Mahayana Love*

"The Dharmakaya of the Buddha is always present, always alive... Vairochana is made of light, peace, flowers, joy..." -- Cultivating the Mind of Love, by T.N. Hanh

Mahayana teachings as presented by Suzuki in his book, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, are complicated and simple; they're essential, and overlooked; it is central to understanding, and experience by practitioners of all stripes. Please study Suzuki a bit for yourself.
These small essays cannot cover this topic. Suzuki declares that we are all Bodhisattvas. As Shakyamuni was a Bodhisattva, so we are all destined to become Bodhisattvas, when, in a certain sense, we understand that we are all one in the Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya manifests in us as Bodhi (knowledge-intelligence). As soon as we come to live in this love and intelligence, individual existences are no hindrance to the "turning over" of one's spiritual merits to the service of others. Abandon, says Suzuki, "our selfish thoughts of entering into a Nirvana that is conceived to extinguish the fire of hearts, leaving only cold ashes of intellect... have sympathy for all, turn over your merits, however small, to the benefit and happiness of others."

This spirit of universal love prevails in all Mahayanism. Nagar-juna in his writings on the Bodhichitta gives a view of the Bodhisattva. He says, "the essential nature of all Bodhisattvas is a great, loving heart... therefore do not cling to the blissful taste produced by the varied methods of mental tranquility (dhyana), do not covet fruit of meritorious deeds... the Bhodisattvas, who inspired with great energy, mingle with birth and death; they are like Lotus flowers who rise out of the mire, yet remain uncontaminated.

The Bodhichitta, or intelligence-heart, like the Dharmakaya is essentially love and intelligence (karuna and prajna), Suzuki compares the Christ, seeing him to be a Bodhisattva, a Buddha. He says in the West, Jesus, the Christ is perhaps the best, most accessible example available. He writes, "one who understands the nature of bodhichitta sees everything with a loving heart, for love is the essence of the Bodhichitta. The Bodhichitta is the highest essence. The Bodhichitta abiding in the heart of sameness (samata) creates individual means of salvation (upaya).

The Bodhichitta is naturally present in the hearts of all beings. He is a reflex of the Dharmakaya, he has no compulsions; he is free from beginning to end. He has no impurities nor prejudice. He is present in the heart of all beings, like the moon, shining with silvery light on clear, cloudless nights, reflected then in every drop, every mass of water on the earth, reflected like so many stars descended on earth.

* "And I give my gratitude to my first teacher of all things, my friend, Liang-Hui Mei. From her loving presence in my life, a whole world, way, and language was opened to me. I know she is teaching still.

Mahayana Buddhism

"Mahayana is a living faith. We cannot ignore the significance of Mahayanism." --Suzuki

The Buddhist thinker and teacher, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, wrote a volume about the Mahayana which is titled, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism. This book first appeared in English translation in 1907; a later edition was produced from that translation in 1963, and still later, another edition was rendered from the same translation in 1977. In this article, I use the 1963 volume.

It was the desire of master Suzuki to make clear to practitioners of other Buddhist denominations, and other non Buddhist faiths the meaning and significance of Mahayana practice. In the introduction to this volume, Alan Watts writes:

"Mahayana Buddhism is the very basis of both classical and contemporary Buddhism. Unlike Hinayana, in which the accent is on individual salvation, Mahayana stresses social compassion. Intellectually, it is more understandable than its intuitive offshoot, Zen. Mahayana represents one of the great systems of perceptions on the nature of man and his relation to the world. It is concerned with human suffering, and offers a remarkable set of insights on how one ought to live and by what principles."

Suzuki writes to answer some basic, and some more complex questions about Mahayana. Note in a number of instances, Suzuki engages the reader into an understanding of the topic through the use of another, more familiar, western belief in Salvation, the way of the Christ. While some may not have carefully considered it, Buddhism is indeed a salvific practice. It desires to free the self from suffering and to aid others to the same salvation, or liberation in Nirvana.

Mahayana, What is it? This basic question starts the inquiry Suzuki wishes to make. He makes many statements:

* Religion is the innermost voice of the human heart...
* Within Buddhism there exists diverse schools of thought...
* The human heart is not an intellectual crystal...
* Mahayana is the great vehicle of Salvation...
* It is more liberal, more progressive, metaphysical, speculative...
* Mahayana, as Suzuki defines it is, "the highest principle, or being, or knowledge, in which the universal and all beings are manifest, and through which they can attain final salvation...
* Mahayana was first used by the "progressive party"...
* Mahayana originated about the time of Christ...
* Asvaghosa, an Indian philosopher, was the first Mahayana expounder...
* Hinayana was a term given to others by the Mahayana sect...
* Mahayana is a boundless ocean in which all forms of thought and faith can find a congenial and welcoming home...
* Its earliest writings exist in the Pali language...
* Mahayana is a living faith...

NOTE: This article first appeared here in summer 2009

The Great Truth Just Moved

"There is in truth deception, and in deception, truth." -- a Simple mind

An old story about Mara, the evil one, goes like this: One day Mara and his disciples came upon a man in the road. His face glowing, they curiously inquired into the cause of the man’s pleasure. It seems the man had just discovered something of the Truth.

Upon reporting this to their master, Mara, the disciple was perplexed at his reaction. You, Mara, the One of Deception, does it not perturb you that this one has come into a moment of Truth? Mara replied that it did not.

You see, Mara opined, that no sooner do people discover a part of the Truth, a moment of the Whole, then they make a belief out if it.

The great Hindu Master, Sri Aurobindo once stated that no sooner does one discover that there is a certain truth, that, then, they often chase after it. They lose their common sense. For Truth was about them all the while; they have only just noticed it! Whether you recognize or understand Mara, Quan Yin or any other sage, at any time in your life, is no matter to anyone else; the sages have always been about you.

In her book, Waking Up to What You Do by Abbess Diane Eshin Rizzetto, she writes about the “Certainty Principle.” Certainty is seductive. She says that often we desire to feel safe and comfortable via certainty. Sureness may arise out of personal experiences, but impermanence may alter the sum of those experiences. Things do change. Thus the Buddha emphasized that we must not believe the teaching alone; we must go out and discover it for ourselves.

Rizzetto writes, “truth [just] won’t be pinned down. Truth will not be pinned down with the word, the.” Truth defies definition because as soon as we try to grasp it, it changes. In this way it shares a close connection to reality. Reality is many faceted. There is no single valuable reality. Instead there are many parts of the whole. So what does this notion leave to us? It seems that we can trust, be truth, moment to moment. We can be as we are, as we find ourselves to be. This is awareness that the great masters speak about. It is just this moment, every moment together forms what we know about reality, about truth and about our selves.

Kumbum Chamtse Ling Monastery

"Our escape route was long and hard for people more used to the sheltered life of Lhasa." My Land and My People by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso, as he is customarily named, more often called the 'Dalai Lama,' especially in the West,approves and supports  the Tibetan Mongolian Cultural Center, the Kumbum Chamtse Ling monastery located in Bloomington, Indian; it celebrates and enjoys a degree of autonomy unknown in its original homeland. Today, while Tibet remains embroiled in relations with China, Mongolia enjoys a large measure of autonomy.

The establishment of this monastery on American soil is an important moment in American Buddhism. Not to be overlooked, it is an active monastery devoted to Mahayanan principles with its resident abbot, Arjia Rinpoche; this pivotal development, is a source of pride to the growing U.S. population of Mongolians and the few of Tibetan ancestry. The community now forming around the monastery in Bloomington, Indiana is decidedly an interfaith community, as Buddhism itself was once a persecuted and repressed faith, there has been a flowering of compassion regarding the beliefs of others. Still true today, in some parts of the world, Buddhism, like other faith communities, remains suppressed and scarcely tolerated.

Westerners, who through simple unfamiliarity with one of the great faiths of the world, have over the course of the past 50 years regarded this Eastern philosophy with varying degrees of suspicion. Others not comprehending that its message is one of peace, faith and salvation, have taken to Buddhism due to a notion of the exotic. Yet Buddhism in its forms, shares much with other faiths, far more familiar in the west, especially to Orthodox Christians and Jews whose traditions of scholarship, teaching and monastic activities in several respects mirror those of their Buddhist brothers and sisters.

Due to political events occurring more than 50 years ago, Tenzin Gyatso was forced to flee his homeland as a young man. The majority of his life has been lived in exile. Due to China's claims to Tibetan and Mongolian territories, as well as areas of Himalaya, the traditions of this part of the world especially its religious foundations, have been severely tested by forced rule. 

In his book, My Land and My People, first published in English in 1962, the thoughts and impressions of Tenzin Gyatso are made available to general English readership for the first time. He writes, "If you hit a man on the skull and break his skull, you can hardly expect him to be friendly. This [thought] thoroughly angered the Chinese.... [In regards to political skill] I could only apply my religious training to these problems... But religious training, I believed and still believe, was a very reliable guide... Non-violence was the only moral course."

Later in this same book, he writes of the preparations and realization of his exile, "My journey through the border areas reminded me of two of my observations of China itself... The first was of Chinese monasteries... I had found all of the temples and monasteries neglected and almost empty... I was told that there were still learned Llamas in Inner Mongolia  ... several hundred people came from Inner Mongolia to ask for my blessing... This was the fate I could see hanging over the Tibetan monks and monasteries already in Chinese hands... I believe boys from Mongolia and East Turkestan clung equally stubbornly to their faith."

Now today in America, Tenzin Gyatso comes to share his faith with all; the establishment of the Tibetan Mongolian Cultural Center is one of the keys to this effort, and further evidence that Mahayana has a life not only within its historic boundaries, but in the wider world as well.

Living Awake and in the Truth, Part 2

Simple Mind is away from the computer. The following appeared here earlier this year, January 2, 2009.

Assumptions--are just that, assumptions.
To the Simple Mind, we are aware that things change, and in fact it is desirable because if they did not there would not be the opening for learning, for the new, a relief from what pains us, or hope. We would remain angry, fearful, resentful, confused. Pray for impermanence.
Working with this precept, we no longer try to escape the experience; rather like a scientist, we wait and observe our self, our reaction, our perceptions and what exists in this moment around us.
Reactions, like emotions, are automatic, they just happen. But what we choose to do isn't a happenstance. The will chooses and then we act. This is a freedom that we take so as to make best use and advantage of our circumstances.

What do we do when we find ourselves in the midst of gossip? What about that?
Sometimes we want to feel part of a group or an event by talking ill of another person, or deliberately excluding others, to feel more special or bonded -- us against them. Gossip is when we say things about others that are potentially harmful or slanderous to that other person -- with full knowledge of this in our mind.
This is distinguished from speaking about others with the intention of sorting out our thoughts or feelings, or problem solving.

Then there are the instant reactions that lead us into hurtful speech or action. What about when we feel insulted? How about when an emotion demands our attention?
Before beginning earnest practice, maybe we just walked away or changed the subject to avoid what we judged distasteful. Maybe we excused ourselves with the thought that "they deserve it, anyway."

Sometimes we counted to 10 or went for a walk before answering that insulting remark, that hurtful phrase. These tactics likely stopped or controlled our reactions, but to really move beyond, to move to a Simple Mind requires a different response. A response that perhaps to this point in our lives we are unfamiliar with.
We must through practice, in awareness, dismantle our habitual thoughts and patterns of behavior. These are habits which cause us to suffer; those perceived thoughts, the imagined self which keeps us in the dream.
When we gain in awareness, then our deepest beliefs and fears may be faced honestly and squarely. We respond to what is so, to reality as it is by experience, not driven by fear, anger or other passion. Our response is what is required, according to our will, our desire to be as we are.

With this precept, our practice becomes meeting life in all its possibilities, in its newness, and its sometimes strangeness.

And while certainty, feeling "sure" is seductive, and it can make us feel safe, prayers for change, for impermanence are part of the Way. As a Mahayana practitioner notes, 'when a flower dies, we don't cry, because we know flowers are impermanent.' Understanding this, we will suffer less and be joyful more. Impermanence is not negative!
Does it then, in the Way, mean that we have to lose all that we care for? Of course not; the community remains and is important. What is also important is that we not cling so tightly to persons or things, that we fail to recognize the nature of change.
So, to gain in skillfulness and practice of the precepts, we must turn to experience, the present moment as our guide, and not simply notions or intellectual ideas.

As Joko Beck has said, "when we experience for ourselves the transitory nature of beliefs, then it no longer has us in a strong hold. We can be freer from our requirements--freer to speak truthfully." Isn't it odd how those we care for most deeply, those who have meaning to us in our daily lives, are those for whom we most often hold deeply, and those whom we entrench in our faultfinding?

This is one of the ways in which we may avoid ourselves.
We are dishonest with ourselves first before the other. By focusing not on our own experience, but on what we think must be the experience of another, we criticize, nit-pick, fault. Sometimes, most often, those negative attributes are really our own.
Our own views may thus be frozen; we may not be acting from awareness of our selves-- what are we feeling, what is my perception/experience? If we do not take the critical self view, like that of a scientist, examining our own functioning, our own organism, faultfinding gains a hold. We react to something that may not even be real at all-- at least not real beyond our own mind, and then we suffer the consequences when the world rebuffs us, as it must.


Other ways of avoiding or not being truthful are several:

*Do I add to the story my own facts, interpretations or opinions as though they are true?

Try seeing yourself as the other person whom you spoke about. How do your words fit now? What is your experience?

*Do I keep silent? Do I comment when in a group about something I know, or do I allow it to pass by?

What is your intention in keeping silent? What is your experience? Do I take some advantage from not speaking?

As you practice, keep in mind that in the Simple Mind, speaking truthfully is neither better nor worse.

Jain Dharma

"Jainism is believed to be by its followers, without beginning or end. --The Jains by Paul Dundas

The Jain Way of Enlightenment has been described by writers in many ways; stereotypically the Jain practitioner is described as ascetic, naked and filthy. He engages in bizarre practices such as self-induced suffering, hair pulling, abstaining from physical contact with others, and more.

What Jainism has traditionally done throughout the centuries in its native India, is to reject the traditional pantheon of gods who both create and destroy within the Hindu tradition. Jainists have often mocked Hindu scholars. They rejected Brahmanism, the belief that as the highest caste in India, Brahmans are the natural religious leaders, who claimed both social and religious authority. While there may be a shred of truth in regard to certain ascetic practices, the modern Jain, like his ancestors seeks enlightenment through non-violent means.

Further, Jain thought holds to views such as: re-birth is undesirable; that like Buddhists, they share a belief in Dharma and Kharma "as representing basic facts of human experience." Within the Jain Way or Dharma, there developed a practice of non-violence, and a corresponding antagonism towards Brahmans, human sacrifice, even 'sacrifices in substitution.' Historically certain castes of Hindus were made sacrifices; it was this practice that Jains specifically abhorred, favoring purification rituals that abstained from any type of violence. Finally it is the developed Jain concept of freedom from action as the way to spiritual purity, and thus enlightenment which illustrates the principal beliefs of Jainism.

Through lack of attention to their physical selves, Jains sought inner, spiritual purity. In seeking this Way, modern Jains, like those of former times may live in monastic communities, as monks or nuns; they may be lay persons, living a typical life, or they may be ascetics or mystics. All these different persons in their various Jain denominations wish to live a life that will bring to them an inward, interior spiritual purity.

While one of the world's oldest religions, Jainism is native to India. It is believed that it is perhaps among the few of the most ancient religions which survives in the near east today, with perhaps three million practitioners within India, especially in Maharashtra, and perhaps another 100,000 world wide in primarily English speaking countries. In his book, The Jains by Paul Dundas, he writes of the faith, "The Sanskrit word Jaina derives from 'jina' meaning conqueror... who, having overcome the passions and attained enlightenment, teach the true doctrine of non-violence... these spiritual conquerors act according to the teaching of the three jewels, namely, right knowledge, right faith and right conduct." Many traditionally Hindu practitioners, especially in the north of India, have adopted a number of traditional Jain practices, writes Dundas.

A Jain Prayer

"Friendship to all living forms,
delight in the qualities of the virtuous ones,

unlimited compassion for all suffering beings,
equanimity toward all who wish me harm,

may my soul have these dispositions now and forever."

Seeds Like Dharma Rain

"When you listen to a Dharma talk, just allow the rain of Dharma to penetrate to soil of your consciousness. Don't think too much, or argue, or compare... Just allow your consciousness to receive the rain..." --Cultivating the Mind of Love by Thich Nhat Hanh

Consciousness, writes Thich Nhat Hanh in his book, Cultivating the Mind of Love: The Practice of Looking Deeply in the Mahayana Buddhist Tradition, "is said to be composed of two parts-- store consciousness (alayavijnana) and mind consciousness (manovijnana). In our store consciousness are buried all the seeds, representing everything we have ever done, experienced, or perceived. When a seed is watered, it manifests into your mind consciousness.'

"The work of meditation is to cultivate the garden of our store consciousness. As a gardener, we have to trust the land, knowing that all seeds of love and understanding, all seeds of enlightenment and happiness, are already there. That is why we don't have to think too hard or take notes during a Dharma talk. We only need to be there, to allow the seeds of love and understanding that are deep within us to be watered. It is not just the teacher who is giving the dharma talk; the violet bamboo, the yellow chrysanthemum and the golden sunset are all speaking at the same time. Anything that waters these deepest seeds in our store consciousness is the true Dharma."

Dharma deals with the present moment. The Dharma is not just a matter of time. If you practice the Dharma Way, peacefulness and joyfulness are there as soon as you embrace the Dharma. A healing takes place through embrace of the "dharma-in-the-now." Embracing the now, you are in the ultimate dimension as Mahayana teaches. There is nothing more real than this moment, the ultimate moment of now. As all seeds are already contained within; at any moment you may become what you are most deeply. The Lotus Sutra teaches this is possible.

When we are in the state of mindfulness, we are in the now; we dwell in warmth, peacefulness. When mindful, we are fully engaged in the present moment, and we experience a quietness, a calmness, peacefulness; we may be inspired with strength, confidence, joy and happiness. There is no fear, because fear is what has not yet occurred; we are not in the past because it is already past. At present moment, we dwell with ourselves as we are, in this moment, present. Forming or joining a Sangha for support and practice is a good idea. Sangha may be composed of two or more persons.

To Mahayanists, in the present moment, the Lotus Sutra teaches us, "we too, can be everywhere at once. From any point in the cosmos, people can touch us wherever we are, and wherever they are. We are not at all confined by time and space," Hanh informs the reader. He further explains this is so because of the nature of inter-being.

Gaining the energy of compassion, as Hanh describes it, in deep practice of the Lotus Sutra, "energy, of compassion, in you will transform your life, and make it more beautiful. Compassion is always born of understanding, and understanding is the result of looking deeply."
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Mahayana and the Will of the Dharmakaya

"Dharmakaya directs the course of the Universe, not blindly, but rationally." --Suzuki

In summary, Suzuki reflects that there are three essential aspects to that which is called Dharmakaya. Ultimately we are led into the teaching of the Trikaya, a sort of three-in-one, a trinity.
In the religious consciousness, there is intelligence (prajna), love (karuna), and the will (pranidhanabala). With intelligence, the Dharamakaya directs the progression of the universe--not blindly, but rationally. With love, because Dharmakaya embraces all beings "with a tender, fatherly love." Thirdly, Mahayanists suppose that its work is also accomplished with will, because it has been firmly set down that the Dharmakaya chief aim is for the good, a good which holds as its final goal, the conversion of all evil in the universe.
These evils, in the will of the Dharmakaya, shall be brought forth into the light of dharmakaya; they shall know his fatherly will, with which love and intelligence in their own being shall be realized unto they become at one with the will of the Dharmakaya. "Without the will, love and intelligence will not be realized; without love, the will and intelligence lose their impulse; without intelligence, love and will are irrational. In fact, all three are essential coordinates of the Dharmakaya and constitute the Oneness."

In other sects and denominations, some Buddhists may not agree with this view of the will. When rendered or understood literally or fundamentally, the inner significance, the working of the Dharmakaya is totally ignored. Yet the Dharmakaya is without a partial, fragmentary borrowing or knowledge as exists in other beings; thus Mahayanists are quite forthright in recognizing its completeness in both knowledge and will. Dharmakaya is wholeness, or oneness itself. What is done by the Dharmakaya is "done by its own free will, with intelligence and love, independent of all the determinations that might affect it from outside."

Those practitioners who recognize this free and creative will, especially those of the Sukhavati sect, recognize the presence of an all powerful, all encompassing will, embracing in love with all knowing intelligence, and they want to present it more concretely, more humanly, so that other practitioners may come to see beyond the clouds which obscure the vision.

A great Mahayana sutra says of love (karuna):

"With one great, loving heart
The thirsty desires of all beings
he quenches with coolness,
refreshing;

With compassion, of all he thinks,
which like space, knows no bounds;
Over all the world's creation
With no thought of particularly, he reviews .

With a great heart, compassionate and loving,
All sentient beings are embraced by him;
With means (upaya) pure, free from stain, and all
excellent,

He delivers and saves all creatures, innumerable.
With unfathomable love, and with compassion
All creations are caressed by him universally;
Yet his heart is free from attachment.

As his compassion is great and infinite,
He confers Bliss, unearthly, upon each and every being,
And shows himself all over the universe;
Until all attain Buddhahood, he'll not rest."

--"On Merit," the Avatamsaka (Lotus) Sutra
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Mahayana Buddhism

"Mahayana is a living faith. We cannot ignore the significance of Mahayanism." --Suzuki

The Buddhist thinker and teacher, Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, wrote a volume about the Mahayana which is titled, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism. This book first appeared in English translation in 1907; a later edition was produced from that translation in 1963, and still later another edition was rendered from the same translation in 1977. Here, I use the 1963 volume.

It was the desire of master Suzuki to make clear to practitioners of other Buddhist denominations, and other non Buddhist faiths the meaning and significance of Mahayana practice. In the introduction to this volume, Alan Watts writes:

"Mahayana Buddhism is the very basis of both classical and contemporary Buddhism. Unlike Hinayana, in which the accent is on individual salvation, Mahayana stresses social compassion. Intellectually, it is more understandable than its intuitive offshoot, Zen. Mahayana represents one of the great systems of perceptions on the nature of man and his relation to the world. It is concerned with human suffering, and offers a remarkable set of insights on how one ought to live and by what principles."

Suzuki writes to answer some basic, and some more complex questions about Mahayana. Note in a number of instances, Suzuki engages the reader into an understanding of the topic through the use of another, more familiar, western belief in Salvation, the way of the Christ. While some may not have carefully considered it, Buddhism is indeed a salvific practice. It desires to free the self from suffering and to aid others to the same salvation, or liberation in Nirvana.

Mahayana, What is it? This basic question starts the inquiry Suzuki wishes to make. He makes many statements:

* Religion is the innermost voice of the human heart...
* Within Buddhism there exists diverse schools of thought...
* The human heart is not an intellectual crystal...
* Mahayana is the great vehicle of Salvation...
* It is more liberal, more progressive, metaphysical, speculative...
* Mahayana, as Suzuki defines it is, "the highest principle, or being, or knowledge, in which the universal and all beings are manifest, and through which they can attain final salvation...
* Mahayana was first used by the "progressive party"...
* Mahayana originated about the time of Christ...
* Asvaghosa, an Indian philosopher, was the first Mahayana expounder...
* Hinayana was a term given to others by the Mahayana sect...
* Mahayana is a boundless ocean in which all forms of thought and faith can find a congenial and welcoming home...
* Its earliest writings exist in the Pali language...
* Mahayana is a living faith...

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The Anguttara Nikaya, Possibility Alive

"There is a person whose appearance on earth is for the well being and happiness of all." --Living Buddha, Living Christ by T. N. Hanh


Writing, "The Joy of Being Alive," Buddhist teacher and monk Thich Nhat Hanh says that by simply breathing, you know that you are alive. The breath, after all, like the beating of a heart is the most elemental to all human existence. "Because you are alive, the community of practice (Sangha) can continue. Because you are alive, everything is possible."

Every moment is a moment that can possibly be taken for the Buddha heart, for the Dharma way, for an opportunity to enter into the Spirit. The Buddhist text Anguttara Nikaya, known in Chinese as Zēngyī Ahánjīng. These texts, a collection of Sutras, proclaim for one that humans are not merely reducible to living heaps of sense-matter. Rather that they exist as real entities, or centers of living experience encountering the world in a real and heartfelt way. The readings share a timeless, simple wisdom valuable throughout the ages.
Hanh writes, "there is a person whose appearance on earth is for the well being and happiness of all. Who is that person?" It may be the teaching of the Buddha or the Christ, or it may be a sangha or a person who at times appears to you as a Bodhisattva. Through your daily life, with those you come into contact with, in a way of simple presence, of caring and friendship, you can help that person continue. In your mindfulness you see clearly what is necessary, what needs to be done. Breathe deeply; know that you are alive.

Origins: The Bon-po, Part One

Sunyata, or how to untie what has never been tied. ~Emptiness.


Although some medieval and modern Tibetan histories written by cloistered Buddhist monks portray the ancient pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet as a nefarious mixture of sorcery, black magic, shamanism, and bloody sacrifices, this appears to be just so much anti-Bon-po propaganda providing a melodramatic effect. The principal aim of these Buddhist historians was to glorify the role of Indian Mahayana Buddhism in Tibetan history, suggesting that there was no culture nor civilization in Tibet before the coming of Indian Buddhism to Central Tibet...

Another problem is that the Tibetan term Bon, probably deriving from the old verb form 'bond-pa, meaning to invoke the gods, has two different cultural references. In the first usage, Bon does indeed refer to the indigenous, pre-Buddhist, shamanistic, and animistic culture of Tibet, a culture that possessed many characteristics in common with other shamanistic tribal cultures of Central Asia and Siberia.

Although these cultures involved various types of religious practice and belief,
the central role was occupied by a practitioner known as a shaman. The activity of the shaman was definitively characterized as entering into an altered state of consciousness by way of chanting, drumming, dancing, and so on, whether this altered state of consciousness or "ecstasy" was understood to be soul-travel, as an out-of-the-body experience, or a form of spirit possession.

The principal social function of such a practitioner was healing.
A traditional form of Central Asian shamanism involving spirit possession continues to be practiced widely in Tibet even today among both Buddhist and Bon-po populations, as well as among Tibetan refugees living elsewhere in Ladakh, Nepal, and Bhutan. Such a practitioner is known as a lha-pa or dpa'-bo.

Elsewhere on the borders of Tibet in the Himalayas
and along the Sino-Tibetan frontiers, among certain Tibetan speaking, and related peoples, there exist shamanic practitioners known as Bon-pos; for example, among the Na-khi in China, and among the Tamangs in Nepal... there exists a second type of religious culture also known as "Bon" whose adherents claim to represent the pre-Buddhist civilization of Tibet.

This form of Bon is known also as Yungdrung Bon (g.yung-drung bon); these practitioners of Bon assert that at least part of their religious tradition was not native to Tibet, but was brought to Central Tibet sometime before the seventh century from the previously independent country of Zhang-zhung, west of Tibet, and more remotely from Tazik (stag-gzig) or Iranian speaking Central Asia to the northwest.

"The Eternal Teaching," a term which could be reconstructed into Sanskrit as "Svastika-dharma," where the swastika or sun-cross is the symbol of the eternal and the indestructible, corresponding in most every respect to the Buddhist term vajra or diamond (rdo-rje). In addition to ritual texts relating to shamanic and animistic practices, this ancient tradition possesses a large body of texts, also claiming to be pre-Buddhist in origin, relating to the higher teachings of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen (mdo rgyud man-ngag gsum).

The Bon-po Lamas, instead of looking back to the North Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, as their Buddha, looked instead elsewhere as the source of their higher teachings of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen. To the outsider, this Yungdrung Bon nowadays appears little different from the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism in terms of their higher doctrines and monastic practices.

Contemporary Bon possesses a monastic system much like the Buddhist one and a Madhyamaka philosophy fully comparable with the other Tibetan Buddhist schools. In contrast, Old Bon (bon rnying-ma), or Yundrung Bon as such, consists of the teachings and the practices attributed to Shenrab Miwoche, and in particular, this means the higher teachings of Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen.

These teachings are said to have been brought to the country of Zhang-zhung
in Western and Northern Tibet where they were translated into the Zhang-zhung language. Zhang-zhung appears to have been an actual language, distinct from Tibetan, and apparently related to the West Himalayan dialect of Kinauri.

The Bon-po tradition possesses as its highest teaching, a system of contemplation known as Dzogchen, "the Great Perfection."
These teachings reveal in one's immediate experience the Primordial State (ye gzhi) of the individual, that is to say, the individual's inherent Buddha-nature or Bodhichitta, which is beyond all time and conditioning, and conceptual limitations (time and space, as previously discussed in posts).

This Natural State (gnas-lugs), is spoken of in terms of its intrinsic, primordial purity (ka-dag) .
Both the Buddhist Nyingmapas and the Bonpos assert that their respective Dzogchen traditions were brought to Central Tibet in the eighth century: the Nyingmapa transmission from the Mahasiddha Shrisimha in living in Northern India, and the Bonpo transmission from a line of Mahasiddhas dwelling around Mount Kailas and the lake country of Zhang-zhung.

Thus there appear to exist two different historically authentic lineages for the transmission of these teachings... the historical origins of Bon-po Dzogchen, for this second authentic lineage of the Dzogchen teachings also did not originate in India proper, but was brought to Central Tibet in the ninth and tenth centuries.

Until the eighth century, Zhang-zhung had been an independent kingdom
with its own language and culture. It lay in what is now Western and Northern Tibet, and the center of the country was dominated by the majestic presence of the sacred mountain of Gangchen Tise or Mount Kailas.
Examining the available evidence, it now appears likely that before Indian Buddhism came to Central Tibet in the seventh and eighth centuries. Zhang-zhung had extensive contacts with the Buddhist cultures that flourished around it in Central Asia, and in the Indo-Tibetan borderlands.
Just to the west of Zhang-zhung, there once existed the vast Kushana empire which was Buddhist in its religious culture. It was an area in which Indian Buddhism interacted with various strands of Iranian religion-- Zoroastrian, Zurvanist, Mithraist, Manichean, as well as Indian Shaivism and Nestorian Christianity. Some scholars have seen this region beyond India as playing a key role in the development of certain aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, and later also in the development of a Tantric form of Buddhism known as Vajrayana.

This Buddhism, known as "gyer" in the Zhang-zhung language and as Bon in the Tibetan language,was not particularly monastic, but more Tantric in nature, and its spread was increased by the presence of various practitioners in the region... Into this century, Kailas remains an important site of pilgrimage drawing Hindu sadhus and yogis from India...

Such a mixed Buddhist-like culture, being both Tantric and Shamanic, was suppressed in the eighth century at the instigation of the Tibetan king, Trisong Detsan, the last king of Zhang-zhung, Ligmigya.

Within modern Buddhism, Dzogchen is a vehicle of the Nyingma School.
It’s the ninth vehicle, and it cannot be separated from the Nyingma School, or the Lineage that goes back to Garab Dorje. However, this does not mean that the Nyingmapas own Dzogchen. Nor does it mean that the Bönpos own it. Anyone from any school can practise Dzogchen. There have been many Lamas from all the schools who have practiced Dzogchen; in fact several Dala’i Lamas have been Dzogchen masters, such as the Great Fifth Dala’i Lama. Any discussion of the origin of Dzogchen will include a mention that it comes from the Nyingma Lineages. And it also comes from the Bön-pos.

This tradition has also received explicit support from His Holiness the Dalai Lama,who made a statement at the 1988 Tulku Conference in Sarnath in which he stressed the importance of preserving the Bön tradition, as representing the indigenous source of Tibetan culture, and acknowledging the major role it has had in shaping Tibet's unique identity.

Sources:
http://www.bonfoundation.org/aboutbon.html
www.angelfire.com/vt/vajranatha/bondzog.html
www. tibet.com

The Holy Spirit Continues in You

"Resting in God is a term I like."
--Thich Nhat Hanh


Buddhist monk and teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, writes in his book, Living Buddha, Living Christ, that real love never ends. He says, "In Judaism, we are encouraged to enjoy the world as long as we know that it is God himself." Jewish belief is the forbear of Christianity; its patrimony is unmistakeable, joyful, loving, creative. "The Ten Commandments... of the Judeo-Christian hertitage help us know what to do, and what not to do in order to cherish God throughout our daily life."

"All precepts, commandments are about love and understanding." Jesus gave this commandment first to the Apostles, his disciples, to 'love God with all your mind, with all your strength, and most importantly, to love your neighbor as yourself.' In the bible chapter, First Corinthians (Corinthians 1), it declares the principle message of the bible and its eastern, Jewish roots:

Love is patient, love is kind, love is not arrogant, envious or rude. Love does not rejoice in the wrong, it is not irritable or resentful. Love does not insist on its own way. Love rejoices in the truth.
These are very close to the teachings of Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh continues. He comments that, "Love bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Love is born and reborn... To take good care of yourself and the environment is the best way to love God. This love is possible when you understand that you are not separate from other beings, or the environment. This understanding cannot be merely intellectual. It must be experiential, insight gained from deep touching and deep looking in a daily life of contemplation, prayer and meditation."
Real love never ends. It can be born and reborn within you, again and again.

When you pray with your heart, your love, the Holy (whole, unified) Spirit is within you. Nothing more is necessary. The Spirit is a force, a power within you, and in the world. Spirit comes, lighting the Way in the darkness. The force of Bodhichitta is alive. You can see things deeply, understand deeply, love deeply. Hanh writes, "if you practice this way, the Lord's Prayer comes alive in you. It brings real change: thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven... This is like the water that touches the wave, which is its own nature.

This touching removes fear, anxiety, anger, craving... give us our daily bread, and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us... lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, every evil...have mercy upon us, and protect us from anxiety..." Deeply looking, meditating on this prayer shows the light of the Spirit, the loving God, is loving the living beings that "we see and touch in our daily life.
If we can love them, we can love God."

Thus the Holy Spirit continues on in you. You are one, both the wave and the water, the raft and the shore. Your mindfulness will bring this about, sharing with others.
simplemindzen.blogspot.com

Nasrudin: The Lamp and the Key

Sufism, as a practice, emphasizes certain unique rituals for guiding spiritual seekers into a direct encounter with God. It comes from the Islamic traditions in places especially Persia or Iran.
Muhammad is considered the chief prophet; many consider Sufism to be a mystical practice of Islam. The following story by the great Sufi teacher, Nasrudin, illustrates a common experience for those along the Way.

His friend, Mansour, comes to visit him and sees Nasruddin on his hands and knees, crawling on the sidewalk under the street lamp, obviously searching for something, appearing frustrated.

Concerned for his friend, Mansour asks, "Nasruddin, what are you looking for? Did you lose something?"

"Yes, Mansour. I lost the key to my house, and I’m trying to find it, but I can’t."

"Let me help you," responds Mansour. Mansour joins his friend, kneels down on his hands and knees, and begins to crawl on the sidewalk under the street lamp, searching.

After a time, having looked everywhere on and around the sidewalk, neither Nasruddin nor Mansour can find the lost key. Puzzled, Mansour asks his friend to recall his steps when he last had the key, "Nasruddin, where did you lose the key? When did you last have it?"

"I lost the key in my house," Nasruddin responds.

"In your house?" repeats the astonished Mansour. "Then why are we looking for the key here, outside on the sidewalk under this street lamp?”

Without hesitation, Nasruddin explains, “Because there is more light here . . . !”

In his book At Home in the Muddy Water, by Ezra Bayda, Buddhist practitioner and teacher, recounts this story about a key and a light.
"In trying to uncover how to best proceed with practice, we're often like Nasrudin, looking in the wrong place. Sometimes we're looking in the wrong place for something that isn't even there. We think there is a magic key, some experience that will make the practice permanently clear, especially in the midst of everyday difficulties." In the simple mind, we realize there is no magic key, nor do we need one. What is needed is to persevere through the ups and downs of life. We hold our own key.

Love, No Beginning, No End

Love comes often as a surprise, an accident, a gift. It comes not as we choose, but as we, the chosen one. Always love is a gift shared between two or more persons. If it is not reciprocal, not shared, it may be a relationship but it is not love.

In his book, Cultivating the Mind of Love, Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh relates to the reader his personal, honest experience. He says he was young monk, meeting a young nun, and "Seeing her standing there like that was like a fresh breeze blowing across my face...I had never had a feeling like that." Falling in love is an accident, he concludes, but it is also more.

You see he writes, "in our store consciousness are buried all the seeds, representing everything we have ever done, experienced or perceived. When a seed is watered, it manifests in our mind consciousness...we have to trust, knowing that all the seeds of enlightenment and happiness are already there... We only need to be there, to allow the seeds of love and understanding that are deep within us to be watered."

Anything that waters these deepest, true seeds within us is true Dharma. We become filled with the mind of enlightenment, the mind of love. Filling us with joy, confidence and energy, we feel alive. Yet "our mind of love may be buried under many layers of forgetfulness and suffering. If we are lucky, we may find someone in our community who is skillful enough so as to enable us to touch this seed, the mind of love."

The community of practitioners is vital to one who seeks to live by experience, the simple mind, to touch the mind of love. This group may be large; it may be just two or three persons who support one another. They, solidly forming, to support and encourage one another in the practice of mindfully examining themselves and the world around in this moment. "If you don't have anyone who understands you, who encourages you in the practice...your desire to practice may wither."

The mind of love is a strong power within you. You are alive with it; it is a matter of watering those seeds to bring it forth. Thich writes, "Where is the self? Where is the non-self? Who is your first love? Who is your last? What is the difference between our first love and our last love? How can anything die?

'If you want to touch my love, please touch yourself." Water which flows in spring, in winter, is a bright, solid mass. In a cold pond, it reflects the bright, full moon. Can you hold onto the water by its form? Can you trace its source? Do you know when and where it will end? "It is the same with your first love. Your first love has no beginning and will have no end. It is still alive, in the stream of your being."

Love may indeed be an accident, but we need not avoid it, nor the gift that it may bring us. While this accident may "cause us some suffering...we will survive."
simplemindzen.blogspot.com

Blind by Definition

The Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote

...'that with such passionate clearness a man sees and knows over what he is in despair, but about what it is-- escapes his notice... For the "immediate" man does not recognize his self; he recognizes himself only by his dress, he recognizes that he has a self only by externals... In possibility, everything is possible, thus a man can go astray in all possible ways. One form is wishful... the other form is melancholy, fantastic--on one hand hope, on the other fear or dread... In order to will [when] in despair, to be oneself, there must be consciousness of the infinite self.'

The self who one might think of as the 'original face,' is the face that existed before you were born. Yet we are all blind by definition. We may see the other clearly, but not ourself. As Ezra Bayda writes in At Home in the Muddy Waters, 'to the extent that we're not aware...we're bound to follow this predictable path. When two people who don't know themselves reach the point of conflict, the result is a collision... even though it may be easy to see how unaware the other person is, our own blind spots are blind by definition. Yet these [persistent] conflicts are clues that we're in the dark... believing in our reaction is another tell tale sign of darkness to self. Many power struggles have resulted from a perceived notion of a failing, or a loss of a good or promise to us. We then act to recoup what must be ours, partitioned, from our now enemy. But in the exchange, we are mired in both our hopes and our fears; we despair to will to be ourself, the face that exists now and infinitely.

'Failure to work with, and to work out our perceived 'need for power, our self centered desires to possess, our fear based need to control results in hatred, intolerance and aggression. The blindness to self firstly, and towards the other secondly, is the source of all conflicts...without inner understanding, individuals and societies flounder," writes Bayda.

Part of the simple mind, joy in relationships, comes not so much from getting what we think we need, or from happiness, but from contact with our essential self, our infinite or original self. The expression of this connection is through generosity, a sharing of that self infinitely. It is like a well, we drink of its unending source all that is essential.

Living Awake and in the Truth part 2

Assumptions--are just that, assumptions.
To the Simple Mind, we are aware that things change, and in fact it is desirable because if they did not there would not be the opening for learning, for the new, a relief from what pains us, or hope. We would remain angry, fearful, resentful, confused. Pray for impermanence.
Working with this precept, we no longer try to escape the experience; rather like a scientist, we wait and observe our self, our reaction, our perceptions and what exists in this moment around us.
Reactions, like emotions, are automatic, they just happen. But what we choose to do isn't a happenstance. The will chooses and then we act. This is a freedom that we take so as to make best use and advantage of our circumstances.

What do we do when we find ourselves in the midst of gossip? What about that?
Sometimes we want to feel part of a group or an event by talking ill of another person, or deliberately excluding others, to feel more special or bonded -- us against them. Gossip is when we say things about others that are potentially harmful or slanderous to that other person -- with full knowledge of this in our mind.
This is distinguished from speaking about others with the intention of sorting out our thoughts or feelings, or problem solving.

Then there are the instant reactions that lead us into hurtful speech or action. What about when we feel insulted? How about when an emotion demands our attention?
Before beginning earnest practice, maybe we just walked away or changed the subject to avoid what we judged distasteful. Maybe we excused ourselves with the thought that "they deserve it, anyway."

Sometimes we counted to 10 or went for a walk before answering that insulting remark, that hurtful phrase. These tactics likely stopped or controlled our reactions, but to really move beyond, to move to a Simple Mind requires a different response. A response that perhaps to this point in our lives we are unfamiliar with.
We must through practice, in awareness, dismantle our habitual thoughts and patterns of behavior. These are habits which cause us to suffer; those perceived thoughts, the imagined self which keeps us in the dream.
When we gain in awareness, then our deepest beliefs and fears may be faced honestly and squarely. We respond to what is so, to reality as it is by experience, not driven by fear, anger or other passion. Our response is what is required, according to our will, our desire to be as we are.

With this precept, our practice becomes meeting life in all its possibilities, in its newness, and its sometimes strangeness.

And while certainty, feeling "sure" is seductive, and it can make us feel safe, prayers for change, for impermanence are part of the Way. As a Mahayana practitioner notes, 'when a flower dies, we don't cry, because we know flowers are impermanent.' Understanding this, we will suffer less and be joyful more. Impermanence is not negative!
Does it then, in the Way, mean that we have to lose all that we care for? Of course not; the community remains and is important. What is also important is that we not cling so tightly to persons or things, that we fail to recognize the nature of change.
So, to gain in skillfulness and practice of the precepts, we must turn to experience, the present moment as our guide, and not simply notions or intellectual ideas.

As Joko Beck has said, "when we experience for ourselves the transitory nature of beliefs, then it no longer has us in a strong hold. We can be freer from our requirements--freer to speak truthfully." Isn't it odd how those we care for most deeply, those who have meaning to us in our daily lives, are those for whom we most often hold deeply, and those whom we entrench in our faultfinding?

This is one of the ways in which we may avoid ourselves.
We are dishonest with ourselves first before the other. By focusing not on our own experience, but on what we think must be the experience of another, we criticize, nit-pick, fault. Sometimes, most often, those negative attributes are really our own.
Our own views may thus be frozen; we may not be acting from awareness of our selves-- what are we feeling, what is my perception/experience? If we do not take the critical self view, like that of a scientist, examining our own functioning, our own organism, faultfinding gains a hold. We react to something that may not even be real at all-- at least not real beyond our own mind, and then we suffer the consequences when the world rebuffs us, as it must.


Other ways of avoiding or not being truthful are several:

*Do I add to the story my own facts, interpretations or opinions as though they are true?

Try seeing yourself as the other person whom you spoke about. How do your words fit now? What is your experience?

*Do I keep silent? Do I comment when in a group about something I know, or do I allow it to pass by?

What is your intention in keeping silent? What is your experience? Do I take some advantage from not speaking?

As you practice, keep in mind that in the Simple Mind, speaking truthfully is neither better nor worse.

Commentary 2-- Just This

In the study of the self, we find that wherever we go, there we are. Gaining this sort of awareness of the self is central to practice. Applying just this, we acquire the power and creativity to break out of our habitual defenses and thought habits so to experience reality as it is. When you do, you find that your anxiety level is reduced, your stress goes down, and in its place arises a new sense of the possible; that you are just this moment. Every moment is new and possible. That moment becomes a good thing; you open yourself to be curious, to learn more about the world around you, yourself. Take rest in what is real.

As we come to better understand the precepts, an awareness grows that points our attention to doing what is necessary. We ask and see more clearly what is required of us, and we do just that.

Being a scientist and examining our self, we come to see that we have expectations and requirements, first of ourselves and then of others. When these ideas or assumptions fail to correspond with reality, we suffer. Cutting through deception, we live more in this moment and find that it is a good. We may even begin to acquire the realization that often when we think it is the other, in reality it is ourselves who think, act or feel a particular way. Avoid spinning into the past or the fearful future. This moment is the only moment there really can be.

An old saying I learned as a child goes, "He who accuses, accuses himself." Being aware of a situation or an event does not make us bound to engage or respond. We may choose to do so, if it seems necessary, or we may stand back and let it play out on its own, in its own time.

Know that feelings are just feelings. They may guide or hinder us equally. Feelings arise and recede; when they're urgent at that moment things may seem clear. Later, we may, in a calmer mind see they were not, and then there's the damage we cause to ourselves and others. So there is a great deal of power in awareness. It may be increased and cultivated. Take the journey of the head to the heart through the precepts. They are a reliable guide.

A world of wonder: entering into the precepts

Recalling that the Simple Mind practice is one in which we come to a more clear understanding of the words of Practice Principles through experience:

Caught in a dream of self--only suffering.
Holding on to self-centered thoughts--exactly the dream.
each moment, life as it is--the only Teacher.
Being just this moment--compassion's way.

--Practice Principles

The order of the precepts Diane Rizzetto gives may vary from other traditions, however she states that "the order I have chosen is that which most accurately reflects one most commonly discovered by my students." In other words she finds that her students' practice usually follows this pattern or order. In addition, she notes that there are in fact 10 precepts traditionally given; however she feels that the two omitted are dealt with indirectly within the others. The complete study of the 10 precepts is included in her study therefore.

Precepts "encourage us to go beyond the just don't do it. They invite us to willingly grapple with the slipperiness [or messiness] of what's the best action to take given the circumstances of any given situation." They direct our focus to conditions here and now, presently. Precepts help light the way through the more muddy times, and times when we're not so certain.
Does then taking up the precepts, the Way, mean that we never have a mean or jealous thought, that we're not afraid? Of course not. these are natural, human things that at one time or another we experience.

The Self

In some traditions the self is spoken about as something to be parted with, as a suffering in itself. However in the simple mind, it is a continuation of the classic teaching that 'all life arises out of and continues forth as a vast, fathomless, pure and clear empty mind, or Dharma.
As Dharma, it is constant, unutterable, flawless, selfless and undifferentiated. Dharma is then, the unnameable source of all life and living. It includes our everyday simple minds. And Dharma is even more. It is the realization of a mutual dependency, the knowledge that nothing comes about on its own. Following Dharma is to take action that is in harmony or addresses the common good with relation to all things. Yet this is not to say that you, me, the neighbor, be without individuality. Clearly we are perhaps 99 per cent alike, but the one per cent, differentiates us from another;even so, Dharma shows us to be finally one part of the whole.

To study the self is to forget the self.
This means that I am this, but not only this. The core of our practice with the precepts and Dharma is to challenge ourselves to look carefully, closely, and question our assumptions about what it is that makes the world real to us; focusing us on the awareness that assumptions of permanence are exactly that, an assumption.
By working with the precepts, the Dharma, sitting quietly in practice, we can train our mind to be less reactionary, less stressed and more focused on the now, this moment. Dismantling our habitual reactions, questioning our beliefs can lead to real peace, joy and just this moment.