At Radio City Music Hall last week, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama came forth to offer Buddhist wisdom. As robed monks in red and ochre filed in to take their seats, the walls were illuminated in ochre, as if we had entered a giant, cozy cathedral of Buddhism. I was grateful to be there but even so must confess that I find it hard to get my mind around certain aspects of Buddhist cosmology.
Very clearly, the Dalai Lama is not urging the Buddhist view on everyone. In fact, he encourages people to follow their own heritage, and told us that, in a non-Buddhist country, a lecture by a Buddhist monk "looks a little strange, but may be useful."
Over the last 23 years that I've received His Holiness' teachings, they have most certainly been useful. I've valued Buddhism for its emphasis on compassion and loving kindness, its reminder that we are all interconnected, its tolerance of religious diversity, and the high value it places on all life. Science has confirmed the value of Buddhist practices: Long time meditators develop health-promoting inner calm, resilience and happiness. New research indicates that those with the ability to calm the mind can also effect material phenomena through the power of awareness.
To me all of this is Buddhism's "good news," and it certainly is plentiful.
Yet as I sat back readying myself to hear the newest wrinkle on the ancient teachings, I felt a familiar combination of dread and relief. Dread because I knew that the ultimate truth in Buddhism is that all is emptiness. And that includes me. Relief for reasons I can't quite name.
For an American, the freedom to be "me" reigns supreme. In a culture that glorifies individuality, celebrity, self-discovery and even the independence to buy a Big Mac, having it "my way," is what it's all about. Like one giant assembly line of "selfhood," our media and culture churn out icons at a steady pace, each one mirroring a common need to be recognized, respected, understood, successful and loved.
Yet when one of the most respected and enduring "icons" of our time, the Dalai Lama, teaches that according to Buddhist cosmology, fundamentally the separate self does not exist, I have to pause. What does that mean? It means at a foundational level, this world religious leader doesn't exist. And neither do you and I.
Undoubtedly, on what Buddhist teachings call the "conventional' level, when I get up every morning there I am. My self is my most familiar companion, the one who's always there, accompanying me through life. Yet on an ultimate level, that cherished self, so special, so individual, so charming, (and sometimes a real pain) -- that "me"-- is a construct, a wispy illusion, say the Buddhist teachings.
Instead of creating my own reality or being the architect of my life and destiny, I am nothing. That precious self to whom I cling and for whom I labor to make a good and worthy life, in the mirror of Buddhism face its essential emptiness. A blank void stares back at me in place of that cherished and familiar old face of mine -- my identity.
Something inside me silently screams: Say it isn't so.
Yet within also arises a sense of relief, as if welcoming the opportunity to let go of that striving to protect that self, or even to assure its spiritual evolution and good karma. Somewhere I know that this clinging to identity and to life is what prompts all of us to do the icky stuff we sometimes find ourselves doing.
It's easier to see the grasping self at work in others. Since profit-driven corporations are now people, too -- corporations who cut corners to protect their own profits, and end up polluting the waters upon which life on earth depends top my current list of self-graspers. But there are many ornery others, all with their different self agendas, and of course there are my own.
Even by writing a blog on my struggle with deep cosmology, I'm interjecting my individual selfhood into the spiritual mix.
Evolving, surviving, doing good, belonging -- psychology has taught me to gently acknowledge my self's favorite drivers, and to value the process and learning I undergo thanks to them. But Buddhism keeps reminding me of the empty resonant void beyond this striving -- a void that once frightened me, which now I resist, but which beckons somehow. Perhaps because alongside this abundant world with its cornucopia of action, even my little old self would welcome a space where emptiness carries it all.
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When the rope is seen as a rope the snake disappears automatically. Until then the snake exist and is real.
A meditator hears this and starts imagining himself as "i am not" this is an inherent fallacy with all enlightenment practices. The point is, one cannot imagine himself as "i am not" and thats not needed either. All that is needed is to see "I am" is a concept, thats all...Only when this happens the other state occurs. And unless this happens...the other state is a projected state from the state of "I am".
hope it is not very confusing.
After Enlightenment, Chop Wood, Carry Water.
So be in the world, but not of it. Expect no reward. No Gain or Hope of Profit.
I try to pattern my life after this guy:
http://yfrog.com/3yhoteiushu0013sqj
Hotei Ushu, the Zen Sack & Stick Priest. Another example is in Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy of films about Miyamoto Musashi, the guy who painted the piece above. That example is Zen Master Takuan, who embodies the spirit of Hotei Ushu better than any other character I've seen.
'Marxist' Dalai Lama Visits New York, Denounces Capitalism (Sort Of)
'Marxist' Dalai Lama Visits New York, Denounces Capitalism (Sort Of)The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is holding court in New York, where yesterday he said Marxism has "moral ethics" and capitalism is solely about "how to make profits." Event tickets were between $20-$60. He's holding a Twitter Q&A today, too!
His Holiness is in town on a four day visit, where he has been speaking at Radio City Music Hall and hanging out with Richard Gere. According to the AP, yesterday he told the crowd, some of who paid $700 for scalped tickets, that "still, I am Marxist," and that capitalism creates economic inequalities that are very bad. But he said Marxism only works if the regime in power is nice and doesn't abuse its authority. And then he basically said capitalism saved China. Want to make up your mind, man?
Much, Metta xox
I didn't know you were a moderator on e-sangha! Good for you. And for educating yourself on this issue. My appreciation for you continues to expand!
1) Walk the dogma,
2) Wash the karma...
;;
So, I choose now to exist - because I see it is the only way to even try to achieve balance... If I exist then so does everything else and I can then, and only then, make some kind of difference in me - and the world.
Some will see the way and take it then lose it.
Some who see the way , will laugh out loud at it.
If this does not happen, IT is NOT the way.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion
~The Dalai Lama
This is very dangerous ground you are treading on. We are not nothing; we are everything. We are the expressons of that that is that can only express itself within its own infinite self. Even infinite self is misleading because it is not a self or an it, it is unknowable as infinite cannot be known.
The buddhists fail to see the other half of this unknowable most call God; the dynamic side that manifests infinite expressions of its unique self. Buddhism is a religion and like all religions it has its dogma.
But it is a religion worth researching as it deals with consciousness and teachs compassion. Few in the world understand compassion as compassion is rare very rare. How much compassion existed in america after 9/11.
The words “I am nothing†is so misleading it is the ultimate in ignorance. this is what happens when followers try to teach a master’s teachings. We see this in christianity, buddhism, hinduism, and islam teachings.
This I am nothing phase can lead to a buddhist monk stating human life is not only worthless but disgusting which I have read in a buddhist book written by buddhist monk with a phd in buddhism.
been there like you.
thought I found the perfect religion but it was like others a religion and self serving and also has its dogma.
I decided to belong to no religion as all have their dogma.
but one can advance in love and intelligence with any religion if they study the universe and not become religious.
religious dogma is alive and well in all aspect of our lives. politics, economics, educations, etc.
as a side note I also work with low income children. interesting.