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Higher power in Buddhism
SattvaPaul
South Wales, UK Veteran
Recently someone mentioned the notion of a Higher Power, I think in the context of the 12-step program.
For myself, I sometimes feel that what is lacking in my life is a kind of trust in the intelligence/guidance (or dare I say providence?) of a power higher than myself. I see that in the Buddhist context life can seem somewhat mechanical, or too impersonal. I've been trying to find it within TB but with little success so far.
Maybe it's because of my Christian (Catholic) background. I find myself recently looking into more Hindu ideas of a Supreme Being/God, and into the beliefs of Unitarians and the Baha'is.
But it's there in Buddhism. Somewhere in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" (if I remember correctly) Suzuki Roshi says something like "leave it up to the Buddha, the Buddha will take care of everything".
A Korean nun, Daehaeng Sunim, puts it this way: "“Believe in your foundation, Juingong (Buddha-Nature), and entrust it with everything that confronts you. Then go forward while observing and experimenting with what you experience. All things constantly change every instant, so there is nothing to cling to. By entrusting everything to your foundation, every aspect of your daily life can become part of your practice."
How is it for you? Do you have a need to open up and trust in a higher power? How do you find it in your practice?
For myself, I sometimes feel that what is lacking in my life is a kind of trust in the intelligence/guidance (or dare I say providence?) of a power higher than myself. I see that in the Buddhist context life can seem somewhat mechanical, or too impersonal. I've been trying to find it within TB but with little success so far.
Maybe it's because of my Christian (Catholic) background. I find myself recently looking into more Hindu ideas of a Supreme Being/God, and into the beliefs of Unitarians and the Baha'is.
But it's there in Buddhism. Somewhere in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" (if I remember correctly) Suzuki Roshi says something like "leave it up to the Buddha, the Buddha will take care of everything".
A Korean nun, Daehaeng Sunim, puts it this way: "“Believe in your foundation, Juingong (Buddha-Nature), and entrust it with everything that confronts you. Then go forward while observing and experimenting with what you experience. All things constantly change every instant, so there is nothing to cling to. By entrusting everything to your foundation, every aspect of your daily life can become part of your practice."
How is it for you? Do you have a need to open up and trust in a higher power? How do you find it in your practice?
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Comments
the more and more i study and practice buddhism, the more and more i feel that it is all about saying yes to everything. suffering? yes! no suffering? yes! life? yes! death? yes!
and when we start to say no then that is our work. that is where our attachments sleep.
i have complete faith that this mind we all pocess is the same mind of the buddhas. thus to engage in the path is to awaken to our innate wisdom. the higher power is already here.
AND... keep up your good and determined practice.
As a footnote (not a threat or criticism) you might want to notice that all belief relies on the past for its force. There is no belief that reaches into the present. If you doubt this, just gather around you your most cherished beliefs ... and then sneeze. No one can believe anything while sneezing ... the sneeze is simply in the driver's seat. Sneezing IS the present. Only later can any of us gather up our cherished beliefs, put them back in their preferred order. And what is true for sneezing is likewise true for breathing or seeing or hearing or tasting or touching. Belief relies on the past and the question that invariably arises in a good and determined practice is, "how peaceful can a man or woman be when they are constantly living in the past?"
@genkaku - your answer made me realise that I'm not clear about whether it's belief or faith - as in trust. Or is it both?
I wasn't talking about belief as in a rigid set of propositions to believe. More about trust/faith.
But perhaps I can't JUST sneeze yet.
@sattvapaul -- No disrespect intended but ... don't be ridiculous! Of course you can just sneeze. You've been doing it all your life. You've done it without a backward glance. You've done it without any philosophy or religion to guide you. What else can you possibly do when you sneeze? Sneeze sneezes ... end of discussion.
Of course there is nothing saying you can't toy with it or play with it or put philosophy and religion on top of it or find a god to explain it. But a sneeze is so sneeze that adding faith or trust to it has a slightly ludicrous tinge. What is troubling, perhaps, is that what you currently find serious in your approach to things simply gets wiped off the map in one delicious sneeze. That can be pretty scary because of course a philosophy or religion are s-e-r-i-o-u-s. And that's where practice comes in: With practice, what was or remains intellectually or emotionally serious loses its imperious footing. Sure, it's serious ... it's just not that serious. And what becomes serious (so to speak) is your laughter.
Emptiness.
In most 12 Step circles, the concept of a Higher Power is a deeply personal one. In fact, one rarely discusses the particulars of our respective beliefs toward our personal Higher Power in a 12 Step meeting. Hence, our individual Higher Power is one of our own choosing and/or understanding. Also, it must be remembered that we go to our Higher Power, initially, in a state of extreme desperation. That “bottom” state, is rarely a good place for philosophizing and pontificating. We usually reach out to whatever is there and hold on for dear life. In my case, I just started praying to WHATEVER would listen.
Once we see faith working in our lives (which I did) then we start diving deeper into what we’ve got, tying to figure out what it is (which I did). What I ended up with, when the smoke cleared, was the Dhamma. So if I had to put a name on MY Higher Power, I suppose that would be it. But to be honest, I generally don’t try to put a name on it. I’ve seen it change so much and am willing to allow it to change again if and when the need arises. Right now, it’s enough for me to continue learning, practice my practice and try to pass what I’ve learned on to others.
Hope that is helpful.
Very eloquently stated - couldn't have said it any better : )
Many blessings,
Kwan Kev
Question is, are you submitting to a doctrine that needs to be accepted as the higher power, or do you prefer a thought provoking concept, that reminds you that you need to *figure out for yourself*, whether you can accept and practice the teachings - on those terms alone. The latter is what sets Buddha's teachings apart from the rest.
Whatever works for you, is what you will ultimately follow. It's a personal choice and is perfectly OK.
My belief in a higher power is based on the Universe's energy being the higher power, kind of like pantheism. The energy that fuels creation, sustaining, and destruction is my higher power. The energy flows through everything; even when you look at a rock under a microscope, it's built from smaller, constantly moving particles.
So, when I feel the need to remember that higher power (usually when I need to let go of attempts at control), I look at a tree and see the higher power in that. I look at the sky or a weather report and remember that there MUST be a higher power - because we certainly don't control as much as we like to believe.
I find that notions of God can sometimes help to see that - but I'm not talking about God in a theistic sense of some controller out there, but as a personification of that power. Then it seems easier to have a relationship with it.
I also used to want for some Supreme Being to go to - some spiritual Father to pray to, to know that someone 'up there' really cared for me. After awhile, I found that I can receive those feelings of reassurance, love and guidance from something other than the HP I had envisioned though - that I could receive those things from this 'Force' of mine just as well. And indeed, by not viewing it as an anthropomorphic entity, it is much easier to detach from it all the constraints and doubts that come with that.
I think it also fits in perfectly well with Buddhism and the Dhamma, as does anything that doesn't contradict the teachings - the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, etc.
Many Blessings, and may The Force be with you! Lol
Kwan Kev
The thing is, I can't get my head around some magical being/force that seems to care for some, yet ignore others on a seemingly random basis.
I've heard, for example, people say that 'God saved them from their alcoholism', and yet I wonder why this same 'God' let my father die a terrible death from alcoholism. What was more worthy about the other individual and not my father. I'm not sure if theistic religions can explain why bad things happen to good people. I'm sure I've went looking for an answer in the past, and never did find one.
So, I don't believe in any magical deity; I guess the universe cares no more for us, than it does the fly that got squished on your windscreen on the way home from work.
Sorry if I sound a bit callous here.
@Dakini - Dharma, Triple Gem - I found it works, but only if I have an understanding of them embodying something which is eternal and present and active - I don't think it contradicts Dharma at all, but sometimes it's not spelled out like that.
I can see what you are saying about God as a being/deity that seems to have some sort of will. I agree with that.
But I've got an issue with the second point. If the universe doesn't care for us, for me this is too nihilistic.
My teacher says that there are two sides to refuge. One side is what you will do. And the other is that the universe is naturally active in awakening. You could say the buddhas and bodhisattvas and all levels of beings are calling to us. From one perspective the buddhanature is emptiness, which is to say all is interconnected. You can also look at the four noble truths. Even animals have intelligence and certainly humans. We all wish for happiness.
From that standpoint the universe has a heart and we are all awakening.
The dharmakaya is the interconnectedness or emptiness of all beings. This radiates to all beings and helps them in their situation as they wake up. Therefore each being has a relationship to buddha and from that standpoint they are drawn into the path. Formal refuge represents a step. As do the precepts. Yet all beings have some relationship to awakening.
Sorry to hear about the sad events in your family, Tosh. Blessings for both of you.
Also, this power is not exactly supernatural, as it operates through/as phenomena.
As a side note, I think some atheists should actually be called anti-theists, like this guy and his ilk. They are so emotional about their anti-theism. This guy would make a good Crusader
Notice that if you swap the characters in this video, all of it would hold equally true.
And why the cliché dichotomy of theist vs atheist? Agnostics don't bother themselves with changing the atheist or theists opinions...nor with what the church or people BELIEVE to be true.
There are essentially two types of people who don't "believe" in god : the one who denies the existence of god and the one who is agnostic about god.
If you are looking for "something to believe in", have you considered taking refuge? The buddha, the dharma and the sangha can be of great comfort in difficult times. Of course in practice you already have this online community and I'm sure you study dharma in your own way, but perhaps by formalising your own commitment you may find a feeling of security. A teacher, if you don't already have one, can also be of great help in these matters.
Namaste
No problem, actually your comment was helpful on some level. Your suggestions about taking refuge are good - I have actually taken refuge but am trying to evaluate it in terms of relating to some tangible presence that aids my practice.
I have seen Dharma paths divided into categories of "self-power" and "other-power". For example, Zen would be self-power and Pure Land would be other-power. In TB there seems to be a bit of both.
I wonder if there is any practitioner of Pure Land here who can shine some light on this idea of relying on other-power (in this case, the vows of Amitabha/Amida).
Namaste
But basically, like in Buddhism where the deeper meaning of taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha is that we take refuge in ourselves, the deeper meaning of 'God' (though many would disagree with me I'm sure) is that we find this Higher Power in ourselves. Only that people with a Christian background ascribe this 'Higher Power' to a 'God'.
And how do we experience that Power? Well, as alcoholics, many times we drank to get courage. We couldn't dance, we drink, we can dance. We're too shy to talk to girls, we drink, we can chat away. Alcohol was a source of 'power', so to an alcoholic, it's not difficult to explain that you can find an alternative source of 'Power' through doing the work contained in the 12 Steps, and that works by deflating the 'self', which removes a lot of ego based fear, and empowers the alkie into feeling more comfortable, so that he/she doesn't feel compelled to drink anymore, because their internal condition is not so hyper anxious.
I'm not sure this is relevant to the post, but it could be; I dunno!
But I feel your post is very much relevant, @Tosh.
Thats how I think of it: choices. It is not true that I have no choice.
And if you recall I am a reformed drinker myself. I am applying the same theme of choices trying to lose weight. I find if I say I am on a diet I rebel, but if it is choices then that means that it is up to me.
This is precisely one of the reasons I had to begin my Buddhist practice.
It's tough to describe, but when you're deeply alcoholic, you don't have much, if any, choice in the matter. I work with a lot of guys, and it's heart breaking to see them do the stuff they do. One waited for a year for a government funded place at a detox and rehab. After six week break from drinking, as soon as he was released he drank again (and is still on it - he just can't stop and it will kill him). Another guy I've been helping, he's 25 years old, he's drinking again despite a boat load of consequences (he's about to be homeless again and live on the streets) and his Mother has phoned me five times this evening. I haven't answered the calls, since I really don't want to get involved with any trauma that's going on (from past experience and trips to mental health hospitals in the small hours, I don't answer my phone when I think 'trauma' is happening. We have a police force and an ambulance service. It's not my place to get involved in this way). I shall phone her back in the morning.
I've also drank myself and had no choice in the matter other than kill myself or go insane. Choice, or free-will is dependant on causes and conditions, Jeffrey; you should know that, so if those causes and conditions aren't present, there is little or no choice in the matter of drinking, for an alcoholic.
You know, sometimes I suggest to guys I'm helping who are really struggling to get sober to find a nearby church, and pray for help to have a sober day. It doesn't always work (I suspect they don't even go), but it has helped a couple of guys I can think of. I don't believe a 'Magic Man in the Sky' helps them; but at a psychological level, these guys need all the help they can get.
Now what did the Buddha say about rafts, rivers, using the raft to cross 'em, and then leaving the raft behind for the overland portion of the journey, so the raft didn't become a hindrance?
It may come from William James's book Varieties of Religious Experience, which was a bit hit in it's day (but is an extremely dry read; I tried it and couldn't finish).
Anyhow thanks for letting me know how others experience. One person died of drink in my life and I didn't want that to happen to me. I also embarassed myself to my sangha and that made me really motivated.
Read, mark and inwardly digest.
As Judge Judy says:
"If something doesn't make sense, it's usually not true."
Unfortunately, from my own personal perspective, that's very broadly speaking, why I switched paths and made Buddhism my calling.
I also have come from a 12 step background and my mother died with active alcoholism.
For me, I think it is like said somewhere in the Big Book that " we " are the lucky ones and were able to accept a higher power, in whatever way we understand it. For me, when I hear other people sharing about how they can see that their Higher Power saved them, I do not think that this Higher Power let me mother die. I feel sad that she did not find a way to accept a higher power and was not one of the lucky ones.
Free will helps to explains a lot of the bad things which happen to good people for me and being able to sit with not knowing doesn't concern me anymore.