Defining characteristics.

Buddhism is known as a way of life characterized by wisdom and compassion. Two valid questions: Wise about what? And what is the basis of Buddhist compassion? Hopefully, we can be wise about many things, and the wiser we are the less trouble we create in the world, and that’s a good thing. But Buddhist wisdom is not broad-spread wisdom about everything but rather concerns being wise about the cornerstone of life: the rudder that guides our ship.

In a very real sense, life is a gamble. We can’t know the future so we roll the dice and bet on the outcome. And this quandary ordinarily concerns material prosperity. The presumption here is the more stuff we can accumulate the more fulfilled we will be.

Buddhist wisdom turns this proposition on its head, first by understanding that the fundamental nature of all matter is change: Here today means gone tomorrow and clinging to what is ephemeral creates suffering. The second dimension of Buddhist wisdom takes us to compassion. Why should we care about someone else? Isn’t it enough to take care of our own business? And in today’s world taking care of our own is becoming more and more difficult. However, there is nothing quite as persuasive in pointing out our mutual interdependence than a global pandemic with a virus that infects one and all alike.

The principle of independence seems to imply separation, and independence is the premise of individuality: Everyone doing his or her own thing. Again Buddhism turns this premise upside down by noting that everything is interdependent. In truth nothing can possibly be independent, in spite of our wishes. No one is an island. Covid-19 proves that with no doubt. Compassion is the bridge that spans the apparent gap separating us from one another.

Zen takes us to the ground level of this union. The source of our actions (how we relate to each other) is thought. And the source of thought is mind. These three are connected. Mind creates thought and thought creates action. At the deepest part of mind there is unity. There is no such thing as “my mind.” This “my” is an illusion of identity but it seems very real. Buddhism teaches that there is only one true mind (which is no mind) and it is here where unity exists.

The problem is that most people understand mind as their thoughts and emotions and these manifestations are unique and individual. By identifying with our thoughts and emotions we create separation, alienation and the corresponding attitude of me against the world. The result is greed, anger, and ignorance—the three mental poisons which are wreaking our world today.

True compassion arises from the base of true mind—where we are all one. And wisdom is the result. We become wise when we experience unity and realize that when we care for another we are literally caring for our self. And the flip side of this realization is the awareness that when we harm another we bring harm to our self.

The command by Jesus “…in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you...” is the same as the Buddhist prescription. If we wish to change our world from a factory, which produces greed, anger, and ignorance, the solution is that simple. What we put out comes back to us because at the deepest part of existence we are united. When we experience this unity our thoughts change from “me, me, me” to “us, us, us” and this shift results in an action of caring, both for our self and for others.

First posted in August 2011

Mea culpa

Immortality awaits all.

I have a confession, admittedly late, but “better late than never.” My disclosure arises from the convergence of my current senior stage of a decaying body and reading a book by RamDass: Still Here—Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, in which he emphasizes an essential point (which should be obvious) that all of us will naturally experience aging, changing, and dying. Therefore, the nearer we are to the end of our “mortal house,” the more we need to appropriately shift our focus onto “embracing the immortal soul.”

And the reason for that appropriate shift is because, at the point of leaving our mortal house, whatever unfinished business we have (e.g., unresolved, unforgiving, righting wrongs, etc.) becomes the starting point of our next human incarnation. Karma either works for our mortality or against it. The components of the “karmic seeds” (Vāsanā (Sanskrit; Devanagari: वासना)) with which we die in the previous life determines the starting point (our lessons to be learned) in the next mortal incarnation. Therefore, since no-mortal-body can predict the future, none can, with any accuracy, say when that portal moment will come when the soul leaves and returns to God.

Every thought, every word, every action carries its’ own power. Karmic seeds contain an imprint from all cumulative past, thoughts, words, and actions. They can be positive, negative, or neutral. As mortals, every moment, we are experiencing the karma of the past and are creating karma for the future. That is one of the most fundamental premises of a reincarnation perspective: It is the soul (carrying with it karmic seeds) that migrates, activates, and determines the challenges for our next mortality. 

It is, therefore, imperative that we “put our house in order” each fleeting moment because until we pay our karmic debt during mortal incarnations, we will continue in various Samsaric forms, replete with suffering. Samsara is considered to be mortal, unsatisfactory, and painful, perpetuated through attachment and ignorance. The great paradox is that it is solving the suffering dilemma that leads us all to reach beyond mortality to immortality. No suffering; no motivation to reach beyond. So long as we stay locked in a state of denial, refusing to acknowledge our mortal flaws, the more bad karma we create.

The goal of mortal life is thus “…to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” And yes, I intentionally inserted a passage from the Bible (Philippians 2:12-13) into this karmic pattern because the pattern is transcendent to all religious venues. The wording may change from one religion to another. Still, the karmic message is always there, one way or another—a traveling soul, moving away from greed, anger, and delusion (characteristics of the ego) and toward Heaven, Nirvana, or whatever term you choose to represent the great cosmic sea of spiritual unity.

Why fear and trembling? Because to dissolve ego attachments, we must first confess our errors (most importantly to ourselves), and working through those issues is cobbled together with fear and trembling. We only resolve problems we acknowledge. Addressing our most profound, darkest failings requires that we surface them, face-on, (which the ego detests, choosing instead to deny any weaknesses). A person who claims to have no flaws, for certainty, has many, albeit perhaps unconsciously. However, conscious or not, it is impossible to live a mortal life without error. This acknowledgment comes as the very first of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths—Conditional life is suffering. 

As a human race, we have acknowledged this with the expression: “To err is human, to forgive divine.” That’s a long-winded prelude to my confession—putting my house in order. My disclosure is that in contributing to this blog I have (out of ignorance and karma) been excessively preoccupied with my ego by quoting the work of other sages and seers in the pursuit of establishing “myself” as a well-read and thus wise teacher (with no credentials at all—A True Man With no Rank). I have forgotten a primary lesson of dharma attachment. And in my forgetful, ignorant fashion have become attached to the need to persuade you, my readers, with how wise I am. 

I wanted you to know that I knew what I was talking about. I saw it necessary to impress you with the wealth of my experience, reading, knowledge, and assimilation, thus enhancing my ego and, in the process, creating more bad karma—I have been shooting myself in the foot. That’s my mea culpa moment of critical awareness—Thank you RamDass. So now I must continue for the rest of this present incarnation, by freeing myself of the need to impress you and thus become more soul-real, sans impressions.

What I intend to do, from this point on, is to become more acquainted with my soul and begin to let go of attachments to my ego. It is the migration of the soul that reaches forward to freedom from suffering and to the end of this continuing process of almost endless affliction. And to…work out my own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in me, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The nature of God is unconditional, whereas the nature of mortality is conditional. As I age, the more I can see just how provisional and precarious my ego and body are. As my mortality fails, with increasing infirmities, I draw closer to immortality. As “I” become weaker, God manifests greatly. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

“I” am moving closer to the ending than the beginning of this current mortal incarnation. The mortal aspect of us all is the part that ages, changes, suffers, and dies, and it is the house of the soul, which leaves our mortality on a metaphorical ship, sailing into the immortal sea of unity. It is the nature of immortality that lacks aging, changing, suffering, and dying. That is the goal of every soul, whether known or not. All souls are a piece of the fabric of unity (the ground of all being) that we call life, and all souls reach toward freedom. But once we attain freedom, we must let go of ego-attachments and begin relating to other mortal incarnations at the level of their soul instead of the level of our incomplete mutual natures (e.g., “egos”) which are always functioning out of karmic seeds and growing into plants of perceptible insecurity.

Who the heck am I?

The sky of mind

If you’ve been reading my blog, more than likely you’ve come to realize that I’m an outlier. I don’t fit the ordinary categories, and that disturbs some people, but the truth is neither do you. 

What people believe overrides truth nearly every time. I haven’t always been so unorthodox, in fact, most of my life I was just like everyone else: screwed up but not aware there was any other way. So I want to tell you a little bit how I went from normal (and screwed up) to abnormal and at peace.

In 1964 I did a terrible thing: I went to Vietnam as a Marine and killed a lot of people. What I hadn’t bargained for was that it killed me—spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. For years following my two years perpetuating socially acceptable mayhem on my own human family, I suffered greatly and was eventually brought to my knees, so full of despair that on a morning 16 years later I made a decision to either commit suicide or get to the bottom of my unexplained dilemma. Obviously, I made the choice of getting to the bottom of my suffering and this took me into strange lands.

I then went to live in a Zen monastery and subsequently experienced a profound awakening, within both the framework of Zen and Christianity. The result of that dual experience of non-duality opened up a doorway into a realm I didn’t know existed and allowed me to live with peace. I then made a pledge to spend the rest of my mortal life passing on the lessons I had learned. So now I share my hybrid and unorthodox strangeness with whoever has ears to hear and a receptive eye.

I have now honored this commitment by teaching, leading meditation groups, writing (this blog), and thus far six books, the latest of which is Impostor—Living in a world of Alternate Facts, which is available free of charge by clicking here. This is a part of my pledge: To give back what I’ve learned. There are many things I don’t know about and I steer clear of speaking and writing about such things. But I know a lot about transforming your mind, leaving behind a life of sorrow and discovering the wellspring of joy that lives within all people. I write about that, only. If I can pass on that, it’s enough because that can change your life and leave this world a better place.

Karma and justice?

Our ordinary system of justice involves a vast legal system ranging from people wishing to regulate civil life, congress passing laws to reflect those wishes, policing governed by such laws, trials to determine guilt or innocence, lawyers employed to prosecute and defend, jurors reaching a verdict, judges judging, incarceration, and remediation. 

From beginning to end, that system can be (and often is) seriously flawed and enormously costly. Unjust laws can be passed, lawyers can be either silver-tongued orators who earn big bucks or incompetents who are overburdened and underpaid, judges can be bought, jails and prisons are vastly inadequate to the task of remediation, and in the final analysis, few of those convicted, sentenced and locked away are ever returned to society as reformed and productive citizens. In an ordinary way, justice is often unjust.

Karma, on the other hand, is cheap, flawless, always just, and operates independently of other created systems. But many people consider karma as some form of fatalism or judgment of the “gods.” Such people have been misinformed. Karma has nothing to do with such myths. It is instead simply cause and effect. The choices we make have both benefits and consequences. If I consistently make poor choices I consistently get poor results. Good choices=good results and this has nothing to do with “spirits” (either good or bad).

A simple example illustrates the point. However, before the example, I need to say something about this idea of justice, which is more times than not a legal issue. Karma is deeper than what is legal. Perhaps a better way of articulating karma is “appropriateness.”  If I poke you in the nose, more than likely you’ll poke me back. That’s appropriate justice. If I come to your aid in times of need, more than likely you’ll think kindly of me in my time of need. That’s also appropriate justice. 

If I am experiencing adversity today, more than likely I can look at my past and find the beginning seed that grew into adversity. That’s insight. If I want to experience better times tomorrow I can plant good seeds today. That’s wisdom. On the other hand, if I think I can enjoy a good tomorrow by planting bad seeds today, that’s ignorance. If I imagine that I can reach an enlightened state of mind while at the same time conducting my life in an unsavory manner that too is ignorant.

Adversity is appropriate justice in action. So too is the lack of adversity. In either case, we get what we have initiated, whether as individuals or as societies. If we are experiencing adversity—individually or socially—it is best to accept the natural outcome of karma and stop resisting it. Resistance is a futile activity that is motivated by a desire to escape justice and simply exacerbates suffering. We need to learn from our mistakes to create a better tomorrow.

Simple justice. It always works. That’s karma and it is the system that never stops. To listen to an excellent talk on karma click here.

Monkey see, monkey do.

For a long time, the message that loving our neighbors and turning the other cheek has caused some to digest that message and put it into action while others have responded with disbelief and rejection. 

It turns out that we do indeed have a profound effect amongst our fellow humans both by what we say, either through words, body language, or action. We’ve captured this admonishment with a catchphrase: “What goes around comes around.”

When my daughter was a child, I read a story called “Pig will and Pig won’t.” The story is what you’d imagine: One little piggy had a positive attitude, and the other didn’t. She loved having that story read to her, and I loved reading it. It wasn’t a Pollyanna story but a practical one. As she grew, she retained that message and became a first-class doer of good deeds affecting many with her “we can do it together” spirit.

She is now an adult and has continued with her positive attitude and affected the attitudes and perspectives of thousands with her Can Do spirit. You can taste a sample of what she puts out by going to her blog, The Intensional Life. 

The way we rear our children—either for the bad or good—is carried throughout life, and our legacy is passed on. Not only is there a meaningful social, political, and spiritual impact of this Can Do attitude, there is also a scientific basis for the ability to affect others. 

There is a part of our brain that perceives and reflects the mood, words, and deeds. That ability is based on a unique set of neurons called “mirror neurons” With such a prevailing state of fear and despair, it is good to know that even one smile in the dark can light your world and mine. Monkey see monkey do.

Thinking and Doing

Is there any value is just thinking? Unless thinking happens, can there be doing? What’s the link joining these two? The Dhammapada is supposed to be the words spoken by The Buddha (his thoughts—that’s what Dharma means), and “pada” means the foot, in other words, the doing part: Walking the path. Dharmmapada=thoughts in action. And here is what he said in the Dhammapada:


“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”
 



Unfortunately, we often keep these two separate: Lots of thinking and not much doing, or too much doing without enough thinking. Thinking and doing—good partners and terrible foes. There is a direct causal link here that can’t be denied. Bad thoughts translate to bad doing, and good thoughts come out as good actions. How very wise but how different from our present age when so many believe that they can think whatever they want without matching actions. No result is obvious hypocrisy, recognized or not.

Wrapping up the Eight-Fold Path

When we set off on a journey we want to know from where we’re starting, where we are going, and how to get to our destination. This line of inquiry is perfectly natural.

In the Diamond Sutra, Subhūti wanted to know the same thing about traveling the Path of a Bodhisattva. He asked about the nature of sentient beings and how to conduct himself in the mission to liberate them. And right off the bat The Buddha threw out a curveball and thus set the tone for the entire Sutra. In response to Subhūti’s questions, The Buddha said,

“And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated. And why not? Subhūti  a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a being cannot be called a ‘bodhisattva’. And why not? Subhūti  no one can be called a bodhisattva who creates the perception of a self or who creates the perception of a being, life, or a soul.”

This response is repeated numerous times throughout this Perfection of Wisdom Sutra. Understanding this statement is central to properly traveling the Noble Eightfold Path.

As the Sutra unfolds, Subhūti’s depth of understanding advances but never wavers from this initial starting point. The Buddha explains that a self (ego) is an illusion that manifests in an infinite cascade of further illusions, all of which obscure and block enlightenment and thus undermines the mission of liberation. Beings are just other selves who are likewise illusions and an illusion can’t be saved since illusion are not real. There are a couple of points regarding a “self” which must be grasped to start off on the right foot.

• A self is a fabrication; an ego; a thought-form; an abstraction of our identities. Any thought, and particularly this thought, is not real. A thought has no substance. It is a pure mental product.

• The Buddhist understanding of something real is what has intrinsic substance. An independent entity with its own substance (not dependent upon anything else) would be real. But dependent origination correctly points out that nothing within the realm of ordinary existence possesses independent status and is thus not real. An ego-self has no independent status and is thus not real.

By misidentifying with this self we don’t see our true nature as Buddha-Nature, (e.g., the eternal, ever-present, inherent natrual condition of being capable of awakening) which is unconditional and the same for all sentient beings. Throughout the Sutra the Buddha builds the case that because there is no self, there are no beings to liberate, thus no path. Yet without a path beings would remain in bondage, attached to delusions. Consequently, The Buddha says there is a Path and there are beings to liberate. The Buddha employs expedient means in order to free them.

Centuries later Nāgārjuna addressed this conundrum with what has become known as the Two-Truth Doctrine. Essentially this doctrine acknowledges that in order to lead someone to a deep sublimity it is necessary to begin from where they can understand. There are partial truths of the world and truths which are sublime. To coin a modern-day term, You can’t get there from here. To arrive at the sublime you must first know there are two truths and then go through the partial to reach the sublime.

The Buddha says, furthermore that because the true nature of beings is Buddha-Nature, they are already liberated and thus can’t be set free and finally, given the true nature of the Buddha—as the Dharmakāya  (e.g., truth-body, or the inherent body of truth—the transcendent source of all wisdom) at the level of our existence which alone is real—there is no beginning nor end to the Path nor beings to liberate. The Dharmakāya is the realm of non-conditions, thus non-karma, completely without differentiation of any kind. The realm of Nirvana is therefore the same realm as delusions. 

Accepting this truth releases us from the desire to leave the realm of delusion and seek the realm of Nirvana. They are one and the same realm and both leaving and seeking are forms of attachment that lie at the heart of suffering. Being ignorant of this truth is what binds beings who continue in Saṃsāra as ones who die of thirst in a vast sea of water.

Taking the first step on this Path, which is no Path, with this Right View (1) is the only way to realize enlightenment (which already exists).

The next step is Right Intentions (2) which flows from the first right view. Because of the non-differentiated nature of our essential being, we are in fact no different from other beings and our intentions must therefore be measured in a selfless fashion. By genuinely seeing ourselves, others, and Buddha as One we can then move on to the Right Actions (3) to mete out behavior on the other side of karma (to which Buddhas are not subject).

Right actions thus result in no merit since they are selfless, and within the Dharmakāya merit is already full. The truth is that in the realm of Dharmakāya there is no difference between merit and non-merit because there is no difference between anything: everything is non-dual. Precepts that emerge from such selfless intentions are not done to gain merit but rather as expressions of a goal that has already been reached. Actions are thus gifts which we pass on having already received them ourselves.

Right speech (4) is another form of action and is constructed within the spirit of doing no harm. Guidelines for determining speech that is right are useful but must not be clung to lest they become objects of attachment. Every disease is unique and requires special medicine tailor-made to fit the specific disease.

Right livelihood (5) is likewise “right” when we are employed in professions that don’t bring harm to ourselves and others while being free of the three poisons (greed, anger, and ignorance). To be thus employed will further the cause of emancipation by creating good karma and therefore assisting the reduction of delusions emanating from a false self.

Right effort (6) flows from a developed understanding that we are truly interdependent with life. Such an effort is no-effort. It is wu-wei—a natural extension of non-attachment. Wu-wei does not arise from the false self (ego) but rather from our true, already enlightened nature and is thus not ours. It is to surrender or give oneself over to the ubiquitous, flow of Buddha-nature. In the words of Bodhidharma, “To know clearly the bliss of detachment is to walk on the path of the Tao. This is the rule of non-attachment.”

And finally, the Path comes full-circle back to the ground of all Buddhas by engaging the two-fold practice of Right mindfulness (7) and Right concentration (8). Through the practice of meditation, those who travel the Eightfold Path deepen their insight and experience Hishiryo consciousness where all preoccupation with thoughts and non-thoughts come to an end and subject (self) melds with objects (manifestations of self). When this state is realized, delusions cease and we arrive back at our True Nature—A Nature with no beginning nor end.

The Nobel Eightfold Path is thus The Middle Way between the extremes of denial of existence (All things are empty—Nihilism) and the belief in permanence (everything has independence and permanence). Both are truly united and neither are true apart. It is a matter of perspective. From the perspective of the Dharmakaya, everything exists eternally without conditions. But from the perspective of nirmanakaya and the sambhogakaya things are born and die dependent upon causal conditions. By traveling this Path with these eight Rights in mind we free ourselves from delusions which create suffering and come to both understand and experience our true natures.

The Sixth Step

“Right Effort” entails a thorough process that ranges from “right thoughts” through “right actions,” resulting in both fence-mending for past offenses and working to create desirable karma. Five steps are recognized which define this process. They are: (1) Generating a desire (passion), (2) making a commitment (resolve), (3) activating persistence (forbearance), (4) not becoming side-tracked (focused), and (5) carrying through with the original intention (sees the matter through to completion). These five steps are then applied to four areas of conduct, assisted by four areas of awareness.

• Abandonment of existing evil
• Correcting existing unskilled qualities
• Creating future good
• Creating future skilled qualities

The four parts of awareness are:

1. A Buddha is eternally enlightened. He thus can’t attain what he has already.
2. All beings are Buddhas thus share in enlightenment.
3. A Buddha’s nature is non-differentiated—Nothing to grasp—Neither a subject nor an object. 
4. This nature is our unconditional nature. Since we, too, are Buddhas, we are likewise non-differentiated.

Right effort needs to be seen in the context of enlightenment and dharma. Hui-neng said, “When we are deluded, our teacher liberates us. When we are enlightened, we liberate ourselves.” 

Dharma is a teaching of transcendent truth. The Eightfold Path is dharma—we use the help of a teacher to gain enlightenment. While in an unenlightened state, we need to be taught and have guidelines to follow. This is a teaching to follow, and the Path is intended to lead to enlightenment.

However, Hui-neng correctly points out that once we achieve enlightenment, we must put the dharma away. Why? Because to retain a teaching designed to take us somewhere would bind us (attach us) once we arrive. The question thus becomes, “What is the nature of enlightenment, and what guide-line would we follow once we arrive?”

The Diamond Sutra is instructive in answering this question. In chapter twenty-three, The Buddha said that unexcelled, perfect enlightenment can’t be realized since it possesses no features, qualities, nor aspects since it (enlightenment) is undifferentiated. Furthermore, he says there is nothing whatsoever to attain. This puzzling expression is explained with the above four points of awareness.

In an unenlightened state, these qualities are not seen; we must follow a set of guidelines that will help us remove delusions that obstruct our vision. Bad karma creates such obstructions and muddies the clarity of vision, whereas good karma clears the clouds.

Once we are enlightened, the guiding force is the recognition that there is no difference between our self, others, and The Buddha. These are one thing, not many. The principal to abide by is the one provided by Jesus: “Do unto others as we would have them do to us.” Such effort is right because it is selfless.