Dharma in Love

"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."

Spiritual Destiny in the Vedic Tradition

"The path to love is never about externals... the path to love isn't a choice, for all of us must find out who we are. This is our spiritual destiny." --The Path to Love by Deepak Chopra

Socially "all of us must find a partner, marry and raise a family," writes Chopra in his book, The Path to Love. "But this social pattern isn't a path because it isn't automatically spiritual... A spiritual path has only one reason to exist: it shows the Way for the soul to grow. As it grows, more spiritual truth is revealed, more of the soul's promise is redeemed." People today, he notes are often filled with self doubts, doubts about others in their lives; like restless consumers, they adopt a shopping mentality, rather than a sense of free choice and self determination, they carry about mental check-lists of pluses and minuses.

However says Chopra, when you find the Way, you find your love; you find your heart. "However good or bad you feel about your relationship right now, the person you are with is the right person because he or she is a mirror of whom you feel to be inside to this moment. So when we struggle with others, in this view, we are in fact struggling with ourselves. As the French proverb says, "Qui accuse, s'accuse," or "He who accuses, accuses himself." Often we think that when we find that person, they will clear it up for us, they will either give or take something we do not already possess. However, when you do find love, inevitably, you find yourself.

"Therefore the path to love isn't a choice, for all of us must find out who we are. This is our spiritual destiny. Doubts reflect the ego which drives away from the path; love reflects God, eternal, divine essence." Ultimately the promise of faith is that you will travel the Way without any promises or guarantees, walking in the light of truth or Veda, beyond anything which your mind knows in this, or any other moment. 

Falling in love, once on the path, on the Way, you find yourself at the beginning of Love's eternal journey to the One, to wholeness, to sacredness. Learning to accept the present moment as it is, a growing acceptance and surrender to those moments arises, and a key to a spiritual relationship is realized. "The true need of the spirit is always to grow." As you grow, Chopra writes, "you exchange false, shallow feelings for deep , true emotions, and thus trust, compassion and devotion and service become realities" in your life. Your thoughts change; your changes and growth lead to the need for action; in a marriage, there is no faltering, because such a relationship is sacred, based on the Way of the divine. Such relationships are also innocent, because innocence thrives in environments which devotion, love and service to others is your primary motive.

Thus as followers of the Way, travellers on the path, the Beloved, the divine beloved, may be the one whom we meet in our life, or it may be internal, the one who is in their soul, their image of God, reflected onto them. As a vision or a call the awareness of the beloved, through surrender to that which is greatest, blossoms into love for the One. "All relationships are simply, ultimately a relationship with God." What does your relationship look like? What does your soul desire to be?

A Modern History of Taoism, the Second Southern School

"We now come to the second Southern school, which has no connection whatsoever with the first Southern school."

--Taoism, The Parting of the Way by Holmes Welch

Much is written in the context of Taoism about a "northern school" and a "southern school" but what is the meaning of these two developments within Taoist thought? The most simple explanation is that the "Northern School," while founded in the modern Chinese province of Shanxi about 1150AD, later moved to the South China city of Ninghai, and is thought to have developed for several purposes within several sects. Among the sects within the Northern School, some were to encourage Ch'un Yang or Pure Yang; the group came to be known commonly as "Ch'uan Chen" or Perfect Realization. While going by various names, this first northern school of thought while later located in the south, practiced with consistent aims, and is not to be confused as one and another.

In his book, Taoism, Parting of the Way, Welch writes, "Perfect Realization was one of several sects that arose soon after the Shin Tartars overran the Northern half of China. Modern Chinese scholar, Ch'en Yuan, has suggested that their purpose was to mobilize non-cooperation with the foreign invaders. This may have been why the principle of ascetic withdrawal" from everyday world affairs was encouraged in the sects' followers, for ultimately spiritual, rather than political reasons. A desire to restore man's nature to its original purity prompted the movement.

However the asceticism "required for Perfect Realization was fanatical." Perfect continence in all bodily matters was to be observed; secondly adherents were to nurture the yang and suppress the yin in connection with the old idea of replacing "Earthly Breaths for Heavenly Breaths." Finally, immortality was to be realized through exterior means such as incantations or use of drugs. In contrast, the first Southern school developed, with an interior emphasis, employing such practices as meditation, hygiene and care of the body. Both schools ultimately share a connecting belief that cultivating nature, and not physical immortality was key.

Coming to consideration of the second Southern School, remember there is no connection with the first. Rather the second Southern school concerns itself with none other than the sect of the Chang family, the Celestial Master of the Dragon and Tiger mountain. As time unfolded, this sect came to be called by its modern name, Realized Men of Right Unity, or Right Unity as it is still known. Within Right Unity was ming (life); their practice came to be clearly described as cultivating ming by exterior means. Realizing one's nature was secondary, if at all. Welch writes of them, "Priests of this sect marry and hand down their arts hereditarily... no monasteries, no Taoist robes... [and they] do not restrict themselves to a vegetable diet. Living in the family hearth, they are called, huo-chu-shih, fire dwellers." They serve others who come to them for spiritual help or protection. Some Taoist priests offer other services within this sect such as: astrology, spirit medium, fore-telling of events, and hexagrams.

The relationship of these priests, writes Welch, to the Celestial Master "has been tenuous." During the Republican period, 1911-1950, some applied to him as a leading figure of a tradition of Taoism for diplomas or certificates. The author, Welch notes, the Celestial Master is not to be "thought of as a Pope. He is nothing more than a leading repository of Taoist tradition." During this revolutionary period, the Celestial Master was able to maintain himself through various means, including collecting rents from approximately 250 acres of rice fields which he owned, located near the Dragon and Tiger mountain itself.

The period of time since 1950 finds the Celestial Master treated with "waning respect." In the period commencing about 1911, an anti-religious tide was unleashed in the Revolution; the governor of Jiangxi abolished their titles and confiscated their property. Yet the Taoists remained a friend in the person of Zhang Xun, a Manchu monarchist and arch-conservative. In 1914 Zhang Xun persuaded Chinese President Yuan Shikai to aid in the restoration of the title and lands to the sect. With gratitude and respect, the Celestial Master traveled to Peking at the invitation of the prominent "war lords" Wu Peifu and Sun Chuanfang.

On the death of the Celestial Master, the title passed on to his eldest son, Chang En-p'u who was captured by Communists in 1927, and imprisoned. Later he escaped to Shanghai and took up a quiet residence there in the French Concession of the city. After the Communists made their sweep throughout China in 1949, "Chang En-p'u left home for the last time. He made his way through Macao, Hong Kong, and took up residence in Taiwan." It was by his initiative that the various Taoist organizations established themselves in that place, and that the Taoist Cannon was re-printed, thwarting Communist efforts to suppress the ancient religion.

The Songs: What is Really in the Bible, Anyway?

The simple mind is away from the computer. this article was posted here previously, March 9, 2009.
"I sought the one I love" --Tanakh, Shir Ha-Shirim


Reflecting on the often forgotten or overlooked patrimony of the Christian, the father of whom is Yaweh, el, adonai, G-d, among other names, we in the modern world sometimes feel a disconnect from this vital source of our being. As Catholic and Orthodox Christians, to a varying and lesser degree, Protestant Christians, our heritage of joy, creativity and love owes itself to this very Jewish of fathers: Yaweh, G-d of the Tanakh, or "Old Testament."

Remembering our father ancestor is vital in understanding the whole of the Christian mind. Jesus was a Rabbi, a teacher of the Jewish people. He lived a Jewish life in a Jewish world. The earliest Christians who came to follow him, thought of themselves as very Jewish; they had seen and found the way to G-d's salvation in the Christ. Yet others, Jew and Gentile alike, in their Greek and Roman world, were unconvinced.

Over a period of time, Christian-Jews found themselves persecuted and misunderstood by many; excluded from many Temples, and engaging in new religious devotions, these Christians moved away from their Jewish center. By the first centuries in the Common Era (also referred to as A.D., after death) Christianity emerged from the home of her father, and went forth into the Gentile world. For its part, Judaism very nearly succumbed to a process of "Hellenization," that is, Jews were nearly completely subjugated to Greek rule and life; all but losing themselves in the process.

The early Christian church was largely of a Greek or Roman (Latin) character. As time progressed, the more unified Christian church split into what today is referred to as the Orthodox Church, Greek, and the Roman Catholic Church, Roman. However, long before all this happened, there were the Jews and their books, the Tanakh, guiding all their lives in a joyful and loving presence of Yaweh, G-d, our father.

The Jews, as "the people of the book," have been faithful to that book for more than 5,000 years now. What Christians refer to as the Bible, or the "Old Testament," Jews call the Tenakh (תנ״ך). It is divided into Torah (תּוֹרָה), Nev'im (נביאים), and Kethuvim (כְּתוּבִים). The Torah contains the five books of Moses; the Nev'im contains the writings of the Prophets, and the Kethuvim contains other writings also included within the Jewish Canon.

When we speak of this Jewish father, we read in the Tenakh stories that point to a bold, justice loving, creative, powerful, demanding, covenant making, passionate, tender presence. His love is a free love, a father regarding his creation, a shepherd tending his sheep, a devoted one sacrificing his only son. However, over time, for Christians, among the many, many stories of Yaweh that are contained within the book, writings in Kethuvim are the possibly the most challenging and engaging. To the early Christians, stories such as Lamentations, Job, Ruth, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, or Shir Ha Shr'im stand out as examples of G-d's character and inspiration.

Some Christians, and some Christian communities, have lost touch with this ancestor. Their mind has turned to other sources beyond the Tenakh for inspiration, and the Church has split, time and time again. These communities have moved far from this very Jewish father.

In this approaching season of Easter and Pesach, or Passover, the reading of Shir Ha Shir'im (שיר השירים), the Song of Solomon, is traditional. Curiously it is one of two books in which the name of G-d is not mentioned. Song of Songs, Song of Solomon, two of its several names, is often seen quite simply as an intensely erotic love song or story, hence its name.
"The book reveals the warm and innocent satisfaction the ancient Hebrews drew from the physical and emotional relationship of a man and a woman. For the Jews, this relationship has been seen as Yaweh or G-d, the lover and his people, Israel, the Beloved. Christians have often likened the Song to G-d's love for the Church, his Beloved. The Judeo-Christian mystical tradition has viewed the Song a groom, and his passionate love for a bride," notes the Catholic Encylopedia by Peter Stravinskas.

Song Of Songs, Shir Ha-Shr'im
"Upon my couch at night
I sought the one I love--
I sought, but found him not.

I must seek the one I love.
I sought but found him not.
I met the watchmen
who patrol the town.
Have you seen the one I love?
Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one I love.
I held him fast,
I would not let him go.

Do not wake or rouse
Love until it please!
Who is she that comes up from the desert
like columns of smoke

There is Solomon's couch
Encirlcled by 60 warriors
of the warriors of Israel
All of them trained in warfare.

King Solomon made him a planquin
of wood from Lebanon

Within it was decked with love
By the maidens of Jerusalem
Wearing the crown that his mother
gave him on his wedding day
On his day of bliss

Ah, you are fair, my darling,
Ah, you are fair.
Your eyes are like doves
Behind your veil.
Your lips are like crimson thread
Your mouth is lovely
your breasts are like two fawns
There is no blemish in you
From Lebanon come with me!

You have captured my heart,
my own, my bride.
You have captured my heart.
with one glance of your eyes,
with one coil of your necklace.
How sweet is your love,
My own, my bride!

My beloved took his hand off the latch
and my heart was stirred for him.
I rose to let in my beloved;
my hands dripped Myrrh
I opened the door for my Beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
I was faint because of what he said.
I sought him, but found him not.
I called, but he did not answer.

If you meet my beloved, tell him
that I am faint with love.

I am my beloved's
And his desire is for me.
Come, my beloved,
Let us go into the open;
Let us see if the vine has flowered,
If the pomegranates are in bloom.
There I will give my love to you.

If only it could be as with a brother,
Then I could kiss you
when I met you in the street,
and no one would despise me.
I would let you drink of the spiced wine.

Let me be a seal upon your heart,
like the seal upon your hand.
for love is as fierce as death,
Passion as mighty as Shoel;
its darts are darts of fire,
a blazing flame.

Vast floods cannot quench love,
Nor rivers drown it.
If a man offered all his wealth for love,
He would be laughed to scorn.

O, you who linger in the garden,
A lover is listening;
Let me hear your voice.
Hurry, my beloved,
Swift as a gazelle or a young stag,
To the hills of spices!"
--Translation from Tanakh, the Holy Scriptures
The Jewish Translation Society,1985