A quote from the Dalai Lama

Petitioning those who possess the three jewels [Buddha, Dharma and Sangha] evokes their compassion-not by generating it in them, but by opening yourself to it.


In other words, by praying to highly realized beings (in any tradition), we are able to receive help. Not because they are unwilling to help otherwise, but because we shut ourselves off from the help, and the prayer helps us to be open to it. If you pray for another being's benefit, that's also primarily benefiting you. If I have the power to cut myself off from the help of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas who have aspired to liberate sentient beings, then people who I pray for certainly also have that power. The prayer might be able to help them, but just as physical acts can be rejected, so can spiritual acts. Also, just as I can't lift a weight that's too heavy, by prayer alone I can't, for example, stop someone from becoming ill and dying. This is even beyond the Buddha's power. Everyone needs to contend with the force of their own karma, and although the Buddhas can help, this is only if the person develops their mind to receive the help. That's why the emphasis in Buddhism is on liberating all sentient beings. We need to give everyone the tools so that they can personally transform their suffering. Praying on their behalf is not enough, alhtough it does have an effect. The only way to give everyone these tools is to first get them yourself-thus, the personal aspiration to achieve Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Prayer Power

I'd like to relate a neat thing I recently experienced. A couple of days ago I was at a meeting where a gentleman related a heart-wrenching tale of suffering. His wife is diabetic and he has to change the dressings on her feet, which are covered with infected sores. He says it takes him two and a half hours to do it, and it is a highly unpleasant experience. He mentioned the odor of the infection as being particularly unpleasant. Please pray for me, he said.

Well, his story touched me deeply, and I did pray for him. In particular, I included him and his wife in a Medicine Buddha practice. I also had the idea to give him an object that had been given to me by Lama Norlha, which had been prayed over and blessed by many Buddhist nuns for several months. So, before the next meeting, I put the object in my pocket. At the meeting, this gentleman could hardly restrain himself. He said that he had felt everyone's presence in his room that night and that he had felt individual people's prayers too. In the end, he said it gave him renewed strength. This really knocked me over. When I prayed, I sincerely hoped it would have benefit, but I had no idea the effect would be so dramatic. It also shows that spirituality is nondenominational, since most of the people in that room were not Buddhist, and, in fact, reflected a wide spectrum of spiritual belief.

I ended up not giving the man the blessed object because I didn't feel the time was ripe, and maybe it will never be. He is a dyed-in-the-wool Christian, so I'd rather not cause further confusion by offering him a sacred Buddhist object.

The Rarity of Posts

I haven't been posting as much lately, and one reason is that I'm trying to break myself of the habit of writing parts of posts in my head at various points during the day. It is an old habit of mine to be involved in an internal monologue as I walk down the street or take a shower. Sometime these things are productive, but usually I'm just spinning my wheels, especially now that I am often thinking at the same time, "This is something I can put in my blog." I usually never end up putting it on my blog though.

A second reason that I don't post as much is that I'm much more acutely aware of how little I know, how fragile my understanding is, especially of Buddhism. When I started writing this blog, it was very good for me, since I didn't have any other formal support, and it forced me to think about a lot of things. Now that I have come in contact with a group and with several teachers, with living, breathing Buddhism, as it were, I see that my initial understanding was way off the mark in many ways. So, rather than propagate confusion, I'm not putting my ideas out there in the same public way. With that said, maybe I will post a bit about where I am now in my journey...okay, I just realized another reason is that I'm often too lazy to collect my thoughts in a coherent way, but here goes.

Buddhism is about the "middle" way, a lack of extremes. Humans sit in the middle of the realm of samsara: they don't suffer as much as the lower realms, they have less pleasure than the upper realms. As a result, they are optimally suited to make progress on the path to enlightenment. The thing is, to keep my precious human body, I need to act virtuously, lest I be reborn in a lower realm. However, this is not enough, because if the virtue is tainted by pride, then I will be reborn in a God realm, where this virtue will be uselessly expended. After dying as a God, I would probably end up in a lower realm. Thus it is important to be humble. I know Jesus said something about the Pharisees being proud of their virtuous actions, and that they've already had their reward. This is similar: their virtuous actions do not lead to spiritual gain. An interesting fact is that even being good at meditation, if it is tainted by pride, will lead to rebirth in an upper God realm, and this is still considered an unfortunate rebirth. So even being good at meditation is not enough. It is said in this upper God realm, beings are addicted to pleasurable states of consciousness, but have no interest in the welfare of others. Thus they don't accumulate any merit, and when they die, they are reborn in a lower realm, such as a hell realm.

It occurred to me just now that one can see these realms in the life of an alcoholic. At some point, he is addicted to the pleasurable state of conscioussness, which is that alcoholic buzz. Soon however, that is turned into a hellish existence. At some point, if he's lucky, he is reborn as a human, and begins to accumulate great virtue, as part of a twelve step program, for example. Hungry ghosts are also represented: they are always craving, but never satisfied.

Anyway, I've assuaged my guilt about not posting often enough, I think.

Visiting New Orleans

We just got done visiting upstate NY, and now we're going down to New Orleans. In fact, we leave for the airport in 17 minutes. I had an interesting experience last night at an A.A. meeting when a guy came up to me who I had seen a couple of weeks ago while we were both shopping for Christmas presents in a New Agey kind of store. Anyway, at the meeting last night, he said "I've been going there for years, but, you know, the Buddha just aint enough for me man." He needs A.A. too, is what he was saying. Let me say that when I saw him in the store, he was with his girlfriend, and I had just assumed his girfriend dragged him into the store, so I had no idea he had Buddhist inclinations. You have to remember, I live in the middle of the Bible belt, and the discovery that I'm not the only Buddhist in my A.A. group is significant. He and I both agree that A.A. and Buddhism go together well. He said that when he picked up his white chip, he also started reading a book about the the four noble truths and that they go hand in hand with A.A.'s "big book." I had noticed the very same thing, and had written a bit about it in my journal. In fact, I think there is a strong correspondence between the four noble truths and A.A.'s 12 steps.

Drying

I just took a shower, and am letting evaporation do its work. I went to a packed A.A. meeting this morning. When I walked in the door I saw many more faces than I've ever seen in this particular meeting, and while trying to find a seat, I thought to myself "New Year's Resolutions." I hope that many of these people keep coming back and finally get the program. I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions. When I was in Junior High School, perhaps I resolved to be more aggressive, and I'm sure at some point I resolved to "get a girlfriend," but in the past few years I haven't made any resolutions at all. That's not to say that I don't make resolutions. It's just that they are not particularly confined to New Year's Eve. There are plenty of things about myself I'd like to change. Just this morning I witnessed a person with some time under their belt picking up a white chip. (i.e they had relapsed.) And you know what? I felt a smug satisfaction at that. I didn't even examine the feeling, it felt so normal, until afterwards when I was driving back. When I saw the feeling for what it was, a deep shudder went through me at how this awful, poisonous thought had arisen so naturally.

Also, I'd like to pass along a prayer request:


Dear Dharma Path Participants,

Dharma Path participant Jaime Razurri was kidnapped in Gaza yesterday. He was sent to Gaza as a reporter in December. Everyone please pray for his safety and quick release.

Om Mani Padme Hum