Before Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment he was a confused twenty and thirty-something looking to learn how to live a spiritual life. Each time in this column we look at what it might be like if a fictional Siddhartha was on his spiritual journey today. How would he combine Buddhism and dating? How would he handle stress in the workplace? What Would Sid Do is devoted to taking an honest look at what we as meditators face in the modern world.
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As a young Buddhist, I know that engaging in activities that push us over the edge into crazy town, such as getting drunk, one night stands, expensive shopping, drugs and so on, lead to confusion and recklessness. At the same time these activities are fun to do with friends and give us some sort of social relevance. Is there any way to still be a true Buddhist practitioner and be able to "travel to crazy town"? --F.V.
First off, I feel the need to state that Crazytown is one of the greatest things that swept the nation during the '90s, and their "Butterfly" is a favorite karaoke song of mine.
However, you are asking for Buddhist advice, not song recs. The story of the historical Buddha, our friend Siddhartha, is one which begins with him surrounded by all the elements of his generation's version of crazy town. There were dancing girls, alcohol a-flowing and basically anything he wanted he could have at any time.
However, Sid outgrew that level of mindless indulgence. Once he realized the suffering that existed in the world, he struck out on a path to find freedom. Unfortunately, that path led him into a state where he was mistreating his body, starving himself, and going through rigorous ascetic practices.
The point here is that Sid realized that in order to truly wake up to reality as it is, he had to find a middle way in between these extremes of over-indulgence and beating himself up. You too have to find your own middle way where you are applying mindfulness but still engaging your life in a way that you feel good about. No one can find that middle way for you; it's a path of self-discovery.
Thankfully, this sort of message has been the bread and butter for the majority of What Would Sid Do's two and a half year long journey so here are some further references:
Post Script: If you too love Crazytown and/or karaoke may I recommend Harvey Dangerfield's "Flagpole Sitta?" It's my latest fav.
Lodro Rinzler is the author of The Buddha Walks into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation. Have a question for this column? Click here and send it over!
Follow Lodro Rinzler on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lodrorinzler
You go through the awareness for what it is, without judging it. The same can should apply to experiencing jealousy, anger or lust! Having the ability to be aware of these sensations gives one the time to observe these experiences as someone outside ourselves dispassionately, hence in this mode one stops being reactive.
The following questions come to the mind when we discuss meditation in relation to `getting enlightened`:
What exactly happens when we get enlightened?
Does it remind you of the song ``There is someone in my head but it’s not me``? From the album ` dark side of the moon` …. Pink Floyd.
Why does it happen to only a few of us?
Why are we so privileged¬?
What have we done to deserve this?
What about the others who don`t get it, whose interactions have been such that they have not met people who can teach them how to attain such enlightenment by meditation or something?
Who can answer these questions? We do not come across people who know the answers. Besides even if we achieve this state, is it not selfish to be in that state while there is suffering all around?
Perhaps Sri Ramakrishn¬a – whose disciple Swami Vivekananda was – might have reached this state of Samadhi sometimes, but each time he pulled himself together and cried to himself `` come down, come down`` in order to continue his mission on Earth, and he pleaded ``Oh mother, let me not attain these delights, let me remain in my normal state, so that I can be of more use to the world``
Siddhartha attained supreme enlightenment and he taught the way to it all mankind. Indeed, he changed the world.
(To be continued)
In the words of Christmas Humphreys.. ``He was the fully awakened one, who had shattered the power of self, broken the fetters of the thinking mind, and made his consciousness one with the universal consciousness. He was all wisdom and at the same time the All Compassionate one``.
With all this I have a question for you:
Based on a serious understanding of the laws of causation, and the belief that it is the interactions of the rest of the world on us, which make us what we are, when someone attains a stage of enlightenment where he or she is in a state of blissful ecstasy or something similar in a selfish way, is it in any way different - from the perspective of what is right or wrong - from enjoying while having sex, or drinking alcohol, or having drugs, except that the last named is injurious to health ?
There is a song.. I don`t remember the title.. which has the line ``The best that one can hope for is to die in one`s sleep``.. If someone has played his part in life, and is now old and in pain, is it acceptable if he takes an excessive dose of drugs, reaches a certain ecstatic state and passes away in his sleep?
!) Start/continue a good meditation practice
2) Find a good teacher. Adyashanti is pretty good, you can find many videos on youtube. He comes out of the Zen/Advaita tradition but is very clear without being distant. Wayne Liquorman is pretty good too. Everyone is a unique expression of What Is so every path is unique.