Heretics and Buddhas

"During the time of the Buddha, there were some who slandered him and became disciples of heretics and demons." -- Mud & Water by Bassui, edited by A. Braverman

While some might wish to think of  "Heretics" in conjunction with an event such as the Christian-fueled Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades of Europe, fewer would bring the name of the Buddha to mind. Yet the great Zen master, Bassui does. It seems that all thinking souls are moved to discernment. He writes:

"Today's students of the Way go to teachers everywhere, but they don't want to penetrate all the way to the bottom of the great matter. They journey to the east, to the west, north and south, and take pride in having met many teachers. They try to surpass others with Zen stories and they collect paradoxical words and clever expressions from old masters. These are the ways of Heretics."

Writing further on the subject, Bassui delves into the value of knowledge. He writes of the karmic affinity for the way. Stating that some people have an affinity for the way while others do not, so if your karma does not discern a natural attraction, one that is immediate and affected, then you  neither trust nor believe what is taught. If, on the other hand, affinity is present, then that person will form a natural and easy bond with you. "Whether you follow the right path, or the path of heretics, depends upon your karmic inclination....A truly good teacher...does not destroy people's sight."

Malthusianism and Scientism

The overproduction of people may lead to an overwhelming burden upon the earth. Science will answer for this concern.

The 19th century Protestant theologian, Thomas Malthus proposed that at some point in the foreseeable future, the world would likely be overpopulated and resources would not be readily available for its inhabitants. Therefore  man's fecundity, his most creative output should be tamed and births controlled. These ideas in part led to the modern drive to limit man in the sexual, procreative arena; it limits women especially. While Malthus was a theologian, today he is primarily remembered for his ideas regarding global and personal economics. He was influential in the incubation of  Darwinian ideas, "natural selection," especially.

Malthus wrote a seminal treatise he entitled, The Essay on the Principle of Population. In this he asserted that: the population forces of earth are so great that in some shape or form, death must be visited upon;  war, sickness and forms of extermination must be permitted. If however, this proves to be insufficient, then the population must be otherwise controlled. Whom is he speaking of, what is the means of control? Who will decide? Is the human of Creation an animal, and should we struggle, to kill for the resources of the world? Is our 'carbon print' poisonous to everyone? While many other 19th century soothsayers died along with that century, Malthus persists in other forms and other names, covertly influencing and directing our actions.

Scientism may be thought of as an exaggerated trust in the absolute empiricism of reasoning. It is partner to the Enlightenment theories arising at about the same century. Scientists engage in empirical reasoning throughout all aspect of life, personal, social, faith, medical, mathematical, humanities, etc. It leads in progression to a "church of Science" or Scientism. The American writer, Robert P. Lockwood notes that Scientism is the product of "two fallacies." First, there is no truth other than that which may be scientifically verifiable, and secondly science is the only acceptable means of running a society. Lockwood notes, "we live in a world where the ethos of the times is reflected in the media."

While both of these thoughts may be in opposite extremes, and both may or may not resonate with everyday spirituality, they are 'out there.' Their influence is lasting and far reaching: into politics, economics, science, and spirituality. Maybe into your head and mine. Where did that come from-- who was Malthus? What do I or do I not support with my everyday faith and beliefs? Some answers are surprising, if you take a look.

Zazen, Pure Experience

Recognize that a concept is just a concept, and not reality. --Joko Charlotte Beck

Generalizations. Assumptions. We all make them. And they cause all of us grief. The world as it is. Reality is not an assumption. It's not the way we want things to be, or the way we think about things to be. "Each moment, life as it is--the only Teacher. Being just this moment--compassion's way."

Joko Beck writes in her book, Nothing Special, Living Zen, about the Sufi sage and fool, Nasrudin who was once said to have been in his flower garden sprinkling bread crumbs over everything. His neighbor saw what he was doing and asked him why. To which Nasrudin replied, "to keep the tigers away!" The neighbor laughing, said, "but there aren't tigers within a thousand miles!"
"Effective, isn't it?" said Nasrudin.
Beck writes, "we laugh because we're sure that the two things--bread crumbs and tigers-- have nothing to do with each other. Yet as with Nasrudin, our practice and our lives are based upon false generalizations that have nothing to do with reality."

If we base our lives, most often unconsciously, upon generalizations or assumptions, and we do not ask ourselves or others about what is happening in our lives in this moment, in this day, like Nasrudin we build our understanding upon false notion, upon false generalizations. "Such generalities obscure the specific, concrete reality of our lives."
In fact says Beck, "life is not general, it is specific." Sitting practice, or zazen cuts through the unconsciousness, the grey lights that obscure the more specific observations that we might otherwise make about ourselves and others, views which lead to the questions of how, why, what is this about, or what is necessary?

For example, "instead of I can't stand myself when I do such and such, we [then come to] see more clearly what's going on. We're not covering events with a broad brush" of assumptions, generalizations, powerful emotions--energies that take our focus elsewhere, away from our experience, our situations.

Often, in conversations, we exchange notions and we are like two ships at sea, continuing on, lost in a grey murk of conceptual material, of analytic, virtual thought. Avoiding experience, no contact takes place. It may be a form of Zen combat, or it may be without of an experience precisely for that reason-- experience is what we fear to know about.'

"In Zen practice, we tend to toss around many fancy concepts: Everything is in perfect being as it is, we're all doing the best we can, things are all one, I [you, we are] one with him. We call this Zen bullshit, though other religions have their own versions."
And it's not that the statements are false; they have a universal truth. But, says Beck, "if we stop there, we have turned our practice into an exercise of concepts, and we've lost awareness of what's going on with us right this second. Good practice [zazen] always entails moving through our concepts... recognize that a concept is just a concept, and not reality."

When we "notice our thoughts... then we have to experience the pain that accompanies the thought." Why? Simply because it is our thought, and our pain. We have made them both; they are our very own.
"When we can stay with the pain as a pure physical sensation, then at some point it will dissolve, and we can move into the truth... But we have to move from experience which is painful, into truth and not plaster thoughts over our experience. Intellectual people are particularly prone to this error."
The rational world of concepts is a mere description of the real world. In contrast, when we allow this pure experience of our own, we come into zazen.

As Bassui says, "clearly seeing into one's nature is called practice. And the seat that puts an end to analytic thoughts is called Zazen."
And only when we "move through [to] the experiential level does life have meaning. This is what Christians and Jews mean by 'being with God.'
Experiencing is out of time: it is not the past, not the future, not even the present in the usual sense." Unable to say in words what it is, we can only learn to be of it. Some call it 'an-other world,' or 'living in the spirit.'

Catholic Christian writer, theologian, mystic and Pope, John Paul II, exhorted the practice, saying that "it is not enough to have, we must instead be." He emphasized that we must not only, for example, be in love, to have love, but we ourselves must be that experience--we must be love itself. We must not only have pain or grief, but we must, moreover, be that pain and grief.

A challenge indeed for those on the Way. We all have our favorite notions, our concepts of ourselves and others. They can become 'frozen in time.'
We are caught by the thinking that emphasizes permanence. Yet the world, ourselves, and others are not permanent. At any moment, any cloud, any storm may take us far away to other shores in other places.
Remember that practice is just what is; it is not unusual or exotic. It is not only open to the few; all beings have experiences. Learning to live fully those experiences is what in traditional Buddhist terms, is being buddha-nature itself. "Compassion grows from such roots," emphasizes Joko Beck.

Every Thing in the Tao

"Less and less do you need to force things, until finally you arrive at non-action. When nothing is done, nothing is left undone." --Tao Te Ching

As a dancer knows, absorption into the dance becomes the dancer. Without separate consciousness they become the dance and the dance becomes them. It transpires effortlessly, without active thought. This may be thought of as a model, a clear example of non-action.

The dancer does not think and yet they move about with the music in a pure expression. It is so because "the doer wholeheartedly vanishes into the deed." The fuel completely transforms into flame; the wood is the fire. This 'nothingness' is in fact, everything. Can the dancer force the music, can they make the notes unfold in any other way other than as presented? What other response could they offer as a dancer?

Is singularity in the dance, really isolation; is the cooperation with the musicians less obvious? How does the dancer 'hear' the music? The fluid softness, the supple strength of the dancer occurs as a response to the music, to the musicians, when they trust in the great intelligence of the world, the dharmakaya and the simple intelligence of the body to respond physically, to respond appropriately in harmony, in symphony. The dancer then trusts, not only the present functioning of their own body but also of the musicians and the physics of the music itself

The wisdom book, the ancient Tao Te Ching so popular in the west, especially, tells of the intuitive wisdom of the dancer:

People see some things as beautiful
other things ugly
People see some things as good
other things become bad

Being and non-being create each other
Difficult and easy support each other
Long and short define each other
High and low depend on each other
Before and after follow each other
Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything,
teaches without saying anything,
Things arise. Let them come.
Things disappear. Let them go
Have but not possess
act but not expect
When work is done, forget it.
That is why it lasts forever

In surrender, in giving up notions, judgements and demands, the mind grows naturally into compassion. In dance, self-expression is the evidence. In one's own, deep experience, the central truths of living are revealed; paradoxical as they may first seem, this is only the surface. Deep looking and careful thinking reveal that the more solitary we are, the more compassionate we may be; the more we let go of what we love, the more present our love becomes; the clearer our vision, the more the way presents itself.

The Religion of Ahimsa

"Man is higher than the brute." MK Gandhi

Writing about Ahimsa, Gandhi briefly describes it as, "the world is full of violence, himsa, and nature does appear to be red in tooth and claw."
 He writes of a belief that man is more than a brute and potentially superior to nature. "If man has a divine mission to fulfill, a mission that becomes him, it is that of non-violence, ahimsa.

"The religion of non-violence is not merely meant for saints. It is meant for the common people as well... the dignity of man requires obedience to such a higher law to strengthen the spirit."
Gandhi observes that man as animal is violent, but mens' spirits are not. "The moment he awakes to the spirit within, he cannot remain violent. He either progresses to ahimsa or rushes then to his doom.

That is why the prophet and the avatars taught the lesson of truth, harmony, brotherhood and justice, etc., all attributes of ahimsa." This Gandhi writes in his essay, The Religion of Ahimsa, contained in the book, The Way to God.

Sadhana, the realization of life

"There is a bond of unity between our two eyes which makes them act in unison."  Sadhana; the Realization of Life by Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, a Bengali poet, mystic and writer known for his elegant, lyrical writing style; he also is known for his Nobel Prize win for literature in 1913. Written in his philosophical prose style, Tagore's  book, Sadhana, the Realization of Life, addresses many aspects of the Self and the world. He writes for example, that opposites do not bring confusion; in reality they bring harmony. Rhythm can never be born of disharmony, or of  "the haphazard struggle of combat."

This principle is the chief mystery of all unities. Unity in Tagore's mind could be viewed as: the one which appears as the many. And while seeming to be opposite, it is the truth, a paradox of sorts. He writes of a great poem, as a compilation of most pleasing sounds, yet if one stops to hear the import of those sounds, something more emerges; 'the inner connects to the outer [meaning].'

In the following poem below Tagore writes a bit of this and other ideas further discussed in prose style in his book, Sadhana. The poem is 'a thing of beauty which transcends grammar, laws' and becomes unto itself.

I

By Rabindranath Tagore

I wonder if I know him
In whose speech is my voice,
In whose movement is my being,
Whose skill is in my lines,
Whose melody is in my songs
In joy and sorrow.
I thought he was chained within me,
Contained by tears and laughter,
Work and play.
I thought he was my very self
Coming to an end with my death.
Why then in a flood of joy do I feel him
In the sight and touch of my beloved?
This 'I' beyond self I found
On the shores of the shining sea.
Therefore I know
This 'I' is not imprisoned within my bounds.
Losing myself, I find him
Beyond the borders of time and space.
Through the Ages
I come to know his Shining Self
In the 'If ' of the seeker,
In the voice of the poet.
From the dark clouds pour the rains.
I sit and think:
Bearing so many forms, so many names,
I come down, crossing the threshold
Of countless births and deaths.
The Supreme undivided, complete in himself,
Embracing past and present,
Dwells in Man.
Within Him I shall find myself -
The 'I' that reaches everywhere.

Inspirations and Sources

"The book is the Supreme Doctrine by Hubert Benoit...it's the best explanation for the human problem that I've ever found... a French psychiatrist who was in a severe accident that left him almost completely helpless for years..." Nothing Special Living Zen   --by C. Joko Beck

While we all from time to time have inspirations, mysterious invitations to new possibilities and ways of seeing or doing, not often do we consider the source of inspiration. The ancients attributed them to the muses, the gods and goddesses about in their midst. Modern rational man looks elsewhere, or nowhere at all. In the creative mind, there may be many attributes or, surprisingly none well defined, just the result itself.
 For some like Charlotte Joko Beck, she writes in her book, Nothing Special, Living Zen, that "I studied it at one time for 10 or 15 years. I have a copy that looks like its been in the washing machine." The book she writes of is authored by French psychiatrist, Hubert Benoit, titled La Doctrine Supreme, first published in France in 1951; later published in England in 1955; the one which is quoted here was copyrighted in England in 1998.

Dr. Benoit was severely injured in an accident that left him paralyzed and immobile. He had a great mind and a great deal of time on his hands in the aftermath of his accident. In his immobilized condition, he set out in deep thought.
The results of his pensees, or thoughts were the genesis of that book, titled in English  The Supreme Doctrine. He had a good knowledge of spiritual matters which deepened with his enforced confinement. Benoit was quite knowledgeable about the works of Zen master Suzuki, especially the book, The Doctrine of No Mind. Paying heed, especially to the thoughts of Suzuki, Benoit reminds the reader that like Suzuki, No Mind is an anti-intellectual mind, a mind that "detests every kind of intellectuality, wrote Suzuki.'

And continues Suzuki,"there is nothing complicated that man needs to do; it is enough that he see directly into his own  nature." Thus Benoit starts by saying, "Man has always reflected upon his condition, has thought that he is not as he would like to be... after having demonstrated what does not go right in the case of the natural man, and why that does not necessarily go right, come to the question: How are we to remedy this state of affairs?"
Benoit remarks that the remedies most often proposed fail to address the root cause, the germ that inspires or fails to do so; perchance  misery is often inspired because of unending want for something.
 Yoga, he writes, "is often prescribed, as if the perfection of the body would cure the root ill of the human condition."

"All that," Benoit concludes in his opening chapter, "is just animal-training and leads to one kind of servitude or another... it is perfectly analogous to the story,  Achilles and the Hare." Yet the penetrating manner of Zen cuts through illusion; it does not pause to consider peculiarities. "It knows that nothing is wrong with us, and that we suffer because we do not understand that everything works perfectly."
And so this volume by Benoit which has inspired many begins. But do not be perturbed that good and great minds have read Benoit's words before you; so many have, and many puzzle over them. You will too, and perhaps they will inspire you.

Love, Free and Rational in the Bodhichitta Mind

"Do not conform yourselves to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing, and perfect." the Bible, Romans 12:2

The Christ exhorted his disciples to "love one another; the highest commandment is that we love one another. The rest is all commentary."
However, as in previous discussion, there is, we will see, one love, one world all contained within. In our efforts to describe and learn about this experience, it is important to keep sight of the philosophical and theological values which "love" entails, to distinguish them from secular notions.

The union of persons in a love relationship, states Karol Wojtyla in his book, Love and Responsibility, "do so, and must do so as free and rational persons." Thus the union of persons has a truth, moral and unique to the individuals, shared between them, and is a value as such.  
Moral is within, distinguished from that imposed from without. "In giving persons [as distinct from animals], a rational nature, and the capacity to consciously decide their own actions, it thereby makes possible for them to choose freely the ends...
And where two persons can join in choosing a certain good as their end, there exists also the possibility of love. This view is consistent with the simple mind. It is consistent with practice and the precepts.

Yet, persons must not be chosen merely as the means or instruments of creative power, but on the "basis of a love worthy of human persons." We are, then, compelled to understand the Gospel commandment to love as the will of the Creator towards creation.
And for this reason, the notion of use becomes important. A Buddhist precept, right behavior towards others, also resonates through most all spiritual traditions. Eric Bayda writes extensively on this subject in his book, At Home In the Muddy Water.

Another view prevalent in the West worth mentioning is the Doctrine of Manifest Destiny. This idea supposes that all is decided at the moment of birth; free will plays little if any role in the face of manifest destiny. Some in America deride this theological teaching, calling it 'spiritual imperialism.'
A great many spiritual traditions in the west continue to trace their modern views and attitudes to such thought.

Contrary to secular views or manifest destiny, in the union of persons, in the wholeness of the universe there exists a joy, consistent with the dignity of human persons, resulting in collaboration, from mutual understanding and the harmonious expression of jointly chosen aims. The French aristocrat, writer and adventurer, Antoine de St.Exupery writes in his book, Wind Sand and Stars: "love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction."

St. Exupery writes further on the subject:

"...Very slowly do we plait the braid of friendships and affections. We learn slowly. We compose our creations slowly. We have to live a long time to fulfill ourselves.
But you, by the grace of an ordeal which stripped you of all that was not intrinsic, you discovered a mysterious creature born of yourself. Great was this creature and never shall you forget him. And he is yourself.

You have had the sudden sense of fulfilling yourself in the instant of discovery, and you have learned suddenly that the future is now less necessary for the accumulation of treasures. That creature within you is not bound by ties of perishable things; he agrees to be swallowed up in something universal.

A great wind swept through you and delivered you from the matrix the sleeping prince you sheltered--Man within you. You are the equal of the musician composing his music, the physicist extending the frontier of knowledge. Now you are free. What have you now to lose, to believe in what you cannot yet see? You have reached an altitude where all loves are of the same stuff. Perhaps you have suffered. What of that! This day you have been welcomed home by love.

No man can draw a free breath who does not share with others a common and disinterested ideal. Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward together in the same direction. There is nothing other than union through the same effort. All of us desire the same sort of contentment...

Let us then refrain from astonishment at what men do. One finds his essential manhood comes alive in cooperative effort, self sacrifice, a rigorous vision of justice. For that man, there will be then one truth. Truth for any man is that which makes him a man.

If our purpose is to understand mankind and his yearnings, to grasp the essential reality, we must never set one man's truth against another's. All men are demonstrably in the right.... But truth, we know, is that which clarifies, not that which confuses. Truth is the language that expresses universality. Truth, then, is not what is demonstrable but what is ineluctable. What all of us want is to be set free. We all yearn to be set free in love, to escape from prison."

Resonating this view, Karol Wojtyla writes 20 years later: he observes if, instead, the role of man in creation is understood as fundamentally a "drive for enjoyment [as in a Freudian psychological view], this inner life is almost totally negated."
In this figuring of the person, Wojtyla writes, "thus the Gospel teaching of love is not consistent with use, but more seeks, demands cooperation with and about creation. It is a mutual relationship created in truth and freedom for the objective good of persons." The element of free will plays a central role; it negates any notion of manifest destiny.'

"man possesses a characteristic of the inner self, the ability to know, to comprehend, the truth objectively and in its entirety... He is even capable of understanding his role" in the creative process, as a form of participation in the work of cosmic creation...'

"the person is reduced to a subject 'externally' sensitized to enjoyable sensory stimuli of a sexual nature. This conception puts human psychology --perhaps without realizing it-- on the same level as the psychology of animals. An animal may be conditioned to seek sensory pleasure, and to avoid unpleasant experience of the same sort, since it normally behaves instinctively to achieve the ends of its existence." 

Thus the Gospel teaching of love is not consistent with use, but more seeks, demands cooperation with and about creation.
The union of persons is a mutual relationship, created in truth and freedom for the objective good of all persons. The use of others in the effort to create, to the contrary is a false relation.

Does God Need To Be Famous?

"We can still remain a free person. Free from what?" Going Home by Thich Nhat Hanh

Writing in his book, Going Home, Buddhist Monk and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh writes, musing about the fame of God, God the Father, as he calls it. He says, "there is another dimension of life that we may not have touched... it is very crucial that we touch it... the dimension of the sky, heaven, God the Father...looking again at water and waves... if we are able to touch them both, you'll be free from all these notions."

Water is not separate from the wave, insists Hanh. We are born into our "spiritual life' when we are encouraged to touch the other dimension, God, the Father. Now this father is not the usual notion of a father; rather it is used by Hanh to point to another reality. "We should not be stuck to the word 'father' and the notion 'father.' So then he writes, "Hallowed be his name,' does not really mean  a name, a mere name."

Lao-Tsu wrote that a name which can be named is not a name at all. Therefore it is important that we be careful with names. They may cause us to become trapped into notions. "Enlightenment means the extinction of all notions." So back to the water and the wave: if the wave should believe in the notion of a wave, then it will not recognize the water. Trapped into the notion of 'wave,' it can never be free because water and wave need one another to be free.

In the same way one must be very careful about the name, Buddha. Hanh observes that,  "use[d] in such a way that it helps the other to be free. Sometimes we think, "I can't really do this..." Yet we can. We really can! We can still remain a free person. "Free from what? Free from notions, free from words. God as a Father does not need fame. Does God need to be famous?" Thinking of God in this way, says Thich Nhat Hanh, is dangerous.

He concludes his talk with a discussion of the Holy Spirit. "The Holy Spirit, the energy of God within us, is the true door. We know the Holy Spirit as energy, not as notions or words. Wherever there is attention, understanding, the Holy Spirit is there. Wherever there is love and faith, the Holy Spirit is there. All of us are capable of recognizing the Holy Spirit when it is present... All of us are capable of doing so, and then we are not bound by, or slaves to notions and words; we know how to cultivate the Holy Spirit."

God Is No Businessman

"Eros makes promises, but agape keeps them." -- The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

Poets and philosophers alike have spent many words describing the almost indescribable. They write words of love, friendship, affection, brotherhood; the writer Dante said of love, "[there was] the love that moves the sun and all the stars." It is this love, all encompassing, that concerns Peter Kreeft in his book, The God Who Loves You. He writes in a Christian perspective of love experiences. "Everything is a gift from God," writes Kreeft.
This is, he says, incredibly simple, yet our human tendency towards complexity makes it look murky and confusing. The writer, Chesterton, said "life is always confusing for one without clear principles." Yet here is, says Kreeft, simplicity itself, shining brightly if we will only look. God is Love. What he wills for me, comes from goodness, for my own good. This, "is not poetic fancy, but sober, logical fact."

We may then view love in the light of goodness. What comes in a life may be a sign, an indication pointing the way; it means something. Our suffering in love means something, in this view. Christian thought believes that like the Christ upon his cross, our suffering is for all, for the common good--ours and others. Love then, points the way back to the divine giver. The parables of the Christ do not tell us to love humanity in the abstract.
We are called instead to love our neighbor as our self. We are not called to like our neighbor, but to love as our self. It is to individuals that this love is directed. God's love then is personal, like a mother or a father love; it is unique because it becomes us, and giving it then, becomes its expression and cause. Love means then to share the light of the world, one person at a time with our family and friends.

Here is the part which becomes difficult for us: When we share with our neighbor, love, as ourself, we sometimes confuse the love God gives with our physical, corporal self. It's as if, in love, we have given our self literally, and not spiritually; thus in ego, a sense of possession arises. You are mine and I am yours. Perhaps even ownership, a relation which gives no heed to free will, replacing loving freely.

God is a lover. God is not a businessman or a manager taking account of all his stock. Martin Luther wrote in his treatise, The Liberty of a Christian, that what God wants is not possession nor a technical performance in life, but something simple and profound.
God wants our hearts. He gives and we receive through the Spirit. A heart may not be demanded or bought; it may not be contained or caged. It is freely given, and freely received. Luther was right. This is a simple truth which liberates us from the darkness and confusion of love. In love we are free.

As adults we may first try many ways to obtain and capture a heart. Some may work for a time, but ultimately the heart of love is free and flies where it wills. It cannot be possessed. This is frightening to one who feels great desire or need for that heart.
Yet thinking carefully, one may discover its source is not the person who first made its presence felt, the Beloved, but the One who gave it first in the Spirit of Love. The one who loves all, who loves freely.

The chains of possession must not be; yet at times ignorance or wickedness overcomes, and possession is confused for love. It is not. Love is free and must be. This recognition of freely given love is a love that honors, respects and lasts at least as long as the One who formed us in it.
Thus as adults mature, many come to the knowledge that romantic love "reveals the beloved, and is meant to point us towards union, Oneness with God."

Often we find ourselves in places which we never have dreamed of before, places which call for our complete attention, and challenge us beyond measure. Love is one of those places; yet there is no school for love, no way to read a book to easily or painlessly learn of its nature.

So we come into adult life armed with the love we learned as children within our family, the love that we may have encountered in our religious experiences, the friendships we develop in our youth, the pleasures of shared activities and hobbies with family, friends, groups or clubs.

All this we bring into adult life, but romantic love, eros, we have the least direct experience of as young adults. Perhaps we witnessed the many occasions of fondness and affection our parents exchanged, a friend in high school, a romantic flush that grew for a few months and then faltered.

Bringing these early experiences into the everyday world, we find that one day, we are inexplicably drawn, impelled into a connection with one who is not our family, not quite like anyone whom we've known before, and yet we are drawn to them, to a flame that seems to burn brightly when together. A relationship develops, perhaps not like one we've known before in our young life, but then a bit like every relationship we have experienced. There is friendliness, sharing, laughter, understanding, and perhaps, a quiet peacefulness when together. But what of it?

Much of our social relationships are influenced and dictated not by individuals, but by societal norms and values which seek to define and place persons into fairly rigid categories. And society, as a component of the everyday world is rigid in conforming to the established norms. Unlike the words of poets, the mystics, and philosophers, living a love story can be difficult and confusing.

This article first appeared here on October 19, 2009

Centers of Light

 "Joy is prayer--joy is strength--joy is love." --Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Bliss of Identity

All nature is taught in radiant ways to move
All beings are in myself embraced
O fiery boundless heart of joy and love,
How are you beating in a mortal's breast!

It is your rapture flaming through my nerves
and my cells and atoms thrill with You;
My body your vessel is and only serves
As a living wine-cup of Your ecstasy.

I am a center of your golden light
And I its vast and vague circumference;
You are my soul great, luminous and white
And Yours, my mind and will, and glowing sense.

Your spirit's infinite breath I feel in me;
My life is a throb of your eternity.
--Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Idea of Tantra
When you are alone and in your own place, you are dancing for the god and identifying with it. This whole idea is basic to Tantra: to worship a god, you must become that god. No matter what you call the god or think it is, the god you worship is the god you are capable of becoming.
The power of a deity is that it personifies a power that is in Nature and in your nature. When you find that level, then you are in play. That is the work of art in general, because art is really worship.
--Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does God Exist?
Perceptible and yet not perceptible; invisible and yet powerful, real like the energy--charged air, wind, storm, as important for life as the air we breathe: this is how in ancient times people imagined the Spirit, and God's "invisible" workings... Spirit as understood in the Bible, means--as opposed to flesh, the force or power moving from God.
An "invisible" force that is effective, powerful, creative, or destructive for life in judgement, in creation, in history, in Israel and later in the [Christian] Church. It comes upon one powerfully or gently, stirring up love, ecstasy, often producing extraordinary phenomenon, active in great minds of courage, of Moses, warriors, singers, prophets and prophetesses.

The Spirit is not--as the word itself might suggest--the spirit of mankind. This is the Spirit of God, who in the [oneness] Holy Spirit is the light of all creation and the world. He is not any sort of magic, supernatural aura, or magical being of an animistic kind.
The Spirit is the One, the God himself. He is God close to mankind and the world... comprehending, bestowing, but not bestowable, free, not controllable; he is life giving love, power and force. A wind blowing through all of Creation by divine will, but not by any force."
He comes where he is willed and stays afar from where he is not, in a sort of Divine wisdom, the Spirit waits to be called.
--Hans Kung, Does God Exist?

The Faiths of Our Nation

"God Bless America" -- The Civil Religion in American by Robert Bellah

Civil religion in America, argues Robert Bellah in his book of the same title, Civil Religion in America, is the faith of the land, not Christianity as some will argue. The civil religion, he says exists both independently and along side the other religious organizations in America, such as temples, churches and mosques. Taking up this as his topic, Bellah says that while the founding fathers may have advocated for religion, they in their enlightened minds, argued for no religion in particular; up sprung what today we call, civil religion. Over time the amalgamated beliefs of many faith communities have coalesced into this one great mass that here in America, the religion of our intrinsically religious society is not any particular religion at all, but the civil religion that suits so many.

In defining civil religion, Bellah describes a situation that goes beyond folkways but does not extend itself to established or 'mainline' faith communities. Often leaders of civil religion inhabit political spheres and engage religion to advance message. And while some may want to diminish the sincerity or intensity of this American faith way, Bellah argues equally that it "deserves the same care and understanding as any other faith."  In his most recent work, The Robert Bellah Reader, He writes about religious faith communities and the ways in which they impart meaning not only to their immediate constituents, but to the civil, political process; the shaping of ethical and moral policies translate directly into the legislation of society.

The Reader is divided into four broad parts. Bellah seeks to examine the 'waves of modernity' as they are sometimes called when examining religious practice within society. These waves are often the ideas of antiquity, early modern, modern and post modern as they manifest within a given social order. He also charges the universities with a deficit, "testing the axiomatic modern assumption that rational cognition and moral evaluation, fact and value, are absolutely divided... arguing instead that they overlap and interact much more than conventional wisdom in the university today usually admits." To read Robert Bellah's words is to be deeply challenged and enlightened to the ways of modern America.

Civil Religion: One for All, All for One

In recollection of Prof. Robert Bellah, 1927-2013.

Civil Religion in America argues Robert Bellah in his book of the same title, is the faith of the land, not Christianity as some will argue. The civil religion he says exists both independently and along side the other religious organization in America, such as temples, churches and mosques.

Taking up this as his topic, Bellah says that while the founding fathers may have advocated for religion, they in their enlightened minds, argued for no religion in particular; up sprung what today we call the civil religion. Over time the amalgamated beliefs of many faith communities have coalesced into this one great mass that here in America, the religion of our intrinsically religious society is not any particular religion at all, but the civil religion that suits so many.
In defining civil religion, Bellah describes a situation that goes beyond folk ways but does not extend itself to established or 'mainline' faith groups. Often the leaders of civil religion inhabit political spheres and engage religion to advance message. These messages may or may not be in keeping with the founding ideals of the American nation; when they are not, often there tends to be political in-fighting, bickering among civic groups or political entities for a "share in the marketplace" of ideas, a phrase that Frenchman De Tocqueville who was an early advocate for enlightened, American ideals, surely would have detested.

The Prosperity of Perfection

"The soul prospers in the failure of perfection."--Thomas Moore

While we may perceive events as either immanent or as transcendent, the soul of a person knows no time but its own. When relating to others, it isn't always easy to open one's soul to another, to risk opening the self, hoping that another person will be able to tolerate a sometimes rational, and sometimes irrational nature. It may also be equally difficult to be receptive to the revelations of others.

The light of Oneness not withstanding, there is great temptation to separate, to judge, to make comparisons of these oddities of soul. Yet this mutual vulnerability is one of the great gifts of love.
To give another sufficient space in which to live and express one's soul in both its reason and unreason, then to further risk revelations of your self, in all its potential absurdities is a great gift.
The courage required for this is not easy; it is infinitely more demanding than making either judgment or comparison. While most of us contain ourselves fairly well, the soul and its ways eventually surface bringing forth the unexpressed that we sense stirring inside.

We all have to some extent, a sense of the fearfulness of such an enterprise. Oneness by its nature asks that we move aside, that we move beyond moments with others to a place that may ask for a share of soul in its whole form.
In the story, In Praise of Folly, Erasmus says, "it is precisely in their foolishness that people can become friends and intimates. For the greatest part of mankind are fools... and friendship, you know, is seldom made, except among equals."

As modern thinkers, we may present to the world a well developed intellect, a sense of proportion, still the soul is more fertile in its own imagination, in its own earth, finding value in sometimes irrationality. Perhaps this is in part why great artists and inventive minds seem a bit eccentric or mad to the average onlooker.
At times when seized by strong passions, our greatest anxieties often comprise the fear of being seen by others as foolish. We fear in love, in passion, that we appear irrational, foolish even, but that is exactly the point.
The soul is not the least concerned with reason or intellect. It operates more deeply, and more persuasively. So then, love in wholeness calls for acceptance of a Soul's less rational outposts, sometimes recognition that a heart may contain both love and contempt.

We need not only to know more about ourselves, but also we need to love more of ourselves, in an unsentimental way; that is the way to equanimity. Tolerance like patience matters because, "honoring that aspect of the self that may be irrational or extreme is the basis for intimacy," writes Thomas Moore.
With proportionately fewer expectations of perfection, less judgement, less and less are we separated by false notions. We come to recognize that the soul, in its meanderings, tends to move into new and positive areas in spite of, and because of the oddities expressed. Perfection plays no part here.
 In Oneness a beloved may be surprised by these developments, but not undone by their unexpected appearance. The soul, as a creative being, does prosper in the failures of perfection.

Islam, In the Name of God, Most Merciful

"...Can any intelligent person accept that the vast scheme of being... should be based on aimlessness and purposelessness?" The Seal of the Prophet and His Message by Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari

About the author, Lari is the son of the Persian Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Asghar Lari, grandson of Ayatollah Hajj Sayyid Abd-ul-Husayan Lari. Writing in another of the books, The Seal of the Prophets and His Message*, from a collected set, the younger Lari, Sayyid Ali takes up the subject of the prophets and shares with his reader an insight into them, and their meaning within the Islamic faith; for that matter, he gives an indication of the meaning of 'prophet' within all of the monotheistic world. Writing in a beautiful and provocative way, Lari challenges his reader to consider a deeper, fuller meaning of man's relationship to god and prophet.

"In the world where our existence unfolds, we have never heard of or seen an organization, or administration that is left to its own devices without a [proper] supervisor responsible for it." As human society is highly social and structured, Lari writes that there must be an intelligent, creative being who has given each creature, in his own kind, a proper and fitting degree of perfection. How then, he muses, can a person, such as a prophet, who may play such a central role in the life of natural man, man of the original face if you will, be overlooked as a credible and viable source in the evolution of a human being? Lari writes, "...Can any intelligent person accept that the vast scheme of being... should be based on aimlessness and purposelessness? So just as the orderliness of life springs from the Creator, the same may be said of the whole scheme of being, including the existence of the human being."

"The question," Lari suggests is directed at thoughts of "punishment and reward here." He writes, "A God who holds back nothing in order for every creature to attain its perfection cannot possibly be indifferent to the human being's attaining the degree of perfection suitable to him. He [God] guides the human being to material perfection... to his true perfection... ." The Quran [Koran] states, "We will give help to both groups, those who worship the world and those who seek the hereafter, so that none should remain deprived of the favor and generosity of their Lord." (17:18)

It may be deduced from various writing in the Quran that the mission of the Prophets is clear and mandated from heaven, so that they may purify and conclude differences among human beings. "It is He who sent a great Messenger among the unlettered Arabs, one from among them, who might recite to them the verses of God's revelation, purify them from the filth of ignorance and evil characteristics, teach them the Law contained in His book..." (62:2) Thus writes Lari, "the Prophets came in order to convey to human beings Divine knowledge, free from all forms of illusion and error. They came to proclaim to the human beings a series of truths which a person would never have attained unaided, such as matters lying beyond the natural realm, like death, the intermediate realm and the resurrection."

One of the very most fundamental tasks of the Prophets is then to bring the excesses of that which causes the human being trouble and torment in his [natural] rebellious spirit, under control and reduce them to order, so as to pacify its rebellious tendencies... in the 'school of the prophets,' pleasures are not negated." Their essential value remains intact. For Prophets are the source of virtue and the emerging of human ethics, nurturing and curing the spirit of man in such a way that through realization, each man attains a greater and deeper knowledge of truth and ethical values. In imitation of the Prophets a may may then engage in the struggle against the dark forces, those which hinder his development as a creature in truth and holiness. Divine guidance is essential to all human development in matters of spirit and morality.

*This volume is published in several languages from the original edition, Khatam-i anbiya va payamash, first published in Farsi. The English translation used here is by Hamid Algar copyright 2000, The Islamic Education Center, Potomac, MD.

Taking Refuge

Taking Refuge

"One bread, one body, one Lord of all
One cup of blessing which we bless
And we though many, throughout the earth
We are one body in this one Lord.
 Verses:

Gentile or Jew, servant or free
Woman or man no more.

Many the gifts, many the works
One in the Lord of all.

 Grain for the fields, scattered and grown
Gathered to one, for all. "

There are many ways of taking refuge; while some may associate this term as being strictly Buddhist, it is not. Many, if not most religious traditions have this notion. Its most simple and literal meaning is to be sheltered. To take refuge is often thought of as coming into a moment, any moment of stillness, of shelter, where a rising awareness of a divinity, of salvation may well.

For some, the words of the psalm are new; for others this refuge is a favorite. For all, it rends hope, expresses the idea of taking refuge in the Christ, the one begot by God for all of mankind to share in salvation, or holiness. The three jewels, if you will, for Christians are faith, hope and charity. The greatest of these however is charity, or caritas in Latin. It translates most simply to mean love. Whether you accept the message or the messenger is not the point here: refuge is the point in its various forms.

In this refuge, the food upon which the faithful feast is love, divine love. The water they drink ends their thirst for all time. Their growing awareness of reality as expressed in the Psalms is light and clarity. Kindness and compassion guide the believer to paths which are gentle and unperturbed by pride, angst or wickedness. The song the psalmist sings is many; it's one. One bread for all, one body existing in this one Lord.

Sadhana, the Realization of Beauty

"A thing is only completely our own when it is a thing of joy." Sadhana by R. Tagore

Investigating further into the work of Rabindranath Tagore, he writes in his book, Sadhana several essays on different topics, combined together to create the whole of harmony as he sees it. The realization of beauty, of beauty-harmony, as he describes, is in terms of the realization of what is real.
"The greater part of this world is to us as if it were nothing... but we cannot allow it to remain so... Things in which we do not take joy are either a burden upon our minds to be got rid of at any cost, or they are useful and therefore in temporary and partial relation to us, becoming burdensome when their utility is lost. Or they are are like wandering vagabonds, loitering for a moment on the outskirts of our recognition and then passing on."
But, writes Tagore, "the entire world is given to us," and our final meaning and powers are taken from a patrimony, if you will."
 What is the function of beauty in the process of realization of the self into this world? It is this question which the author takes on here. Tagore muses that if beauty is present to separate light and shadow, or ugliness and other, then "we would have to admit that this sense of beauty creates a dissension in our universe, and sets up a wall of hindrance."

While disagreeing with this understanding of beauty, Tagore writes that the comprehending of beauty is  unexplored territory, as he sees it. Philosophers have come up with discourse as to its nature, and science writes of issues affecting beauty, but its reality remains wide open for exploration.
Truth, he writes, is everywhere. And "beauty is omnipresent." Beauty often comes to us as a smack, awakening consciousness suddenly and definitely. It then acquires its urgency, "by the object of the contrast." It first rends us with its discords. "But as our acquaintance ripens, the apparent discords are resolved into modulations of rhythm."

At first "we detach beauty from its surroundings, we hold it apart from the rest," but in the end we recognize its harmony with the rest. Appealing finally to our hearts, beauty enters into conscious relationship with us; it becomes us and becomes our joy. Our hearts skip a beat as we apprehend that which is in the world, beautiful, joyful, our very own. Beauty, says Tagore, does not exist without Truth. All beauty is some form of Truth.

"Last night I stood alone in the silence which pervaded the darkness, I stood alone and heard the voice of the singer of eternal melodies. When I went to sleep, I closed my eyes with this last thought in my mind, that even when I remain unconscious, in slumber, the dance of life will still go on in the hushed arena of my sleeping body, keeping step with the stars. The heart will throb, the blood will leap in the veins and the millions of living atoms in my body will vibrate in tune with the note of the harp-string that thrills at the touch of the master."

-- Rabindranath Tagore

Mandala or Mandorla?

"Happily...we have a solution. This is the mandorla... It is far too valuable a concept to have lost." Owning Your Own Shadow -- by R. Johnson

"Everyone knows what a mandala is, even though mandala is a Sanskrit idea borrowed from India and Tibet. A mandala is a holy circle or bounded place that is a representation of wholeness..... the Tibetan tanka [for example], a picture generally of the Buddha in his many attributes... Mandalas are devices that remind us of our unity with god and all living things."
Mandalas are found in places as diverse as a Tibetan monastery, an Indian ashram or a Christian cathedral. In the christian version, the mandala is most often represented as a rose flowering. It appears in Gothic architecture as a rose window,  frequently representing a healing symbol in christian mythology.

While mandalas are perhaps more familiar to many persons, the mandorla is an important symbol as well; during the Medieval age it was prevalent in many places. It has a healing effect, "but, as Johnson writes in his book, Owning Your Own Shadow,' it's somewhat different.
A mandorla is an almond shaped segment formed when two circles partly overlap."  This symbol is "nothing less than the overlap of opposites." It is often seen in spiritual terms as the overlap between heaven and earth, dark and light.
Each of us, at different moments in our every day existence, have the experience of the worldly demands which collide or conflict with our spiritual longings and desires.

It is within the ancient symbol of mandorla that we may be instructed so as to reconcile these demands and needs. In our lives, mandorla may act to remind us of our life as both earthly and heavenly.
The Christ depicted with his mother, Mary at his side, clearly makes the point (mandorla) how wonderfully true the affirmation of the feminine energy is in life, by assigning her in a place next to the majesty (masculine) which is the Christ.
Some of the most beautiful mandorlas in European monuments feature this particular subject. "The mandorla is so important in our torn world" that re-examining it is of great significance.
There is a tendency to divide the self, to banish elements of self and let them live unobserved alongside the "known" self.
However in doing so, considerable energy is sidelined into what is sometimes called the "shadow." But they will not stay hidden forever and have the habit of returning; asserting their energy, like it or not.

When that day of reckoning comes, and there may be many over a period of time, the mandorla is a wonderfully healing help. It begins to focus one upon the self and the re-emerging split. Mandorla starts first as something very tiny, a sliver really, and as it grows, greater overlap occurs; the self is re-made more whole, stronger and more complete.
Binding together, making holy the unholy; mandorla is a profound religious and spiritual experience. It is the place of poetry, where the fire becomes the rose, where this is that, where transformation is great synthesis.
The biblical story of the bush which burns, yet is not consumed is poetry leading to a new sense of wholeness, unity completed. The bush and its burning overlap. Healing begins in the space between. And mandorla is peacemaking.

"If your eye be seen, your whole body will be filled with light." Matthew 6:22

Paradox as Religious Experience

"Every human experience can be expressed in terms of paradox." Owning Your Own Shadow by R. Johnson

Writing about the all too human experience of strong and contrary emotions appearing simultaneously, Robert Johnson, Jungian analyst and author, writes in his book, Owning Your Own Shadow, that when "we approach the shadow, we examine a very powerful aspect of our personality, almost universally shunned and avoided. And in this way we enter into the realm of paradox."

As many have repeated over millena with a biblical reference, 'What good could have possibly come from Nazareth?' What value is there in the 'same old, same old' of our everyday lives? Johnson gives his answer, "strangely, the best." Yet he notes that most persons go to great and extended lengths to avoid contact with the shadow, or its paradox. "Contradictions [often] bring a crushing burden of meaningless-ness." Humankind can and often does endure vast amounts of suffering, injustice and misery, often perpetrated by their fellows; when it has some meaning, most can endure. But when it does not, it is initially at least, crushing, meaningless, unbearable.

That I suffered, suffered greatly and unjustly because of some others is bearable because of love, because of a search for justice, because of a friend, because of my own moral beliefs, all are some reasons to go beyond the empty destructiveness of contradiction. And while contradiction may be scarcely tolerable, paradox is ultimately wondrous and creative. "All religious experience in the historical [dimension] is expressed in paradox... Paradox makes room for mystery and grace." Johnson gives further examples of creative paradoxes: masculinity has relevance in contrast to femininity; north is possible only because of south, and 'no' exists because of 'yes.' Polar opposites, or the other side of the very same coin? All paradoxes.

The Buddhahood of Ordinary People

"Those whose karmic inclination led them on the right path, ended up realizing their true nature and became enlightened." --Mud and Water by Bassui, ed. by A. Braverman

Bassui notes that "the way of the lesser vehicle and path of expedient means, are all established as temporary dharmas... What ordinary person does not have karmic inclination for the Way?" Further, he writes, "there is no ice or snow apart from water, and the Buddhahood of ordinary people can be likened to snow and ice melting and becoming water. From the beginning nothing has ever been lost."

And because of "one mistaken thought -- I am ordinary -- they think that they cannot; enlightenment is difficult to realize." Even for those in who this thought becomes deeply embedded in their minds Bassui continues his talk by saying, "people who preach to others without clearly seeing into their own nature are like the blind leading the blind. This mind is nothing other than Buddha nature.