Walking on the Path of the Awakened State of Mind
Filed Under Commentary, Buddhadharma | Posted on June 7, 2007
In February of 2004, I was involved in establishing the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship of Fayettteville. My primary motivation for creating the group arose out of 1) an intense interest in Buddhism, 2) an almost complete lack of any fundamental knowledge about Buddhism, and 3) the absence of a qualified teacher in the local area to help guide my study. The time-honored Unitarian Universalist tradition when faced with that type of situation is to form a discussion group; so that’s what I did. In the process of getting it set up, I engaged in an e-mail dialogue with the Ven. Kobutsu Malone of the Engaged Zen Foundation, with whom I have been acquainted for several years and whose dedication to prison ministry I have always admired. Kobutsu provided some strong opinions and warnings with which, at the time, I more or less respectfully disagreed. Now, some three years later, I find myself coming closer to a more sympathetic understanding of his point of view. I’m still wrong, no doubt; but hopefully I’m making progress.
I had asked Kobutsu for some advice regarding the best structure for the group and particularly for recommendations of literature that might be useful for provoking discussion. My comment at the time was, “I’d probably prefer an academic approach that would allow/enable me to come to my own conclusions.” That is, of course, the Unitarian Universalist model of spirituality. Kobutsu didn’t think that was a very good model:
One of the most serious impediments we face in terms of approaching the awakened state of mind are our preconceived ideas about what it is we are seeking. While we might admit we don’t have a clue, we somehow have an extensive set of ideas about what it is that we don’t have. This is the trap of intellect, the working of a mechanism called “spiritual advisor” by [Chogyam] Trungpa. It is an ego process that is designed to convince us that we are really making progress on the spiritual path. In reality it is merely a subtle ego “self” defense mechanism.
Ego’s preferences… and “coming to my own conclusions” are not at all what Dharma is about. Dharma is not something that can be mastered from an intellectual perspective. It’s a conundrum I admit…. it is worth keeping in mind that we can not approach Buddhadharma from perspectives that we are familiar with and have used in the past. Yet, these tactics are really all we have to work with….
Kobutsu is ordained as a priest in the Zen tradition; I’m now lay-ordained in the Tibetan Gelug tradition. Tibetan Buddhism, and Gelugpa in particular, places a greater emphasis on intellectual study than Zen (at least that’s my impression), but I’m coming to understand what Kobutsu was saying. You can’t “become Buddhist” by joining a book club; you can’t “do Dharma” by just sitting around and talking about it; and you can’t have an authentic experience by picking and choosing aspects of the teaching based on convenience. In the Tibetan tradition, intellectual study is important, but it must be coupled with practice. It’s a slow process: read a few pages, then contemplate what you’ve read; read it again, and contemplate again; find a way to integrate it wholly into your life. You don’t learn dharma; you live it.
That’s not to say there are no choices within Buddhism. The Buddha taught in different ways at different times to different people, tailoring his message to the experiences and abilities of his audience. We can now choose between a wide variety of Buddhist practice, including Theravadin, at least two major schools of Zen, four major and a host of minor schools within Tibetan Buddhism, Pure Land, Sokka Gakkai, and the list goes on. Whichever we choose, we may be tempted to believe somehow in the superiority of our choice, but that would be a mistake. Whether you enjoy wearing silly hats, banging cymbals, and chanting in a fog of incense smoke, or prefer getting whacked with a stick because your posture isn’t perfect during meditation, the fundamentals are the same; the path is the same, no matter how we choose to traverse it. Testing and experimentation is the method advised by the Buddha himself, in the Udumbara Sutta:
Try something that I have discovered,
And then judge it for yourself.
If it is good for you, accept it.
Otherwise, don’t accept it.
Another point of discussion in that early dialogue with Kobutsu had to do with the prevalence of “popular Buddhism” books on the bookstore shelves. I thought this was a good thing, even if the majority of the readers of those books didn’t accept Buddhadharma to its full extent. Most of the popular books emphasize compassion, mindfulness, equanimity, and
loving-kindness. I argued then that even a minimal exposure to those ideas was better than none; and I still believe that. Kobutsu wasn’t so sure:
I am uncertain if this is necessarily the case at all. The Buddha taught only one thing - awakening. Without awakening we can not fathom our own nature and thus are unable to manifest true compassion. Mindfulness, equanimity and loving-kindness are very appealing words and for most people desirable traits and attitudes. However, they are grossly misunderstood and can not simply be put into practice or received as rewards for some prescribed behavior.
While these sorts of endeavors might lead some folks to focus more on the teachings of the gospel of Mark than Leviticus [the reference to Mark vs. Leviticus began with me, not with Kobutsu], it is still not about walking on the path of the awakened state of mind.
I grant the point, but I still think it’s better than nothing; and it might serve as a starting point to move on to more authentic dharma. I look to the Great Elder Atisha, who, in his Lamp to the Path of Enlightenment said:
Understand there are three kinds of persons
Because of their small, middling and supreme capacities.
I shall write clearly distinguishing
Their individual characteristics.Know that those who by whatever means
Seek for themselves no more
Than the pleasures of cyclic existence
Are persons of the least capacity.Those who seek peace for themselves alone,
Turning away from worldly pleasures
And avoiding destructive actions
Are said to be middling capacity.Those who, through their personal suffering,
Truly want to end completely
All the suffering of others
Are persons of supreme capacity.
Atisha, and the great Tibetan lamas who followed in his path, understood that practitioners begin with varying goals. Those who are concerned with living well in their current state (and future states) are “persons of the least capacity”, but they are not persons of no capacity or of no value. They too are travelers on the path to enlightenment. Tsongkhapa, who wrote the magnificent commentary on Atisha’s Lamp, the Lam Rim Chen Mo, sees the three types of persons as stages in the path, recognizing that we all begin at the beginning, and if we’re lucky and have the appropriate capacity, we progress from a self-centered concern toward the bodhisattva ideal.
Kobutsu was concerned that many of the popular books — and I’ll extend that to many lay-led Buddhist practice groups, including my own — either ignore completely or do not grant proper emphasis to:
the most fundamental and basic foundation of Buddhist doctrine, the Three Marks of Existence [anicca — impermanence; dukkha — suffering, dissatisfactoriness; and anatta — no-self, emptiness]. I have encountered so-called Buddhist teachers representing certain traditions who lack any knowledge of this doctrine that contains the most important core teaching of the Buddha.
After three years of study and time spent with a qualified teacher, I share that concern. Anicca and dukkha we get pretty early and pretty easily, I think; but anatta is a difficult and complex subject. That complexity may explain why it tends to get glossed over more or less peremptorily. However, I now believe that Kobutsu is right in asserting that without at least trying to understand this concept — and many others that are often not presented in the early stages — we are not “walking on the path of the awakened state of mind.”
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