What's In Your Mind?

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."

Helpful, skillful, selfless

In The Celestine prophecy: an experiential guide, I think it was, I found this "benchmark" which I find quite handy: before you say or do anything, make sure it fulfills the 3 following criteria:

• it is HELPFUL (vs. harmful)
• it is SKILLFUL (vs. unskillful)
• it is SELFLESS (vs. self-centered).

Otherwise: ABSTAIN.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

I'm in Paris today on a business trip, hanging out with my oldest friend David. David has been a fan of the Beatles forever, and, together, we watched Anthology, the 10-hour-long video documentary on the Beatles. We couldn't stop! This documentary is a breathtaking dive into the soul of the 60's, rock 'n' roll, psychedelics, hippies, etc. I realize for the first time how "spiritual" their whole endeavor was, especially after Bob Dylan had them try marijuana for the first time in August 1964. A few excerpts:

"It's getting better all the time"

............

"There, there's a place
where I can go
when I feel low
when I feel blue
And it's my mind
and there's no time
When I'm alone"

............

"We were talking
about the space between us all
and people who hide themselves
behind a wall of illusion,
never glimpse the truth
then it's far too late
when they pass away"

............

"Turn off your mind, relax
and float down stream (...)
Lay down all thought
Surrender to the void (...)
That you may see
The meaning of within (...)
That love is all
And love is everyone"

............

"All you need is love"

Etc, each and every song is literally soaked in Spirit! Their last words:

"And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make".

More on the Beatles and spirituality, and George Harrison and spirituality. But better still: listen to their songs...

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."

Know who you are: a Zen story

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:

"The Zen master Hakuin was praised by his neighbors as one living a pure life.
A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near him.
Suddenly, without any warning, her parents discovered she was with child.
This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.
In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say.
After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child.
He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the little one needed.
A year later the girl-mother could not stand it any longer. She told her parents the truth - that the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.
The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask his forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back again.
Hakuin was willing. In yielding the child, all he said was: "Is that so?""

When you know yourself, you do not feel the need to defend yourself when you are being criticized. Your truth you will not find outside of yourself, and especially not in anyone’s opinion! When you know who you are, what people say has no importance. Even if the entire world says something that goes against your own experience, you may want to just laugh about it. But do not try in any case to change people’s opinions. Who are they? They don’t know themselves and try to put a label on you. On the contrary, when you know yourself, you can say: "I am what I am, and this is what I am going to be".

Are you still carrying her?

Another Zen story that I like, from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:

"Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.
Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.
"Come on, girl", said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.
Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple.
Then he no longer could restrain himself. "We monks don't go near females," he told Tanzan, "especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?"
"I left the girl there," said Tanzan. "Are you still carrying her?""