Starting in my early 20s, I immersed myself in the study of Soto Zen, first with my Japanese root teacher, and after his death with his American successor. I lived in monastic or semi-monastic settings for a total of 15 years. Early on I was ordained as a priest; at some point I became a teacher myself. During that time, Buddhism was my whole life.
Then, after 15 years my faith in this practice, once so strong, turned to doubt. I began asking myself: What do I really know that is true? Who and what can I really trust? I also asked: What has become of Lew, the person I used to be so many years before?
I felt I needed to re-examine everything. I took off my robes, left my teaching position and my residential community. I rented a house in town, got a job, and set about living an ordinary life with my wife and 9-year-old son. I began taking apart the "carburetor" of who I was and painstakingly re-assembling it, piece by piece. Each time I picked up a piece, I had to ask, what is this? Can I trust it? Out of this lengthy period of self-examination I came up with seven foundational practices in Buddhism that I felt I could really trust, that were solid, trustworthy and effective. These were: Sitting, Walking, Chanting, Bowing, Precepts, Robe and Sutra.
I can't say that all seven are universal to every school of Buddhism, but many of them are, and all of them are common to the meditation schools of the three vehicles -- Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Sitting
Sitting was the core practice of the Buddha, the one that led to his enlightenment under the Bo tree. Sitting is also the main practice of Zen. During my many years of residential practice, I sometimes felt betrayed by people or by teachers, and even by the teachings they offered, but I was never betrayed by sitting practice itself. It was foundational.
Walking
The Buddha taught the "four postures" -- walking, standing, sitting and lying down. These four postures pretty much include all activities; the four postures means expressing mindful awareness in every aspect of life. Walking can be a kind of meditation and expression of mindful awareness; in Zen walking alternates with walking in long retreats. There is also circumambulation - -walking in a clockwise circle as an act of veneration --a s one of the oldest Buddist practices.
Chanting
Chanting is not just Buddhist. People of all religions chant or sing. For most Buddhists today, chanting -- whether a mantra, a sutra, the name of Buddha or the name of a sutra -- is their primary practice. When I first came to my teacher's temple in San Francisco's Japantown, there was a sign posted outside the meditation hall: "Chant with your Ears." That seemed rather mysterious until one day my teacher explained it this way: When you chant with your ears, ego is set aside and everyone's chanting fills your own body.
Bowing
My teacher loved bowing. He used to say that we should be prepared to bow in our last moment. Buddhists bow to each other and to Buddha, but this is not idol worship. Buddha is not a god, but a representation of the highest ideal of a human being. In the deepest sense, we don't really bow to anything; we just bow. "The mast of your ego becomes horizontal when you bow," my teacher said.
Precepts
Buddhism is at root an ethical teaching, a way to live harmoniously in the world with others without causing unnecessary harm. All the precepts boil down to one teaching: ahimsa or non-harm. Thich Nhat Hanh reportedly was asked once to summarize Buddhism in one word, and said, "Ahimsa." I have never heard of a Buddhist sect or tradition that rejects this principle.
Robe
These days I wear my priest robes for ceremonies and meditation; otherwise I dress like anyone else. Most Buddhist laypeople do not wear a robe -- though a mala, or Buddhist rosary, can be thought of as a kind of robe. In a metaphorical sense, the robe means the protection or container of Buddhist practice. Precepts are kind of robe, and when lay Buddhists formally receive the precepts in many traditions they are given a small robe. My teacher also taught the "formless robe," the robe you can't see but that you "wear" through practice and faith.
Sutra
The sutras are the sermons and teachings of the Buddha and his successors. Sutras are the written expression of Buddhism. I have studied the sutras my whole life. The sutras are the living record of the generations of wisdom seekers that make up the 2,500 history of Buddhism. The word "sutra" in Sanskrit literally means "thread," and originally referred to the thread that bound the palm leaves on which sutras were written. Sutra can also mean the thread that connects us with Buddhism's past, and with all Buddhists living today. In that sense sutra means lineage and connection.
These are the seven foundational practices that rescued my practice and brought me back to my faith in it.
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Feeling repeatedly let down by that in which you have invested so much of your life, most definitely can lead to a loss of trust. I like hearing all the messy details of such stories, but we really don't need them to understand, since such betrayals are common..
I was surprised, at first, that he ended up with so many core aspects of Buddhism. And I appreciate the way his explanation laid out nothing but a bare framework, leaving the rest up to me.
Precepts include, and are not distinct from, the other aspects mentioned in this article: Sitting, Walking, Chanting, Bowing, Robe and Sutra study.
The body is a container of delusion, and the analogy of man as machine is outdated. Bowing is tradition, but the referent for that symbolic action, inner humility, is more important. Ahimsa is not the correct one word summary, Virtue is. Buddhism includes doing no bad things, doing all good things, and saving all living beings.
And also the container of bliss, full awakening, enlightenment.
In fact, enlightenment is already here.
Ditto ditto ditto.
Daimoku rocks!
Perhaps meant to say "walking alternates with sitting?"
It seems to me that you never lost faith, but had this faith all along, and needed only the space to realize it. We see faith in Buddhism as this idea that it is our acceptance and practice of what Gautama taught provides us with this excellent foundation in life. The 7 practices you discuss so well in your essay are the foundational practices of this good life that Buddha taught.
I'm glad you wrote about the challenges of of the dukkha of daily life, and how with our practice, even just the practice of sitting, we bring the difficult world into our practice and just sit with it and let it be the difficult world that it is. I think of the Buddha's admonition to be a lamp unto ourselves...even in the zendo or monastic setting, there are petty difficulties and challenges, but with the 7 practices, we accept the nature of being human and being challenged, and simply practice.
Thanks so much for such a fine article. Bows
But without the prior realization of emptiness it's merely "space-out."
When the Ascetic Gautama with determination made a wow to sit under the Bodhi tree not getting up until he realize the real causes of suffering he also recalled his first meditation experience during the plowing festival where he attain focus then calm and on seeing living creatures consuming each for survival then contemplated and develop insight on the unsatisfactory nature of things.
The fourth stage is to develop calm and clarity (where the knowing becomes sharp) followed by contemplation and insight of the causes of our suffering. This is a very important stage because here we start to release slowly the defilements suppressed so far. We are doing this in a controlled environment where each defilement arises in the form of consciousness we observe how the rise and fade away. We actually develop insight into the causes of our loba, dosa and moha as the basis of our ignorance. Then realizing of the Dhamma in detail. We things as they are, the thus ness of things. We remove the three poisons from our heart.
Words of caution; read about the Four Noble Truth, Eightfold Path, Ten paramitas before meditation as these will be your guide to the right path.
I spent time with Buddhist monks and always wanted to know the answer to one question. They refused to answer that question.
It took years of research study and now I know much help from the other side to awaken to the reality of the necessity of the involution and evolution of consciousness process.
For me the Buddhists spend too much time on suffering and not enough on the processes that make every soul unique.
The Buddha accomplished his objective and realized the origin of suffering but advised his followers to be open to new discoveries. Most have heard him not.
But Buddhism with its nonharm sure beats the religions that think they are special and the only way to a heaven or paradise dimension. Compassion must also be included with nonharm.
But every path is unique; Infinite Mind would have it no other way. :o)
If one accepts that the Buddha realized that the origin of suffering is ignorance then what is the next logical question to ask.
Attachment, grasping, craving and misguided desires are symptoms of ignorance not the origin of suffering as many buddhist monks teach. the world almost always confuses symptoms with an origin or root cause.
Many confuse desire as a cause of suffering, this is not correct, as it is misguided desire due to our ignorance of our "divine" reality that causes our suffering. Desire is built into the evolution of consciousness process to greater and greater awareness.
That longing or desire started the very moment than Oneness/Mind became many. Ignorance meaning unawareness is a necessity for "creation" meaning manifestation to occur.
Hope that helps. :o)