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Free All Beings
Lately, I've been thinking about enlightenment and the purpose of seeking it. I had always thought of it as another way of self-improvement. Obviously, that's not the point of what the Buddha tried to teach. But I must admit I've approached my practice just as I would have a new exercise regimen or a new diet.
I am nearly blissfully happy about my own circumstances. I can't say as I suffer much from my own problems. But, recently, the difficult circumstances of those I love have come to my attention. And, I've realized just how insensitive I've been to others. I've approached their problems with the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop. I've offered solutions and advice that wasn't heeded. And I think it wasn't so much that the advice was bad or the person was stubborn as it was more the attitude in which I offered it or the timing. I have not experienced real empathy until lately.
And I was thinking of the Buddha who lived a life of ease until he forced his way out of paradise and when he saw the real world, he was so burdened by the suffering he found there. And, it wasn't for his own difficulties that he sought to find the truth. It was for the suffering of others.
I don't know why I never thought of it before because now it seems so clear. I must become enlightened or it seems I am little good to those suffering around me. So I guess I just wanted to share that little tidbit of personal information with all of you. And, if you have a similar understanding of things or a different one, please share your own experiences.
I am nearly blissfully happy about my own circumstances. I can't say as I suffer much from my own problems. But, recently, the difficult circumstances of those I love have come to my attention. And, I've realized just how insensitive I've been to others. I've approached their problems with the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop. I've offered solutions and advice that wasn't heeded. And I think it wasn't so much that the advice was bad or the person was stubborn as it was more the attitude in which I offered it or the timing. I have not experienced real empathy until lately.
And I was thinking of the Buddha who lived a life of ease until he forced his way out of paradise and when he saw the real world, he was so burdened by the suffering he found there. And, it wasn't for his own difficulties that he sought to find the truth. It was for the suffering of others.
I don't know why I never thought of it before because now it seems so clear. I must become enlightened or it seems I am little good to those suffering around me. So I guess I just wanted to share that little tidbit of personal information with all of you. And, if you have a similar understanding of things or a different one, please share your own experiences.
"A glowworm or firefly does not think that its light could illuminate the continent of India or even radiate over it. In the same way, the followers do not think that they can, after obtaining full enlightenment, lead all beings to nirvana. But the sun, when it has risen, radiates its light over the whole of India. Just so, an awakened follower when he is fully enlightened, without even consciously attempting to, leads all beings to nirvana."
-Prajnaparamita
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Comments
Levels of awareness or englightenment or awakening being raised?
We may find on this path, that the results we end up with really have little or no correlation to the reason why we started.
-bf
Palzang
The mind of the ancient Buddhas should not be understood as something irrelevant to your experience, as some mind which exists from the beginningless past, for it is the mind which eats rice gruel or tastes other food in your ordinary everyday life, it is the mind which is grass, the mind which is water. Within this life just as it is, is the act of sitting like a Buddha, which is called "arousing the thought of Enlightenment." The conditions for arousing the thought of Enlightenment do not come from anywhere else. It is the Enlightened mind which arouses the thought of Enlightenment One honors the Buddha with a grain of sand; one honors the Buddha with the water in which rice has been soaked. One offers a handful of food to living creatures...
Just understand that birth and death itself is Nirvana, and you will neither hate one as being birth and death, nor cherish the other as being Nirvana. Only then can you be free of birth and death. This present birth and death is the life of Buddha. If you reject it with distaste, you are thereby losing the life of Buddha. If you abide in it, attaching to birth and death, you also lose the life of Buddha. But do not try to gauge it with your mind or speak it with words. When you simply release and forget both your body and your mind and throw yourself into the house of Buddha, then with no strength needed and no thought expended, freed from birth and death, you become Buddha. Then there can be no obstacle in any person's mind. There is an extremely easy way to become Buddha. Refraining from all evil, not clinging to birth and death, working in deep compassion for all sentient beings, respecting those over you and having a loving kindness for those below you, without any detesting or desiring, worrying or lamenting, this is what is called Buddha. Do not search beyond it.
Ehei Dogen Zenji
This makes more sense...to release the desire and to just dwell... Life has no purpose, because Life is purpose.... there is no 'way' to find, because the way is here already....
Sweet....
Is this your way of saying "well, duh." Yes. I guess it is the point of all this. I have been practicing for about a year and a half. I suppose I'm slow to catch on. :buck:
Right now, I'm just feeling like a big clumsy clod. And watching everyone, observing how we bump into each other and trample all over each other for lack of discernment. And, there are people I could help if I just knew how.
No.... I would never say something like "well, duh!!?!?!' to you.
Maybe to that Yoda broad - yeah... I could see saying something like that to her!
I just thought it was a good point that you were bringing up.
-bf
Good then. Glad you cleared that up. You don't want to make me cry, do you?
Thanks ZM. I'm not sure I know what this is all about but it causes me to think about staying present with my current situation. And not trying to escape it. Lately, when I've tried to go off on all sorts of diversions, I've tried to stay in the present moment, telling myself that if I am to help others I must first learn to be here now.
Where you are going, many of us have been... But it's a great thing that you notice it, because you are now aware... You are able to step 'outside' of yourself and observe your Intention, your motivation, your efforts... You are able to see and witness the Compassion you ernestly manifest....so even though you may perceive yourself to be a 'clumsy clod' you are absolutely nothing of the kind.
The trick is to help without helping... to simply step up and be so concerned and utterely overwhelmed by your Right Intention to "Make others Happy" that your own process simply never enters your Mind.
(When you get this right, let me know how you did it.... I'd love to try it some time...!!
HEY!! Bastard.
PS - you know I am joking, right?
That broad is getting uppity.
Maybe a sound spanking??? Oh wait... we're trying to think of a "punishment" not a "reward".
-bf
Me too...when you get that figured out, please let me know how you did it!
Dogen is pointing to the cycle of Practice/Enlightenment. Our normal way of thinking of these things tends to be that first there is the arising of the thought of Enlightenment - Bodhicitta - the desire to save all sentient beings, or to help others - then there is practice and then there is realization. Whilst that's not untrue, it's also incomplete. The totality of the situation is that Practice is a spiral or a circle if you like - rasing the Bodhi Mind or the 'Way Seeking' Mind, practice and realization all take place together and are different aspects or manifestations of each other. We see the suffering of others because something in us is already awake, already aware. So there's already realization there and Practice, realization and Bodhicitta all arise together in a spiral that goes on ceaselessly.
He's also pointing to the fact that it really doesn't matter what we think of ourselves, that the Way is not dependant on whether we're graceful or smart or young or old, male or female or whatever. We are already Buddhas and our practice is realize that, clarify that and extend that clarity to others - which is something that happens without our having to think about it. It's choiceless. As Dogen puts it:
This present birth and death is the life of Buddha. If you reject it with distaste, you are thereby losing the life of Buddha. If you abide in it, attaching to birth and death, you also lose the life of Buddha. But do not try to gauge it with your mind or speak it with words. When you simply release and forget both your body and your mind and throw yourself into the house of Buddha, then with no strength needed and no thought expended, freed from birth and death, you become Buddha. Then there can be no obstacle in any person's mind.
It's okay to be a big clumsy clod. If your way is clumsy right now then be a clumsy Bodhisattva. If you're angry - be an angry Bodhisattva. If you're happy be a happy Bodhisattva - be at one with what you are here and now - that itself is realization. And also, don't attach to that because that can change too - there's nothing bad about being clumsy and nothing good about not being clumsy. Not being attached to that is not worrying about it, not clinging to an identity of being clumsy, in fact not clinging to any identity at all. In some circumstances you will be anything but clumsy and it's just as important to be comfortable with that as it is to be comfortable with being clumsy. What we think of ourselves and what others think of us is unimportant. In this way, we experentially understand the emptiness of self and in doing so also the emptiness of others. Then, with no beings to save and none to do the saving, no desires to end and no end of desires, we move from practicing for ourselves to practicing for others and ultimately for practicing simply for the sake of practicing and we are bought full circle again to the Bodhisattva vows:
Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them.
The Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.
And then this:
"Madam!! REALLY!!!!"
made me PMP!! Sooo funny!
I have to collect myself because there's something I want to say to you, Wickwoman.
O.K. I'm collected.
Wickwoman,
Beautifully done and said!! Fantastic posts! Your honesty is like a cool shower on a hot, sticky day and I think you're totally brave.
I came to Buddhism to escape my own suffering. It was only later when I got stronger that I realized helping myself and helping others was not only possible but they were the same thing in the sense that they go hand in hand. Now I can't even imagine not aspiring to become a Bodhisattva. I know it's all I've ever wanted and my selfishness was just a reaction to suffering. When I figured out that my selfishness was prolonging my suffering I started to see things differently. The desire to help others may have been obvious to some but definitely not to me. It was buried under layers of pain and I had to get well enough to lift off the layers and find it again. Now I'm all about Bodhicitta! LOL!
I loved your post, Genryu. You always give me the balance between Vajrayana and Zen that I need. I study and practice mostly Vajrayana, but it makes me angry sometimes because I feel such an urgency and frightening guilt at times (or with certain writers) about having to get to a place of understanding and practice I'm not at yet. But Zen reminds me to calm down and be what I am now and that there's nothing wrong with where I'm at in this moment.
Love to all,
Brigid
That idea of having to get to a certain place, or a certain state or situation before we can really awaken, is one of the very things that prevents us from realizing things as they are. It can be a slightly more subtle one of our, "If Only's" as Joko Beck Roshi puts it. "If only I were younger, or had more money, or had a better car, or had better friends or a better wife or husband, or a better...then I'd be happy", or, "then I could really fulfil my potential," or whatever our particular thing is. All we've done is tack on, "If only I was enlightened, then I'd be happy."
The assumption is deeply rooted in many of us that somehow who and what we are is not good enough. The idea is that what we need to complete us, or to make us happy, is 'out there somewhere', whether that something is a better job or enlightenment. And that out there somewhere is always in the future - that ideal place and time where we'll have everything we need in order to become enlightened.
Another variation of this is the idea that if we practice dilligently, sit every day, follow the precepts, don't drink, smoke or laugh at dirty jokes, and try to gradually become better human beings then someday in the future we'll awaken. Wonderful stuff! There are many teachers around who'll encourage this idea too. "Try really hard for a long, long time and eventually, maybe in a few lifetimes, you'll be enlightened." The truth is, any teacher who tells us this is lying, maybe not deliberately but nonetheless they're missing the real point themselves, or they'd know that what they were saying is complete nonsense. If they were doing this sort of thing to encourage a student and viewed it as skilful means or 'Upaya', that's one thing, but there are whole traditions and faiths out there that rely on this sort of rubbish.
It doesn't dawn on some of us, until we've done this sort of practice for perhaps many years, that we've been conned. There is no future - the future doesn't exist. There is no ideal state or situation - that too doesn't exist. Trying to change ourselves, even to be better people is not the point - that too is entirely irrelevant. There is no ideal person we have to be or become. It has absolutely diddly squat to do with waking up. And if you doubt this, then go and meet some of the teachers who encourage this twaddle and see for yourself - not a single one of them is awake. They may be impressive, calm, have lots of charisma and have a wonderful way with people but they're not awake. It's not about becoming a better person, or purifying oneself, or attaining some sort of secret knowledge open only to the select few. It's simply cutting through the crap and seeing what's right in front of us.
Whilst this is a tangent so to speak from your post, I was recently reading a guy called Jed McKenna, who was going on about the sort of teacher I just referred to and he made me laugh, so I'll share the relevant passage because I think it's germane, if you can bear with me:
"How long has your guru been teaching?"
"Well, uh, over thirty years."
"And how many of his students have achieved enlightenment?"
"Well, uh..."
"That you know of personally?"
"Well, uh, I never..."
"That you've heard of?"
"It's not"
"That there were rumors of?"
"I don't think..."
"What is it they're doing, Martin? The recipe for enlightenment they're promoting - what is it?"
"Uh, well, meditation and knowledge, basically."
"And in thirty years they've never held someone up and said, 'Look at this guy! He's enlightened and we got him there!' In thirty years, they don't have one? Don't you think they should have, like, an entire army of enlightened guys to show off by now?"
"Well, it's not..."
"After thirty years they should have a few dozen generations of enlightened people. Even with only a quarter of them becoming teachers, they should have flooded the world by now, mathematically speaking, don't you think? I'm not asking all this as a teacher myself, mind you. I'm just asking as a consumer, or a consumer's advocate. Don't you think it's reasonable to ask to know a teacher's success rate? The proof is in the pudding, right? Didn't you ask them about the fruit of their teachings when you started with them?"
"Well, that's not..."
"Don't you think it's reasonable to ask? They're in the enlightenment business, aren't they? Or did I misunderstand you? Do they have something else going?"
"Nooo, but they..."
"If Consumer Reports magazine did a report on which spiritual organizations delivered as promised, don't you suppose that the first statistic listed under each organization would be success rating? Like, here are a hundred randomly selected people who started with the organization five years ago and here's where they are today. For instance, thirty-one have moved up in the organization, twenty-seven have moved on, thirty-nine are still with it but not deeply committed and three have entered abiding non-dual awareness. Okay, three percent - that's a number you can compare. But this organization of yours would have big fat goose egg, wouldn't they? And not just out of a hundred, but out of hundreds of thousands - millions, probably. Am I wrong?
....If we can realise this for ourselves....
do we still need a teacher?
The sense of urgency I was talking about was more along the lines of realizing that I don't have a lot of time in this life. You said somewhere that people make the mistake of thinking that they have more time than they do and now that I'm reading "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" I would rather not die until I have a little more knowledge and practice in how to have a good death. I'm in no rush to reach enlightenment. I just don't want to die until I can get more practice in.
But I definitely feel that "The assumption is deeply rooted in many of us that somehow who and what we are is not good enough." I very much think I need improvement and I also think I've improved greatly in the last few years. At the same time I'm satisfied with where I am now but I wouldn't want to die like this. LOL!
Brigid
Absolutely, a good teacher doesn't give us something, but what they do do is show us our blind spots and encourage us to keep going further - something that isn't easy to do alone. There is also the very real issue of fooling ourselves that we've realized something when in fact we're just picking flowers by the side of the road instead of walking along it. If you like, a good teacher's function is to cut through the bullshit that we tell ourselves and others and to prevent us from sticking to any understanding whatsoever. That's all the more reason why that teacher should themselves have awakened, rather than being someone who might have been practicing a long time, knows all the 'theory', but hasn't themselves woken up.
So you're 'If Only' is now about not dying before you have more knowledge and practice in how to have a good death. :winkc: There's a subtle irony there. Death really isn't the issue. Realize things directly and I would say it takes care of itself. Awakening isn't about knowledge though. Instead of learning it's about unlearning, and we practice because it's an acknowledgement that we're already awake and a way of manifesting that and realizing that in daily life. I'm not dismissing what you're saying, I too don't want to die before I've done as much as I can, but if I don't, then it really isn't an issue. So the nub of things here, for me at least, and it seems to an extent for you is, what constitutes a good death?
Thanks Fede. That was helpful.
I don't know yet because I'm only on chapter 3 of "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" and I haven't even started HH the Dalai Lama's book "Advice on Dying" yet! LOL!
What if I die today and freak out in the process and end up a being a cat?
Brigid
If you end up a cat, you can come live at my lake house. I think you'll find it a very nice vacation spot for your 15 year (+ or -) vacation. I would say ending up my cat shows you had VERY GOOD karma.
Thanks for your earlier comments, Brigid. I like knowing I'm not the only self improvement freak.
A Year to Live
This is not to put down the Theravada - anyone who can do the practice as a monk or nun for the several years it takes to become a senior who can teach, in my book has done the groundwork. I do feel often though that even with that groundwork, unless one actually has that realization they shouldn't be teaching, but again that would be affected by the level of their teaching too. If they're only doing the basics of meditation for example that's one thing but if they're talking about realization - they actually should have some experential understanding.
Thank you! I'll take you up on that if I ever become a cat.
And you're welcome. I'm a freak in many ways, all good though. And I'm O.K. with that because I'm a good person, with a good heart and ...(I need a mirror to do my self affirmations. LOL!)
Genryu,
Wow!! Now that's a great site! Thank you so much. It's very cool.
And if I do end up being a cat I think all my karma with cats in this lifetime should hold me in pretty good stead. I love mine dearly and tenderly.
Brigid
So thanks again!
Brigid
This thread has got me thinking, do Buddhist teachers really need "credentials", "lineages", or to be fully "enlightened"?
Originally, if one wished to ordain in the Sangha of monks, all they had to do was ask the Buddha or one of his many monks to accept them as a disciple. As long as that person had a set of robes and a bowl for food, they would be accepted into the Sangha by simply shaving their hair, putting on the robe, and repeating to the preceptor the three-fold refuge. After that, the monk would do their best to practice in accordance with the Buddha's teachings. Now, one would think that only those who had achieved the Goal would be the ones teaching the Dhamma, but was this even the case in the time of the Buddha? If we look to the Suttas for the answer, we will see that this wasn't the case at all. Not only did unenlightened monks teach, but lay-followers that had sufficient understanding of the Dhamma did as well. Anathapindika and Citta were just two such lay-teachers. We all may be surprised by what we can learn from those who have yet to reach the Goal. This immediately reminds me of the Venerable Ananda.
Ananda, a first cousin of the Buddha, was one of the most respected of all the Buddha's disciples. He followed the Buddha wherever he went as his personally attendant for twenty-five years. In the Suttas, the Buddha often praised Ananda for his wisdom, and he would invite him to teach monks, brahmins, and house-holders alike. It is interesting to note that the Buddha would generally praise Ananda for his discourses, and even more interesting when the monks, having heard a brief discourse from the Buddha, would seek out Ananda to obtain a more detailed exposition. There were few who could compare with Ananda's skill in living and teaching the Dhamma. The Cula-suññata Sutta is just one of the many examples of his teachings ability, and it is a very profound Sutta indeed. What makes this surprising is that the Venerable Ananda did not attain Awakening until three months after the Buddha's parinibbana. Not only was he still "learning" while he was teaching, but he was encouraged by the Buddha to do so.
Now, I am not saying that just anybody can teach the Dhamma, and I do not believe that just anybody can, but we should not think that only enlightened masters in such and such lineage are the only ones capable of teaching. It shouldn't really seem strange to us if a person teaches the Dhamma without a lineage, but it should seem strange to us if what they are teaching isn't in line with the Buddha's own words. The Truth can be realized by anyone at any time. As Genryu said, it is right in front of us, and all we have to do is simply open our eyes. What we should judge a teacher by is the quality of what they are teachings. And, the only way to truly know the quality of a teaching is to put that particular teaching into practice. If the teacher is not "enlightened", does that make the teaching itself any less effective? I think that it would have to do more with the amount of effort we put into it than anything else. Of course we all want the very best for ourselves, but sometimes we just have to settle for what we can get.
We would all wish to have the Buddha for a teacher, but would we say no if Ananda were the only teacher available to us?
Jason
Thank you..... I'll get my coat....!!
The penny is dropping, isn't it, Jason.....?
Why do you think that you, ZenMonk and Palzang, to name but three, are such valuable Jewels in the Coronet known as 'NewBuddhist'.....?
In the absence of Teachers, such as those cited by ZenMonk and yourself, for my part, isolated geographically, and finding myself in a foreign country where any religion is looked upon with mistrust - You people are the very teachers I thirst for.
So - when you say "I'm gonna be absent for a while" and some flimsy PM's you to say, "you're needed here".... you now see the point!
All through his life with the Buddha, Ananda was his constant companion, occasional voice of Reason, and stimulant... I feel certain the relationship was symbiotic, in many ways.... Ananda never stopped learning, but still everyone looked up to him....
*clink*!!
My sincere and heartfelt thanks to the Coronet Jewels.
Palzang
That's my point Palzang... as Elohim has pointed out, who amongst us would not listen to Ananda if the Buddha is unavailable...?
Simply because you refute the metaphorical robes of the Teacher, it does not devalue your words and opinions.... By virtue of the fact that I have read, marked, inwardly digested, evaluated, understood and accepted what you have contributed here, to my mind "qualifies" you as a Teacher. Life is a Teacher.... By use of selective evaluation, and assesment of our that which we perceive, we can (via the teachings of the Kalama Sutra) decide what is acceptable as Truth, to our Mind, ears and eyes, and what is not. You (and others) have done much to gently hold my elbow and jolly me along....
You may not wish to call yourself a Teacher.... but you may not have the "right" to prevent others from terming you so....
I thought I had something to add to this, but I really don't.
-bf
Yes, but they're all in your head! (sorry)
I don't disagree with you, Fede, but sharing what knowledge one has is quite different than guiding someone to liberation. Only a qualified teacher can do that. That's the difference I'm making. I also learn from others on this board and am grateful to them, but I'd never confuse one of them with my teacher. Do you see what I mean?
Palzang
And I appreciate the distinction, Palzang, really I do.... But I'm still not entirely convinced it is essential to find this teacher, and that it will be this teacher that does the bizz....
Enlightenment (as the Buddha so ably demonstrated) is like a 'Death' - and everyone has to do that for themselves.... So whatever quality or degree of guidance a person may have, it is not guaranteed that even under the ministrations of a teacher, Liberation will occur.... just as the opposite may well be true....
I believe for example, that Gandhi was certainly a Boddhisattva.... But I don't actually believe he himself had a Guru..... not that i'm comparing myself to him in any way. please don't misunderstand.....!! :eekblue:
I have had many "mini-awakenings" due to comments and posts contributed by others... were it not for this Sangha, I would still be in the very embryonic stages of my practise. Of this I am utterly convinced.
This fathom-long body is the only teacher we'll ever need.
Jason
Palzang
I find this statement very interesting.
That, without a teacher, you would be better off doing nothing than starting on this path without a teacher.
Very interesting. I think, in the "state" I am in now, I would have to disagree with that.
-bf
I think Palzang specifically means in the tradition of Vajrayana, not the 'general' path, BF....
The big problem for me specifically, is that I'm really not sure which tradition beckons to me most strongly.... and the second is to find the most apposite and relevant Teacher.
So whilst I will not disagree with anything you have put forward Palzang, from my perspective, at present, I have only this choice, or nothing at all.
But I'm not complaining.
I need more fertilizer.....!!
-bf
Wait.... yes I can.
-bf