What's In Your Mind?

Oh NO, NOT religion!

Reading the Celestine Prophecy has made me somewhat restless. I write to my friend Sasha from New York, who I suspect is "on to something": last time we met, he was just back from a week-end with, said he, "a very good teacher", and the week-end seemed to have on him an effect similar to that which this book has just had on me now, so I feel I should give it a shot! I understand that by teacher, he means "teacher of life", "wise man", i.e. someone who could somehow help me understand further "what this is all about". I ask him: "So, who is that teacher you mentioned?"

He sends me an internet link. I click on the link and…. What a shock! I think: "Oh NO, NOT religion! This can’t be!" The link points to Lama Ole Nydhal, a Buddhist teacher from Denmark who has greatly contributed to bringing Tibetan Buddhism into the West, by setting up many buddhist centers there. Never did I suspect that his "teacher" would have had anything to do with religion. Moment of panic. So, is this where the "path" leads to then? Religion…? Is this where it all ends up? I am appalled at what is going on, almost ashamed, wish I had not started seeking….

However, I get over my aversion for anything religious, and decide to give it an honest try, as, after all, I know nothing about Buddhism: I order from Amazon the book from Lama Ole Nydhal that he recommends...

As you think, so you become

Thought Power could be renamed: The 1,001 ways to say "As you think, so you become" ;-), but the author’s insistence on that one idea actually gives me an incredible insight about what to do next, how to progress on the spiritual path. I must say that until now, my general feeling was that I was a pretty accomplished individual, having excelled in the educational system and being somewhat of a good athlete, i.e., in my words, having "mastered the intellectual and the physical". So it never occurred to me that anything additional was needed, that there really was any way to grow further.

What I realize is that, the same way I have learnt to master my intellectual capabilities in school, and my physical capabilities through exercise, something I need to gain control of (because I can see that I have very little control over it!) is… my thoughts! i.e. what is going on in my head all the time, the little voice in my head saying "this sucks", "I am bored", "this guy is an idiot", "I’m a loser", "Is love fading away?", etc, as I move through life. I realize that, indeed, most of the time I have no control over what is going on in my head! Shattering realization!

The Way Things Are

I receive that Buddhist book The Way Things Are and start reading it. What a surprise! It does not feel "religious" at all (from my early memories of Catholicism). On the contrary, it reads like a guide on how to live a more harmonious, more joyous life! Pretty much everything sounds reasonable, and, in fact, it spells out my personal secret wisdom (e.g. "we are all One", what you see is what you are, etc) but goes much further and deeper.

I am quite stunned that what is written in this book resonates so easily with me while I HAVE NEVER HAD ACCESS TO SUCH KNOWLEDGE (despite pretty extensive schooling)!! But it maybe that, if you had told me a year ago to read a Buddhist book, I would have yawned... I start wondering why these kinds of things are not taught in school, or by our parents, and start realizing that there must be a vast expanse of such knowledge already written that I have not accessed yet...

The 3 ways to deal with disturbing emotions

One piece that I really find useful and insightful in The Way Things Are (bullets are mine):

"How to deal with disturbing emotions? Buddha advises a concerted three-step attack on this imaginary but tough enemy.

• First, one should avoid circumstances known to bring about unwanted feelings.
• If that is not possible, one is wise to focus on their impermanent condition and changing nature: as a certain disturbing mental state was not present earlier and will soon be gone again, it would be nonsense to act it out, thus laying the seeds for future trouble.
• The highest level is not giving power to unwanted feelings by "letting the thief come into an empty house". Here, one stays strictly with what is in front of one’s nose and neither acknowledges nor identifies with any disturbance. As this succeeds, one realizes, ever more consciously and with growing amazement and joy, that painful mind-states do not just vanish into nothingness but actually reappear (…) as insights beyond ego."

We are what we think

As I truly enjoyed The Way Things Are, I buy Teachings of the Buddha for another dose of Buddhist wisdom. Buddha seems to concur with Sivananda. He writes:

"We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable."

First visit to a Buddhist meditation center

I just went for the first time to the Diamond Way meditation center to take part in their regular guided meditation. Hmm, what to think of it? Of course, nothing "extraordinary" happened... (how can I not compare with my own recent peak experiences, last July and August?)

My friend Sasha recommends that I attended a meditation retreat with Lama Ole Nydhal, to get another true taste of the mountaintop… I register to one in April in San Francisco, and one in May in Texas.

Tonglen meditation

On my way to Tokyo for my last business trip, I try Tonglen meditation for the first time (as described in Pema Chodron's book When Things Fall Apart, P. 93-97, a highly recommended reading by the way) and have a smashing experience, another deluge of clarity and bliss (buckets of joy and rivers of insights).

Here is how Tonglen goes: with each breath in, you mentally take in one of the sufferings of the world that you know about (a pain you or a loved one has, or one of the world’s sufferings), and, with each breath out, you breathe out joy, comfort, light, etc (whatever can alleviate the suffering). You go on and on like this, "vacuuming" the world of all sufferings!

I got entranced, in a state of deep concentration, "vacuuming" like this for almost an hour (there is so much suffering to breathe in!). My heart was getting bigger and bigger, I was feeling totally purified. It also brought me a river of insights on how I can indeed be of service to the world and alleviate its sufferings. I filled pages and pages of notes in my journal, it was incredible. I’ll do it again…

The Way Things Are (2)

I re-read The Way Things Are, the first book I read on Buddhism. I am now able to grasp its meaning much more profoundly than I did back in July last year. It makes me realize that spiritual writings are characterized by several layers of DEPTH, which reveal themselves to you gradually as you progress on the spiritual path... (This starts giving me the idea to re-read the Christian stuff... I suppose I would be able to see that towards which it points now?) Some of my favorite bits:

"Unenlightened beings miss their innate perfection because of basic ignorance. This state may be understood as consisting of four or two veils. In the former case, one distinguishes between basic ignorance, the disturbing feelings arising from it, the clumsy actions which follow, and the unpleasant results and short-sighted habits which propel one into further harm. According to the second view, constantly changing states of mind are one’s first obstacle. (…) The second hindrance is stiff ideas and the narrowing of experience through concepts."

"The finger pointing to the moon is not the moon, and words and ideas are only the shadow of experience."

"Harmful people are more confused than evil and, while a few minutes in their company is trying to others, they have to live with themselves day and night. Hurting them in addition to such suffering would be unsportsmanlike. Instead, it is wise to give any difficult situation lots of space, learn from it for the later benefit of all, and then quickly let it go."

"Seeing beings as attractive and meaningful brings only good, while searching for their faults produces spiritual poverty."

"Information moves slowly from the head to the heart, from thoughts to experience."

"Buddha said: "Don’t believe anything just because a Buddha told you, but check everything for yourselves. See if the teachings fit with your experience and be your own guiding lights"."

"One no longer needs to hope for a good film; one owns the cinema and can play what one wants."

The finger and the moon, the river and the raft

One of the most used metaphors in Buddhism (especially Zen Buddhism) is that of the finger and the moon. It warns against mistaking the finger which points to the moon, i.e. your teacher, guru, teaching, religion, etc, and the moon, i.e. that towards which the finger points (enlightened state, Buddha-nature, God-consciousness, etc). Another popular metaphor for it is the river and the raft: once you have crossed to the other shore, you don’t need the raft anymore.

As I start to mingle with "spiritual circles" (especially Buddhists), I am actually surprised at how many of them do not seem to have integrated this most basic teaching, which says: do not cling to the teaching! To my amazement, a number of the Buddhists I meet, from this or that particular flavor of Buddhism, seem convinced that their particular chosen path (not only Buddhism but their particular school, or teacher!) is the only path -- and do not understand what I mean with my finger and moon parable.

I suppose it is not dissimilar to the phenomenon of transference in psychotherapy...

On teaching: my favorite Zen story!

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. The true master doesn’t need words!

"Many pupils were studying meditation under the Zen master Sengai. One of them used to arise at night, climb over the temple wall, and go to town on a pleasure joint.
Sengai, inspecting the dormitory quarters, found this pupil missing one night and also discovered the high stool he had used to scale the wall. Sengai removed the stool and stood there in its place.
When the wanderer returned, not knowing that Sengai was the stool, he put his feet on the master’s head and jumped down into the grounds. Discovering what he had done, he was aghast.
Sengai said: "It is very chilly in the early morning. Do be careful not to catch cold yourself."
The pupil never went out at night again."