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“Buddhism II – Jewels, Paths and Dharmas”
--second in a sermon series by Rev. Brian J. Kiely
Unitarian Church of Edmonton February 3, 2007
Zen, the mystical and meditative form of Buddhism that evolved in Japan centuries after the Buddha’s death, is famous for its philosophical koans. These are parables or riddles given to students as aids to meditation, something perplexing to ponder that, once understood, may lead to enlightenment. Some of the more famous ones are: “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” and, “One day as Manjusri stood outside the gate, the Buddha called to him, "Manjusri, Manjusri, why do you not enter?" Manjusri replied, "I do not see myself as outside. Why enter?"
Last week I began the sermon with the koan, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” It suggested that anyone claiming to be the Buddha, or claiming to teach the one true path must necessarily be false. Why? The Buddha, when he arose in an enlightened state understood and is said to have uttered, “This cannot be taught, it can only be known.”
But the Buddha died some 2500 years ago after 45 years of teaching. The question for his followers was, how do we preserve his wisdom and insight for those who come later?
In part, his followers did it through story and legend. Every story we have about the Buddha, like Jesus, was written down (and very likely dreamed up) after his death. The Buddha never wrote down his teachings. But if the accounts can be believed, he felt there needed to be some way to carry on his teachings and so he organized them using simple mnemonic devices.
In fact he began right away with his own understanding. In his awakening, the Buddha discerned three universal truths:
1. Nothing is lost in the universe
However we come to be, we are still collections of molecules that have somehow been quickened. Everything that exists, decays. The leaf grows out of the earth, lives, dies and becomes soil once again. So, it is too with human beings, rocks and every other bit of matter, including souls. Nothing is ever destroyed, it is only changed. Buddhism promotes the idea of being one with everything. But since nothing is lost and everything becomes co-mingled, we truly already are one with everything at the level of matter. Nothing is lost.
2. Everything Changes
Life is like a river flowing on and on, ever-moving. Sometimes it flows slowly and sometimes swiftly. It is smooth and gentle in some places, but later becomes rough twisting around snags and tumbling over rocks cropping up out of nowhere. As soon as we think we are safe, something unexpected happens.
Once dinosaurs roamed this earth. They all died out, yet this was not the end of life. Other life forms like smaller mammals appeared, and eventually humans came, too. Now we can see the Earth from space and understand the changes that have taken place on this planet. Our ideas about life also change. Social conscience and civilization has evolved from brutal tribalism in many parts of the world. We tend to believe that the rule of law holds more promise than the law of the jungle. Everything changes.
3. Karma
The third universal truth is an extension of the law of cause and effect. Everything happens for a reason. The things that come our way whether good or bad, are things we have earned through behaviour, life and attitude. We are the cause of our own good and bad. That is karma.
We are the way we are now because of what we have done in the past. Our thoughts and actions determine the kind of life we can have. If we live generously, then in the future generosity will come to us. If we are cruel or unfeeling, cruelty and emptiness will come to us.
It is perhaps this universal truth that brings both the most peace and the most discomfort to Unitarian Universalists. Like most people we would like to believe that there is some cosmic justice at work to reward us for living well. And we also hate it when we see those who use the tools of greed to get ahead, whether it be as small as office politics or as large as political violence. We may be uncomfortable with becoming avengers ourselves, but many of us do take at least secret delight in seeing the score getting evened now and then.
Many extend this into the realm of medical health. They hold that poor attitudes can cause physical and mental illness. Perhaps there is some truth to that, but sometimes there isn’t – we just get sick. I think some of us twist the idea of karma into a justification for delighting in the misfortunes of others. And like many simply stated theological principles, the concept of karma sometimes gets stretched much farther than is reasonable. An infant dies in some unfortunate event. How could such a child have earned that fate? ‘In a past life,’ is one answer. Your karma flows through all of your existences until you shake off human desire.
I confess, I have a problem with that view, the same problem I have with an omnipotent God who creates heaven and hell. It’s too simple and convenient an explanation devised by someone who thought that having AN answer was more important than accepting the hard truth that sometimes there is no good answer. But I’ll simply state my concern, and leave it there for now. My purpose is to explore Buddhism, not challenge it.
In the end, karma is a concept designed in part to answer one of life’s most perplexing questions...why do bad things happen to good people? I don’t believe any religion has ever developed a fully satisfactory answer. Indeed, such an answer is nearly impossible, for no matter what we devise, we still have to deal with the grief and pain of the unexplained and undeserved unfair bad thing.
When the Buddha arose enlightened after his 49 days under the bodhi tree, he went into Benares, to Deer Park and met up with five former colleagues. They had broken with him angrily because he was renouncing the extreme austerities of their spiritual path. But the five listened to him and became his first disciples. This first sermon was on the Four Noble Truths.
Once there was a woman named Kisagotami, whose first-born son died. She was so stricken with grief that she roamed the streets carrying the dead body and asking for help to bring her son back to life. A kind and wise man took her to the Buddha.
The Buddha told her, "Fetch me a handful of mustard seeds and I will bring your child back to life." Joyfully Kisagotami started off to get them. Then the Buddha added, "But the seeds must come from a family that has not known death."
The Four Noble Truths:
As I mentioned last week, the whole spiritual quest of Siddhartha was triggered by his discovery of sickness, age and death. As he is reported to have said, “Life is subject to age and death. Where is the realm of life in which there is no age and death?” The Four Noble Truths were intended not as an answer, but as four premises, that once accepted could lead the listener to discovering their own enlightenment as Kisagotami would eventually do after pondering the Buddha’s challenge.
1. Dukkha: The Buddha’s first assertion may seem obvious, but it is still important as a place to begin: Suffering exists: Suffering is real and universal. Suffering has many causes: loss, sickness, pain, failure, the impermanence of pleasure. We feel these things with amazing keenness, but few of us ever stop to inquire about why such things hurt. We may ask ‘why me?’ We may even begin to touch on the cause of suffering by asking ‘Why is (fill in the blank... God, the devil...your ex...) doing this to me?’ The cause of this suffering was the Buddha’s driving issue in his own quest for enlightenment. Remember, his discovery of the religious realm came when he saw the old man, the sick man, the dead man and the begging monk rejecting the worldly path. It’s not surprising then that the existence of such suffering is his first truth.
2. Samudaya: Human desire is the cause for suffering. Our desire to have and control things causes us anxiety and pain. The easy test of this truth is the near universal story of how beings can want something so much that they can`t imagine living without it and focus all of their energy on it. The ‘it’ varies. It can be love, or a child or a tangible thing like a house or car. It can be a lifestyle we desire or a freedom from fear. It can be any want that we allow to dominate our lives. Some Buddhists would go so far as to claim that all desire is illusory, that existence is illusory, that all of this suffering in life –even death - is self-inflicted. This is a difficult truth for most people, but it is the truth that is the source of that koan I shared at the beginning of the sermon:
“One day as Manjusri stood outside the gate, the Buddha called to him, "Manjusri, Manjusri, why do you not enter?" Manjusri replied, "I do not see myself as outside. Why enter?" For him, inside, outside, any sense of physical location is an illusion.
3. Nirodha: There is an end to suffering. Suffering ceases with the final liberation into Nirvana. The mind experiences complete freedom, liberation and non-attachment. It lets go of any desire or craving. Many in the west have equated Nirvanna incorrectly with Heaven. There is no relation between the two concepts. Heaven is a reward for a life of faithfulness to God. It is said to be a place of bliss and joy and contentment.
Nirvana, by contrast is a state of consciousness where there is complete non-attachment. One is neither happy nor sad. One is free from suffering and simply in an enlightened state of peace.
4. Magga: In order to end suffering, you must follow the Eightfold Path. No good preacher ever gets the message entirely into one sermon. Buddha’s fourth truth is that the first three merely define the issues and the way to freedom from suffering. The eightfold path is a set of guidelines designed to help the seeker find their way.
THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH
One of the symbols of Buddhism is the dharma wheel, an eight spoked circle. It is fascinating how many mystical traditions in the world use the circle or the wheel as the device for describing the practice of the spiritual journey. Virtually every religion holds that spirituality is a circular path. Deepening (or expanding) one’s awareness of things outside the rational world is not linear. There is no finish line. All spiritual disciplines require the patience and practice to go round and round.
The intense moments of a spiritual awakening can’t be predicted or created by some technique. They come to us at various moments, under stars or in moments of extreme emotion. I have discussed these spiritual ‘a-ha’ moments many times. There is no pattern to them, except for the yearning afterwards to have another. Like Lay’s Potato Chips...bet ya can’t east just one!
I have never encountered a religious or spiritual form that promised that spectacular moment on demand. Instead, as with Buddhism, we tend to see practices that will put us in the right frame to cultivate, appreciate and understand the experiences when they arrive. The Buddha wandered for years deep in spiritual practice, and then he sat for 49 days before enlightenment came. He didn’t make it happen, rather he prepared himself to accept it when it did happen. That’s all we can do.
The Buddha taught the eight spoked dharma wheel as a path, as an unending process of turning that would eventually lead to Nirvana at the center. Many of the spokes on this path are almost self-evident. Many echo commands or rules from other faith traditions. They are so simple to accept, and also so difficult to practice consistently. Here they are:
1. Right View. The right way to think about life is to see the world through the eyes of the Buddha--with wisdom and compassion.
2. Right Thought. We are what we think. Clear and kind thoughts build good, strong characters.
3. Right Speech. By speaking kind and helpful words, we are respected and trusted by everyone.
4. Right Conduct. No matter what we say, others know us from the way we behave. Before we criticize others, we should first see what we do ourselves.
5. Right Livelihood. This means choosing a job that does not hurt others. The Buddha said, "Do not earn your living by harming others. Do not seek happiness by making others unhappy."
6. Right Effort. A worthwhile life means doing our best at all times and having good will toward others. This also means not wasting effort on things that harm ourselves and others.
7. Right Mindfulness. This means being aware of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Doing without thinking is empty.
8. Right Concentration. Focus on one thought or object at a time. By doing this, we can be quiet and attain true peace of mind.
This is an easy list to read, but incredibly hard to accomplish. All of us have looked for work now or in the past. When the landlord comes knocking, we want to earn money. The question of right livelihood often becomes secondary. And when one of my daughters gets me up for the third time in a night at 5 a.m., perhaps Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration are beyond me as well. The eightfold path has many detours.
Following the Path can be compared to cultivating a garden, but in Buddhism one cultivates one's own wisdom. The mind is the ground and thoughts are seeds. Deeds are ways one cares for the garden. Our faults are weeds. Pulling them out is like weeding a garden. The harvest is real and lasting happiness.
The Five Precepts
Finally, last week I did say that Buddhism was a religion without rules or creeds. As we have seen already there are truths and guidelines. As well there some precepts that seem a lot like the second half of the ten commandments. The five precepts suggest ways to live successfully and peacefully in the world.
And they are recommendations, not commandments. The only consequence to ignoring them is the risk to your own karma. Believers are expected to use their own intelligence in deciding exactly how to apply these rules.
1. Do not kill. This is sometimes translated as "not harming" or an absence of violence.
2. Do not steal. This is generally interpreted as including the avoidance of fraud and economic exploitation.
3. Do not lie. This is sometimes interpreted as including name calling, gossip, etc.
4. Do not misuse sex. For monks and nuns, this means any departure from complete celibacy. For the laity, adultery is forbidden, along with any sexual harassment or exploitation, including that within marriage.
5. Do not consume alcohol or other drugs. The main concern here is that intoxicants cloud the mind. Some have included as a drug other methods of divorcing ourselves from reality -- e.g. movies, television, the Internet.
Within Buddhism there are more lists of threes and fours and fives, but these outline the major thrust of the tradition. As a religion it largely ignores the socially controlling morality that we find in Christianity and Islam. In fact it is not a social religion at all. Rather it is a tradition of the mind and spirit that gently urges the practitioners to better themselves not by engaging with the world, but by withdrawing from it. Or, if not exactly urging us to withdraw, at least we are encouraged to disengage from it, to give the earthly realm less importance. But how we do that is up to us, for we ultimately are the cause of our own enlightenment or our own suffering.
In two weeks I will take a look at the places where Unitarian Universalism and Buddhism have overlapped in the west.
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