Gaia's Last Laugh

A Religion is a Suit

Any given religious or spiritual tradition contains rich pockets of wisdom for us to mine. It benefits us to select a single tradition as our home base. But we play up the distinctions between our traditions and others to our detriment. 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, as I’ve been bothered by several explanations I’ve heard from Buddhists discussing the difference between the Hindu (specifically, Advaita Vedanta) philosophy of atman (True Self) and the Buddhist philosophy of anatta (no-self). They talk as if the differences were profound.

Are they?

In a nutshell, Advaita Vedanta posits that all is Brahman, but this truth is veiled by Maya (Illusion), the unfolding play of Brahman. Once we strip this illusion away, we find, not our phenomenal selves, but our True Self, or atman - which is none other than Brahman, the unfathomable consciousness. 

By contrast, the Buddhist theory of anatta holds that nothing has an abiding or inherent self; when all is stripped away, all that remains is clear, luminous, unimpeded awareness of the present moment. 

But…so what? Does this philosophical distinction have any practical impact? Consider, for example, this excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on “neti neti”, a traditional Jnana and Advaita Vedanta technique used to grok the Divine:

In Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, Yajnavalkya is questioned by his students to describe God. He states “The Divine is not this and it is not that” (neti, neti).

Thus, the Divine is not real as we are real, nor is it unreal. The divine is not living in the sense humans live, nor is it dead. The Divine is not compassionate as we use the term, nor is it uncompassionate. And so on. We can never truly define God in words. All we can say, in effect, is that “It isn’t this, but also, it isn’t that either”. In the end, the student must transcend words to understand the nature of the Divine. [Emphasis mine]

This calls to mind one of Joseph Campbell’s favorite verses from Taittiriya Upanishad:

Beyond the formative faculty an inexpressible, fearless bliss
Wherefrom words turn back,
Together with the mind, not having attained… 

Ultimately, this is of one piece with Buddhist practice, which encourages us to strip off the layers of ego and attachment so that we may directly witness that there is no such thing as an abiding, permanent self. Think of Dogen’s injunction in Fukanzazengi (Universal Recommendation for the Practice of Zazen):

You should therefore cease from practice based on intellectual understanding, pursuing words and following after speech, and learn the backward step that turns your light inwardly to illuminate your self. Body and mind of themselves will drop away, and your original face will be manifest. If you want to attain suchness, you should practice suchness without delay.

The theoretical backdrops differ, but one can forcefully argue that the end result is the same: a spiritual practice that reduces self-obsession, creates contentment, fosters compassion, and promotes fearlessness in the face of the inevitable.

There’s a lot of chatter in Buddhist circles about taking practice seriously. And we should: this is serious business. But if we’re too deeply lost in the lyrics of our own song, we risk deafening ourselves the melodies of other paths. We can become attached to our path and perspective as easily as we can to a political party or football team. A religion is a suit, an expedient means that facilitates relaxing our attachments to the world of appearances, so that we may realize what is truly important. 

Dogen Makes Sense! Some Thoughts on “Genjokoan”

Our zendo had a weekend retreat focused on Dogen’s “Genjokoan”. It was a wonderful blend of zazen and intimate textual study. (Our teacher’s talks will be posted online soon; I’ll provide links when they’re available.)

I’m sure my understanding of this text will change radically as the years progress. But after reading Okumura’s Realizing Genjokoan and attending the retreat, I came to an astounding revelation:

Dogen makes sense! 

What used to seem like a mish-mash of Zen gobbledygook is actually a brilliant text on the nature of practice. Now, “Genjokoan” is also a lyrical, complex text that does not easily yield to rational analysis. It can (and should) simply be read and absorbed and appreciated.

Given that, I see in it clear principles that apply to my daily zazen practice:

1. Don’t adhere to concepts or ideas about your practice.

The buddha way, in essence, is leaping clear of abundance and lack.

2. Don’t pursue enlightenment as if it were just another medal for your chest; recognize the human tendency to corrupt anything in the pursuit of acclaim, fame, and wealth.

Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings.

3. In fact, just forget about enlightenment altogether; even if you achieve it, you won’t notice.

Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. Its appearance is beyond your knowledge.

4. Who is this “you” who is “pursuing”, anyway? 

When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has unchanging self.

5. These thoughts and opinions you identify as “you” are merely partial perspectives in a world that is vast and deep beyond rational comprehension.

Unlike things and their reflections in the mirror, and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water, when one side is illumined, the other side is dark….

Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach.

6. This moment is what is real. The concept of “you” that you cart around dies and is reborn in every instant. It is as ash to firewood.

Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is after and the firewood before. You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes before and after and is independent of before and after. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes before and after. 

7. “You” are entwined within an interdependent network of ever-arising, ever-subsiding phenomena. And yet…

If the bird leaves the air it will die at once. If the fish leaves the water it will die at once. Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish. You can go further. There is practice-enlightenment which encompasses limited and unlimited life.

8. So just sit, dammit! Sit, and let concepts fall off and fall apart until you see nothing but sight, hear nothing but hearing, breathe nothing but breathing, and the constructed boundary between you and the world vanishes.

To study the buddha way is to study the self. To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be actualized by myriad things.

9. You are already buddha. You have inherent buddha-nature - infinite wisdom, boundless compassion. But you will never see this without putting ass to cushion. 

 If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind [awakening] is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind.