As regular readers of this blog may have surmised, I go hiking regularly on Tuesdays. Today I went with a Buddhist friend of mine. As we approached the trailhead there were half a dozen cars pulled over on the side with people looking up and pointing. We stopped and looked to see what the fuss was about. There were three black bears high up in the tree, probably somewhere between 20 and 30 feet. One of them had his snout braced right in a notch, looking straight down at everybody rather lazily. A little bit up the road there was a bear feeding about 10 feet from the road. I've run across bears before, but never so many at once, and I've never seen them up so high in a tree.
We chatted a lot about various things, with my explaining my reluctance to believe in the supernatural. I am going to be attending a retreat at a Buddhist monastery two weekends from now in a city where I used to live. The funny thing is that I had no idea that I was living right next to such an active Buddhist center when I was there, and it was only after moving that I found the dharma. So I mentioned to my friend that a Lama must have smiled on me when I was there, and he pointed out that this was supernatural thinking. I must admit that I do have many supernatural type thoughts, but whenever I get into an extended analysis, I tend to discount them. (By the way, when I say "supernatural" I'm referring to what is conventionally referred to that way. Things like invisible spirits, reincarnation, the power to turn someone toward the dharma through a smile.) I have had spiritual experiences, just like that strong connection with Tara that I mentioned. After having read Thich Nhat Hanh's excellent book Living Buddha, Living Christ, as I was falling asleep I heard a subtle voice tell me: "You have let yourself be suffused with the Holy Spirit. I'm proud of you." I felt such an intense peace after that. It was quite remarkable. It may be worth pointing out that Thich Nhat Hanh's main thesis was that the Holy Spirit is very akin to the idea of Buddha nature.
I guess the spiritual aspect for me disappears if I think about it too much. I used to find this type of statement offensive. My commentary would be: well that's because you're too afraid to face the truth, so you don't think things through. It's like someone wants to say complacent in their ignorance, so they purposely avoid facts which run contrary to their worldview. However, I think there's a difference, especially as I affect others. By taking the spiritual path, I am attempting to transform my negativity and unhappiness, converting it into a positive effect on the world. I hope I'm not using spirituality as an excuse to stick my head in the ground, but rather as a way to help myself and others at the same time. One of the things that really hooked me about Buddhism was the Bodhisattva vow I read in the Diamond Sutra:
"However many beings there are in whatever realms of being might exist, whether they are born from an egg or born from a womb, born from the water or born from the air, whether they have form or no form, whether they have perception or no perception or neither perception nor no perception, in whatever conceivable realm of being one might conceive of beings, in the realm of complete nirvana I shall liberate them all. And though I thus liberate countless beings, not a single being is liberated."
The spiritual foundation of Buddhism is the altruistic wish to benefit others. That's certainly not sticking your head in the ground! Also notice the little proviso at the end. This is a reference to developing wisdom or prajna, the ability to see the true nature of things. To be of maximum benefit to other beings, you need wisdom.
So, even if I'm fuzzy on the exact spiritual mechanics, I feel that my path is a good one.
2 comments:
Knowing little of Buddhism, I'm a bit hesitant to comment. But here goes: Isn't there a fundamental difference between a human's spirit and an animal's spirit? The other day I let a spider, who was doing no harm, live. But that doesn't mean I think that spider is a disguised form of human or vice versa. Yet, it may be so that some inhuman spirits take on human form.
But isn't there also a fundamental similarity between a spider and a human? Which is it better to emphasize?
There is a famous Zen koan:
A monk asks Joshu: "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?"
Joshu responds: "No."
This is paradoxical, like any good koan, because in Buddhism we feel that all sentient beings have inherent Buddha-nature. What is certainly true is that the dog, or spider, cannot realize their Buddha nature, which is why, we as humans, are so lucky. Animals have no choice but to participate in samsara, creating negative karma. Here is an interesting continuation of the above dialogue I found at this site.
The monk says:"All living beings totally have the Buddha-nature. Why is the dog without?"
Joshu reponds: "Because it has Karmic consciousness.”
Post a Comment