Spirits Calling

"My soul glowed from the fire of your fire. Your world was a whispering water At the river of my heart." --by the poet Rumi

While in love we often fear, often unconsciously fear, that another will subsume us, that we will drown in relationship, and to some extent this is true. The ego must move aside for the opening to the path to love. Love and the soul however will not be lost or drown in another. Rather these are our immutable essences; they cannot be lost or drowned, and yet ego strongly fears this fate. Our sense of self-protection that is ego rapidly assesses any situation in which we must potentially yield to be a threat.

There is a fundamental mystery to the soul, however, writes Deepak Chopra in his book, The Path to Love. He writes further, "its integrity is not violated by merging with another person. The blending of two spirits brings more to the union than each partner started with. The process of soul-making that used to be [for me alone] "me" is now for "us." The poet Rumi expressed this thought with these words:

My soul glowed from the fire of your fire.

Your world was a whispering water.

At the river of my heart.

With the growth of spiritual realization is the awareness that two can be as one; that the multiple aspects of the Dharmakaya are are work; that the Christian idea of a triune relationship within the soul of a great spirit, communing with God are all infinite and possible. While in the state of ego, on the other hand, persons remain isolated and self-protected as if in a siege mentality. There then is no room for the other; often a feeling of isolation and a vague, undefined loneliness results. Yet spirit calls to us powerfully, first, in romantic love. 

We fall in love and for the first time as Rumi passionately writes, we have the opportunity to engage our self into self as an expansion of identity. The Spirit uses relationship as its vehicle. No man is an island; spirit calls to us to overcome our fears such that love may be its replacement.

Once in relationship, however we gain a foothold over ourselves despite the passion, despite the growing self awareness, and ego often returns to us with a vengeance. Falling in love is delightful; it is passion, and a glimpse of the spirit itself. Being in love, love itself entails commitment, and a certain struggle. Many who come to this place in their spiritual journeys feel a sense of loss, and fear what is to come next. 

Relationships have consequences. While they give to each person a sense of belonging, friendship, security and compassion, love also demands something from each partner. Things like patience, devotion, persistence are part of the work and struggle to be realized along the path. Sometimes relationship is hard and painful. Resolution brings joy, and it brings disappointment. "The only real difference between romance and relationship, spiritually speaking, has to do with surrender. Surrender comes naturally to two people when they first fall in love." Love's first flush gives us the courage to do that, to be fearless and act under its protective power. Spiritually, surrender is a solution to the paradox existing between ego and spirit. 

Yet persons who love, who are intimates, over time often find that the ego, now returned carries them on its own agenda. Lovers play games to test one another, they withhold themselves; they are unwilling to give to spirit, and they are unwilling to give to and serve one another. Surrender now must be conscious. It must be an act of free will, of choosing this as your path. Chopra writes, "this isn't to say that surrender isn't hard work; it is conscious work. As such it can bring the same joy and delights as falling in love, the same sense of play which relieves lovers of the ego burdens." 

The British writer and poet, D. H. Lawrence wrote, "That is the crystal of peace, the slow hard jewel of trust, the sapphire of fidelity. The gem of mutual peace emerging from the wild chaos of love."

A free loving commitment of the will made to another is the realization over time of: peacefulness, a companionship and a trust made by the Spirit to another which is, and is not self. "When they are fully committed... they see God in each other." On that basis, they are able to surrender, not to one another so much, as to surrender themselves to the God in each other, and to the God, the Dharmakaya in all things. Dharma is an ancient idea. It means perhaps most fully, sacredness. In its Sanskrit origin, dharma means to sustain or uphold. 

Thus what upholds, honors, or respects another's life is in keeping with dharma. It is, for example in dharma not to tell lies, to deceive oneself or others. Dharma looks to the sacred, it is tied to and intimately guided by spirit. Dharmakaya, likewise, is Karuna, love; love then is a guiding force emanating from the great being, the Dharmakaya. Thus surrender in relationship is surrender to spirit, to dharma. In the Way of the Beloved, the dharma is "a vision of spiritual equality; when you perceive life through this vision, separation ends."

The Most Personal Words

"Words become more personal the more emotional they are."  The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra

In loving practice, the "most valuable things you can learn about yourself  is what you mean by the words, 'I love you'." The phrase is complex because it involves you, says Chopra.  
This phrase has both past and present contained within; it is filled with self-expectation, and expectations for others. 
Some of these may be painful. In reflecting on the meaning of the phrase, it is both helpful and creative to actually 'brain storm' and write down words which you freely associate with 'I love you.' Chopra then asks his reader to reflect on the type of words and person(s) associated with them who surface in your unique list; he interprets for his reader.

Bringing the conversation back to the basis in Dharma, there exists a deep mystery of the 'soul,' one which is not easily defined or perceived. For in love, there is the 'blending' of soul, two making something which one is not alone. This creation forms uniquely between the two. What began as 'me' is now 'us' or 'we.'
The realization of an 'us' or a 'we' forms "the essence of surrender." Being in Dharma makes 'us' or 'we,' a possible reality by healing a sense of separation. There is a sense of a unified spirit acting in the best interests of the Oneness. This is not just rhetoric.
When you come from love, unity allows a clear view of another's viewpoint. You understand the one who is not exactly your self, and not yet so very different from you.

There is another meaning to surrender. It is the falling into what you deeply desire. The spirit "frames it as, 'I see that you need me." It is the process that is essential; the focus is just that moment to moment experience. The outcome is less critical. 
 "Spirit has no such ulterior motives. It acknowledges the other person's need, but it neither takes responsibility for that need nor denies it."
It accepts, even if you may not immediately understand. So the need that we most have is to be seen (known, recognized), to be invited, and to be welcome in our own daily life as we move through our dharma. The absence of these things is the source of much of alienation in modern life. Surrendering in the spirit of service gives "rise to joy."

All great religious traditions point to the Way, the spiritual path by that tradition. Often these ways are counter-cultural; they may be radical or culturally subversive. They ask for risk, for forward movement into places initially mysterious or even frightening; for outcomes which we cannot initially foresee. They may even seem to lead to death of a certain kind.
The "Vedas teach that human beings are capable of personal evolution." So Kali may not actually be Kali, nor Lord Siva, Siva.
When we are confused, we are out of dharma; if we refuse synchronicity, our path loses focus; we temporally lose our way. Everything happens in an ordered fashion. The way of dharma sees to that.

 Chopra continues his point. He writes that "love and attachment aren't the same thing...Isn't it love when you share your world with someone else? ...be exclusive in this way?
The answer is surprising, the deeper you  look, the more you will see love and attachment are not the same thing." Love, he says allows freedom of the Beloved to be unlike you.
Attachment seeks conformity; Love imposes no particular demands.
Attachment expresses overwhelmingly an 'urge to merge.' Love expands and includes; attachment wishes to exclude all others. It is possessive; it's jealous.
"The seduction of attachment is a feeling of security from the outside world." However that may be what deadens and insulates us.
But for some, it also prompts a cloying feeling, a paradox which jump-starts one, propelling them back into life itself.

Jainism, The Ford Makers and the Ford

Ford-maker, one who leads the way across the stream of rebirths to salvation. --Jainist belief


Writing about a central belief of Jainism, Paul Dundas, in his book, The Jains, writes that while Jainism is not to be mis-taken for a sect of either Buddhism or Hinduism, it shares a recognizable cosmology with both. And while permitting the reader a broad overview of the faith, Dundas does go into some detail in regard to the notion of the "Ford Maker."

The Ford Maker and the Ford, writes Dundas is, in "western-style histories of religion, Mahavira, generally treated as the founder of Jainism in the same way Christians regard Jesus as the founder of Christianity. For the Jains, however, Mahavira is merely one of a chain of teachers who all communicate the same truth broadly in similar ways... part of the total of the Universal History, through the continuing dynamic of re-birth, and the lives of participants within it." Indeed, the Sanskrit poet, Asaga, writes of Mahivira without exception as one of the many who, like other Ford Makers, guide, leading believers to other shores.

Time, in the Jain view, is represented as a series of "continual up and down motions of a wheel," called respectively the ages. In this view, there are ages of progress, and ages of declines; there are ages of uneven progress, and an age, the sixth age, when Jainism is thought to die out. This wheel is believed to be without beginning or end; the Universal history is only concerned with this current age, the age of now, 'where human life is enacted.'

During each "motion of the wheel 24 teachers, the Ford Makers, appear[ing] in succession, who activate the Three Jewels, the uncreated Jain teachings of: Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Practice." These serve as a spiritual fords, to be traversed, if you will; believers who navigate these fords are like others, Jainists believe, subject to cause and effect, to Karma; thus Dharma isn't just about time, but has a relationship to the experiences of Cause and Effect.

The life pattern of the Ford Makers, according to tradition is always the same: born into great warrior families, they wander about as ascetics, found communities, generally they are awakened by the gods to their destiny as great spiritual teachers. Ford Makers renounce their status, wealth and material comforts in favor of wandering as mendicants, begging for their basic needs and in doing so, they adhere to a strict practice which "burns" away previous Karmic debts until they attain full omniscience. Ultimately a Ford Maker is freed from his body, travels to the top of the universe to abide with other freed souls.

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."

Mahayana and the Bodhisattva

"Mahayana is not content to make us mere transmitters or "hearers" of the teachings of the Buddha..."
Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, by D.T. Suzuki

Many who ponder the Way, or the ideas of Eastern thought, particularly Buddhism make the assumption that it is a belief, a practice, a way that originates in the Far East. Yet nothing is further from the truth. Buddhism is, in its origins, a faith coming directly to the East and later, to the world from India. Via the ancient trade routes, such as the Silk Road, travelers brought their ideas, goods, technology and culture to the Far East, especially to China in the central and northern regions where the earliest Buddhism is to be found. It later spread to the south and more deeply into Asia.

Thus to be clear, the earliest forms such as Cha'an and Mahayana spring directly from their Indian neighbors and at times, even in modern practice, strongly resemble Yogi Hinduism. Mahayana remains the parent of most, if not all, modern forms of Buddhism now practiced.

It is important to recall this lineage from which the Way descends to practitioners of today. This important point even makes it possible to consider aspects of Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and even orthodox Christian beliefs. The author of the book considered here, Suzuki, does indeed make references to these other ways of seeing; he does not exclude them in the endeavor towards enlightenment.

Many writers of Buddhist topics will expound at length on "sentient beings," an imperfect way to describe the Buddhist notion of emptiness and perfect knowledge. Perhaps English lacks the precise Pali word or view to illustrate the notion that everything depends upon everything else; that as everything is in some form joined to everything else, there is a "vivification" (Suzuki's word) of all matter.

Yet we are cautioned not to become attached to notions; they are only for learning. Once learned, they, and even the Buddha's words, are of no use or substitution for the real, experienced way. So it may be said that the one who desires perfect knowledge, perfect insight is the Enlightened one. He practices to free himself of all worldly cares and sufferings.

Mahayana teaches the purification of self for the aid and enlightenment of others. Practitioners live in the world as it is; they do not avoid the ills or negatives of the everyday world. In other words, Bodhisattvas find their Way in everyday life and work in which they are purified, offering their presence for the benefit of all.

Suzuki further describes the Mahayana Bodhisattva as such:
"The Bodhisattva is a personification of love and sympathy, which freely issues from the font of his inner will. He gathers the clouds of wisdom and virtue, in which he manifests himself in manifold figures; he produces the lightnings of Buddhi, Vidyas... shaking the whole world with the thunder of Dharma, crushing all the evil ones; pouring forth the showers of good law, he quenches the burning flames of ignorance..."

This passage alludes to what has been thought to be the ideal life held out by Mahayanists... They are not content to make us mere transmitters or "hearers" of the teachings of the Buddha. We are inspired to the noblest heart of Shakyamuni, in full recognition of the human soul... it seeks to develop all the "possibilities of our soul-life, which by our strenuous efforts will one day be realized even on this earth of impermanence.' 'We, as individual existences, are nothing but shadows...

We, as mortal beings, are nothing more than thousands of dusty particles, haphazardly scattered about" in the winds of karma; when we unite in the love and intelligence of the Dharmakaya, we are Bodhisattvas... and can overcome the overwhelming blast of ignorance... acts of loving kindness will lead to Bliss, to the whole community to which he belongs.

"Because a stream of love flows from the Bodhichitta (Intelligence-heart), fed by the inexhaustible spring of Dharmakaya." Ignorance leads only to egotism, hatred, avarice, disturbance, and universal misery. Bodhisattvas dwell, in varying degrees, in the stream of Dharmakaya, the body of love, the Universal One.

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The I, the Me, Meets the West

"We have the concept of a "two story" psyche in the west."
--Joseph Campbell

In the view of Joseph Campbell, there is a very divergence of thinking between the East and the West. The thought of a 'Self,' or its absence in the East is possibly the heart of the matter in his view. The subconscious and the unconscious is what Campbell asserts constitutes the idea of the psyche, or the self in the Western mind. "Down below lies the unconscious, while the conscious individual is above." According to others, the I or the Ego is that function which relates an individual to reality as an empirical measure. Ego relates in terms of personal judgments and opinions.

In terms of spirit, traditional churches in the West emphasize personal responsibility for one's own actions; in the East, the focus of Asian religious training tells the adherent to cancel the ego. Why? In simple terms of a society, Asians are to behave in ways dictated to them; there is a strong sense of a dharma, or doing what is one's life work or destiny. "When you turn to Asian systems, and read law books, from India or China for example, it is startling to the Western reader what is proscribed for those who don't follow the rules. Sun-Tzu in The Art of War said, for small faults, there should be great penalties; then there will be no great faults."

Thus the idea of a punishment " fitting the crime" is largely lacking. Since the development of an Ego, or an I is not encouraged, Asians come to adulthood often with a different sense of responsibility. The value of the community is ever important, and individuals often wish not to be singled out for either praise or punishment since this differentiates them from their group.

Like many Asian faith ideals, the Judeo-Christian instruction is towards canceling out the ego, the I. The Christ exhorts his followers to give up all of their personal possessions to come follow him. In doing so, they join into a community that likening to Asian ideals, demands and values obedience to a authority outside of, and higher than the individual self.

The fundamental ideas of a Heavenly Order should be the model for what is life on earth, and that the society is to reflect that same celestial design, may be thought of as the "Great Harmony." If this organization, this society, is successful, then all comes together in one great unit of wholeness. In this system says Campbell, "the sun should not wish to be the moon."

Each person born into the heavenly design has a role, and should not wish to be anything else. His birth is the determining factor for his character, his role, his duty and all other social actions which he may undertake as a member of the community which sustains him. On this point, Asians are often told, ordered, commanded; education is to train one to his proper role.

Alternatively in the West, there are thought to be moments of personal discovery, personal choice and learning. These make conditions for choices which individually and collectively affect individuals in many of life's most intimate moments such as choice of housing, marriage, child bearing, or leisure. Asians do not always make these choices as mature adults. "Responsible citizens in these places are those who perform their jobs perfectly." The society is already defined for them. The ego is erased.

When the buddha said to cancel the ego to cancel suffering, when the Christ exhorted his disciples to believe as he did about the rightness of your Father in Heaven, both are pointing towards an absolute truth, an absolute, transcendent reality based not upon values of the everyday, realities of the world--East or West.

Thus the mere accident of a self, an ego or a psyche is secondary and quite incidental. All that matters is that which supports the Kingdom as the community sees it. "Identity with the transcendent is one's essence."

The Dharma, The Tao, The Way

The terms Dharma, Tao and the Way are familiar spiritual descriptions, often tossed around which come from several spiritual traditions, both East and West. Yet as the well known Indian physician and author, Deepak Chopra writes in his book The Path To Love, what may seem as separate is really not so, through interbeing. He discusses these traditions as long living in the human world, that they are in his view, rather more unified, that they inter-be as one.

"Dharma" is also translated as "law" or "righteousness." In India, today someone who follows the family tradition of work, worship, and social behavior is said to be in his "dharma." Modern Western society is not dharmic in any of these ways, since our children feel free to choose very different occupations from their parents', along with new codes of behavior and new places to live. In both East and West the rootedness of a dharmic society has been undermined in this century.

However, Dharma is more than social convention; it is a living force that can bring you through the many threats and challenges of life. Your ego [western term, from the Latin meaning self or I] does not believe this for it cannot find dharma; ego is not guided by love, and dharma is intimately tied to love. In the West, the closest concept to dharma is grace [one, whole, universal], the loving presence of God that keeps humanity under divine protection. When Jesus spoke of God seeing the fall of a sparrow, he was referring to dharma. In China, the same concept emerged as Tao, the middle way, which was seen as an invisible but real power that organizes all life. Being in tune with the way is the same as living within dharma. The Christian term the Way is likewise. Jesus exhorted his disciples to "come follow me."

"Every spiritual tradition has taught that success in life depends upon finding the Way and ignoring the distractions of external things. Your Ego, however, insists that your survival depends upon paying total attention to the outer world. Its primary tactics--vigilance and defensiveness--are the very antithesis of surrender in the way. Your ego, a perception of which, causes you to believe that separation is necessary..." In reality separation is not ever necessary; it is something chosen or not.

Being in dharma however, "heals separation by making us [inter-being] a reality," not as a 'unit of two,' but as a whole, oneness, a universal spirit. Chopra explains further, "You are acting in dharma whenever you allow rather than oppose. Allowing results in statements such as these:

* Is there something you need?
* How can I help?
* I see what's going on with you.
* Go ahead.
* I understand what you mean.
* You're right.

"Unity makes another person's viewpoint completely clear; you understand someone who is outside yourself." What makes this possible is the realization of inter-being, that what you value, esteem, follow isn't something outside yourself, it may be only outside of your ego. Thus "following your dharma in the deepest sense means not only obeying the laws set down by society or adhering to rules of religious conduct--there is no fixed formula for finding the Way..." Set spiritual guideposts for yourself, thus making this newer, broader meaning of dharma essential.

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.