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Cult of the Dead Cow
lobster
Crusty Veteran
Hidden away in my brother in laws shed was the carcass of a dead cow. It was a home for spiders and other cocooned insects. Once it had been a functional leather jacket. I told him about the decaying cow and ended up shouldering a carcass. The jacket cleaned up nicely. Buddhism is a bit like that sacred jacket. Dharma only becomes useful once you swear it in. A retirement home for moths and butterflies is useful in a eco hippy way, I suppose.
Some vegan vogons may ask, should you wear cows, eat them, worship them? Should the jacket be buried with full vajrayana honours for a better life? Where is the meat now? That really is how the path to Buddhahood is presented. A jacket without an owner. A home for empty pockets and insects.
Are there people capable of and entering the path to awakening? Are we just sitting around in a shed, temple or monastery hoping the jacket will fit in some future dry cleaning? Forget the cow pats, the BS, lets get to the bone.
The essence of Buddhism is awakening. Only the awake are in a position to transmit, to know, to taste, to walk the path. That then is the way. Everything else is buttons too tight to open, shampoo cleaning away the mould and milking a dead horse.
Like most people I would not know a Buddha or awakened one from a vajra Pope, a Zen Mistress or a ten day marathon monk. I know a jacket when I see one. So we have to rely on the near ones, the people who have travelled, who are experienced and leathered.
They are a diverse bunch but tend through years of devoted practice to have a similar understanding and response. They have read the sacred sutras. They have sat beyond the boredom, emptiness, shining insight and dark nights of the unclothed. I trust their best advice, which in honesty they proffer as a sacred friendship.
However, bless their cotton socks, the advanced practitioners have almost forgotten or given up on the idea of awakening. 'Practice is awakening', they say. No it's not. When people practice they are practicing. You think Buddhas practice? Of course not, they live the dream. Put that in your awakening and practice on it . . .
However beggars and potential Buddhas can not be choosers and so practice it is. Empty the space and insistence for action and achievement. Sit and practice ethics and virtue. I can live with that. That must surely be a rewarding and beneficial change?
So I will listen to the past attainers, the youtube monks, the geeks from books and forums. I will listen to beginners, for beginners mind is closer to Buddha awakening than the developed - strange but true. This is no anonymous cult of the dead cow, this is a vibrant working community, geared towards betterment at the least and awakening as a side effect.
I don't need to go to the Himalayan kingdom of the yeti, yack and yantra. I can bring my ass to any sitting. I can meditate whilst walking or doing yoga on the Wii. I can be a new age Buddha, an ordinary person, on an extraordinary inner journey. Maybe Keanu Reeves can play me in the movie. Too much ego? Will have to work on that . . .
You know, I really can do this. Maybe I will have it emblazoned on the back of my jacket, 'Buddha in Training'. Cue the 'Rocky' music. I am going to punch cows.
Some vegan vogons may ask, should you wear cows, eat them, worship them? Should the jacket be buried with full vajrayana honours for a better life? Where is the meat now? That really is how the path to Buddhahood is presented. A jacket without an owner. A home for empty pockets and insects.
Are there people capable of and entering the path to awakening? Are we just sitting around in a shed, temple or monastery hoping the jacket will fit in some future dry cleaning? Forget the cow pats, the BS, lets get to the bone.
The essence of Buddhism is awakening. Only the awake are in a position to transmit, to know, to taste, to walk the path. That then is the way. Everything else is buttons too tight to open, shampoo cleaning away the mould and milking a dead horse.
Like most people I would not know a Buddha or awakened one from a vajra Pope, a Zen Mistress or a ten day marathon monk. I know a jacket when I see one. So we have to rely on the near ones, the people who have travelled, who are experienced and leathered.
They are a diverse bunch but tend through years of devoted practice to have a similar understanding and response. They have read the sacred sutras. They have sat beyond the boredom, emptiness, shining insight and dark nights of the unclothed. I trust their best advice, which in honesty they proffer as a sacred friendship.
However, bless their cotton socks, the advanced practitioners have almost forgotten or given up on the idea of awakening. 'Practice is awakening', they say. No it's not. When people practice they are practicing. You think Buddhas practice? Of course not, they live the dream. Put that in your awakening and practice on it . . .
However beggars and potential Buddhas can not be choosers and so practice it is. Empty the space and insistence for action and achievement. Sit and practice ethics and virtue. I can live with that. That must surely be a rewarding and beneficial change?
So I will listen to the past attainers, the youtube monks, the geeks from books and forums. I will listen to beginners, for beginners mind is closer to Buddha awakening than the developed - strange but true. This is no anonymous cult of the dead cow, this is a vibrant working community, geared towards betterment at the least and awakening as a side effect.
I don't need to go to the Himalayan kingdom of the yeti, yack and yantra. I can bring my ass to any sitting. I can meditate whilst walking or doing yoga on the Wii. I can be a new age Buddha, an ordinary person, on an extraordinary inner journey. Maybe Keanu Reeves can play me in the movie. Too much ego? Will have to work on that . . .
You know, I really can do this. Maybe I will have it emblazoned on the back of my jacket, 'Buddha in Training'. Cue the 'Rocky' music. I am going to punch cows.
1
Comments
http://yinyana.tumblr.com/
More saying . . .
I think Brian is saying....newbuddhist is not a substitute for your blog.
More saying there.
Less saying here.
However even though on a blog, this is fictionalised . . . maybe all blogs are fictional . . .
But stick to your blog, there's a dear.