Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism
Trungpa, Chogyam
Introduction
The following series of talks was given in Boulder, Colorado in the fall of
1970 and the spring of 1971. At that time we were just forming Karma Dzong,
our meditation center in Boulder. Although most of my students were sincere
in their aspiration to walk on the spiritual path, they brought to it a great
deal of confusion, misunderstanding and expectation. Therefore, I found it necessary
to present to my students an overview of the path and some warnings as to the
dangers along that path.
It now seems that publishing these talks may be helpful to those who have become
interested in spiritual disciplines. Walking the spiritual path properly is
a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. there are numerous
sidetracks which lead to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality;
we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead
we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental
distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism.
These talks first discuss the various ways in which people involve themselves
with spiritual materialism, the many forms of self-deception into which aspirants
may fall. After this tour of the sidetracks along the way, we discuss the broad
outlines of the true spiritual path.
The approach presented here is a classical Buddhist one - not in a formal sense,
but in the sense of presenting the heart of the Buddhist approach to spirituality.
Although the Buddhist way is not theistic it does not contradict the theistic
disciplines.
Rather the differences between the ways are a matter of emphasis and method.
The basic problems of spiritual materialism are common to all spiritual disciplines.
The Buddhist approach begins with our confusion and suffering and works toward
the unraveling of their origin. The theistic approach begins with the richness
of God and works toward raising consciousness so as to experience God's presence.
But since the obstacles to relating with God are our confusions and negativities,
the theistic approach must also deal with
them. Spiritual pride, for example, is as much a problem in the theistic disciplines
as in Buddhism.
According to the Buddhist tradition, the spiritual path is the process of cutting
through our confusion, of uncovering the awakened state of mind. When the awakened
state of mind is crowded in by ego and its attendant paranoia, it takes on the
character of an underlying instinct. So it is not a matter of building up the
awakened state of mind, but rather of burning out the confusions which obstruct
it. In the process of burning out these confusions, we discover enlightenment.
If the process were otherwise, the awakened state of mind would be a product,
dependent upon cause and effect and therefore liable to dissolution. Anything
which is created must, sooner or later, die. If enlightenment were created in
such a way, there would always be the possibility of ego reasserting itself,
causing a return to the confused state. Enlightenment is permanent because we
have not produced it; we have merely discovered it. In the Buddhist tradition
the analogy of the sun appearing from behind the clouds is often used to explain
the discovery of enlightenment. In the meditation practice we clear away the
confusion of ego in order to glimpse the awakened state. The absence of ignorance,
of being crowded in, of paranoia, opens up
a tremendous view of life. One discovers a different way of being.
The heart of the confusion is that man has a sense of self which seems to him
to be continuous and solid. When a though or emotion or even occurs, there is
a sense of someone being conscious of what is happening. You sense that you
are reading these words. This sense of self is actually a transitory, discontinuous
event, which in our confusion seems to be quite solid and continuous. Since
we take our confused view as being real, we struggle to maintain and enhance
this solid self. We try to feed it pleasures and shield it from pain. Experience
continually threatens to reveal our transitoriness to us, so we continually
struggle to cover up any possibility of discovering our real condition. "But,"
we might ask, "if our real condition is an awakened state, why are we so
busy trying to avoid becoming aware of it?" It is because we have become
so absorbed in our confused view of the world, that we consider it real, the
only possible world. This struggle to maintain the sense of a solid, continuous
self is the action of ego.
Ego, however, is only partially successful in shielding us from pain. It is
the dissatisfaction which accompanies ego's struggle that inspires us to examine
what we are doing. Since there are always gaps in our self-consciousness, some
insight is possible.
An interesting metaphor used in Tibetan Buddhism to describe the functioning
of ego is that of the "Three Lords of Materialism": the "Lord
of Form," the "Lord of Speech," and the "Lord of Mind."
In the discussion of the Three Lords which follows, the words "materialism"
and "neurotic" refer to the action of ego.
The Lord of Form refers to the neurotic pursuit of physical comfort, security
and pleasure. Our highly organized and technological society reflects our preoccupation
with manipulating physical surroundings so as to shield ourselves from the irritations
of the raw, rugged, unpredictable aspects
of life. Push-button elevators, pre-packaged meat, air conditioning, flush toilets,
private funerals, retirement plans, mass, production, weather satellites, bulldozers,
fluorescent lighting, nine-to-five jobs, television - all are attempts to create
a manageable, safe, predictable, pleasurable world.
The Lord of Form does not signify the physically rich and secure life-situations
we create per se. Rather it refers to the neurotic preoccupation that drives
us to create them, to try to control nature. It is ego's ambition to secure
and entertain itself, trying to avoid all irritation. So we cling to our pleasures
and possessions, we fear change or force change, we try to create a nest or
playground.
The Lord of Speech refers to the use of intellect in relating to our world.
We adopt sets of categories which serve as handles, as ways of managing phenomena.
The most fully developed products of this tendency are ideologies, the systems
of ideas that rationalize, justify and sanctify our lives. Nationalism, communism,
existentialism Christianity, Buddhism - all provide us with identities, rules
of action, and interpretations of how and why things happen as they do.
Again, the use of intellect is not in itself the Lord of Speech. The Lord of
Speech refers to the inclination on the part of ego to interpret anything that
is threatening or irritating in such a way as to neutralize the threat or turn
it into something "positive" from the ego's point of view. The Lord
of Speech refers to the use of concepts as filters to screen us from a direct
perception of what is. The concepts are taken too seriously; they are used as
tools to solidify our world and ourselves. If a world of nameable things exists,
then "I" as one of the nameable things exists as well. We wish not
to leave any room for threatening doubt, uncertainty or confusion.
The Lord of Mind refers to the effort of consciousness to maintain awareness
of itself. The Lord of Mind rules when we use spiritual and psychological disciplines
as the means of maintaining our self-consciousness, of holding onto our sense
of self. Drugs, yoga, prayer, meditation, trances, various psychotherapies -
all can be used in this way.
Ego is able to convert everything to its own use, even spirituality. For example,
if you have learned of a particularly beneficial meditation technique of spiritual
practice, then ego's attitude is, first to regard it as an object of fascination
and, second to examine it. Finally, since ego is seeming solid and cannot really
absorb anything, it can only mimic. Thus ego tries to examine and imitate the
practice of meditation and the meditative way of life. When we have learned
all the tricks and answers of the spiritual game, we automatically try to imitate
spirituality, since real involvement would require the complete elimination
of ego, and actually the last thing we want to do is to give up the ego completely.
However, we cannot experience that which we are trying to imitate; we can only
find some area within the bounds of ego that seems to be the same thing. Ego
translates everything in terms of its own state of health, its own inherent
qualities. It feels a sense of great accomplishment and excitement at have been
able to create such a pattern. At last it has created a tangible accomplishment,
a confirmation of its own individuality.
If we become successful at maintaining our self-consciousness through spiritual
techniques, then genuine spiritual development is highly unlikely. Our mental
habits become so strong as to be hard to penetrate. We may even go so far as
to achieve the totally demonic state of complete "Egohood."
Even though the Lord of Mind is the most powerful in subverting spirituality,
still the other two Lords can also rule the spiritual practice. Retreat to nature,
isolation, simple, quiet, high people - all can be ways of shielding oneself
from irritation, all can be expressions of the Lord of Form. Or perhaps religion
may provide us with a rationalization for creating a secure nest, a simple but
comfortable home, for acquiring an amiable mate, and a stable, easy job.
The Lord of Speech is involved in spiritual practice as well. In following a
spiritual path we may substitute a new religious ideology for our former beliefs,
but continue to use it in the old neurotic way. Regardless of how sublime our
ideas may be, if we take them too seriously and use them to maintain our ego,
we are still being ruled by the Lord of Speech.
Most of us, if we examine our actions, would probably agree that we are ruled
by one or more of the Three Lords. "But," we might ask, "so what?
This is simply a description of the human condition. Yes, we know that our technology
cannot shield us from war, crime, illness, economic insecurity, laborious work,
old age and death; nor can our ideologies shield us from doubt, uncertainty,
confusion and disorientation; nor can our therapies protect us from the dissolution
of the high states of consciousness that we may temporarily achieve and the
disillusionment and anguish that follow. But what else are we to do? The Three
Lords seem too powerful to overthrow, and we don't know what to replace them
with."
The Buddha, troubled by these questions, examined the process by which the Three
Lords rule. He questioned why our minds follow them and whether there is another
way. He discovered that the Three Lords seduce us by creating a fundamental
myth: that we are solid beings. But ultimately the myth is false, a huge hoax,
a gigantic fraud, and it is the root of our suffering. In order to make this
discover he had to break through very elaborate defenses erected by the Three
Lords to prevent their subjects from
discovering the fundamental deception which is the source of their power. We
cannot in any way free ourselves from the domination of the Three Lords unless
we too cut through, layer by layer, the elaborate defenses of these Lords.
The Lords' defenses are created out of the material of our minds. This material
of mind is used by the Lords in such a way as to maintain the basic myth of
solidity. In order to see for ourselves how this process works we must examine
our own experience. "But how," we might ask, "are we to conduct
the examination? What method or tool are we to use?" The method that the
Buddha discovered is meditation. He discovered that struggling to find answers
did not work. It was only when there were gaps in his struggle that insights
came to him. He began to realize that there was a sane, awake quality within
him which manifested itself only in the absence of struggle. So the practice
of meditation involves "letting be."
There have been a number of misconceptions regarding meditation. Some people
regard it as a trancelike state of mind. Others think of it in terms of training,
in the sense of mental gymnastics. But meditation is neither of these, although
it does involve dealing with neurotic states of mind. The neurotic state of
mind is not difficult or impossible to deal with. It has energy, speed and a
certain pattern. The practice of meditation involves letting be - trying to
go with the patter, trying to go with the energy and the speed. In this way
we learn how to deal with these factors, how to relate with them, not in the
sense of causing them to mature in the way we would like, but in the sense of
knowing them for what they are and working with their pattern.
There is a story regarding the Buddha which recounts how he once gave teaching
to a famous sitar player who wanted to study meditation. The musician asked,
"Should I control my mind or should I completely let go?" The Buddha
answered, "Since you are a great musician, tell me how you would tune the
strings of your instrument." The musician said, "I would make them
not too tight and not too loose." "Likewise," said the Buddha,
"in you meditation practice you should not impose anything too forcefully
on your mind, nor should you let it wander." That is the teaching of letting
the mind be in a very open way, of feeling the flow of energy without trying
to subdue it and without letting it get out of control, of going with the energy
pattern of the mind. This is meditation practice.
Such practice is necessary generally because our thinking pattern, our conceptualized
way of conducting our life in the world, is either too manipulative, imposing
itself upon the world, or else runs completely wild and uncontrolled. Therefore,
our meditation practice must begin with ego's outermost layer, the discursive
thoughts which continually run through our minds, our mental gossip. The Lords
use discursive thought as their first line of defense, as the pawns in their
effort to deceive us. The more we generate thoughts, the busier we are mentally
and the more convinced we are of our existence. So the Lords are constantly
trying to activate these thoughts, trying to create a constant overlapping of
thoughts so that nothing can be seen beyond them. In true meditation there is
no ambition to stir up thoughts, nor is there an ambition to suppress them.
They are just allowed to occur spontaneously and become an expression of basic
sanity. They become the expression of the precision and the clarity of the awakened
state of mind.
If the strategy of continually creating overlapping thoughts is penetrated,
then the Lords stir up emotions to distract us. The exciting, colorful, dramatic
quality of the emotions captures our attention as if we were watching an absorbing
film show. In the practice of meditation we neither encourage emotions nor repress
them. By seeing them clearly, by allowing them to be as they are, we no longer
permit them to serve as a means of entertaining or distracting us. Thus they
become the inexhaustible energy which
fulfills egoless action.
In the absence of thoughts and emotions the Lords bring up a still more powerful
weapon, concepts. Labeling phenomena creates a feeling of a solid definite world
of "things." Such a solid world reassures us that we are a solid,
continuous thing as well. The world exists, therefore I, the perceiver of the
world, exist.
Meditation involves seeing the transparency of concepts, so that labeling no
longer serves as a way of solidifying our world and our image of self. Labeling
becomes simply the act of discrimination. The Lords have still further defense
mechanisms, but it would be too complicated to discuss them in this context.
By the examination of his own thoughts, emotions, concepts and the other activities
of mind, the Buddha discovered that there is no need to struggle to prove our
existence, that we need not be subject to the rule of the Three Lords of Materialism.
There is no need to struggle to be free; the absence of struggle is in itself
freedom. This egoless state is the attainment of Buddhahood. The process of
transforming the material of mind from expressions of ego's ambition in to expressions
of basic sanity and enlightenment through the practice of meditation - this
might be said to be the Spiritual Materialism
We have come here to learn about spirituality. I trust the genuine quality of
this search but we must question its nature. The problem is that ego can convert
anything to its own use, even spirituality. Ego is constantly attempting to
acquire and apply the teachings of spirituality for its own benefit. The teachings
are treated as an external thing, external to "me," a philosophy which
we try to imitate. We do not actually want to identify with or become the teachings.
So if our teacher speaks of renunciation of ego, we attempt to mimic renunciation
of ego. We go through the motions, make the appropriate gestures, but we really
do not want to sacrifice any part of our way of life. We become skillful actors,
and while playing deaf and dumb to the real meaning of the teachings, we find
some comfort in pretending to follow the path.
Whenever we begin to feel any discrepancy or conflict between our actions and
the teachings, we immediately interpret the situation in such a way that the
conflict is smoothed over. The interpreter is ego in the role of spiritual advisor.
The situation is like that of a country where church and state are separate.
If the policy of the state is foreign to the teachings of the church, then the
automatic reaction of the king is to go to the head of the church, his spiritual
advisor, and ask his blessing. The head of the church then works out some justification
and gives the policy his blessing under the pretense that the king is the protector
of the faith. In an individual's mind, it works out very neatly that way, ego
being both king and head of the church.
This rationalization of the spiritual path and one's actions must be cut through
if true spirituality is to be realized. However, such rationalizing is not easy
to deal with because everything is seen through the filter of ego's philosophy
and logic, making all appear neat, precise and very logical. We attempt to find
a self-justifying answer for every question. In order to reassure ourselves,
we work to fit into our intellectual scheme every aspect of our lives which
might be confusing. And our effort is so serious and solemn, so straight-forward
and sincere, that it is very difficult to be suspicious of it. We always trust
the "integrity" of our spiritual advisor.
It does not matter what we use to achieve self-justification: the wisdom of
sacred books, diagrams or charts, mathematical calculations, esoteric formulae,
fundamentalists religion, depth psychology, or any other mechanism. Whenever
we begin to evaluate, deciding that we should or should not do this or that,
then we have already associated our practice or our knowledge with categories,
one pitted against the other, and that is spiritual materialism, the false spirituality
of our spiritual advisor.
Whenever we a have a dualistic notion such as, "I am doing this because
I want to achieve a particular state of consciousness, a particular state of
being," the automatically we separate ourselves from the reality of what
we are.
If we ask ourselves, "What is wrong with evaluating, with taking sides?",
the answer is that, when we formulate a secondary judgment, "I should be
doing this and should avoid doing that," then we have achieved a level
of complication which takes us a long way from the basic simplicity of what
we are. The simplicity of meditation means just experiencing the ape instinct
of ego. If anything more than this is laid onto our psychology, then it becomes
a very heavy, thick mask, a suit of armor.
It is important to see that the main point of any spiritual practice is to step
out of the bureaucracy of ego. This means stepping out of ego's constant desire
for a higher, more spiritual, more transcendental version of knowledge, religion,
virtue, judgment, comfort or whatever it is that a particular ego is seeking.
One must step out of spiritual materialism. If we do not step out of spiritual
materialism, if we in fact practice it, then we may eventually find ourselves
possessed of a huge collection of spiritual paths. We may feel these spiritual
collections to be very precious. We have studied so much. We may have studied
Western philosophy or Oriental philosophy, practiced yoga or perhaps studied
under dozens of great masters. We have achieved and we have learned. We believe
that we have accumulated a hoard of knowledge. And yet, having gone through
all this, there is still something to give up. It is extremely mysterious! How
could this happen? Impossible! But unfortunately it is so. Our vast collections
of knowledge and experience are just part of ego's display, part of the grandiose
quality of ego. We display them to the world and, in so doing, reassure ourselves
that we exist, safe and secure, as
"spiritual" people.
But we have simply created a shop, an antique shop. We could be specializing
in oriental antiques or medieval Christian antiques or antiques from some other
civilization or time, but we are, nonetheless, running a shop. Before we filled
our shop with so many things the room was beautiful: whitewashed walls and a
very simple floor with a bright lamp burning in the ceiling. There was one object
of art in the middle of the room and it was beautiful. Everyone who came appreciated
its beauty, including ourselves.
But we were not satisfied and we thought, "Since this one object makes
my room so beautiful, if I get more antiques, my room will be even more beautiful."
So we began to collect, and the end result was chaos.
We searched the world over for beautiful objects - India, Japan, many different
countries. And each time we found an antique, because we were dealing with only
one object at a time, we saw it as beautiful and thought it would be beautiful
in our shop. But when we brought the object home and put it there, it became
just another addition to our junky collection. The beauty of the object did
not radiate out any more, because it was surrounded by so many other beautiful
things. It did not mean anything anymore. Instead of a room full of beautiful
antiques we created a junk shop!
Proper shopping does not entail collecting a lot of information or beauty, but
it involves fully appreciating each individual object. This is very important.
If you really appreciate an object of beauty, then you completely identify with
it and forget yourself. It is like seeing a very interesting, fascinating movie
and forgetting that you are the audience. At that moment there is no world;
your whole being is that scene of that movie. It is that kind of identification,
complete involvement with one thing. Did we actually taste it and chew it and
swallow it properly, that one object of beauty, that one spiritual teaching?
Or did we merely regard it as a part of our vast and growing collection?
I place so much emphasis on this point because I know that all of us have come
to the teachings and practice of meditation not to make a lot of money, but
because we genuinely want to learn, want to develop ourselves. But if we regard
knowledge as an antique, as "ancient wisdom" to be collected, then
we are on the wrong path.
As far as the lineage of teachers is concerned, knowledge is not handed down
like an antique. Rather, one teacher experiences the truth of the teachings,
and he hands it down as inspiration to his student. That inspiration awakens
the student, as his teacher was awakened before him. Then the student hands
down the teachings to another student and so the process goes. The teachings
are always up to date. They are not "ancient wisdom," an old legend.
The teachings are not passed along as information, handed down as a grandfather
tells traditional folk tales to his grandchildren. It does not work that way.
It is real experience.
There is a saying in the Tibetan scriptures: "Knowledge must be burned,
hammered and beaten like pure gold. Then one can wear it as an ornament."
So when you receive spiritual instruction from the hands of another, you do
not take it uncritically, but you burn it, you hammer it, you beat it, until
the bright, dignified color of gold appears. Then you craft it into an ornament,
whatever design you like, and you put it on. Therefore, dharma is applicable
to every age, to every person; it has a living quality. It is not enough to
imitate your master or guru; you are not trying to become a replica of your
teacher. The teachings are an individual persona experience, right down to the
present holder of the doctrine.
Perhaps many of my readers are familiar with the stories of Naropa and Tilopa
and Marpa and Milarepa and Gampopa and the other teachers of the Kagy lineage.
It was a living experience for them, and it is a living experience for the present
holders of the lineage. Only the details of their life-situations are different.
The teachings have the quality of warm, fresh baked bread; the bread is still
warm and hot and fresh. Each baker must apply the general knowledge of how to
make bread to his particular dough and oven. Then he must personally experience
the freshness of this bread and must cut if fresh and eat it warm. He must make
the teachings his own and then must practice them. It is a very living process.
There is no deception in terms of collecting knowledge. We must work with our
individual experiences. When we become confused, we cannot turn back to our
collection of knowledge and try to find some confirmation or consolation: "The
teacher and the whole teaching is on my side." The spiritual path does
not go that way. It is a lonely, individual path.
Question:
Do you think spiritual materialism is a particularly American problem?
Answer:
Whenever teachings come to a country from abroad, the problem of spiritual materialism
is intensified. At the moment America is, without any doubt, fertile ground
ready for the teachings. And because America is so fertile, seeking spirituality,
it is possible for America to inspire charlatans. Charlatans would not choose
to be charlatans unless they were inspired to do so. Otherwise, they would be
bank robbers or bandits, inasmuch as they want to make money and become famous.
Because America is looking so hard for spirituality, religion becomes any easy
way to make money and acquire fame. So we see charlatans in the role of student,
chela, as well as in the role of guru. I think America at this particular time
is a very interesting ground.
Question:
Have you accepted any spiritual master as a guru, any particular living spiritual
master?
Answer:
at present there is no one. I left my gurus and teachers behind in Tibet, physically,
but the teachings stay with me and continue.
Question:
So who are you following, more or less?
Answer:
Situations are the voice of my guru, the presence of my guru.
Question:
After Shakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment, was there some trace of ego
left in him so that he could carry on his teachings?
Answer:
The teaching just happened. He did not have the desire to teach or not to teach.
He spent seven weeks sitting under the shade of a tree and walking along the
bank of a river. Then someone just happened along and he began to speak. One
has no choice; you are there, an open person. Then the situation presents itself
and teaching happens. That is what is called "Buddha activity."
Question:
It is difficult not to become acquisitive about spirituality. Is this desire
for acquisitions something that is shed along the way?
Answer:
You should let the first impulse die down. Your first impulse toward spirituality
might put you into some particular spiritual scene; but if you work with that
impulse, then the impulse gradually dies down and at some stage becomes tedious,
monotonous. This is a useful message. You see, it is essential to relate to
yourself, to your own experience, really. If one does not relate to oneself,
then the spiritual path becomes dangerous, becomes purely external entertainment,
rather than an organic personal experience.
Question:
If you decide to seek your way out of ignorance, you can almost definitely assume
that anything you do that feels good will be beneficial to the ego and actually
blocking the path. Anything that seems right to you will be wrong, anything
that doesn't turn you upside-down will bury you. Is there any way out of this?
Answer:
If you perform some act which is seemingly right, it does not mean that it is
wrong, for the very reason that wrong and right are out of the picture altogether.
You are not working on any side, neither the "good" side nor the "bad"
side, but you are working with the totality of the whole, beyond "this"
and "that." I would say there is complete action. There is no partial
act, but whatever we do in connection with good and bad seems to be a partial
act.
Question:
If you are feeling very confused and trying to work your way out of the confusion,
it would seem that you are trying too hard. But if you do not try at all, then
are we to understand that we are fooling ourselves?
Answer:
Yes, but that does not mean that one has to live by the extremes of trying too
hard or not trying at all. One has to work with a kind of "middle way,"
a complete state of "being as you are." We could describe this with
a lot of words, but one really has to do it. If you really start living the
middle way, then you will see it, you will find it. You must allow yourself
to trust yourself, to trust in your own intelligence. We are tremendous people,
we have tremendous things in us. We simply have to let ourselves be. External
aid cannot help. If you are not willing to let yourself grow, then you fall
into the self-destructive process of confusion. It is self-destruction rather
than destruction by someone else. That is why it is effective; because it is
self-destruction.
Question:
What is faith? Is it useful?
Answer:
Faith could be simple-minded, trusting, blind faith, or it could be definite
confidence which cannot be destroyed. Blind faith has no inspiration. It is
very naive. It is not creative, though not exactly destructive. It is not creative
because your faith and yourself have never made any connection, any communication.
You just blindly accepted the whole belief, very naively.
In the case of faith as confidence, there is a living reason to be confident.
You do not expect that there will be a prefabricated solution mysteriously presented
to you. You work with existing situations without fear, without any doubt about
involving yourself. This approach is extremely creative and positive. If you
have definite confidence, you are so sure of yourself that you do not have to
check yourself. It is absolute confidence, real understanding of what is going
on now, therefore you do not hesitate to follow other paths or deal in whatever
way is necessary with each new situation.
Question:
What guides you on the path?
Answer:
Actually, there does not seem to be any particular guidance. In fact, if someone
is guiding you, that is suspicious, because you are relying on something external.
Being fully what you are in yourself becomes guidance, but not in the sense
of vanguard, because you do not have a guide to follow. You do not have to follow
someone's tail, but you sail along. In other words, the guide does not walk
ahead of you, but walks with you.
Question:
Could you say something more about the way in which meditation short-circuits
the protective mechanisms of the ego?
Answer:
The protective mechanism of ego involves checking oneself, which is an unnecessary
kind of self-observance. Meditation is not based on meditating on a particular
subject by checking oneself; but meditation is complete identification with
whatever techniques you are employing. Therefore there will be no effort to
secure oneself in the practice of meditation.
Question:
I seem to be living in a spiritual junkyard. How can I make it into a simple
room with one beautiful object?
Answer:
In order to develop an appreciation of you collection you have to start with
one item. One has to find a stepping-stone, a source of inspiration. Perhaps
you would not have to go through the rest of the items in your collection if
you studied just one piece of material. That one piece of material could be
a sign-post that you managed to confiscate in New York City, it could be as
insignificant as that. But one must start with one thing, see its simplicity,
the rugged quality of this piece of junk or this beautiful antique. If we could
manage to start with just one thing, then that would be the equivalent of having
one object in an empty room. I think it is a question of finding a stepping-stone.
Because we have so many possessions in our collection, a large part of the problem
is that we do not know where to begin. One has to allow one's instinct to determine
which will be the first thing to pick up.
Question:
Why do you think that people are so protective of their egos? Why is it so hard
to let go of one's ego?
Answer:
People are afraid of emptiness of space, or the absence of company, the absence
of a shadow. It could be a terrifying experience to have no one to relate to,
nothing to relate with. The idea of it can be extremely frightening, though
not the real experience. It is generally a fear of space, a fear that we will
not be able to anchor ourselves to any solid ground, that we will lose our identity
as a fixed and solid and definite thing. This could be very threatening.
Surrendering
At this point we may have come to the conclusion that we should drop t he whole
game of spiritual materialism; that is, we should give up trying to defend and
improve ourselves. We may have glimpsed that our struggle is futile and may
wish to surrender, to completely abandon our efforts to defend ourselves. But
how many of us could actually do this? It is not as simple and easy as we might
think. To what degree could we really let go and be open? At what point would
we become defensive?
In this lecture we will discuss surrendering, particularly in terms of the relationship
between work on the neurotic state of mind and work with a personal guru or
teacher. Surrendering to the "guru" could mean opening our minds to
life-situations as well as to an individual teacher. However, if our life-style
and inspiration is working toward an unfolding of the mind, then we will almost
certainly find a personal guru as well. So in the next few talks we will emphasize
relating to a personal teacher.
One of the difficulties in surrendering to a guru is our preconceptions regarding
him and our expectations of what will happen with him. We are preoccupied with
ideas of what we would like to experience with our teacher: "I would like
to see this; that would be the best way to see it; I would like to experience
this particular situation, because it is in exact accordance with my expectation
and fascination."
So we try to fit things into pigeonholes, try to fit the situation to our expectations,
and we cannot surrender any part of our anticipation to all. If we search for
a guru or teacher, we expect him to be saintly, peaceful, quiet, a simple and
wise man. When we find that he does not match our expectations, then we begin
to be disappointed, we begin to doubt.
In order to establish a real teacher-student relationship it is necessary for
us to give up all our preconceptions regarding that relationship and the condition
of opening and surrender. "Surrender" means opening oneself completely,
trying to get beyond fascination and expectation.
Surrender also means acknowledging the raw, rugged, clumsy and shocking qualities
of one's ego, acknowledging them and surrendering them as well. Generally, we
find it very difficult to give out and surrender our raw and rugged qualities
of ego. Although we may hate ourselves, at the same time we find our self-hatred
a kind of occupation. In spite of the fact that we may dislike what we are and
find that self-condemnation painful, still we cannot give it up completely.
If we begin to give up our self-criticism, then we may feel that we are losing
our occupation, as though someone were taking away our job. We would have no
further occupation if we were to surrender everything; there would be nothing
to hold on to. Self-evaluation and self-criticism are, basically, neurotic tendencies
which derive from our not having enough confidence in ourselves, "confidence"
in the sense of seeing what we are, knowing what we are, knowing we can afford
to open. We can afford to surrender that raw and rugged neurotic quality of
self and step out of fascination, step out of preconceived ideas.
We must surrender our hopes and expectations, as well as our fears, and march
directly into disappointment, work with disappointment, go into it and make
it our way of life, which is a very hard thing to do. Disappointment is a good
sign of basic intelligence. It cannot be compared to anything else: it is so
sharp, precise, obvious and direct. If we can open, then we suddenly begin to
see that our expectations are irrelevant compared with the reality of the situations
we are facing. This automatically brings a feeling disappointment.
Disappointment is the best chariot to use on the path of the dharma. It does
not confirm the existence of our ego and its dreams. However, if we are involved
with spiritual materialism, if we regard spirituality as a part of our accumulation
of learning and virtue, if spirituality becomes a way of building ourselves
up, then of course the whole process of surrendering is completely distorted.
If we regard spirituality as a way of making ourselves comfortable, then whenever
we experience something unpleasant, a disappointment, we try to rationalize
it: "Of course this must be an act of wisdom the part of the guru, because
I know, I'm quite certain the guru doesn't do harmful things. Guruji is a perfect
being and whatever Guruji does is right. Whatever Guruji does is for me, because
he is on my side. So I can afford to open. I can safely surrender. I know that
I am treading on the right path." Something is not quite right about such
an attitude. It is, at best, simple-minded and naive. We are captivated by the
awesome, inspiring, dignified and colorful aspect of "Guruji." We
dare not contemplate any other way. We develop the conviction that whatever
we experience is part of our spiritual development. "I've made it, I have
experienced it, I am a self-made person and I know everything, roughly, because
I've read books and they confirm my beliefs, my rightness, my ideas. Everything
coincides."
We can old back in still another way, not really surrendering because we feel
that we are very genteel, sophisticated and dignified people. "Surely we
can't give ourselves to this dirty, ordinary street-scene of reality."
We have the feeling that every step of the path should be a lotus petal and
we develop a logic that interprets whatever happens to us accordingly. If we
fall, we create a soft landing which prevents sudden shock. Surrendering does
not involve preparing for a soft landing; it means just landing on hard, ordinary
ground, on rocky, wild countryside. Once we open ourselves, then we land on
what is.
Traditionally, surrendering is symbolized by such practices as prostration,
which is the act of falling on the ground in a gesture of surrender. At the
same time we open psychologically and surrender completely by identifying ourselves
with the lowest of the low, acknowledging our raw and rugged quality. There
is nothing that we fear to lose once we identify ourselves with the lowest of
the low. By doing so, we prepare ourselves to be an empty vessel, ready to receive
the teachings.
In the Buddhist tradition, there is this basic formula: "I take refuge
in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha."
I take refuge in the Buddha as the example of surrender, the example of acknowledging
negativity as part of our makeup and opening to it. I take refuge in the dharma
- dharma, the "law of existence," life as it is. I am willing to open
my eyes to the circumstances of life as they are. I am not willing to view them
as spiritual or mystical, but I am willing to see the situations of life as
they really are. I take refuge in the Sangha. "Sangha" means "community
of people on the spiritual path," "companions." I am willing
to share my experience of the whole environment of life with my fellow pilgrims,
my fellow searchers, those who walk with me; but I am not willing to lean on
them in order to gain support. I am only willing to walk along with them. There
is a very dangerous tendency to lean on one another as we tread the path. If
a group of people leans one upon the other, then if one should happen to fall
down, everyone falls down. So we do not lean on anyone else. We just walk with
each other, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, working with each other, going
with each other. This approach to surrendering, this idea of taking refuge is
very profound.
The wrong way to take refuge involves seeking shelter - worshipping mountains,
sun gods, moon gods, deities of any kind simply because they would seem to be
greater than we. This kind of refuge taking is similar to the response of the
little child who says, "If you beat me, I'll tell my mommy," thinking
that his mother is a great, archetypically powerful person. If he is attacked,
his automatic recourse is to his mother, an invincible and all-knowing, all-powerful
personality. The child believes his mother can protect him, in fact that she
is the only person who can save him. Taking refuge in a mother or father-principle
is truly self-defeating; the refuge-seeker has no real basic strength at all,
no true inspiration. He is constantly busy assessing greater and smaller powers.
If we are small, then someone greater can crush us. We seek refuge because we
cannot afford to be small and without protection. We tend to be apologetic:
"I am such a small thing, but I acknowledge your great quality. I would
like to worship and join your greatness, so will you please protect me?"
Surrendering is not a question of being low and stupid, nor wanting to be elevated
and profound. It has nothing to do with levels and evaluation. Instead, we surrender
because we would like to communicate with the world "as it is." We
do not have to classify ourselves as learners or ignorant people. We know where
we stand, therefore we make the gesture of surrendering, of opening , which
means communication, link, direct communication with the object of our surrendering.
We are not embarrassed about our rich collection of raw, rugged, beautiful and
clean qualities. We present everything to the object of our surrendering. The
basic act of surrender does not involve the worship of an external power. Rather
it means working together with inspiration, so that one becomes an open vessel
into which knowledge can be poured.
Thus openness and surrendering are the necessary preparation for working with
a spiritual friend. We acknowledge our fundamental richness rather than bemoan
the imagine poverty of our being. We know we are worthy to receive the teachings,
worthy of relating ourselves to wealth of the opportunities for learning.