is autonomous and part-time in the sense that most people attending
and running it also work. We rely on the generosity of our members for our existence
and some times struggle to pay the rent. Our classes are attended mainly by
Western people (but not only) and have been of considerable help to the community.
The Buddhist courses (in English of course) have helped the healing and psychological
and spiritual development of community members, as well the overall development
of physical and mental well-being. The feedback we have received has indicated
that our preliminary aim of helping people to become happy, sane, healthy individuals
has been successful.
To help pay the rent we are looking for people interested in hiring out some
of our rooms. We already offer classes in Tai Chi and Karate but are interested
in other indirect ways of working on consciousness-raising like yoga, massage,
Alexander technique and related alternative practices. If you're interested
in this issue give us a call. The next Introduction to Buddhist Meditation course
starts on Tuesday 23rd July 7-9pm and the next Practical Buddhism course Thursday
the 25th July 10am-12noon. There'll be an open evening preceding them at the
TBC on Tuesday 16th July 7-9pm come and have a look. For details please contact
the Toowoomba Buddhist Centre (TBC) on 46597760 or www.fwbo.org.au/toowoomba.
*********************
A Healing Meditation
Sometimes, if we are not completely swamped under, problems can indirectly bring
about a deepening of our own wisdom and compassion for others. This can occur
if we remember that life is a mixture of both good and bad circumstance, and
that there are many others who have very similar--or worse--problems with just
the same issues that we do.
One thing that you can do is to offer up your own pain for the benefit of others.
A good technique derived from Tibetan Buddhist practices is as follows:
1) Acknowledge the problem and your pain; open to being with it; you don't have
to approve of pain, but to best handle it, you need to experience it fully so
that you are in a position to let go of it.
2) Realize that pain--along with pleasure--is a fundamental aspect of this world
that we live in: it's a package deal--they come together.
3) Understand that lots and lots of folks have it as bad, if not much worse,
than you do with exactly the same problem.
4) Muster up a little (or as much as you can) empathy for all those other folks;
wish that somehow you could help them too.
5) Develop the wish to take on their sufferings with this problem through a
kind of transference. Imagine that your very real pain now somehow includes
a portion (if even only a tiny one) of their sufferings and thereby relieves
them of some of their pain.
6) Visualize that, as well as taking on some of their suffering, you also give
them some of your happiness to help them as well. You can imagine their problems
coming into your heart as thick black smoke, and your goodwill streaming out
to them as pleasant white light.
7) You should feel that the black smoke also helps to utterly destroy your own
confusion and unhealthy relationships with your problem. This should lead to
a feeling of joy.
8) If you would like, you can coordinate this visualisation and imagination
with your breath. Breathe in their problems and breathe out your happiness.
Breathe naturally throughout.
9) Continue with this for a while until you feel a sense of completion.
It is a wonderful practice and can help balance out the personality. And don't
worry, it won't bite! It may seem practically ludicrous to go asking for more
trouble on top of all that one already has, but due to the interconnected nature
of the world at physical and metaphysical levels, this practice helps to open
the heart and can literally contribute to physical and emotional recovery.
********************
A new perspective on suffering
I write as a physician, not as a moralist, but any
physician working in modern civilization cannot help noticing our cultural deafnss
to the wisdom of the body. The path to health, for an individual or a society.
must begin by taking pain into account. Instead, we silence pain when we should
be straining our ears to hear it ...
- Dr Paul Brand
the gift
By Gilles Bédard
Christine Longaker has been a student of Sogyal Rinpoche (author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) since 1980, and served for nine years as the principal coordinator of Rigpa Fellowship, the association sponsoring Buddhist teachings under Rinpoche's guidance in the United States. Her direct experiences of caregiving, and of healing her grief after her husband's death twenty years ago, led her to become a pioneer in the hospice movement; she helped to establish the Hospice of Santa Cruz County in California, and became its president.
Since ceasing her hospice work, Christine has given hundreds of training seminars on the care of the dying throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. She has taught college courses on death and dying, provided training for nurses, ministers, and hospice caregivers, and counseled the dying and their families for many years.
Currently, she is working closely with Rinpoche to develop the comprehensive education and training program Spiritual Care for Living and Dying, which applies the compassion and wisdom of the Buddhism teachings to the needs of people today: living, dying, and bereaved. In addition to Christine's seminars, the program supports a growing network of study and practice groups for health-care professionals who are integrating the teachings into their life and work.
Q: You wrote in your book - Facing Death and Finding Hope: "In truth, facing illness, suffering or death is a fall into Grace." How can we see death as a gift, a very special gift, indeed?
A: We often go through life half-asleep.
We don't really know what we are doing, or what we want to accomplish.
We haven't clarified what our values are.
We often take our life and our relationships for granted.
We get lost in so many distractions and interesting things.
We always have a sense that there's something important and special about life
and even about death but we fail to really take the time to look at it.
And normally, from that point of view, when we fall ill, go through some sort
of crisis or are facing death, we think that this is the worst thing, that it's
a tragedy. But if we keep our mind open when we enter an experience that I would
call "falling out of the healthy world", we can ask ourselves:
What benefit can this bring me? Can I find a gift in this illness?
I don't believe there is a gift or a lesson already
given in suffering. But if we ask ourselves: How can I learn or grow, even as
I go through this change or this loss, we often find very unexpected wonderful
treasures that come to us.
We realize how precious every day and every relationship is, how important our
choices are, how important it is to remember our true values and really make
the time to live according to them. And as we do, we find a richness and meaning
that we hadn't even suspected were there before.
Q: You also said "Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional". What is the difference between the "unavoidable suffering" and the "unnecessary suffering" we experience through our life?
A: Because we are born into this life, we obviously
will have experiences, for example, of physical changes and suffering, in the
process of aging or with illness or even with a very dramatic accident. We can
experience discomfort and even a massive amount of pain. As we are facing death,
our body begins to deteriorate and we lose our power to do the things that we
enjoy in life.
None of this is personal, it's not happening to us as some sort of punishment
or as a sign we have the wrong kind of personality, because in fact, suffering
is universal. Every human being goes through unwanted physical pain as well
as the deterioration of aging. All of us experience losses in which we either
don't get something we want or what we most cherish is taken away from us, for
example, when the people we love leave or die. And this is not easy to go through
but it's part of human life.
What becomes unnecessary suffering, the optional
part of that pain, is if we don't learn from the losses that we go through in
life, if we continue our old habits of grasping, or neediness, feeling that
we have to have certain things in our life to be happy, then we build for ourselves
inescapable cycles of suffering that keep us going round and round.
Our needs can never be satisfied and even if they are, it's only temporary.
Everything that we grasp after eventually changes, dissolves or dies; thus we
keep setting ourselves up for disappointment, pain, anger and hurt.
Yet experiences of suffering can open doors for us, and help us to see there is another way to approach life besides cycling from grasping to loss and disappointment.
Instead of looking to the external world for lasting happiness and peace, we can turn our mind inward and discover the part of our being that is beyond change, loss and grief - our skylike essence that is already whole, peaceful, radiant with compassion and love.
Then the losses and deepest pain in our life can become a gift, propelling us forward in our spiritual path and helping us feel richer as we go through life, because we become more and more free, at ease, and naturally happy.
Q: How can we change our suffering into a positive action and see the possibility of liberation in our life?
A: When we are in the midst of very great suffering, sometimes it is hard to get another perspective, to find a feeling of spaciousness or kindness towards ourselves as we go through the suffering. But in fact even though it's hard, we must find a way to do it. Otherwise we just become more contracted and more frightened as we go through our life, resisting and having an aversion to the different changes and losses we go through.
So, what I found helpful in my own life was to approach through meditating, through listening to teachings, through talking with friends, always keeping this question in mind: "How can I understand my suffering in a different way? How can I shift my perspective and find spaciousness, freedom and peace again in my being?"
If we really keep asking this question and try to
learn from life experiences, from stopping and spending the time to just look
at a beautiful flower or sit on a hillside gazing into the sky, we start to
realize that there are other possibilities.
We can let each moment of joy nurture us and remind us that there is another
way to approach life. And slowly, when we keep these questions in mind, more
and more gifts come into our life that will enrich us and help us to find a
spiritual path.
Q: You started your spiritual path through a dramatic event, the death of your husband. Could you tell me about it?
A: In a sense, that was a perfect example - when
you get really stuck and there is no way out - then sooner or later, you have
to open yourself to realize that there is another reality, another way to see
the meaning of your life and go through it.
When my husband was first diagnosed with acute leukemia, we were both very young,
I hadn't had any direct encounters with death before and I realized that we
were facing the very real possibility of his death. I remember thinking to myself
that all I ever heard about death is that it is something very tragic and unfair,
it's the worst thing that can happen to you. I said to my husband, "If
that's all that death is, then no matter how long you have to live, we're just
going to be in this tragic story and we're going to feel helpless and victims
of our circumstances."
Neither of us, at that time, had a spiritual path,
but I remember saying to my husband, "I don't know exactly what death is
or if there is anything after death but maybe we can try to view the fact that
we're facing death as a gift in our life."
So, even though it seems like a huge package of unwanted suffering, if we view
death as a gift maybe we can find out what the gift is. We didn't have an answer
at the beginning. But we knew that we had been taking our lives for granted,
not communicating well in our relationship and not really appreciating that
our life had any meaning or direction.
By deciding to view death as a gift, even though
during that year we still had a lot of suffering, we made mistakes and often
still hurt each other unconsciously in the things that we did, we had to work
through those mistakes very quickly. We had committed to our intention to change
and live in a more meaningful and loving way.
So, just changing our view point about death was an incredible gift for us;
even the mistakes that we made became gifts because they forced us to connect
with our love and communicate more genuinely.
At the time my husband died, I felt that part of the relationship was complete, that we had done the best we could. Even before he died, we were able to apologize to each other for the hard times we'd given each other and also express our gratitude for the year that we'd had, the love that we'd shared and how much we had grown. So when he died, I felt very peaceful and I could really let him go with all my love because I knew we had lived his last year of life really well, even with its mistakes.
At the same time, I sensed that there was another, deeper dimension to death, and that something important was happening in that transition. And I didn't have a clue what to do for him, how to support him spiritually, both before and after he died. My desire to understand the deeper dimension of death launched me into doing hospice work as well as finding an authentic spiritual path.
Q: You mention an aspect which I found very significative: "Gazing continually into the mirror of death during the year of his illness encouraged us to find and commit to a meaningful direction in our lives. Rather than feeling we were helpless victims, we committed to creating the kind of life we truly wanted in our final year together. This change came about in the way we decided to view death on that very first day in the hospital."
A: It is making that commitment to life. That's what I found beautiful in this quote by Brother David Steindl-Rast: "You're not just given life, you have to actually choose life, you have to make a commitment to live and to find a meaning and a direction." And until you do, you're just half alive, you just feel like you're wandering around. I felt that way as a young person. I thought life was just to enjoy and to have fun. It didn't really matter what you did, what you valued. You could just fool around, nothing really counted.
But suddenly, when you are face to face with death, you realize that this is a really precious time, this chance that we have in our life is not going to last.
What we do in this life is very significant.
We can bring a lot of benefit into this world, we can heal a relationship with somebody we've had a hard time with or change things and give ourselves meaningful direction. I still make mistakes and am sometimes very unaware, but I know that its possible to contribute and make a difference in other people's lives.
Q: Dying can be a way to share some very precious moments with our family and loved ones, and develop a special commitment in our lives. Is there a way to see death as a guide to bring a sacred environment into our life?
A: Yes, there is a way. Many of us who follow a
religious tradition tend to fragment our lives, keeping the spiritual part of
our life for one part of the day or one day of the week. Then our life looks
like small, unrelated pieces - our social life, work life, family life, spiritual
life, and so on - which is why we feel so scattered and exhausted most of the
time. We have no unifying principle or sacred context that gives our lives and
our choices meaning.
So, if we are already on a spiritual path, we can learn to see that everything
we do in life is part of that path, every act, every communication and choice
we make helps to form the meaning of our life. Every experience we have, whether
happy or painful, and how we understand and go through our experiences is an
expression of the ultimate meaning or destiny of our life.
As we become more aware of the sacred context of our life, we start to realize that even talking with a stranger on the street or washing dishes could be a sacred act if we do it with a motivation of compassion, with all our presence and awareness and authenticity. We need to establish this integrity in our mind and heart, seeing that everything we experience can become part of our personal and spiritual evolution.
There are many people who don't have a religious
path yet have an intuitive feeling that there is a deeper dimension to death
as well as to life. One way of making a deeper contact with the sacredness of
life is to contemplate every morning on the suffering unfolding on a daily basis
to so many people throughout the world, on the suffering we witness in our friends
and family, and even on our own suffering.
As we contemplate on all of this suffering and allow it to touch our hearts,
then we feel more of a connection to others, more compassion, more committed
to making our lives meaningful and evolving personally and spiritually, so that
we might be of service to others. So, that is another way to begin experiencing
the sacredness of what we do.
We can actually contribute to other people's happiness or to relieving their suffering by living in a meaningful way, by giving to life rather than just taking.
Q: Being aware of our journey through a spiritual path could also be a way of
surrendering and learning impermanence?
A: That's true. We constantly experience change and loss, and impermanence. Our normal attitude towards these situations is that they are only negative, or we conclude we are somehow being personally tortured and punished.
When we react with negativity or helplessness to
change and impermanence, we are creating more emotion, more grasping and thus
more suffering. Alternatively, if we really use these losses to contemplate
on our own eventual death, and ask ourselves: what can I take with me when I
die, we find that each experience of impermanence and loss is a chance for us
to rehearse our death.
Instead of blaming our circumstances, we can look inside and ask:
What is the most important thing, what am I really doing with my time and my energy that will make a difference?
Slowly we understand that our worldly situations
and pleasures are not lasting, and that we cannot ultimately hold onto them
or take them with us. This realization helps us learn to let go with grace,
and to begin grasping less in the first place, which is even better.
This is how we become more and more free The most important thing is discovering
the deathless, unchanging, innermost essence of our being, which is already
whole, peaceful, open and free. Looking within and getting in touch with this
essence, which is perfect wisdom and infinite compassion, is the source of the
true happiness and well-being for which we have been yearning.
Q: Over your years of working with death and dying, you developed the Four Tasks of Living and Dying - Understanding and Transforming Suffering, Making a Connection, Healing Relationships and Letting Go, Preparing Spiritually for Death and Finding Meaning in Life. Could you summarize them and tell us how we can integrate them not only into our work but also into our daily life?
A: It's an interesting story how I came to describe
these four tasks. I was starting to give some in-service workshops for hospice
caregivers and I realized that they were already experts at understanding the
needs of the dying and the family dynamics.
What they needed was to talk about the really tough situations: how to deal
with angry family members, what to do in cases when nobody will let the persons
know that they're dying, how to help somebody who feels depressed and hopeless
and has no spiritual faith, how to support a parent leaving behind young children,
and how to connect with a patient who has dementia or is comatose.
In examining the source of these problems, I started
by naming them The Four Principal Difficulties or Fears of Dying. And then I
slowly realized that actually, these problems reveal what we need to do in order
to conclude our lives well; so I re-named them the Four Tasks of Dying.
Dying is not a passive time where you give up and give in, it's actually a very
active time, our last possibility for growth. I realized that they were only
the tasks of dying if we never took care of them when we're living, which is
why I now call them The Four Tasks of Living and Dying.
We face these same tasks when we are told we have
a life threatening illness and are still working toward healing, when we are
going through bereavement, or experiencing a major life loss; these are the
same tasks for caregivers as well as for those who are facing death. They include
the need to understand and transform our suffering, because we experience suffering,
pain and loss, throughout our entire life - not just when we face death.
We need to have a more positive context or way to understand why we suffer,
and what opportunity lies in suffering.
One of the worst parts about an experience of suffering
is our fear that it is meaningless, and that we are helpless to overcome it.
The Buddhist philosophy of connectedness and compassion helps us see that we
are not alone in suffering. By reflecting on the suffering of others and dedicating
our own suffering or spiritual practice for their benefit, we can dispel much
of our own misery, and give a deeper meaning to our suffering.
As we generate deeper feelings of love and compassion this way, it opens and
heals our heart, helping us evolve as we go through life, and ultimately, by
connecting us to our innermost essence, which is wisdom and compassion, we can
remove the causes of suffering and attain liberation.
The second task, the need to heal our relationships, make a connection and let go, refers to our need to have authentic communication with others, based on mutual respect, acceptance and understanding. The dying especially need frequent and genuine reassurance of other's love and affection - but unfortunately, they often get the opposite. During life, but especially before we die, we need to heal past wounds in our relationships, drop all the conditions we normally tack onto our love, and learn to accept and love each other exactly as we are.
The third task, the need to understand death and prepare spiritually for death, shows us that death in fact mirrors the meaning of our life. What have we really come into this life to do? What is the most important thing, after all, when we come to die? All the religious traditions of the world describe that there is an aspect to our being, a spiritual essence, which is deathless. And the nature of our existence after death is connected to two things - whatever we do in our life, and how we are just at the moment of death.
Finally, whether or not we have a religious or spiritual orientation, each of us needs to find a meaning in our life.
We must find a thread or context which allows us
to know that we are using our life well.
That context might be a wish to evolve into becoming more whole, a better human
being, the wish to heal the wounds from our life, or to give something back
to life, and to our community.
We need to feel our existence has meaning to at least one other person. that we are cared for, or that we are capable of giving love to others. This is possible, with good communication and connection, at any stage of life, regardless of our physical or cognitive limitations. And it is vital to find a meaning in our life as we face death, so that we will not die empty-handed.
Q: Could you tell us about the Tonglen and Self-Tonglen?
A: True compassion, known in Sanskrit as Bodhicitta, is unconditional, limitless and unbiased in any way, shape or form. Bodhicitta means "the heart of our enlightened mind." The wisdom and compassion that radiates from our true nature is compared to the sun: the radiance of the sun is wisdom and the warmth of the sun's rays are the compassion and love which are given out freely toward all creation. That is the way the compassion of our wisdom nature really is.
The compassion practice known as Tonglen, which means "giving and receiving," encourages us to connect with our wisdom nature, with this pure and profound compassion that is the core of our being. As we connect with that indestructible wisdom in our meditation, we slowly find the courage and the joy to relieve the suffering of other beings.
In the Tonglen practice, with each in-breath, we imagine taking in the suffering of other beings in the form of a dark cloud, and as it touches the radiant, sun-like bodhicitta in our heart it is transformed. Then, with each out-breath we give out, in the form of light, all of our love, all of our forgiveness, all of our happiness and joy. The Tonglen is an extraordinary practice of compassion which enables us to become fearless and confident, because we start to trust in our true nature rather than our ordinary fearful conditioned mind that is always trying to keep suffering at bay.
When we first begin doing the Tonglen practice, we may not have this confidence yet, so it might be helpful to train in the Self-Tonglen first, to practice taking in our own suffering, our negativity, judgments or aversion of pain and give out all of our love, happiness, understanding, and forgiveness.
The best thing we can do is to realize that we are facing death right now. We have to engage in our spiritual practice very meaningfully, as though it were our very last day. In this way, we are training ourselves, allowing our spiritual practice to fully enter our being and become part of our flesh and bones, so it becomes our whole way of perceiving and being in the world. And if we were to die unexpectedly or to find out that we have an incurable illness, our practice would really be there for us as a support. But what if a person is very close to death and doesn't have the chance to develop such a dedicated spiritual practice - what can they do?
It is very good to just call out for help, to invoke the sacred presence of whomever you believe in: God, Buddha or Christ. Then, pray to this Presence that you might be supported in your illness and your suffering, pray that he or she may guide and protect you fearlessly through the process of dying and help you let go of your attachment to this life and turn towards the truth.
Even if a person has no spiritual path, the bottom line in helping them to die well is to die not feeling empty-handed but knowing that their life has had meaning, that they have contributed to us in their life, or in their process of dying. So, as we relate to a dying person and give our love and invite them to tell us the story of their life, what they suffered and what they learned, we are actually helping them to not die empty-handed.
Q: How can we help someone who have difficulty communicating with his family or loved one? How can we express them our love and deep feelings when they are near death and sometimes unconscious?
A: Well, there are two things. First, people sometimes have a hard time communicating their very deep feelings as they approach this coming loss. They might find it easier to open up this communication first with a counselor or social worker. That may help them understand what is most important about their connection, and how to express this to the dying person.
I encourage caregivers and family members to remember that if they keep procrastinating and putting off saying what they need to, the person that they love might become unconscious and unable to communicate. Then they will lose this precious opportunity they have now; they will feel doubly bereft, from losing their loved one and the possibility they had had to enjoy the relationship and communicate fully. So, I encourage them to make this genuine connection early on and not be afraid of the natural sadness that will come because that's part of their love, it's all right for it to be there.
There are other people who, as you said, have lost
the ability to communicate verbally, though we must remember that on many levels,
communication is happening all the time. Through touch, being together even
in silence, the communication is really what we are feeling in our heart. If
we have a hard time using words to express our feeling, we should slow down,
be more peaceful and with awareness try and see what is really true and then
express this to the person - even if he or she has dementia.
We must try to also listen with our heart and feel what the other person may
be expressing in a non-verbal way.
Some family members told me that they really had to push their loved one, before he or she died, to simply say "I love you". But what an extraordinary gift it is! For the dying person's children or partner, hearing "I love you," "I am sorry," or, "thank you for all you've done" one more time is a memory they can carry with them for the rest of their life.
Q: How can people deal with the death of a child?
A: I myself don't have direct experience with dying
children but I've learned a lot about it from others who do. Children pick up
the feeling and the view point about death from their parents.
If they have a very negative or frightening view of death, this is what the
child will feel. If the parents have a more positive, life-affirming, or spiritual
view of death, then a dying child will feel more secure. Thus it is vital to
support the parents, because when they can come to terms with the loss of their
child, then the child will have an easier time as well.
It is important to acknowledge all of the layers of the parent's pain, to allow it to be expressed and released. Of course, there are no words to describe how difficult it is; there's nothing, in this life, like seeing a child in pain without being able to do something. But we can also help parents to see that their own attachment and fear may make the child's pain worse.
So it is vital for parents to find sources of support and release -- perhaps through a parent's support group, with a counselor, or by writing out and releasing their fears and attachment. We are naturally afraid to let go, afraid that by accepting the death, it means we do not love our child. But beyond our attachment, there is still a pure love there. As Elizabeth Kübler-Ross says, "Your child may die, but real love doesn't die."
Q: It seems easier for children to die because they don't have a lifelong habit of attachment and grasping as we do.
A: That's true. If children are given good support
in their process of being ill and dying, if they have really caring caregivers
and a good communicative family, for them dying is not so difficult. They have
often a natural trust or confidence in life and a very natural spirituality.
It makes sense for them to pray or to call out for help.
So, letting go, as you said, is not so hard for them. The pain they often suffer
is worrying about their siblings or parents. Of course, we have to be kind to
ourselves. It's natural to have an attachment for children. It's equally important
to realize that when it's time to really let somebody that you love go, we need
to think about what is best for them in that moment, and not make them suffer
more on our account.
Q: You personally experienced two aspects of death: first, facing it with the death of your husband and then doing hospice work and giving workshops and lectures. What did you learn from death?
A: I've learned that our failures are wonderful fuel for us to change and become better human beings. The more I keep my own death in mind, the more I'm forced to change and grow and pay attention to what it is I'm taking refuge in, what my real values are. Because of not knowing how to fully support my husband at the time of his death, I entered a spiritual path.
I'm very grateful now to the suffering that my husband and I went though because it brought something far richer and more meaningful in my life. Because of the spiritual path I found after his death, I now feel a deeper confidence - not just intellectual but a confidence born from my meditation practice - that death can be something wonderful.
And the gift for me now is that as I travel and
teach and give seminars and present my book, I can assure other people that
there is a spiritual dimension to death and to life. Knowing this is extremely
helpful. In whatever spiritual tradition we follow, if we deepen our connection
to the truth and make it part of our being, we can really give strength to other
people when they suffer. And the joy this brings is beyond words.
©1998 Gilles Bédard
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Abbot John Daido Loori's Presentation
Suffering Caused by Sickness and Aging
Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB, John Daido Loori
from Gethsemani Encounter II, April 2002
Mary Margaret Funk: Good morning. Today we have a full day to stretch our boundaries
for the sake of our own transformation and the transformation of others on the
theme of the suffering caused by old age and sickness and even death. We had
marvelous psalms this morning. Let me quote two verses out of Norman Fischer's
new translation of Psalm 102: "Let my cry come before you. Don't hide your
face from me now. When suffering overwhelms me, bend your ear toward my wailing
and answer me swiftly. The days of my life have gone up in smoke. My bones are
smoldering like hearth fire logs, and my heart is as dry as desert grass. I
can't eat. My groaning bones chatter inside my flesh. I am like a scavenger
bird in the wilderness, like an owl amidst the ruins. All hungry. I am like
a lone bird on a nighttime rooftop."
When Father James Wiseman and I were in Tibet, we were staying at a hotel near Mt. Everest, although because of the different names given by the Chinese, Tibetans, and Nepalese to the area we weren't quite sure where we were. So I said to the Chinese clerk, "Where are we? Where are we?" And she said, pointing to the ground, "Here, here." Of course, that didn't satisfy Meg Funk, the leader of the band, so I went to the map and pointed to it. "No," I said, 'Where are we?" "I don't know," said the clerk. "I've never been anyplace else." So, here we are.
It is my privilege this morning to introduce a new friend for me and probably an old friend for many of you-but a great discovery, a jewel in this dialogue, John Daido Loori Roshi. He is the spiritual leader and the abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper, New York. Trained in koan Zen as well as in the subtle school of Master Dogen's Zen, he is a Dharma heir of Haku Taizan Maezumi Roshi. He has received transmission in both the Rinzai as well as the Soto lines of Zen Buddhism. Abbot Loori lives at the monastery year-round and is very active in its day-to-day activities, making him highly accessible to students. Devoted to maintaining authentic Zen training, he has developed a distinctive style called Eight Gates of Zen, based on the Eightfold Path, involving both monastic and lay practitioners in a program of study that embraces every aspect of daily life. Zazen and a strong teacher-student relationship form the core of the training, supported by art practice and other areas of study, as was traditional during the Golden Ages of Chinese and Japanese Zen.
John Daido Loori: I'd like to begin by just expressing my appreciation to everyone who's here, to the organizers of this conference, but mostly to the participants. I normally don't do well at conferences, so I came prepared to be bored senseless. Instead, my heart has been ripped open by what's taken place here. I've been touched deeply by the openness and honesty of all the participants, and I deeply appreciate it. Thank you. One other thing I wanted to mention for future conferences is language. Sometimes I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing. There are many words in Buddhism that are translated into English to the closest equivalent, and they don't convey what's really behind the word-like prajna into "wisdom," karuna into "compassion," and dukkha into "suffering." For instance, there is much more to the word dukkha than the English word "suffering" encompasses.
As I see it, there are different ways of dealing with suffering due to old age and sickness. Of course, the basic Buddhist way is that the extinguishing of suffering is essentially the definition of Nirvana. Then there is alleviation of suffering, which is a different approach. Then there is the transformation of suffering, and I'd like to look briefly at all three of those.
The extinguishing of suffering forms the whole basis of training at our monastery. People who enter come with a statement: "I come here realizing the question of life and death is a grave matter. I wish to enter into training." These novices are essentially saying that they want to resolve those ultimate questions: "Who am I? What is life? What is death? What is truth? What is reality?" They enter a training program that takes place in eight different areas, and moves through ten successive stages. It's clearly defined; each day and each week these ten areas of practice are engaged. Zazen is at the core of everything that we do. A student tries to develop a single-pointedness of mind, to deal with the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that come up. It's a very slow process that takes place over years.
A second area of training is the teacher/student relationship. Because we are an ancestral lineage, the teachings are conveyed one to one from teacher to student rather than through scriptures or study. It's mind-to-mind transmission. For that we use koan study. In our lineage there are 750 of those koans that a student needs to go through over a period of between fifteen to twenty years, or sometimes more. These koans are designed to short-circuit the whole intellectual process. They essentially frustrate linear sequential thought. They try to open up another aspect of consciousness, which is direct, immediate, and intuitive. That's where religious experience and artistic expression takes place. It's not linear and sequential. Unraveling these koans each day, the teacher and student meet face to face during periods of zazen.
Another area of training is liturgy. Liturgy punctuates our entire day-not only the services that take place in the Buddha hall, but services that we use to begin work practice, or before we take a meal, or before using the bathroom. Each event of the day has a liturgy that precedes it to remind us what that activity is about. Another area is moral and ethical teachings-the precepts. It's not just in the precept ceremony where people receive the precepts and become Buddhists, but a continuum that moves through each of those ten stages of spiritual development. Because American students have no grounding in historical Buddhist teachings-we come from a Judeo-Christian tradition-the tendency is to equate what we are doing with the Judeo-Christian counterpart. So services are misinterpreted as being worship services, and they are not. Buddha is not a God, and the process is not a worship service. Buddhism is nontheistic. It's not atheistic; it doesn't say there is no God. It's not agnostic; it doesn't say, "I don't know if there is a God or not." It simply doesn't take up the question of whether there exists a God or not, which keeps the whole question open in a very interesting way.
Work practice is another important aspect of life and how to take it into the activity of the world. One of the things that happens during that period of spiritual development is that some may get to that place of the extinguishing of suffering, and some may not. But a spiritual maturity does indeed occur. That happens at the monastery, and it doesn't deal with the problem of what takes place outside the monastery. We have a very broad sangha of lay practitioners, and here is where we get into the question of alleviation of suffering. When people are sick, they turn to our lay sangha, and the monastery responds. We respond with the classical kind of response that any kind of a religious organization would make-for example, each day we do a healing service. I remember years ago, when we first started doing this and people wanted to know what it was, I said, "Well, we are sending out healing energy." Everybody chuckled. This was twenty-two years ago. Since that time, with the studies that have been going on on the role of prayer and healing, the chuckling has stopped. There is pretty clear evidence that there is a healing that can take place when a community directs their energy to helping people. The priestly services, bedside services, counseling the family, particularly where death is imminent, last rites, deathbed vigils-those are all of the normal things that any religion would do. Then we try to do more than that, and call upon the broad sangha to give support to people who are housebound and handicapped. Sometimes we provide legal aid and financial support. Sometimes people need their bills paid, transportation, food, baby-sitting, and housecleaning. All those things are responded to with the 10,000 hands and arms of great compassion.
There is the extinction of suffering, which is realization. There is the alleviation of suffering, which is the physical and spiritual support. Then there is another aspect. There is the transformation of suffering. The great Master Dongshan, who is the founder of our lineage, the Soto lineage, was not feeling well-there is a koan that emerged out of this-and a monastic said, "Master, you are not feeling well. Is there anyone who doesn't get sick?" Dongshan said, "Yes, there is." The monastic said, "Does the person who doesn't get sick take care of you?" Dongshan said, "I have the opportunity to take care of that person." The monastic said, "What happens when you take care of that person?" Dongshan said, "At that time I am unable to see my sickness."
This is an actual event that became a koan, right before Dongshan died. Seeing that his end was near, he shaved his head and bathed himself, put on his robes, and sat cross-legged, preparing to die. As he began to expire, his very large congregation started wailing and carrying on, and the wailing went on and on. Finally, he opened his eyes and he said, "For those who have left home, a mind unattached to things is the true practice. People struggle to live and make much of death. But what's the use of lamenting?" Then he ordered a temple official to prepare what he called a banquet for stupidity, and everybody celebrated, and he joined in the celebration. The negativeness didn't stop, so he continued it for seven days. Finally Dongshan said, "You monks have made a great commotion over nothing. When you see me pass away this time, don't make a noisy fuss." Then he retired to his room, sat upright, and left his body.
This sort of a thing not only happens with great Zen masters. My grandmother, who was a peasant from the mountains of Italy, was in her late 80s when she was getting ready to pass away. My mother was with her, lying in bed, and she expired. My mother told me the story. My grandmother had just expired and her fingernails and lips started turning blue. My mother started wailing-she was, you know, a very passionate Italian daughter. And my grandmother sucked in air again and sat upright. Then my mother calmed her down again, and she laid back, and again she expired, and again my mother started wailing. Once more, my grandmother returned. Her daughter was crying out to her. She couldn't go. Then my mother realized that she was preventing her mother from leaving her body. She told her, "It's okay, Mom. It's okay to let go." And finally she expired.
I think that's the great heart of compassion that resides in every one of us. We all in this room come from different lineages, all incredible lineages back through history. If we look at the people we represent, that we hold the banner for now-the great saints and masters, Jesus, Buddha-we need to realize that it is now in our hands. As I have said a couple of times during this retreat, it's a hopeless task. Yet we vow to do it. I look at the four vows that we chant every day: "Sentient beings are numberless. I vow to save them." It can't be done by definition. They are numberless, yet I vow to save them. "Desires are inexhaustible. I vow to put an end to them." They are inexhaustible. You can't put an end to them, but I vow to do it. "The Dharmas are boundless. I vow to master them." To master them means to put a frame around them. It can't be done, yet I vow to do it. "The enlightened way is unattainable. I vow to attain it." Impossible, the impossible dream. All we can do is turn and bow to our ancestors and take up their call to heal, to administer. We bow to them, and turn and enter the fray with that vow that no matter how long it takes, how impossible it is, we vow what needs to be done.
*********************
An Instruction to daily Training
In Meditation and in Activity
Given In Dharma-Tor by Ingrid Hupfer-Neu
This text is a translation of the German teaching.
This practice, which is demonstrated here, has four parts. It is based on the
traditional mindtraining. It is a preparation for development of Bodhicitta
and works to dissolve our habitual tendencies, which cause so much sufferings.
Preparatory contemplation
To work on our habitual tendencies and karmic concepts we must reach the deep
and subtle levels of our mind. It is not enough to think about suffering and
our entanglement in suffering. It is not enough to see the impermanence of happiness,
which we lose again and again, and which we in vain try to hold onto. Of course
first we have to think on the intellectual level, to comprehend and understand
these things, to get a clear view. But then the training follows. After an intellectual
understanding there must be experience, and after the experience realisation.
This is liberation from wrong view and from a state of mind which causes suffering.
All situations, which entangle us in the world, are ultimately painful, and all happiness, which we meet in the world is impermanent. The more we hold onto happiness and the more we refuse suffering, the more we become entangled in painful experiences. Happiness dissolves, because all is impermanent and changes all the time. And we cannot stop suffering, because everything that appears is changing and dissolves some time. This is a natural process. But a human being searches for happiness and doesn't want to suffer, all beings search for happiness and don't want to suffer. Therefore they react by holding onto happiness and they repress suffering. In this way everything becomes painful. Also happiness essentially becomes painful, because there is the fear that happiness will diminish. This is Samsara, the circle of suffering, in which all beings are entangled.
The path to liberation is to try to change our reactions in a way, so that we no longer suffer. Suffering is always there as long as we are in the world, because everything is always changing. But we can learn how to suffer no longer from this changing process, from this impermanence. There is nobody who does not experience great suffering during life, nobody who does not lose dear ones, nobody who does not experience illness and the suffering of old age. But we can stop to suffer from this suffering. We have an impermanent body. Everything we meet in our life is impermanent because it has developed interdependently and is composed of different parts. This we have to understand deeply, to experience and to learn to accept. Then suffering will dissolve. But the causes of our behaviour are even stored on a very very deep level of our mind. So, to become free from suffering we cannot do very much to change the mechanism of our reactions, our concepts, by working on the level of the day-consciousness and with intellectual thinking. Therefore we must work on ourselves very much with skillful means, with mindtraining, to change the mechanism of our reactions. The focal point is how we react on situations. The 'how' is important. The situation is not the problem but our kind of reaction. If it was the situation, different human beings would not react in different ways to the same situation. And if the situation was the cause, no being could become free from suffering. But because the Buddha and other beings were able to become free from suffering, free from Samsara, this path out of suffering exists.
We have to work on ourselves with patience and diligence to cause a change. On doing so we should create our practice in a joyful way. And what can bring us more joy than a path to liberation from suffering?
The practice
Meditative preparation
Let your breath flow in and out softly till you experience a comfortable calmness.
Visualize a small radiant light in the middle of your body.
By breathing out let the air flow through this light. After some time it begins
to radiate more strong.
1. Accept suffering
Now remember a situation which was painful for you.
Don't try to push away this experience or to run away from it. Look at it, go
into the painful feeling. Accept it.
Think about all beings who have to experience the same suffering. Think about
your suffering as the suffering of all beings.
Now look at the light in your body. Let it radiate more and more by breathing
out. It begins to dissolve the suffering as the light of the sun dispels all
darkness.
Let love and compassion arise in yourself and send out light, love and compassion.
Wish from your heart that all suffering of beings may dissolve. Send them your
light, your love, and relax in a liberated, joyful state.
2. Share happiness and joy
Remember a situation which has brought happiness
and joy to you.
Then go totally into this feeling of happiness and joy.
Now open your mind widely and fill it with this experience.
Think about all the many beings who also want so much to be happy. Wish from
your heart that they may experience the same happiness, the same joy.
Now share your happiness, send it out together with your light to all beings.
Be open and free and give.
Experience joy and happiness of giving and sympathetic joy.
3. Experience the ego as cause of suffering
Remember a situation where you have been disagreeing
with somebody, where you have quarrelled.
Look at this situation as a neutral observer. Especially look at yourself, your
own reaction.
And then take the sting out of this situation. Take out the ego, which wants
to be absolutely right.
See that you cannot force circumstances to change. See that you cannot change
the other person. If you try it, the sting goes deeper.
But you can change your own behaviour. This is the chance for calmness and peace.
It is the chance to dissolve suffering. Let go your expectations and then you
become free. Then you become peaceful. And the situation dissolves.
Don't seek to change the other person. He cannot change himself, but you can
change yourself.
Develop compassion for the other who causes suffering for himself.
4. Become free from expectations
Remember a situation where you had great expectations
which then were not fulfilled.
Go into the feeling of disappointment. Look at the senselessness of the attitude
of expectation.
Dissolve it, become free from it. - Be as you are, open and free.
Enjoy the state of not having to have expectations.
Concluding contemplation
This training shows us very directly that we ourselves are causing the suffering. We can prevent much suffering for ourselves and for others if we become familiar with these practices. We cannot change the world, we cannot change other human beings, but we can work on ourselves and change ourselves. If many people do this, the world will change too. But we cannot expect and wait for the others to begin. We have to start in ourselves.
If we let go our expectations, if we reduce our ego-thinking, and if we take the sting out of difficult situations, we plant the basis for peace in ourselves and in our environment. If we stop being so much vulnerable, we no longer hurt others. We can choose our behaviour. We have a choice in every situation, in every moment. We will learn to develop compassion and wisdom. Our meditation helps us, the circumstances in everyday life are our training ground. This is the practice. This is Dharma practice for our own well-being and for the well-being of others too.
To practise in this way gives us the gift to go to liberation. It is the greatest gift we can receive in this life. There is no greater gift.
"Do not forget the Lama,
Pray to him all the times.
Do not be carried away by thoughts,
Watch the nature of mind.
Do not forget death,
Persist in Dharma.
Do not forget sentient beings,
With compassion dedicate your merit to them."
H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
*********************
Are Buddhism and Unitarian
Universalism Made For Each Other?
by Gene Gibas
Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
2600 E. Philip Ln.
P.O. Box 1791
Appleton, WI 54912-1791
(920) 731-0849
Website: http://www.focol.org/fvuuf
July 22, 2001
This morning I'd like to talk about how I think basic Buddhism could enrich
Unitarian-Universalists as a personal salvation or redemption scheme.
Now, in my lexicon, a salvation scheme is both a set of beliefs about human
nature and the human condition and the actions and practices that stem from
these beliefs. Redemptive beliefs and practices deliver us from negative or
disabling conditions having to do with our finiteness, with our own personal
deaths. They deliver us from a gnawing sense at the core of our beings that
our lives and deaths occur against a background of apparent nothingness and
are without meaning. They deliver us from feelings of existential emptiness,
separation, and isolation. A salvation scheme also helps us try to determine
what behaviors harm people and the sustaining web, and are thus evil, and should
be combated. A salvation scheme helps us to define and choose that which is
good. A salvation scheme frees us from self-seeking. We can turn away from the
self and pour our abundance on others and on the world as a healing balm.
I suggest that the need for a salvation scheme, for redemption, is a human universal
and that there are two main ways UU's respond to this universal need. One way
is distraction. You can so thoroughly distract yourself with activities of any
sort, all of the lures of the modern world, that you have no time to feel that
gnawing anxiety at your core. Modern, complex professional disciplines, for
example, are so consuming that they have the effect of distracting us from existential
angst. Or your basic temperament may be such that you are indifferent to these
issues, you just don't feel existential angst at all, and you slide through
life blissfully indifferent to them, i.e., you're automatically distracted.
.
But for many modern people, people who cannot accept fundamentalist religions
and outlandish beliefs, the route to salvation is good works. Many of you here
today have professional lives where you are actually paid to contribute to the
welfare of mankind. You do so splendidly and can rest in the conviction that
you are contributing to realizing a grand vision of the good. You can ultimately
lay your head down at the end of life with a sigh of satisfaction needing no
further salvation scheme.
That vision of the good, the utopia that UU's and other religious liberals strive
to bring about, thereby redeeming themselves, is well summed up in UU's seven
principles. The utopia we work to bring about supports 1) the inherent worth
and dignity of every person; 2) justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3) acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth; 4) the free
and responsible search for truth and meaning; 5) the right of conscience and
the use of the democratic process; 6) the extension of these principles to the
whole world, and an ecological 7) respect for the interdependent web of all
existence. I have heard UU's joke that working to bring about this utopia is
doing "the Lord's" work.
If you doubt the primacy of works in the UU approach to life, just read the
UU World! UU's are urged to do good works, to become advocates and activists
as much as their time, energy and gifts permit. But they're not told to do works
as their way of becoming saved or redeemed. Yet my observation is that the effect
is there. Social activism is a form of salvation by works. I've seen too much
behavior among UU's and liberals in general that can only be explained this
way.
But there are a number of problems with salvation by works. One is that despite
all of our pretensions, we never really know what the effects of many of our
actions will be over the middle and long range. Another is that we can never
fully predict who will rise in opposition to our ideas. And when people rise
to oppose us, our self-esteem tends to push us into Manichean thinking. We easily
convince ourselves that there are forces of good and forces of evil in existence,
and, of course, the UU's are on the side of the good forces and those who oppose
us are the evil, benighted, unrighteous ones. Redeeming oneself through works
also subtly tempts one to objectify the very people one sets out to help. Me..
big wise person, you, object of my caritas... some sort of failed person who
can help me feel good about myself.
But a bigger problem with salvation by works is the wounded healer issue. Catholicism
recognized not long ago, agreeing with Luther, that works are not the route
to salvation, but should proceed from a heart and mind that is already redeemed.
Works should pour from abundant hearts, hearts that no longer feel that it is
all empty and meaningless, but that life is a wonderful gift, a bestowed kindness
to which any normal human being must reciprocate. When this isn't the order
of things, we get into a strange circularity: feeling the emptiness of life,
feeling life is without meaning, a person goes forth to help those bogged down
in life in some way or other, so that those helped then have the time and ease
to feel the emptiness of life, and then try themselves to escape their own existential
suffering by going out to help others bogged down in the emptiness of life,
and so on.
>From what I have seen, UU is pretty much silent for those of us who are
not so fortunate as to already have achieved a full and abundant heart. Run-of-the-mill
mortals need a religio, a methodology of rebinding oneself into the web of existence.
They need an art of living, some sort of extended metaphor that doesn't ask
us to make assertions that insult our intelligence. After reading my way through
a dozen or so books on South Asian Buddhism over the last 15 years, I've become
convinced that Buddhism, stripped of reincarnation doctrine, is that religio.
It think Buddhism's understanding of human nature and the human condition and
the redemptive practices it has developed can help skeptical modern people be
religious and
develop the full and abundant hearts that overflow into
works and living for others.
But I also realize there are considerable barriers for Westerners to really
appreciate how Buddhism could help them lead a religious life..
Barrier number one is the tendency of Westerners to force Buddhism into the
terminology and categories of Christianity. If you want to have the slightest
chance of understanding Buddhism, if you want to become partially Buddhist,
you must resist this tendency. You have to forego the idea that the Buddha is
the Buddhist Christ, that humans are basically evil and tainted by Original
Sin, that the goal of religion is salvation in the sense of accepting a Jesus-like
figure as savior and being drawn up into some heaven at death. You should set
aside terms like sin, faith, belief, grace, and spirituality. I'll try not to
use them at all in the rest of this talk. In fact it's best to start out saying
that Buddhism really isn't a religion at all. Rather it is an "art of living,"
or as a Japanese businessman once told me, "Buddhism is mental health."
The second barrier to approaching Buddhism arises from some initial mis-translations
by the first Western writers about Buddhism. One of these is the use of the
term "enlightenment" for the culminating experience of Buddhist practice.
For Westerners Enlightenment means that you figure out some problem or set of
problems so that you can better understand or control your life and circumstances.
That's absolutely not the goal Buddhism strives to reach.
More confusion arises from the terms: meditation and nirvana. South Asian Buddhism
does not totally reject Hindu forms of meditation but just does not consider
them uniquely useful. To understand what Buddhism does consider useful, we should
abandon the term meditation itself. Buddhism preaches bhavana. Bhavana is mental
culture and mental discipline aimed at achieving right mindfulness. Right mindfulness
is proper awareness of the world and your place in it. This is an awareness
not distorted by various forms of delusion, prideful self-assertion, and self-centered
craving. Nirvana is nothing more than achieving this relationship to the world.
The fourth barrier arises from the difference between orthodoxy (right teachings)
and orthopraxis (right practice). Much of Christianity is preoccupied with orthodoxy,
that is, with right beliefs and teachings, right creeds. In Christianity, having
faith and being admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven is based on adherence to correct
statements about God and his relation to humans. Think of the Nicean Creed.
"I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ,
his only son our Lord...." Buddhism on the other hand is a religion of
orthopraxis, of right conduct. And the point of the right conduct one struggles
to achieve is to see things as they are, and not to busy oneself with unanswerable
questions like
Is there a God? Is there life after death? Am I doomed
to return in another reincarnation?
But the biggest barrier to understanding Buddhism is the direction of regarding
in Western religion and life. It boils down to this. In the West we think the
individual should be the focus of regard and concern. As far back as Greek times
the acquisition of knowledge, wealth, power, and fame were seen as the keys
to happiness. (Pindar) They still are the main motivations for achievement in
modern life. Western religions have not been terribly successful as an antidote
against this tendency. God had a chosen people, the Jews. Christ came into the
world to redeem you, not to provide you a model of self-forgetting in service
of your fellow man. You, the individual, are the focus of regarding and concern.
The West is basically narcissistic.
In modern times Rene Descartes' idea that "I think, therefore I am"
further reinforced this direction of regarding. According to Descartes the unique
personality is the one undoubtable reality and all truth starts there. The more
the modern person is able to develop his consciousness as an agent separate
from everything else, the more he can manipulate objects outside the self for
his own selfish purposes. That includes other people. Buddhism calls this sort
of knowledge avidya...which means ignorance or not-knowing.
This ignorance, this alienated manipulative standoffishness by a fortress self
was labeled dualism by Taitetz Suzuki, one of the greatest interpreters of Buddhism
to Americans. Since this form of dualism is the standard operating mode of Western
Life, Buddhism sees virtually everything about Western Life as maya, delusion,
fundamental error.
Buddhist practice leads to the experience of another sort of consciousness.
It starts from an intuition that everything that exists is one, and everything
is an element in the existence of everything else. For example, your friends
and the people around you are the content of your life and make you what you
are. You would be unthinkable without others. In Buddhism the rule of life is
interrelatedness and interdependence, as in the UU interdependent web of all
existence.
Buddhists develop the intuition of oneness through study and mental discipline
to the point where awareness of self seems to melt away. Barriers between you
and other people melt away. Regarding is turned outward. All of existence is
experienced as an infinite gift or kindness that normal people want to respond
to in kind. Self is forgotten.
As Buddhists go deeper and deeper into this intuition, they can be said to be
living more and more in Nirvana. The distinction between personal needs and
compassionate involvement with others is overcome. Buddhism in South Asia as
we saw in the Vietnam war is not self-centered otherworldly navel-gazing. It
is a deep, moral, caring, self-forgetting participation in the interdependent
web of all existence.
Now those are the most significant barriers I can see that keep Westerners from
making sense of Buddhism. So let's look beyond them at the few core beliefs
that Buddhism, especially Southeast Asian Theravadan Buddhism, does hold. Some
of these beliefs have already been spelled out.
Beliefs:
1. ...You cannot make an art of living out of propositions you have to take
on faith, like the existence of God, the divine nature of Jesus, or life after
death. The Buddha purposefully maintained what the commentators call a 'noble
silence' in response to such unanswerable questions. Proper living is to see
things as they are in the concrete here and now.
2. There may be some ultimate force or power, but it will remain forever unknowable
to mankind. That ultimate reality has no attributes or characteristics we can
identify or grasp. Thus speculation about the nature and existence of God is
viewed, in Buddhism, as idle and pointless. It's a diversion from the real task
of life, which is to become aware of the infinite interrelatedness of things
and find oneself within it.
3. Buddhists know that the world as taken in by the five senses is really there.
But what is really real and really important is not what we can know through
our senses and manipulate with our minds and hands. The only thing that is really
important is to attain a gentle, open, submitted relationship to the world around
us.
4. There is no original sin. But there is a flaw, and that is the tendency to
become deluded about the nature of things. The goal of Buddhist practice is
to see things as they are, to walk away from delusion. When we set deluded ways
of thinking and acting aside, we discover our true nature: Buddhists say that
is joy, compassion, harmony, peace, and wholeness, a sense of fitting in, a
submittedness and openness of the person.
So how do we escape delusion? How do we become the fully open, submitted personality?
The original preaching of Buddha was that we achieve undeluded, submitted living
through mental discipline and effort (bhavana).. The Buddha's role in this was
only to point out the way based on his own experience. He never claimed to be
anything but an inspired teacher. He is the awakened or newly budded one, budded
as in a flower's unfolding. His teaching in a nutshell is that the ultimate
good is to do no harm, by omission or commission, and that selfish desire and
pride of intellect is the root of human suffering, or dukkha..
The nearest thing to original Buddhism, called Theravadan Buddhism, is still
practiced in Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka. It is very clear about what it thinks
deluded views are. It's a good place to start the study of Buddhism.
The Southeast Asian core catechism says ..to not live in delusion you must accept:
the Three Basic Facts of Life, the notion of the two selves, the Four Noble
Truths, and the Noble Eightfold Path. It also asks people to accept the notion
of Karma, the way past actions influence you here and now, and the merciful
doctrine of reincarnation.
What are the three Basic Facts of Life we should hold in the front of our minds
at all times?
ANICCA (impermanence). Everything is impermanent. Like each one of us, everything
comes into being; it matures; it grows old and worn; and it dies. Not to see
every aspect of life at every moment through this filter is delusion. To fight
this is delusion.
ANATTA (insubstantiality). The second fact of life is that nothing in existence
has any permanent features that distinguish it from anything else. There is
no core enduring substance in anything. To understand ANATTA think of yourself
and what you think you are. With your aging and death you will be stripped of
everything you have, everyone you know. What is the reality of your personality,
interests, links to others and skills? If you're an athlete, an accident could
make you a paraplegic. Live long enough and time will make your expertises outdated
and you may or may not learn new ones. Will you still remember who you were
or are?
When you peel away all the changeable distinguishing features of yourself, Buddhism
says, the only thing that is permanent is the peaceful sea of consciousness,
free of thought and distraction, at the center of our being, a void identical
in every person. This is the real and permanent Self with a capital 'S', as
opposed to the personal you, the mortal individual, the self with a small 's'.
DUKKHA. Basic fact #3 is that all of life is at bottom suffering, a series of
necessary losses ending in the loss of our very selves in death. Dukkha or suffering
does not refer mainly to outright pain or disease, or even minor stuff such
as discomfort, irritation, and friction. It means that most people are aware
at some deep level of their incompleteness and even helplessness in the face
of the fleeting nature of life and the ultimate absurdity of death. Suffering
also means that most people frequently experience gnawing dissatisfaction and
discontent; that they constantly want things to be different than they actually
are.
So how does a Buddhist construct a happy and fulfilled life in view of these
rather austere and harsh facts of life? The Buddhist answer is to accept the
Four Noble Truths and their implications.
..The first noble truth is dukkha. Life is dissatisfaction. Life is suffering.
..The second noble truth is that suffering comes from our deluded efforts to
deny and hide from the facts of anicca and anatta, impermanence and insubstantiality.
We try to deny these facts of life by endless self-centered craving, such as
the craving of the senses for experiences and the greed of the everyday person
for wealth, power and recognition.
But there is an even more subtle craving in the realm of ideas. People try to
deny anicca and anatta by conceptualizing about the nature of things. This makes
the world seem more solid, enduring and predictable than it really is. In fact,
says Buddhism, it is not solid, enduring and predictable at all.
..The third noble truth is that you can end suffering in yourself by eliminating
its cause: self-centered craving and the pride of intellect. (Pelagian heresy.)
..The fourth noble truth is that there is a methodology to accomplish this:
the Noble Eightfold Path.
Note that the path to the end of suffering is not through being redeemed by
someone else's sacrifice. The whole emphasis in Buddhism is on the mind and
will of the individual, on self-reliance. Despite the fact that mind and will
are some of the temporary facets of an individual, and this is a contradiction,
it is through them that the individual determines to follow the Eightfold Noble
Path to enlightenment.
Before examining the eightfold path, we should examine the way in which the
Buddhists solved the question of free will versus determinism and relationship
of this to the doctrine of reincarnation. The word KARMA means volitional action.
Buddhists speak of the fruits of KARMA to indicate the influence and weight
of past deeds and events.
They say that your past deeds, the deeds of others, the events of history, and
just plain raw chance do indeed affect your options now. But what you choose
to do at any given moment adds a new layer of the fruits of Karma (weight of
past deeds). Your choice thus opens up new possibilities. And these include
striving for and attaining the open yielded way of life. So to follow the Eightfold
Noble Path is to lay down new layers of the results of karma, volitional action.
That leads eventually to openness, yieldedness , submittedness, the prerequisites
to getting off the endless cycle of rebirth and suffering..
But disciplining and perfecting yourself is very, very difficult. So Buddhists
and Hindus drew upon their experience of sub-tropical plants and animals to
find a way to grant a person more time to develop better Karma. They did this
by developing a doctrine of reincarnation. If you could not attain the open
yielded way of life in one lifetime, the wheel of existence would come around
and your elements would eventually be reconstituted again for another try. Sophisticated
modern Buddhists tend to see worrying about reincarnation as a form of idle
speculation like wondering if there is a God and what our relationship to God
is.
So what is methodology, the Noble Eightfold Path, that makes it possible to
achieve gentleness, openness, yieldedness? Well, it's very prosaic:
Right Understanding Right Purpose or Desire Right Speech Right Action Right
Occupation Right Effort Right Concentration Right Meditation
"Right" means "highest and best imaginable." The Buddha
taught that all of the stages of the path were originally viewed as equally
necessary to attain. All of the rest of Buddhist literature can be understood
as an attempt to give meaning to this core doctrine of the eight parts of the
path to openness and yieldedness. So what is the eightfold path like?
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
The first "fold" of the path is Right Understanding or View, which
means seeing life as it is. This means getting an intellectual grasp of the
basic teachings ...what the 3 Basic Facts of Life are, what the Four Noble Truths
are...what the 8 stages of the Noble Eightfold Path are...what the self is and
is not...and what Karma is...it means holding these teachings in the forefront
of our minds and interpreting life through them.
The first fold is Right Purpose, Motive or Desire, the desire to slay the selfish
and base within us, to take the love of humanity to heart, to use one's gifts
in the service of others, to forget the impermanent little self, to experience
oneself, others, and everything else as an interrelated web of cause and effect.
There are four states of mind in Right Purpose.
(If you listen up, you'll realize you are hearing one of the few real paradoxes
in Buddhism. You must want to follow the religion that views self-centered wanting
as the primary cause of suffering.)
Right Purpose means to constantly and consciously cultivate love, compassion,
sympathetic joy, and equanimity. People should work to cause thoughts of love
to pervade and suffuse their world. People should struggle to strip selfish
desire out of their loving, they should act on these thoughts through selfless
giving, trying to develop the ability to give without even being aware one is
giving. To foster compassion, or sympathetic sorrow, people should constantly
strive to see the common core they share with others so as to be able to identify
with them and to imagine oneself in the place of those who suffer...and act
on their compassion.
People have an equal obligation to cultivate sympathetic joy or gladness, which
means to practice rejoicing in the success and good fortune of others. You should
practice filling your heart with the rejoicing of others so that their joy is
your joy. You should also practice cutting feelings of joy and gladness free
from any specific persons and events, in effect practicing the experience of
free floating gladness. There are texts full of meditation techniques that help
the practicing Buddhist bring about the four states of mind that comprise Right
Purpose.
People also have an obligation, after experiencing the excitement of the world,
to learn how to discover and return to the impersonal serenity at the core of
their beings... to see all others impartially without self-centered aversion
or attraction... to see all others as a constituent parts of themselves and
their actions.
All of this is Right Purpose and Buddhists clearly believe that all this is
possible for humans to achieve. We have the mental capacity to strip ourselves
of selfish desires and the pride of the intellect. And when we do so we discover
that what is left is love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. You should note
that this an extremely positive and optimistic view of human nature. It's essentially
"original goodness."
The 3/4/5 folds of the path are: Right Speech, Right Action, Right Occupation.
All are elaborations of Right Purpose. These are very important elements in
the development of a Buddhist art of living. Most everyday people spend more
of their lives pursuing these stages of the Eightfold Path than the mind discipline
stages. There is nothing here about escaping or denying this world.
The sixth fold, Right Effort, is the practice of constant and strenuous endeavor
to train oneself to fulfill the first five stages just outlined. It means to
live, breathe, and eat the basic teachings. It means to train oneself in these
practices as a champion gymnast would train for the Olympics.
Unlike some American schools of Buddhism and New Age teachings, meditation techniques
are not the sum total of South Asian Buddhism. The Buddha taught that each of
the eight stages of the eightfold path was as important as any other. Consciously
and intentionally working to become a selfless, altruistic, compassionate, joyous
social being, dedicated to reducing the suffering of others, comes first. In
fact, my impression is that South Asian Buddhists view these first six stages
as prerequisites to the mental self- control techniques that make up the last
stages of the Noble Eightfold Path.
If the person doesn't become socially oriented, the last two stages of the path,
the mind-control stages, easily degenerate into self-centered pleasure seeking,
a way to avoid the moral life or build up the self. I think that is why so much
of Buddhism in the U.S. seems to start and stop with the meditation technique
of attentiveness to breathing. Americans practice this form of meditation for
relaxation. It is just another skill or technique to make their Western egos
more powerful. It's just a fragment of a full religious ethical system.
Right Mindfulness, Concentration or Attention is the seventh fold or element
of the Eightfold path. It is the first of the mind techniques presented in the
Eightfold path for blending the individual into the unity that underlies the
world. The goal of the technique is to learn through mental discipline how NOT
to experience the world as a set of tools to grasp and manipulate. Satipathana,
or mindfulness training, trains you to be harmlessly present in the world and
compassionately aware. It teaches you how to apprehend the world without scheming
to make use of it, or distorting your awareness of what actually exists with
some preexisting map of what the world is supposed to be like.
I have found different interpretations in different books as to what the eighth
fold of the eight-fold path is. Some call it Wisdom training or prajna. These
are techniques to attain transcendental awareness of emptiness. The sense in
which the world is "empty" is that is is empty of our purposes. This
is very close to mindfulness, attending the to world that is without subjecting
it to your willfulness or intentions.
Now why should we be interested in seeing the world this way? When we learn
to sense the emptiness of the world, the givenness or suchness of the world,
we are more open to perceive it as a vast set of interrelations without beginning
or end, something we're only a small part of. Achieving this perspective allows
us to set aside the claims of our own little personalities and wants and puts
us in a position to become the person who lives for others.
Some see the eighth stage as Right Meditation as bodhi, awareness techniques
designed to carry us into the moments of consciousness which lie between thoughts.
We become aware that consciousness is a sea. Thought is a wave upon the sea.
Pure consciousness is like a still lake, clear, calm, and full of joy. You glimpse
even deeper consciousness. The glimpse is called bodhi... awareness of the ultimate
unity. It is said to come like a blinding glimpse of pure light accompanied
by a flood of joy. Continued practice of meditation and the repeated experience
of bodhi lead to the ability to live for long periods of time in complete selfless
unity free of suffering. The elements of separate personality fall away. This
is part of what is meant by Nirvana.
Trouble is that everyone returns to everyday life from these mental activities.
When such persons who have achieved bodhi or prajna return to the the everyday
world, they are said to pick up the appearance of personality and slip it on
again. But it is the personality of a new person, purified of separateness and
reborn in the love of all life. Those few who have reached this stage of spiritual
development have, according to Theravadan, or South Asian Buddhism, achieved
the purpose of life and could live out their days in meditative retreat.
But that's where the Mahayana or northern school of Buddhism arose. Mahayanists
objected, saying "Wait a minute. What do you mean, meditative retreat?
That's selfish. After the Buddha attained full awareness and openness, he didn't
run off to be alone like a rhinocerous snorting in the bush. Rather he chose
to become a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who returns to everyday life,
dedicated to relieving the suffering of others by helping them achieve the goals
of Buddhist living.
When Buddhism came to China, the Chinese mahayanists further elaborated the
bodhisattva ideal. They saw spending the huge amounts of time required to achieve
wisdom or awareness through mental exercises as selfish and immoral. The Mahayanists
favored the Bodhisattva notion and gave it a new wrinkle. They said that you
achieve nirvana right here in the hustle and bustle of everyday life pursuing
the goals of the first seven stages of the Noble Path.
It should also be noted that centering attention on life here and now finesses
the issue of reincarnation. If you are a Buddhist who believes in reincarnation,
you believe that at death a person will experience reincarnation again and again
until he or she succeeds in achieving bodhi. When that happens the person, or
whatever, goes on to dwell forever in undifferentiated unity, in the bosom of
the Lord, so to speak. But if you have truly absorbed the spirit of Buddhism,
you find this irrelevant. For you death and impermanence have lost all meaning.
You have already merged in this life with the timeless, boundless and undifferentiated.
So how is all of this taught to a mass audience? You need scriptures, doctrines,
meditation practices, observances, rituals, ceremonies, festivals, saints of
some sort, monasteries, convents, common sayings, art, song, philosophy to provide
many pathways to the basic insights and to keep things from getting boring.
Fully developed Buddhist cultures have this in abundance.
All of this is usually unavailable to the American who might like to follow
the Buddhist way of living. What we are left with in America are by and large
books and articles about doctrine, philosophy, and above all meditation practices.
Most of this is adapted to the U.S. culture of liberalism (feminist Buddhism
is one such fusion). Buddhist ideas of self-forgetting get lost as the whole
thing becomes yet another self-help scheme designed to make the ego more competent
to win out in the competition of American life. . It becomes another form of
therapy to achieve empowerment and not a full religio, or much of a religio
at all. .
Buddhism as a fully developed religion has always emphasized that religion has
not only an intellectual dimension, but also a volitional dimension (you have
to will to believe), an emotional dimension, and a social dimension. Before
closing, I'd like to briefly explore these dimensions.
The notion of "faith," or shraddha in Buddhism implies a determination,
an act of will to concentrate the powers of the mind on an ideal after one has
chosen that ideal as a life goal.
When one has looked at the Buddhist art of living and willed it to be one's
ideal, the intellect follows. One then is willing to give assent to the very
few propositions or assertions that we have already talked about, such as the
three basic facts of life, the four noble truths, karma, belief in the efficacy
of the eightfold noble path. Additionally there is a call for confidence in
what Buddhism calls the three refuges: the Buddha as teacher, the Dharma, or
doctrines of Buddhism, and the Samgha, or community of Buddhists.
Emotionally, Buddhist faith is an attitude of serenity and lucidity, the opposite
of being troubled by many things. A person who has achieved shraddha is said
to have lost the five terrors of life. He or she ceases to worry about the necessities
of life, to worry about looking foolish in front of other people, about loses
such as reputation and socio-economic status, about death, life after death,
reincarnation, and so forth. If there is only the vastness of space and existence,
and if we are woven into that, what is there that should disturb us, except
for the suffering of others?
The emotional slides imperceptibly into the social in Buddhism. Socially, shraddha
or faith is trust and confidence in the Buddha, in the dharma or doctrines,
and in the samgha, or community of Buddhists. As happens in the great religions,
the person who fully gives him or herself to the practice of Buddhism breaks
to some degree with the normal social environment.
The religious Buddhist joins the family of the Buddha, the community of mahasattvas
and bodhisattvas. The Buddha himself is the father, the dharma or doctrine is
the mother, the community of fellow seekers are one's brothers and sisters,
relatives and friends. It is with this community that satisfactory social relationships
must be established.
It is in this matter of emotional and social relationships to the Buddha and
the Dharma that some Buddhist schools in Japan clearly go beyond providing a
cool mental discipline and a collection of meditation practices. They begin
to talk of the person Buddha as an expression of a larger Buddha. The universe
is Buddha, the power that may stand behind the universe or merely be expressed
in it, is Buddha, the concrete individual, the Buddha himself, is an expression
of that larger Buddha.
One clings to the Buddha not only as a human teacher, but through the teacher
to the ultimate power of the Universe. One also renders devotion to the bodhisattvas
and allows oneself to be inspired by them. Now, in case you're not seeing the
resemblance, this is father, son, and holy ghost plus saints.
But how can one have the same social relation to the dharma? Well, Dharma means
not only the teachings of Buddhism, but the underlying sustaining power of the
universe. The purpose of the dharma as doctrine is to help you align yourself
with the total interrelatedness of the power of the universe. You are to take
refuge in the dharma, whether universe or doctrine, you are to cling to it as
you cling to a human friend. This matter of the Buddha and the Dharma as refuge
is as close as Buddhism comes to positing a personal relationship to personal
God. You relate to the mystery of the Universe as if it were a comforting and
protecting person.
All of this prepares you to fulfill the wishes of the Metta Sutra, the Sermon
on Lovingkindness. Let's end with a reading from that sutra. If you wish, close
your eyes and try to visualize yourself living out these ideals
.
May all beings be happy.
May all be joyous and live in safety.
Let no one deceive another, nor despise another, as weak as they may be. Let
no one by anger or by hate wish evil for another.
As a mother, in peril of her own life, watches and protects her only child,
thus with a limitless spirit must one cherish all living beings.
Love the world in its entirety -- above, below and all around, without limitation,
with an infinite goodness and with benevolence.
While standing or walking, sitting or lying down, as long as one is awake, Let
one cultivate Loving-Kindness.
This is the Supreme Way of Living.
Copyright © 2001 by Gene Gibas
The books that have helped me most in my studies of Buddhism:
ChristmasHumphreys, Buddhism, An introduction and Guide
Thomas Merton, Zen and the Birds of Appetite
Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
Edward Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development
Edward Conze, Buddhist Thought in India
Paul Reps, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation
D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism
J. Krishnamurti, Think on These Things
Easwaran, Dammapada Nyanaponika Thera, The Vision of Dhamma
Raymond Blakney (trans.), Meister Eckhart
Charlotte Joko Beck, Everyday Zen
Trogyam Chungpa, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness
Dainin Katagiri, Returning to Silence
Robert Sohl & Audrey Carr (editors) The Gospel According to Zen
Christmas Humphreys, The Buddhist Was of Life
Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, A Manual of Terms and Doctrines
Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
D.T. Suzuki, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
*********************
Are You Willing To Be Surprised?
The Shambala Warrior
Joanna Macy
From a talk given by Joanna Macy at Manzanita Village on July 21, 1995 during
a weekend workshop she led.
Manzanita Village has been living inside me, an
important part of my interior landscape. It holds down southern California in
my geography. The desert. The sky. The plant beings. The stars. The fragrances.
Have you noticed how wonderful this feels at night? Sitting here by lamp light,
the light on the warm colors of the floor, the low ceiling, the brown earthen
walls. This room reminds me of the Buddhist cave temples and western ghats of
India. They are among the earliest places of Dharma practice. They're carved
out of the living rock. Along the front are great figures and pillars. Inside
could be a space like this. Sitting here I feel how ancient the heritage is
that we are part of. The heritage of the Buddha Dharma, of our ancestors who
practiced the spiritual discipline to awaken to the sacredness of life. To serve
the sacredness of life. To be awake. To see connection.
We come out of different places and walkways of our world in the closing years
of the twentieth century. Out of the tumult and hectic pace of cities and towns.
You don't even need to be in a city to feel driven in this culture of ours.
We come from lives of responsibility. Now we take distance from our daily life.
In order, perhaps, to see it more clearly, to embrace it more lovingly, to find
inspiration for its deeper, larger meaning. And so that we can feel held by
our world, our real world, our living planet.
In this time, when the life of our planet and all beings are endangered, I feel honored to be here with you, with Christopher and Michele and the kangaroo rats. And also with the feelings of the ancestors, those who walked this part of Turtle Island, those who tended the living earth of our planet. In this shadowy room, I can imagine other beings among us. They would include beings of the future. One of my teachers, Rosealie Bertells, says all the beings that are ever going to be born on planet Earth are present on planet Earth now. They are present in our DNA. In the stuff of our living organism that we pass on. Just as we have been present, in that sense, from the beginning.
So I imagine and I call on the presence of the future ones to be with us. I do that a lot in my life - for courage, for endurance, for joy. This is so critical a moment, this time of turning, at the end of the twentieth century, at the end of this millennium. How dicey things are for us now, for life on Earth, for complex forms of life. Part of the reason for our being here this weekend is to find guidance and inspiration, ways of being present to our world that can help us take part in healing our world.
I am going to tell a story. A story that accompanies me into most workshops because it has been for me so deep an inspiration for the kind of work that we do - to prepare to be part of the self-healing of our world. It comes from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. It's twelve centuries old. It is not a story as much as a prophecy.
In 1980, I was in northwest India. I heard people referring to the Kingdom of Shambhala. They said it's prophesied in the Kalachakra-Tantra. It caught my interest because it was talking about a time of great hardships and difficulties. I had been working on issues around nuclear power and nuclear energy, and feeling very much the critical nature of the dangers we faced militarily, ecologically, politically. So I was very curious about this prophecy.
They said that it prophecies a hard time, and although it was made twelve centuries ago, it has to do with this twenty to forty year period, now, in this generation, in which we are living. I got three different versions. In the first, the coming of the Kingdom of Shambhala was internal and had to do with our own awakening, our own inner spiritual journey. That didn't interest me all that much.
The second version was almost the opposite; it was governed by what was happening externally. It didn't matter what our role was. A Lama wanted to know why I wasn't ready to go into a three-year retreat in a cave. I said I couldn't because I had to stop nuclear war. I knew I couldn't do it alone, but I felt I needed to participate in the effort. And he said, "Joanna, don't you know that the Kingdom of Shambhala is coming?" As if it could come independently of anything we do, and we could therefore just lie back.
Then I talked with my dear Dharma-brother, friend, and teacher, Chujow-Rinpoche. He recounted to me the third version that has had such an impact on my life. These are pretty much his words:
"There comes a time when all life on Earth is in danger. At this time great powers have arisen, barbarian powers. Although these powers have wasted their wealth in preparing to annihilate each other, they have much in common: weapons of unfathomable devastation and technologies that lay waste to the world. It is just at this point, when the future of all beings seems to be hanging by the frailest of threads, that the Kingdom of Shambhala emerges." "You cannot go there," he said, "because it's not a geopolitical entity. It exists in the hearts and minds of the Shambhala Warriors." That is the word he used, 'warriors.'
"You can't recognize a Shambhala Warrior by looking at him or her," he said, "because they don't wear uniforms - no insignias. They wave no banners, they don't even have barricades on which to climb to threaten the enemy or hide behind to rest or to regroup. They don't have any home turf. Ever and always they move on the terrain of the barbarian powers."
"Great courage is required of the Shambhala Warrior. Moral courage and physical courage. Because the Warriors are going right into the heart of the barbarian powers to dismantle the weapons. They're going into the citadels and the pits and pockets where the weapons are stored. Weapons, in every sense of the word. They're going into the corridors of power where decisions are made, in order to dismantle the weapons that threaten all life on Earth."
"The Shambhala Warriors are able to do this because they know these weapons are mind-made. The dangers that confront us in this time are not visited upon us by some extraterrestrial force, or some satanic deity, or even by a preordained fate. They arise out of our choices, our relationships, our life styles. Made by the human mind they can be unmade by the human mind. In this time the Shambhala Warriors go into training."
Well, as you can imagine, I asked Chujow how they train. And he said, "they train in the use of two weapons." That is the term he used, 'weapons.'
"What are they?" I asked. He said, "One is compassion, and the other is insight into the interdependence of all phenomena."
"You need both," he said. "Compassion, because it provides the fuel that is the motive power. That is what moves you to engage, to take part in the healing of the world. That openness to the pain of our world is essential. Not to be afraid of it. But by itself it is not enough. By itself it can just burn you up, burn you out. You need the other, you need that insight into the interdependence of all beings and all things. With that you know that the battles we face are not battles between good and evil, but that the line between good and evil runs through the landscape of every human heart. Insight by itself is a cool knowledge; it must be married with the heat of compassion."
This prophecy is an insight into our true nature, into our interconnectedness, into our deep ecology. It is good to share it while sitting below the figures of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. They represent the two powers, the two resources, the two weapons of the Shambhala Warrior.
Brothers and Sisters, lovers of our world, you have come from so many different journeys and such different lives to visit Manzanita Village in the chaparral-covered hills of southern California, of planet Earth. Our coming together is in service to the sacred life of this planet. We have come for our own spiritual growth but also in service to the larger whole, to our people. In our practice we can discover how to fit together our personal pain and the planet's pain, our personal healing and the planet's healing - a deeper integration which brings a release of intentions, energy and insight. Be willing to hear the Earth speaking through you and to each other. Be willing to be surprised, especially to be surprised by what you hear from within yourself.
Copyright (c) Joanna Macy
*********************
Ask the Lama
Lama Surya Das
The Saints of the Dharma
They're not canonized, but Buddhism's masters and miracle workers have all the
right stuff
Are there saints in Buddhism? If so, who are they and how are they recognized?
The term "saint" is more commonly associated with holy persons in
Catholicism, but there are certainly saints in Buddhism. But because Buddhism
is not centrally organized, as is Catholicism, there is no official sanctioning
body to designate sainthood in the various schools of Buddhism.
But there are many sages, masters, and wonder-workers, both historical and contemporary,
who are referred to as Buddhist saints. And each Buddhist tradition and country
has its own set who are recognized not by an official process of canonization
but through popular recognition of their attainments. What they all have shared,
according to the hagiography and lore grown up around their lives, are the universal
spiritual virtues of extraordinary humanity--including love, compassion, morality,
generosity, and selflessness--and extraordinary "otherness"--that
is, wisdom and access to a transcendental, non-dual perspective. In Buddhist
terms, they are often referred to as bodhisattvas or "selfless spiritual
awakeners."
The earliest example of Buddhist saints were the arhats ("liberated sages"
in Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist texts), the enlightened disciples
of the Buddha who had completed their spiritual path. The tradition began with
the Buddha's two principle disciples, Sariputra and Maudgalyayana, who are often
represented in Buddhist art as standing on either side of the seated Buddha.
Sariputra was known for his extraordinary wisdom and discernment, and Maudgalyayana
was renowned for his psychic powers and abilities. In the intervening millennia,
holy men and women who were masters with remarkable sagacity and powers in keeping
with the first arhats, have been recognized as what we in the West would call
saints.
Even the Buddha performed miracles, such as when he filled the sky with myriad
perfect replicas of himself during a debate with a Hindu miracle worker. But
the Buddha always taught that miracles and supernatural powers were the showy
side effects of spiritual development, and should not be used or displayed except
to further the faith of doubters or to help those in dire need.
In the later Tantric tradition of India and Tibet, beginning in the first centuries
after Jesus' time and spanning a period of 1,500 years, ascetics who have come
to be known as the mahasiddhas (realized and accomplished masters), lived saintly
lives distinguished by magical powers. The best known lived during the Middle
Ages, and have been sanctified as the 84 Mahasiddhas. What marked them, apart
from their enlightenment, was that they came from wildly divergent backgrounds
and social classes and used unorthodox methods to show that supreme liberation
can take many and sundry forms. The adept Tandhepa, for one, started out as
a compulsive gambler who lost all his money but became enlightened when he grasped
the notion that the universe was as empty was his pockets.
Even today, there are teachers in the Tibetan tradition who fall into the mahasiddha
category. I have had the extreme good fortune of meeting and studying with some
of them, such as my late root guru, the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa, who was clairvoyant
and a miracleworker, and the greatest lama I have ever met.
And then there is the 12th-century saint Milarepa,
Tibet's greatest yogi, poet, and miracleworker who could reportedly fly as well
as keep himself warm while wearing nothing but a cotton robe. He also reportedly
turned green from decades of ascetic Himalayan cavedwelling, subsisting mainly
on boiled wild nettle soup,sd which lent him his fabled hue. One of Milarepa's
contemporaries was Machik Labdron, the only female founder of an extant Tibetan
Buddhist practice lineage, Chod (literally "cutting," which refers
to ego cutting through radical meditation practices). The two preeminent 14th-century
scholar and yogi saints Longchenpa and Tsongkhapa remain among the most highly
venerated Tibetan sages today. In the same category is Atisha, the 11th-century
Indian abbot who brought the lojong, which means "mind training" or
"attitude adjustment," techniques to Tibet, stressing the awakening
of "buddha-mind" (bodhicitta) in both ethical living and contemplative
life.
One of my personal favorites is the 15th-century sage and renaissance man Thangton
Gyalpo, known as the "Master of the Mountain Wilderness." In addition
to being a yogi, alchemist, and meditation master who reputedly lived to the
age of 125, he was also an engineer who invented a process for refining iron
ore and designed and built iron chain-link bridges that still span valleys and
chasms throughout Tibet. As a lama, he disseminated his own visionary revelations
on how to practice Tantric meditations of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Love
and Compassion, which were taught to me by the Lama Kalu Rinpoche and are still
widely practiced today.
As I mentioned, each Buddhist tradition has its
own set of saints, holy persons, and spiritual exemplars. One of the most prominent
of saints in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism is the sixth-century Indian patriarch
Bodhidharma, who founded the Zen or Ch'an school in China. In the 13th century,
Dogen Zenji helped bring Zen from China to Japan, and widely disseminated it
through his lucid, poetic teachings, writings, and with the establishment of
monastic traditions; he remains that country's greatest religious personality.
Others in Japan who are considered extraordinarily masterful and loving sages
include Kukai (Kobo Daishi), 774-835, who was the founder of the Tantric Vajrayana
"Shingon" sect and opened the first school for peasant children in
Japan; Shinran, the 12th-century founder of the Japanese Pure Land (Amitabha)
school; Nichirin, father of the eponymous Nichiren sect or Lotus School School
in 13th-century in Japan; and Fuji-san, the living head of the Nichiren today.
In the Theravada Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia, the notion of sainthood
is not so readily embraced--most practitioners look to the historical arhats
as exemplars, and there is no tradition in Theravada such as that of the mahasiddhas.
But some lineages have developed cults around the relics of such great masters
as Ajaan Lee Dhammadaro, a great Thai adept and monk in the Forest tradition.
Moreover, there are countless stories of great Theravadin monks and teachers
performing miracles, healings, and mind reading. But they are not canonized
in the way that, say, saints in Tibetan culture have been.
I still feel somewhat skeptical about miracles, though I have witnessed events
for which there is no other explanation. Once, in the early 1980s, my guru,
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, performed longevity empowerments for my French monk-brother's
father, who was in the final stages of cancer, and he remarkably enough lived
another 10 years. My friend's father was not a believer but was converted to
faith during the years when this miraculous healing became obvious. The 16th
Karmapa also healed a Tibetan lady I knew in Gangtok, Sikkim, in a similar fashion;
on another occasion in the 1960s, at the consecration of his newly rebuilt monastery
in Rumtek, Sikkim, the Karmapa also reportedly raised a large flagpole, using
telekinesis.
Tibetan Buddhist history is peppered with historical saints. One was the Indian
adept Shantideva, who in the eighth century C.E. wrote the classic Mahayana
Buddhist text "Entering the Bodhisattva Path of Enlightenment" (Bodhicharyavatara).
Still widely used as a teaching text in Tibetan Buddhism, it is a guide for
beginners and lay students to developing the aspiration to free all sentient
beings. Another, Padma Sambhava, whose name means "Lotus-Born" and
refers to the legend of his birth from a lotus blossom, is said to have walked
from India in the eighth century to help found Buddhism in Tibet and create
its Dzogchen tradition.
Throughout the Buddhist world, the cremated remains
of enlightened beings are said to leave extraordinary relics, and many can be
seen in reliquaries at monasteries and temples in Asia and the West. Extraordinary
events often occur at their cremations and funerals, too. The late Dzogchen
master Dudjom Rinpoche displayed countless rainbows around his embalmed remains,
known as kuding, at his funeral in Nepal in the late 1980s. I was among the
witnesses, along with one of my most doubtful friends, who came away with a
very different attitude!
The Dalai Lama of Tibet and the Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh are among
the most saintly Buddhist sages we have today.The 14-year-old Gyalwa Karmapa,
who escaped from Tibet to India in January, is one to watch, too. They say that
if you chant his name-mantra, "karmapa Khyenno," you will generate
auspicious karma, increase your spiritual aspirations and devotion, and meet
him in this lifetime (I'm sure that this is true). By chanting their mantras
and invoking their presence, Tibetans pray to Buddhist saints for blessings,
inspiration, and guidance--a graceful, devotional practice known as guru yoga.
*********************
Ask What We Want and Be Consistent
-- The Buddhist Way to Single-handedly Build a Successful Relationship
by Jeanny Chen
All my essays are aimed at the goal of sharing my personal experiences and understanding
of a narrow area of this great Buddhist practice. They are not intended to replace
any of the study materials. Please read them as a reference only. For a profound
and thorough understanding of this Buddhism, I would strongly urge you to study
the Gosho, Sensei's guidance and all SGI published materials, if at all possible.
Thank you!
Relationships are probably the number one problem that all human beings have
to deal with, besides birth, old age, sickness and death. As long as there are
two people involved in an issue, it will rarely be simple and straightforward.
This is even truer between a husband and a wife whose lives are tightly bound
in almost every aspect. Therefore, a married couple easily finds the need to
improve their relationship by seeing a marriage counselor. Eventually, many
still have to file for separation or divorce due to their failure to manage
a healthy and vital marriage.
As practitioners of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism, we are so blessed to have
the opportunity to learn the profound teachings of this Buddhism. As long as
we thoroughly understand and truthfully apply those teachings, we will be able
to single-handedly build a successful relationship with confidence and joy but
without feeling the need to make concessions, repress grievances or experience
resistance. That is a privileged benefit inherent to our practice, but most
of us are not aware of it. Seemingly, it doesn't occur to many practitioners
that they hold the key to turning around their situation. This reminds me of
the parable in the eighth chapter of the Lotus Sutra. A poor man's friend sewed
a priceless jewel in the lining of his robe without his knowledge.
"He journeyed here and there to other countries, seeking food and clothing
to keep himself alive, finding it very difficult to provide for his livelihood.
He made do with what little he could get and never hoped for anything finer,
unaware that in the lining of his robe he had a priceless jewel."
-- The Lotus Sutra, translated by Burton Watson, p. 152
It may sound too good to be true, but it isn't. However, it is true only if
we are determined to dissolve conflicts by taking on the responsibility and
transforming ourselves first. When we reckon our situation as our sole responsibility
and not someone else's fault, then we bear absolutely no grievances inside.
In this way, we actively hold the total control of our lives. With such an attitude,
we willingly make inner transformations. Hence, our environment and the people
who surround us will respond to our lives with positive energy. But if we choose
to indulge ourselves, and always resent, complain, blame things on others and
demand others to give in, both our partners and we will for sure suffer to no
end.
Of course, everyone would pursue a happy ending if one knew that one could single-handedly
turn around a relationship that involves two souls. To reach this goal, the
premise is that whatever we think, say and do, we have to make sure they all
contribute to the fulfillment of the goal. Anything that will divert us in the
slightest from our goal, we have to cast aside without giving it a second thought.
If we watch and guard very strictly our thoughts, words and deeds, our task
is literally half done. What is left is for us to work on our human revolution,
goal setting, chanting, praying and taking necessary actions, based on our correct
understanding of several Buddhist philosophies such as karma, three poisons
and Buddha nature. All efforts we put forth will benefit our whole being, not
just our relationship.
A member and I practice in the same SGI Region. She has asked that I not use
her name in this document to protect the privacy of her family, so I will call
her Ann. It all started when she finally determined that she had to do something
to breakthrough her forever-suffering life. Then, we had a long talk to review
every aspect of her life, centering on her then very gloomy marriage.
In an effort to effectively share the results of my kosen-rufu missions, I humbly
think that it would demonstrate best if I record item by item, to the limits
of my ability, the entire meeting and her efforts and struggles towards human
revolution; exactly as how it went, straightforwardly, truthfully and openly:
1. Determining Which Way to Go
My first question was whether she wanted to overturn her situation or to give
up. Her answer was to win. The decision thereby determined how the rest of the
conversation would go. We then discussed only the approaches that would lead
to her goal of victory. She agreed from then on to by no means think, say or
do anything that would contribute to the results in the opposite realm.
2. Understanding Karma and Taking on Full Responsibility
As Buddhists, we should learn how to perceive the real aspect, in terms of karma,
of every occurrence that we encounter throughout our lives. There is plenty
of resource for us to learn from. The Gosho, President Ikeda and the SGI publications
all talk about karma. If we understand its underlying truth and squarely face
it with such wisdom in the right attitude, nothing on earth will ever become
a problem to defeat or trouble us. In other words, by implementing this knowledge
alone, we can minimize the impact of our suffering of any kind.
I have been given various opportunities to help members figure out how to overcome
their challenges. No matter what their problems are, my experiences have convinced
me that starting with a thorough explanation about their karma essentially paves
the solid foundation which leads to their victory.
I therefore, strongly recommended her to seriously look into this matter and
become the master of her karma, transcending it instead of being enslaved by
it. Strengthening her efforts in faith, practice and study would lift her life
condition and bring her the wisdom and strength she needed to turn around her
situation. Using the story of my own karma and suffering, I explained to her
the real aspect of hers. In the past, those causes she made through her thoughts,
words and deeds had become the script of the play of her karma. She needed people
and occurrences to play out her karma, in the exact accord with her script,
so that she could face it and eradicate it.
Throughout their marriage, she has been blaming her husband for everything not
to her liking. Nothing positive came out of her efforts of forever wishing and
forcing him to change. As time went by, her frustration deepened and their relationship
worsened to the extent that she eventually kicked him out for several days.
Now she had to realize, from the viewpoint of her own karma, that it was not
his responsibility. It has been and will be her problem deeply rooted in her
life. To eradicate one's karma through one's Buddhist practice is not a mere
abstract concept or passive wish. It is a realistically concrete action item
that if one works on with scrutiny, one will harvest the desired result. Only
through practicing Nichiren Buddhism, working from her end and from within could
she initiate and lead the process of changing her karma to turn around the relationship.
After all, it is already a huge task to change oneself, let alone to change
others. She had to quit relying on his actions. This way, she could take the
total control of her destiny.
The truth is, because of her husband's mission on her life, he had to play a
role exactly according to how she had written the script of her karma. He had
no other choice in terms of his association with her karma. Living his life
as an unsuccessful husband and so on, he suffered too. I therefore suggested
her to open up his and her Buddhahood, and then communicate with him in her
mind and heart, through her chanting.
In her prayer, she could apologize to him that he had to use his life to go
through the struggle due to his association with her bad karma of having several
failed marriages. For the same reason, she also needed to appreciate him. Because
otherwise, her karma could never be played out, and could not be eradicated.
Furthermore, in reality and in their daily lives, there were plain facts that
she could detect with sincerity and compassion, and include in her prayer of
appreciation and apology to him.
From Buddhist perspective, her deadlock struggle is in fact an impetus for her
to seek the solution and to determine to change. Her suffering is also essential
for her to develop her capacity to fulfill her mission of spreading this Buddhism.
In other words, her husband functions as a "zenjishiki" (good friend).
With the realization of her true mission, a diligent practice would come naturally.
Suffering would no longer be a trade-off. In this case, she had put an end to
her suffering from karma. Her apology and gratitude for her husband's mission
to manifest her bad karma had therefore in a sense released him from acting
the role of an inadequate husband. By changing her own attitude to embrace her
husband, she had now stopped perpetuating her bad association with him. Instead,
she had started to create good causes, out of their existing shared bad karma,
to benefit their relationship. It was so clear what she could expect for their
relationship in the near future. She could then take a further step to rewrite
their collective destiny by:
3. Reflecting on The Three Poisons
I then helped her reflect on herself based on the three poisons - greed, anger
and foolishness. Here are some examples:
Greed
To me, it would be hard for her to find another man whose strength and interests
so perfectly supplement her weakness, but whose weak points compliment her merits.
He is a handyman. He loves to cook gourmet food and takes good care of house
chores, things that she has no interest in. Because of such traits, he might
have somewhat neglected to develop his ability for career advancement. As a
result, he lost his job several times over the years.
At the same time, shortly after Ann took this faith, her primary goal to improve
their financial situation had resulted in amazing benefits. She got a big raise,
was recruited as an executive at a new company and of course, multiplied the
amount of her paycheck. Her husband's unsuccessful career contrasted with her
newly claimed triumph so sharply that she failed to see and acknowledge his
contribution especially at home. Instead, she became arrogant, thinking that
she was superior to him.
Her smaller self was being greedy, demanding him to be a near-perfect human
being. But frankly, was she perfect herself? Should he have been a perfect guy,
he might have gone out to look for another equally perfect woman. In the final
analysis, though in the wrong attitude, she had been lucky to be able to take
a "superior" stance because of the fact that he was far from being
perfect.
Anger
Nichiren Buddhism teaches us to change poison into medicine and to create value
no matter what. How we respond to our environment and people around us becomes
the substance of our life. As practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism, we should
be confident that we have all the wisdom, power and means it takes to not let
any situation spoil or upset our life. This should be the minimum benefit that
we can bring to and protect our own lives through this Buddhist practice.
Her husband was very obsessed with sports programs on TV. He did not want to
give up his favorite entertainment. There was no way for her to regulate his
free time. She could not stand it, therefore, and made it a big issue to argue
with him. What good is it to put the relationship at a stalemate and to jeopardize
it over a matter of little or no significance?
If she looked at it from the bright side, wasn't it great that he preferred
to stay within her sight for hours, sitting on the couch, watching TV? It was
actually a healthier hobby for him to vent his frustration and pressure with
than to go out to fool around with other women or to get drunk at the bar, not
uncommon for men. If she had compassion and wisdom to embrace him, she could
either sit with him and try to learn from him about those sports, or simply
read her own books or do something while keeping him company at home, but leaving
him alone.
Instead, she responded with anger against the thing that he enjoyed doing, being
a mature adult, a man with dignity and the head of the household. She seemed
to be acting out of her domineering character without much respect or consideration
for him, her supposedly equal counterpart in life. Feeling hurt, belittled and
unworthy, her husband chose to self-destruct. He had become a man of low self-esteem
but acted passively, confrontationally, rebelliously and resentfully. Inevitably,
he took it out on her children from her second marriage.
Foolishness
Children from both of their respective previous marriages were one of the major
sources of the conflict in the family. Due to the poison of foolishness, she
had no wisdom to see the true aspect of their sufferings: her past bad causes.
Her deluded mind urged her to solve the problem by taking her own children's
side in order to protect them. Unbeknownst to her, she was antagonizing her
husband, which also harvested his deeper hostility toward them all.
Now she understood that the confrontational family dramas were none other than
the manifestation of her bad karma. Through her chanting, she wanted to appreciate
and apologize to her children that, because of her karma, they had to be born
to her, living in such a family of complicated marriages and struggling amidst
the sensitive, cold and unfriendly atmosphere at home. Her sincere prayer to
her husband based on the same viewpoint also showed her spirit of taking on
the responsibility of the family discord and suffering. She then vowed to practice
this Buddhism to transform her life, change her karma and bring happiness to
the entire family.
4. Putting Buddha Nature to Work
Since she married her husband, she had shared his karma and vice versa. She
could easily choose to desert him in order to run away from her failing marriage,
but it would never help her escape from her marriage karma this way. Because
her husband's destiny meant everything to her, besides chanting and doing human
revolution to change her own karma, it was to her best benefit that she also
nurtured his life by practicing this Buddhism on his behalf, since he had not
had the fortune to embrace this Buddhism. Such a transformation from both within
and without could only be achieved by chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. And it wouldn't
be hard if she knew how to put her Buddha Nature into full play.
Fortunately, from one of President Ikeda's books (Faith into Action) alone,
we could easily find plenty of guidance regarding the traits of Buddhahood that
she could apply to carry out her exciting new goal.
Wisdom
"Buddhism is wisdom. As long as we have wisdom, we can put all things to
their best use and can turn everything in the direction of happiness."
-- President Ikeda, Faith into Action, p. 170
Viewed with Buddha wisdom, the real aspect of all phenomena was crystal clear
to her. Therefore, self-attachment was renounced, the three poisons quarantined
and karma transcended and eradicated. There was no more self-centered unfair
judgment or damaging criticism, no one-sided opinion and no irresponsible imputation
against her husband. Her wisdom enabled her to embrace all occurrences in life
and "Suffer what there is to suffer, enjoy what there is to enjoy. REGARD
BOTH SUFFERING AND JOY AS FACTS OF LIFE, and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,
no matter what happens." (WND p. 681) Any time now she could begin with
her endeavor of reconstructing a healthy and solid relationship, willingly and
joyously without any hang-ups.
Compassion
"Compassion is the very soul of Buddhism. To pray for others, making their
problems and anguish our own; to embrace those who are suffering, becoming their
greatest ally; to continue giving them our support and encouragement until they
become truly happy-it is in such humanistic actions that the Daishonin's Buddhism
lives and breathes."
-- President Ikeda, Faith into Action, p. 19
With tremendous Buddha compassion, it is natural that she respect and embrace
her husband for who he is, and put herself in his shoes to understand where
he's coming from and defend his behaviors, discover and praise his good deeds
and virtues, enhance and assist his ability for self-development, inspire and
guide him for the correction of his flaws, look after and pray for his well-being
and happiness, cherish his company, and live joyously together under all circumstances.
He was a dear ally, an intimate comrade and a sweetheart along their shared
journey of destiny. His struggle is her pain, his suffering her wound, his confidence
her pride and his success her fortune. The two lives of a couple are as close
as a body and shadow. By overthrowing her selfish and destructive attitude and
ill feeling toward him, he would no doubt respond with parallels, according
to the principle of oneness of life and its environment. Thus, she was now altering
the drama of her karma from bad to good, sour to sweet, holding his hand, directing
him to act out his part according to the revised script.
Absolute Happiness
"Buddhism teaches the principle that earthly desires are enlightenment.
To explain this very simply, earthly desires refers to suffering and to the
desires and cravings that cause suffering, while enlightenment refers to attaining
a vast, expansive state of absolute happiness
But Nichiren Daishonin's
Buddhism teaches that only by igniting the firewood of earthly desires can the
flame of happiness be attained. Through chanting daimoku, we burn this firewood
of earthly desires."
-- President Ikeda, Faith into Action, p. 39
Her greatest fortune was to encounter and embrace Nichiren Buddhism in this
lifetime. The fortune her practice alone builds up is immense enough to benefit
her entire family seven generations front and back. From her chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,
all her sufferings turn into absolute happiness. Knowing what she is getting
into and how she can come out of it no matter what, she is therefore able to
encompass and embrace any situation in life. Her husband, though not a practitioner
of this Buddhism, is endowed with the equal Buddha Nature. He should never,
in her eyes of wisdom and heart of compassion, be a problem, a pain-in-the-neck
or a stumbling block in her way to leading the whole family to attain absolute
happiness.
Life Force
"We can attain a happy life state that shines like a diamond, solemn and
indestructible under all circumstances. And we can do so in this lifetime. The
Lotus Sutra exists to enable all people to attain such a state of life."
-- President Ikeda, Faith into Action, p. 97
Accompanied with Buddha wisdom, compassion and absolute happiness, her life
force is unshakable and undefeatable because every occurrence is within her
perfect control. The issues with her husband, children, parents and work; nothing
is ever frustrating, upsetting, irritating or destructive any longer. She sees
the light of infinite progress and holds the strength for the unlimited advancement
in every aspect of her life, everything that is associated with her. Armed with
such a diamond-strong life force, it is justified only if she takes courageous
actions to bring out its amrita and fruits.
5. Taking Unprecedented Actions
In conclusion, she had determined to take action on every area we had discussed.
We both knew that ACTION was the ultimate solution. Without solid action, hope,
dreams, promises, desires, and goals were all merely an illusion. It is absolutely
empty and meaningless.
She has since been painstakingly following through with her detailed plan to
transform her life which of course extends to her environment and people associated
with her. Here's a brief outline of her action items:
A. Exert herself on faith, practice and study.
B. Plunge into the development of her SGI group. (After half a year, now turning
into a district)
C. Earnestly execute her grand project of human revolution.
D. Seriously set a complete goal for her life and work on it.
E. Compassionately practice this Buddhism on her husband's behalf to change
his karma:
1. Inject daimoku into his life to elevate his life condition and add fortune
to it.
2. Set his desired goals specifically and chant for them.
3. Communicate with him through her chanting to purify their relationship.
Her communication with him by opening up both of their Buddhahood and dialogue
with him in her mind during her chanting covered the following aspects:
a. Apologize and appreciate him regarding everything in his life having to do
with her bad karma.
b. Apologize in specific details for her misbehavior and deluded attitude towards
him in the past.
c. Activate her Buddha compassion to list his good merits and dig out all his
contributions to the family and to anyone else, no matter how trifle and insignificant
they are. Acknowledge, praise and thank him wholeheartedly to strengthen his
self-confidence.
d. Reflect on his childhood and his life in the past, namely, his karma. It
explains where he is coming from. Share with him her understanding and care.
Tell him in details her resolve and actions to help him change his destiny by
practicing this Buddhism on his behalf.
e. Let him know specifically all the efforts she is going to put forth on her
own improvement and development. Present to him what she prepares to offer for
the benefit of the entire family.
f. Promise him that she will make him the luckiest and happiest man in the world.
As his fortune and happiness are her very own, she will then enjoy the same
state of life.
The power of daimoku and prayer chanted out of people's Buddha nature is unfathomable.
Her sincere message is guaranteed to reach and touch his life, and consequently,
inspire his positive response. When she sees fit, she will also communicate
with him face-to-face and heart-to-heart. If she does so, he will be so overjoyed
to start to wonder whether it is real or merely a dream.
Ten days after our meeting, I received her first update. It read in part:
Dear Jeanny,
I just wanted to write to update you on my progress. I went to work immediately,
increasing my time chanting, and focusing on a prayer that included everything
we talked about. In just a few days of chanting in this new way I have felt
and seen a profound change in my environment. The change in my life state when
I chanted my apology to my husband for the way he has had to suffer because
of my karma was amazing. I set goals for him and have been chanting for them.
Here are my short-term results:
1. He was offered a job at a great company. My prayer was for him to find a
job by December 1 that would fit him like a glove. It had to make him so happy
and everyone at the job must look up to him. It had to be a job where he could
help people and feel a sense of fulfillment. It also had to eventually earn
an income greater than mine so he would have self-confidence and pride.
2. I have been chanting my apology to my son as well. I realized that the major
problem in my marriage had been his issues with my son. I sent my appreciation
to my son as well for the role he has chosen to play in my troubled marriage
so that I could work out my karma. After the first week of chanting in this
way I saw dramatic changes in my son and my husband's relationship. They have
begun talking more and both are being very considerate of the other. This was
not the situation in my home before.
I am facing my negative aspects and chanting about them daily. I have asked
for input from my family and friends about what they see as my negative tendencies.
I am resolved to only create positive causes in my life going forward. I feel
for the first time in my life that I am on the path to become happy, no matter
what happens.
Things are not perfect, my husband still gets angry at me, but my reaction is
much different. I have compassion for him when he gets in this state. I see
his anger as my BAD karma coming out. We have to bleed the poison out so we
can turn it into medicine. So I face each of these episodes as a benefit for
me to practice my new GOOD causes for kosen rufu. I am dedicated to fulfilling
my mission in this life.
Love, Ann
Hence, her "progress reports" kept flowing in non-stop:
11/12/2001
Dear Jeanny,
I look forward to my total victory in this matter and I am very excited about
using my human revolution to encourage others. The idea that I might be able
to help others find happiness in their marriages after I have experienced so
much failure in this area of my life seems amazing.
In fact I met with a friend on Sunday who is having real marriage problems.
She was drawn to me because she knew I was having similar problems. I was able
to relate exactly to her suffering. She was surprised to hear that my husband
was back at home and we were doing much better. She wanted to know how we did
it. I said it was my Buddhist practice that had made the difference. She asked
to come to an SGI meeting with me. I told her that through chanting she could
overcome any obstacle. She asked for some information on our organization and
she has already visited our web site and started learning about our philosophy.
She lives in another district...I am going to try to take her to a meeting in
her area since my group won't meet this month
Love, Ann
12/05/2001
Dear Jeanny,
I just wanted to share with you some progress. This past weekend I had a few
setbacks in my progress towards changing my relationship karma. My husband got
angry about everything and spoke in some harsh words to me. I really tried not
to react to his anger with more anger. It took all my courage. I kept thinking
in my mind that I needed to defend his bad behavior like a lawyer. I told myself
he was nervous due to his new job and stressful over a party we are having for
his whole family in a couple weeks. Once when he yelled at me I got so upset
that I went to my room and sat on the floor and just chanted. He came in then
and said he was sorry. All in all things went much better than they would have
before I began to change my karma. Before we would have fought and yelled and
he would have slept on the couch. This time the problems just went away when
he realized I loved him even if he was upset and angry.
On Sunday I started to spend more time in my chanting focusing on his feeling
love for my children and feeling that it was his blood running through their
veins. I also chanted for the kids to feel the same for him. Last night I came
home and my husband had dinner cooking. The kids were in the kitchen talking
to him and helping. Even my son, who usually hides in his room was out talking
and laughing. As we were dishing the food onto our plates my husband said "I
love you." Thinking he was talking to me I said, "I love you too."
He then said, "I was talking to the kids, I love you kids". They looked
so surprised. He had never been one to tell them he loved them, especially to
my son. Then both kids said: "we love you too." I was shocked. This
was exactly the scene I had pictured in my mind as I was chanting.
This practice holds so many benefits. I must continue to challenge myself and
realize that it is always darkest before the dawn.
A member emailed me today, she seems to be in a lot of pain. I hope this process
of mine can help her as much as it has helped me.
Thanks,
Ann
12/05/2001
Dear Jeanny,
I sent a short email to the member I told you about, giving her some report
on my benefits from this new approach you showed me towards my life. I just
gave her my results without any advice. She did say she was chanting 30 minutes
each day with little progress. I responded that when I felt like I was making
little progress with 1 hour I pushed myself to chant more. Always when I made
this effort I realized quick benefits. I hope she will see some benefits soon
so she will be encouraged. Healing her relationship would bring such happiness
to her life.
I realize that the way I used to chant for my relationship was not delivering
results. When I changed my focus from fixing my husband to fixing me, all the
benefits began to flow. This is a powerful practice, but determination is the
key
Love, Ann
12/10/2001
Dear Jeanny,
A woman came to me at work today and confided that her relationship with her
husband is very bad, and her 10-year-old daughter is screaming and crying and
yelling all the time
There are so many people in the world who live in a state of hell because of
their relationships with those closest to them. I am convinced this is the major
suffering for people in our world. I am determined to show actual proof of this
process so that my experiences will encourage others who need help
This
work must be brought to people so our homes will be filled with the peace, love
and harmony.
Love, Ann
2/04/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I am chanting heavily for my husband. He takes a major exam at work on Feb 19!
He must pass to move forward with his company. I am chanting that each minute
he studies has the effect of anyone else studying for 100 minutes. I hope it
is consistent with his own karma to attain this goal. Wish me success.
Love, Ann
2/15/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I just had to email you to share the results of my chanting campaign for my
husband to pass the test. As you know he has been studying for the test for
3 months. If he did not achieve a grade of 70 or above on the test he would
be immediately fired. He had only one chance to pass the test. As you suggested,
I chanted that one minute of study would equal 100 minutes of a normal person.
I chanted that all the questions would be from material he had studied. And
I chanted for him to make the highest score of all the people who started the
program with him. He got a bad cold on Monday and I was worried that this would
affect his test. He took the test yesterday for 6 and 1/2 hours. He called me
half way through the test and said he didn't think he was doing well. I encouraged
him that if he cleared his mind of doubt and opened himself to the knowledge
he had stored from all those hours of study that he would triumph.
The result is that he passed the test with a score of 89! This was the highest
score of all the people in his group. He knew of my chanting campaign and I
think he is believing that there is really something to this practice.
Love, Ann
2/25/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I was so happy that so many people showed up at our WD meeting. My hope is that
the enthusiasm and sincere efforts of my group will draw many new members to
this practice. I continue to chant for my husband's success in his new venture.
He took another test last Friday and I chanted for him to make a high A on the
test. He scored 97 out of 100 points! He continues to challenge himself and
win. I am focusing my chanting on creating income from his job as soon as possible.
Love, Ann
3/14/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I just had to share with you
my husband has just completed his final test
towards his goal at work. He has passed all the tests with flying colors. It
is a clear victory for him.
He has many obstacles yet to face before turning around his negative professional
karma...but I am confident that he will succeed. I am taking him out for a special
dinner tonight to celebrate. Thank you for helping me see the ultimate power
of the Gohonzon and to direct my chanting for his life so that my karma could
be eradicated. His self-esteem is absolutely shinning on his face. I was the
first person he called after the test and I felt such warmth and compassion
for him and his accomplishment.
Faith equals daily life.... I am sure of it.
Love, Ann
3/22/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I went to the introductory meeting last night at the SJCC and my shakubuku received
her Gohonzon. It was a great moment. Several people from her district were there
to support her. I am thinking of supporting a new member in my group in setting
up her Gohonzon at her house and helping her in beginning her practice. I feel
she is very studied and may need some support in taking the practice literally
(meaning; you have to chant) and not just intellectually. Should I take the
lead here?
I am also going to try to get another member to come to my house on Saturday
to chant for a couple hours. I need the daimoku and I think if I am chanting
she will as well.
Love, Ann
5/01/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I am doing great, very busy with my group. I am so happy to be connecting with
members of my group. It is my benefit that I can be part of their life. I feel
like I am finally really living President Ikeda's guidance to make my first
priority to support my group members. If I can help create strong group members
filled with happiness, who are armed with the mystic law, then this practice
will surely propagate to others and kosen rufu will be realized. It seems so
clear now
how to do it. I thank you for showing me how to do my human revolution
so I could overcome my karma and my own suffering and open myself to helping
others.
Now all I have to do is find more time so I can visit more people. I am filled
with energy to do kosen rufu.
Have a great trip. Be safe.
Love, Ann
5/28/2002
Dear Jeanny,
Welcome back.
My chapter leaders want my group to become a district. They have asked me to
be vice district leader. I said great.
I am doing great. My husband continues to advance and hit all his goals. I am
so excited about this approach to the practice. I feel working for this new
district will make my practice even stronger.
Hope you had a safe and fun trip. Looking forward to seeing you and hearing
all about it.
Love, Ann
6/14/2002
Dear Jeanny,
I just wanted to write and share another benefit of this great karma changing
process you have taught me. Last weekend my husband and I were getting ready
to go to a birthday party for a member of his family. I was getting ready and
he came in the room very upset. He started complaining about my son who had
left some dirty dishes in next to the computer. My husband had gone to use the
computer and found the mess. He was very upset and wanted to know what I was
going to do. I immediately went to the room and cleaned up the mess. But this
didn't reduce my husband's anger. He kept complaining and asked how I was going
to make sure this never happened again. I tried to calm him by saying that I
would speak to my son and make it clear that this was not to happen again or
he would lose his computer privileges. My husband's face still burned with anger.
As we were getting in the car to leave my husband said, "If you don't want
to go, you don't have to." I was surprised; I never said I didn't want
to go. I explained that I really wanted to go to the party. My husband then
got out of the car, slammed the door and walked into the garage. I sat for a
few moments to try and figure out what was happening. In the past we had often
had these types of "blow up" fights. They usually contained a lot
of yelling and ended up with one of us leaving the house for several hours.
Normally when my husband behaved like this I would become very angry and start
telling him how mean and unfair he was behaving. But this time I didn't feel
any anger. Instead of blaming him for treating me badly I immediately tried
to think of what was causing this anger within him. I became his attorney again
trying to defend his poor behavior by identifying the cause, like finding the
thorn in the lions paw.
I realized that it was Sunday, my husband's only day off work. He was feeling
frustrated that he had to give his only free day to the family party. He loves
his family but he was feeling a lot of stress over getting chores done around
the house. My son's mess just made him see one more chore for him to do. With
this in mind I went into the garage. He was still very mad. He said to me, "Maybe
I should just pack up my stuff and move out"! I couldn't believe he could
even think this way. I ran to him and held his hands and told him that I loved
him deeply, that what ever needed to be done around the house I would do, that
he should just take the day and relax in anyway he wanted. He then looked at
me and his whole face changed. I had given words to the frustration he was feeling.
At that moment his love for me was so clear. He gave me a big hug and said he
was sorry. We went to the family party and spent a restful afternoon beside
the pool.
This experience really made clear for me how the ten worlds could appear in
our lives. Because of my raised life state, I was able to see my husband suffering
in the world of Hell. He felt trapped by all his responsibilities. But instead
of joining him in Hell and fighting with him in that world, I was able to stay
firmly fixed in the higher world and at the same time connect with him. Once
he listened to my message of love and compassion from this higher state, he
immediately joined me there. The happiness he felt as he exited the world of
Hell was visible on his face. It is really true that where the Buddha resides
will become the Buddha land. I had an immediate affect on my environment! In
fact I never felt anger or judgment or resentment towards him. I felt only compassion
and love. I can see now how Nichiren Daishonin was able to meet even his executioners
with love. He saw their hate and anger from his elevated life state of Buddhahood
and felt only compassion.
This really works.... I must chant, chant, and chant to keep my life condition
high.
All my love,
Ann
With her continual updates, Ann's advancement in her practice and her life has
unfolded gracefully but astonishingly. On the day when she opened up her life
to discuss with me, I knew very clearly what her results would be because I
have the absolute faith in Nichiren Buddhism based on her sincerity. However,
each time I received her email updates, my heart still pounded with excitement
and cried with joy.
Thanks to her tremendous compassion, she has agreed to share her above process
in great details, on her way to become happy and bring happiness to her family
and many others. After all, this is how her life long struggle finds its ultimate
meaning.
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*********************
Biographical Notes on Lama
Gangchen Tulku
The Healing Lama Lama Gangchen.was born in Western Tibet in 1941. He was recognised
at an early age to be a reincarnate lama healer and was enthroned at Gangchen
Choepeling monastery at the age of five. When he reached the age of twelve he
received the 'Kachen" degree which is usually conferred after twenty years
of study. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, he studied medicine, astrology,
meditation and philosophy in two of the major monastic universities of Tibet:
Sera and Tashi Lhumpo. He also studied in Gangchen Compa, Tropu Gompa, and Neytsong
Monastery. His root guru was HH Trijang Dorje Chang, the junior tutor to HH,
the Dalai Lama. Other main teachers were HH Ling Rinpoche, the senior tutor
of the Dalai Lama as well as HH Zong Rinpoche, who was one of his major gurus
for healing and astrology.
In 1963 he went into exile to India where he continued his studies for the next
seven years at the Varanasi Sanskrit University (Bishwa Vhidhyiana) in Benares.
In 1970 he received the Geshe Rigram diploma from Sera Monastic University situated
in South India. After his graduation, he worked as a reincarnate lama healer
among the Tibetan communities in Nepal, India and Sikkim, during which time
he saved the lives of many people and was named private physician to the Royal
family.
In 1981, Lama Gangchen visited Europe for the first time. In the same year he
also established his first European centre: Karuna Choetsok in Lesbos, Greece,
where he is known to have planted a bodhi tree in the 'Buddha Garden', and in
the centre of which he consecrated what was to become the first of a long line
of World Peace Buddha statues, thankas and images.
Since 1982 he has travelled extensively, both healing and teaching in Italy,
Spain, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, England, Ireland,
U.S.A., Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia,
Sri Lanka, India, Mongolia, China, Tibet, Russia, and Buriyatia. During these
years he has lead many pilgrimages to some of the most important holy places
of the Buddhist tradition, in India, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Mongolia, Nepal,
Sri Lanka and Tibet, guiding large groups of friends and disciples from all
over the world, the majority of whom have reported many physical and mental
benefits from the experience. In addition to these pilgrimages to Buddhist holy
places, Lama Gangchen has visited many holy sites in Europe, including that
of Assisi, Italy the home of Saint Francis; the ancient temples of Delphi and
Athens in Greece. In England he has visited the sites of Stonehenge and Avebury
as well as visiting many Western Buddhist centres and temples. During all these
pilgrimages he has met many high lamas, both in the East and the West. In 1988
he opened his first residential dharma centre outside of Asia: 'Shide Choe Tsok'
Peace Dharma Centre, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At present he has 85 Inner Peace
Education Centres worldwide.
Since coming to the West in 1982, and later becoming both a resident in Italy
and and eventually an Italian citizen, Lama Gangchen's activities have taken
on an ever increasing worldwide scope towards the achievement of World Peace.
Mainly, it began with the founding of: The Kunpen Lama Gangchen Institute for
the propagation and preservation of the Tibetan Medical Tradition in Milan,
Italy in 1989. Here Lama Gangchen has initiated the first extensive programmes
of Himalayan medical and astrological studies for Western students. Also concerned
with the preservation of the Himalayan culture, the centre holds courses in
Buddhist philosophy, thanka painting and other arts. Lama Gangchen has invited
many groups of Tibetan monks to Europe such as the Ganden Shartse monks, the
Sera-Me monks, the Nyalam Phengyeling monks and the Segyupa monks to make sand
mandalas and perform sacred Cham dances; all of their activities are dedicated
to world peace. The Institute is also the Western Headquarters of Lama Gangchen's
activities and his Western residence. The Lama Gangchen World Peace Foundation
(L.G.W.P.F.), International Friendship for the Support of Tibetan Medicine,
Vajrayana Buddhist Philosophy and Self Healing to Develop World Peace, established
in 1992 following an International conference of doctors, healers and therapists
held in Milan, Italy. The Foundation has its main seat in Spain and was officially
recognised by the Spanish government in November 1993. Each year the L.G.W.P.F.
holds an International congress m Madrid, Spain, which provides a forum for
discussion between scientists, doctors, therapists and philosophers. One of
the major aims of the Foundation is to provide documented scientific evidence
about the benefits of ancient Tibetan Himalayan healing methods, other natural
healing methods and the energetic qualities of spiritual healing. The Foundation
also gives a base for constructive dialogue between different cultures in order
to create and promote educational methods to develop Inner Peace and World Peace.
The Himalayan Healing Centre in Kathmandu, Nepal which provides minimal cost
Western medical care alongside traditional Tibetan and Ayurvedic medical care
for local inhabitants. The Healing Centre offers many different facilities enabling
the use of many therapeutic systems, space to hold residential courses in Tibetan
medicine, lectures, conferences and so on, with the aim to create a base for
the exchange of verbal information and clinics for the actual medical practice
between the Eastern and Western medical sciences. In 1994, the Kunpen Lama Gangchen
Institute and the Himalayan Healing Centre jointly financed a one year project
of a leprosy station in Kathmandu and another station which is linked to the
Sanku hospital, 20km outside of Kathmandu. Lama Gangchen financially supports
the construction and upkeep of schools, clinics and monasteries in India, Nepal
and Tibet/China, supplying them with different therapeutic systems, trained
Western doctors and facilities, materials and medicines. In 1994, Lama Gangchen
founded Peace Radio 'La Radio della Pace' and Lama Gangchen Peace Publications,
both situated in Milan, Italy. Their aim is, respectively, to broadcast and
spread positive information about Inner and World Peace Education, Self-Healing,
self-responsibility and self-morality; natural therapies, environmental awareness
and inter-religious cooperation.
Gangchen Tulku, A Great Yogi and Tantrician
- Some Personal Remarks by Champa Legshe
.
Being fascinated by a special and very rare Buddhist deity called Nagaraksha
Manjushri (a wrathful naga-king emanation of Manjushri) we asked several lamas
if they would know somebody who could give teachings and empowerments on this
tantra. Through the mediation of Lama Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche we came in
contact with Lama Gangchen Tulku, who just had established a Buddhist centre
in Milano/Italy, and who finally agreed to come to Ireland (June 1990) to give
a series of tantric empowerments and teachings at our home (Manjushri Mandala).
It was his first visit to Northern Europe and everybody was very excited to
meet this outstanding tantrician, healing lama and astrologer. With him he brought
some of his closer students, a translator and a whole pharmacy shop of Tibetan
medicine. For a few days Thomas' physiotherapy clinic was transformed into a
Tibetan healing centre and many came to see for the first time in their life
a Tibetan Healing Lama and to get medical advice. For us it was nothing new.
But imagine the Irish people, living in rural Donegal, and coming to a doctor,
who not just made a pulse diagnosis and prescribed herbal medicine pills but
also performed strange rituals, spoke some magical mantras on them and on top
of all they had to repeat Buddhist prayers and to memorize the mantra of Shakyamuni
Buddha as the most important part of the healing process! But due to their Celtic
past and living in a country full of magic places, haunted houses and holy wells,
they behaved quite naturally.
.
The healing sessions took part in the morning. Afternoon, evening an nights
were reserved for teachings, empowerments and occasionally for sightseeing tours
and discussions. It was not easy to keep a tight time schedule for a group of
30-40 students arriving for this event from various places of the world and
getting lost in a welter of languages. It was the first time in Europe Rinpoche
gave such a series of high empowerments and teachings and acting predominently
as a tantrician and yogi, which he is by nature and by his special education,
trained by highly experienced Tibetan gurus. Two of his major gurus, HH Zong
Rinpoche and HH Kyabje Ling Rinpoche were also my teachers during the seventies
and early eighties, and being also an astrologer (even though from the Western
tradition), having worked as a 'healer' in the mid-seventies (homoeopathy, acupuncture,
herbal medicine), and being a tantrician and Buddhist by heart, we had something
in common which made this event so special for me. -Anyhow, the outer preparations
kept us all busy: getting the ritual objects together, making heaps of photocopies
with the various sadhana texts and illustrations and taking care to capture
all those events on video, audio and photo, organizing private interviews or
preparing refreshments and snacks etc. This usual Dharma-craziness I knew so
well from living at different Buddhist monasteries and running a Buddhist centre
for many years, creates a special flair and feeling of being part of a real
and lively experience and it trains the art of improvizing and enhances the
anticipation :-) In addition, reaching the extremes of one's capacity helps
to enforce the necessary sensitivity for receiving some 'out of the normal'
esoteric teachings. So there is even some wisdom behind all this! It is an important
part of the Tibetan mentality to improvize and to make spontaneous decisions,
using the energy and temporary 'weather situation' of the mind instead of a
strict and fixed kind of planning. In this context I remember a situation where
a teacher of mine mentioned incidentally and just an hour before a major teaching,
that he needs a rosary with 108 green beads as if it would be the most normal
thing that every household has a depot of green beads. So in no time I organized
several expedition teams which swarmed out all over the town to find that 108
green beads. Sweating all over, close to a hysterical fallout and having searched
at least a dozen shops, one team discovered the beads in a warehouse nearly
risking a car accident to bring them in time. - The astrological informed reader
may be reminded that this airy disposition may come from Tibet's libra influence.
Many old sources assign Tibet to the cardinal air element sign libra, which
mirrors also in Tibet's natural attachment to art, beauty, esotericism and the
loving kindness of it's people.
.
But it was worth all this. After giving a short introduction into the basics
of Buddhist philosophy, the nature of mind and of Buddhist tantra, he transmitted
the empowerment of the black Nagaraksha Manjushri (Jampel Nagaraksha), a wrathful
emanation of the water-element (Akshobhya family) and a powerful naga king with
ten heads, eighteen arms, a snake's tail and adorned by the eight great Nagas
(serpent kings) of the four major directions and four sub-directions (Northwest,
Southeast etc.), standing amidst a mass of wisdom flames. (- see also Nagaradja
and Lama Yeshe, A Milestone in My Life) The purpose of this deity yoga is to
overcome magical hindrances of lower spirits and nagas disturbing the meditator's
concentration or causing various diseases. Than he gave the initiation of White
Tara (Dölma Kharpo), a peaceful emanation of the fire element which generates
a calm mind, tranquility, fearlessness and longevity. Spread over the next days
Rinpoche gave empowerments and explanations on the mandala of the 6-armed and
three-headed yab/yum aspect of Mahachakra Vajrapani (Chana Dorje Khorlo Chenpo),
a wrathful emanation of the water-element, transforming hate energy into wisdom
activity, the two-armed form of Yamantaka (Dorje Jikche), a wrathful emanation
of Manjushri (water element, transforming hate into wisdom-knowledge activity),
Orange Manjushri (Jamyang Marser), a peaceful emanation of highest wisdom knowledge
and wisdom activity (water element), White Dzambhala riding on the turquoise
dragon (Dzambhala Kharpo), generating wealth and magical powers (siddhis) as
well as the Medicine Buddha, King of Aquamarine Light (Bhaishajaguru or Mänlha),
pacifying all kind of naga diseases and patron of Tibetan medicine. Assisted
was Gangchen Tulku by Lama Panchen Ötrul Rinpoche, his former friend from
India, now a resident in Northern Ireland and a teacher and friend of Thomas,
me and Manjushri Mandala, who gave additional empowerments on White Manjushri
and Dzambhala. Some short blessings on Chenrezig and Green Tara as well as blessings
to every single room of our house, garden and our grounds completed the official
part of the visit.
.
For a few days we enjoyed the vital and unique energy which goes along with
all Tibetan festiveties of this kind. In Gangchen Tulku we had found not just
an enthusiastic and powerful Healing Lama, but also an experienced and souvereign
tantrician and magician, well aware of his secret talents. A man full of energy
and vision, complete dedicated to keep the Buddhist spirit of Tibet alive and
using his power to help wherever help was needed. Not a theoretical scholar
but a man of action, combining the charm of a young boy with the dignity of
a Buddhist master. A mixture I discovered in most Tibetan teachers I came in
contact with. Also generous in giving, with a good sense of humor, and a bit
of crazy wisdom, a 'by-product' of so many tantric practitioners. Due to the
short visit I couldn't test his medical, healing or astrological talents, but
I certainly know that he was honestly devoted to tantric reality. Just a little
story to illustrate this. During a walk together with all course participants
we passed a holy well, situated directly beside a street, and decorated by the
Irish with all kind of little souveniers (from childrens combs to handkerchiefs
to some coins or personal wishes, written on a piece of paper). People say that
the Irish Saint Glencolumkill gave some teachings at this place in 600 AD. It
must have reminded Gangchen Tulku on Tibet, where all wells are seen as special
magical places. Anyhow, after having inspected the well very carefully, he spoke
a long series of mantras to honor or enlighten the nagas and spirits of this
place and than started a twenty minute ritual and puja, blocking complete the
street. But all cars waited patiently, watching this crazy group of Buddhists,
chanting and praying to the spirits of this historical spot. One could feel
that Gangchen Tulku was completely in his element and not pretending. He simply
did his best to bless and honor the well or even communicate with it. He did
the same in blessing our grounds, not missing a square yard and even climbing
up the highest point, which is very difficult to reach, because it's heavily
overgrown with gorse. We felt relieved when he finally stated that our place
is free of magical hindrances. It's great to know that in a time of hi-tech
and computer-magic people like Gangchen Tulku remind us of even finer and further
reaching realities which we are in danger to ignore or even forget. May this
old knowledge, once known by so many cultures have a continuation and may the
wisdom and practice of Buddhist tantra stay alive, presenting itself in a modern
language and acceptable for a wider audience. The archetypal essence of tantra
will never change, but we can try to find new words and allegories to attract
more people. Vajrayana should never become a curiosity or cultural nature reserve
for curious Westerners, who stare at some exotic lama dances as part of a tourist
attraction, getting a kick by watching some monks, creating a sand-mandala or
listening to some overtone chantings of sacred mantras as an exotic spice to
pop up a second class techno album.
- Additional personal remark:
- Beside the classical education in Buddhist monasteries I personally think,
that a wise, guided and legalized handling of psychedelics (LSD-25, to be exact),
later replaced by more traditional methods still has the potential to keep tantric
Buddhism alive. Just a few will find time to do the traditional three year retreat
to come in contact with the magic reality of one's own mind. I think Buddhist
tantra 'could' get a fresh start again by setting-up of some kind of 'Nature
of Mind Research Centre's', in the framework of spiritual and religious freedom.
Here the spiritual and honest seeker of the 21st century should get the legal
chance for psychedelic experiencees under the supervision of experienced spiritual
teachers, tantricians, Tibetan lamas, depth psychologists etc. But under no
circumstances in a clinical environment! From my own biography I know that it
is much easier to come from live-experiences, acting like eye-openers, than
starting from mere beliefs. I think that the purpose of enlightenment justifies
all means. - It would give me a bad feeling if I would keep this important message
back. - Anyhow, the future will show.
For Non-Buddhists the importance of this tantric deities and empowerments are
often difficult to understand. For those just a *very* short explanation: All
these deities should be understood as spontaneous emanations of our enlightened
mind, evoked by sound (seed syllable), which then transforms into formless light
(in the color of the according element) and having the potential to manifest
into a special rainbow- or dreambody-like form (deity) by speaking a special
mantra (sound composition). By identifying with the body, speech and mind of
those magical forms of our higher 'self' one is able to increase the special
qualities of those wisdom-emanations to speed up the process of enlightenment.
They don't represent the ultimate goal of Buddhahood but have to be understood
as precious vehicles towards the nondualistic mahamudra state of mind. Tantric
Buddhism states that there is no final enlightenment possible without overcoming
our inner magical universe of powerful illusions without temporary magical protection
and wisdom transmission of the higher mind deities. A bit confusing, but logical,
as soon as you exept the magical nature of your 'self', being composed of a
vast amount of magic forces, fighting against there relativation and depolarization
of the spiritual seekers mind. In principle all this is similar to astrology
where we also deal with deities (Jupiter, Mars etc.), zodiacal forces etc.,
trying to channel their archaic energies using our wisdom and will power. Even
before the Greeks astrology was always a tantric religion In Tibetan tantrism
those wisdom powers just have a specified name, a sound, a form etc. Easy, isn't
it? :-) I just would like to add, that, like in astrology, also tantra understands
the microcosmos as a mirror of the macrocosmos and vice versa. So it is possible
to envoke or experience certain deities (or energies) also in the outside. Both
methods are common practice in Buddhist tantra, even though the advanced practitioner
works more on harmonizing his inner magical reality and as a result of synchronicity
he experiences the outer reality according to his inner realizations. So if
he developed inner harmony he will experience automatically the outer world
as being in complete harmony and beauty too. If he realized the nature of emptiness
of all phenomena, he will experience also the outer world as empty and illusionary...and
so on.
To overcome our so-called evil forces or karmic hindrances it needs corresponding,
extremely powerful antidotes to magically transform those hindrances and that's
why in tantric Buddhism you find various wrathful deities like Yamantaka, Vajrapani
etc. which offer their powers, wisdom and magical 'know-how' to help the spiritual
seeker. So even looking devilish and terrifying their motivation is based on
love and compassion. Peaceful deities have the function to stabilize the inner
pureness and harmony etc. So the Buddhist pantheon is like a huge pharmacy shop,
giving the practitioner the choice to select his special deities, custom-tailored
to his individual karmic reality. The pharmacist is the according teacher or
yogi. That's how the tantric 'psycho-therapy' or 'karma-therapy' works. During
an empowerment you not just get the recipe and allowance to handle the tantric
'medicine' but also the magical transmission of the teacher resp. the initial
treatment. To make all this work, a mutual trust between teacher and student
(doctor and patient) is essential. - There is another thing one should understand.
Even though it is fundamentally possible to reach Buddhahood in one life-span,
it is more the exception. But by practicing a special deity yoga like Yamantaka
or White Tara and making progress on this path one could reach a rebirth in
their higher magical realms (or realms of our own mind) which allows a quicker
realization in just a couple of lifes. So an initiation is always just a start
or possibility for a better karmic career. It depends complete on the motivation
of the student if and how he handles this chance by using the magical medicine
on a regular basis. If not, a magical transmission can't harm and can be understood
as a blessing, initiating a seed into the mind stream, which can show a result
in a much later life-form. Tantra goes even so far to postulate, that just seeing
a deity or Buddha image will have some positive results in a later life. So,
just surfing through our Buddhist pages may once have some wonderful effects,
a magical transmission by millions of pixels, coming through your telephone
line. Now, that's what I call an electronic tantra experience of a new dimension!)
Tibetan Astrological Prayer - From the Outer Kalachakra Tantra
- Excerpt from Gangchen Tulku's Book 'Self-Healing II' Please, Lama Action Vajra,
great Rigden,
- Bless me to realize my body is the mandala of the universe, and to transform
it into a pure container of spiritual and life energy like a pure crystal.
- Bless me to realize that the birth, life and death of my body is the birth,
life and destruction of the cosmos.
- Bless me to realize that my spine is Mt. Meru and that the five colors of
my skin and organs are its five colored faces. May my body and mind become a
pure container for this positive elemental energy. (*)
- Bless me to realize that the flow of the vital energy, drops and winds rotating
in my channels and chakras is the cosmic energy flow and the rotation of the
celestial bodies. May my body and mind become a pure container for this positive,
pure celestial energy.
- Bless me to realize that my right and left channels are the Sun and Moon.
May my body and mind become a pure container for this positive solar and lunar
energy.
- Bless me to realize that my central channel (tsa uma) is Rahu (=rising Moon
Node). May my body and mind become a pure container for this positive, deep
and profound, essential life energy.
- Bless me to realize that my 28 vertebrae are the 28 constellation divinities
(=lunar mansions). May my body and mind become a pure container for this positive,
divine celestial life energy.
- Bless me to realize that my seven facial parts (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue,
chin and forehead) are the seven planets. May my body and mind become a pure
container for this positive planetary energy.
- Bless me to realize that my twelve left and right ribs are the twelve zodiac
houses in the lunar and solar aspects. May my body and mind become a pure container
for this positive archetypal energy.
- Bless me to realize that my countless millions of atoms and cells are the
stars of the heavens. May my body and mind become a pure container for this
positive stellar energy.
- Bless me to realize that my chakras are the great rotating galaxies. May my
body and mind become a pure container for this positive universal energy.
- Bless me to realize that the year is the Shambhala King, that the twenty-four
solar and lunar months are his twenty four ministers, that the days are the
army of Shambhala warriors and that the hours and seconds are their powerful
weapons.
Thus, may we become free from linear time, experience the past, present and
future in the eternal now and dance in the sphere of timelessness.
p.s. Rigden = King of the mystical kingdom of Shambhala, also called 'Lama Action
Vajra'.
Annotations by Gangchen Tulku based on the outer
Kalachakra tantras:
Our own body, the microcosm contains all the energies and elements of the universe,
the macrocosm. All outer and inner phenomena are manifestations of our own consciousness
and subtle wind energy (- air element), so they are naturally related. Our subtle
energy winds, upon which our mind is mounted, is five colored and contains the
subtle five elements. Due to ego grasping and collective karma of living beings,
this subtle wind energy manifests the outer and inner universe in stages, e.g.
the formation of a baby in the mother's womb and the formation of the world
in space.
Formation of the universe due to the collective karma of living beings:
1. The space element allows the outer four elements to dance and interact. This
is called the 'Space Vajra Mandala', formed by the sound EH.
2. Due to the collective karma of living beings, the wind energy (air element)
rises, called the 'Wind Vajra Mandala', formed by the sound YAM.
3. Due to the circulation of the wind, friction produces heat, called the 'Fire
Vajra Mandala', formed by the sound RAM.
4. Due to the fire element rising and then cooling, water vapour forms the 'Water
Vajra Mandala', formed by the sound BAM.
5. Due to the solidification of the water, a cream forms which then transforms
into the 'Earth Vajra Mandala', formed by the sound LAM.
Formation of a human body due to contaminated karma:
1. In the space of the womb there is the 'Space Vajra Mandala', formed by the
sound EH.
2. Due to the force of karma, the subtle energies and consciousness of the bardo
is entering the parent's sperm and ovum and the 'Wind Vajra Mandala' forms by
the sound YAM.
3. Due to the friction of the consciousness inside the sperm and ovum, union
heat is produced: the 'Fire Vajra Mandala' forms by the sound RAM.
4. Due to the fire energy rising and cooling, liquid is generated: the 'Water
Vajra Mandala' forms by the sound BAM.
5. Due to the liquid quality solidifying, the physical body begins to form:
the 'Earth Vajra Mandala' forms by the sound LAM.
- Thus there is an exact relationship between our body and mind, and the cosmos.
Our five inner elements are space, wind (air), earth, fire, water and our five
organs correspond to the outer five elements.
Our spine is Mt. Meru. (=the axial cosmic moutain of Buddhist mythology)
Our 28 vertebrae correspond to the 28 constellations (=28 stars or star constellations,
also known as 'lunar mansions').
Our 24 ribs relate to the twelve lunar and solar half-months of the year.
Our seven facial points correspond to the seven planets (in Tibetan astrology
the Moon Node Rahu is understood as a planet).
Our body is a mandala of the universe!
We can find the outer samsaric universe within our own body and mind.
Due to the rotation of the celestial bodies, energy is flowing in the cosmos.
- Our vital energy, subtle drops and winds are flowing through our channels
and chakras at the same frequency, but our body must consent to the energetic
flow of the cosmos, because the greater is more powerful than the lesser.
Sometimes we are in harmony with the celestial bodies, and we experience their
influence as beneficial, but at other times, we may be in opposition with them
and experience this as obstacles or problems.