The Buddha Times

Vol. 12. February 9, 2021

Jack Kerouac wrote, “Happiness doesn’t come from coddling the senses, but from cultivating the mind. Buddhahood is the way. I’m not gonna be fooled anymore. I’m here to stick to my sweet tathagata.”

How do we achieve happiness? How do we cultivate the mind? Here’s some advice from a 9th century Tibetan manuscript found in a dusty cave on the Silk Road in Dunhuang.

“Straighten your back. Don’t say anything. Turn away from the senses, and observe your mind. Do not conceptualize anything. Once you have sat for a long time, the mind will stabilize.”

It sounds easy, and it is. But our minds have a nasty habit of conceptualizing stuff. We rarely reach a level of clarity. We pollute sensory input with names and labels. We get lost in our concepts, and we mistake conceptual reality for truth.

Bob Dylan said, “All the truth in the world adds up to one big lie.”

Last night, I had moment of clarity.

Just before I tucked into bed, I looked out my window to a church across the street. Some winter wanderer was camping out in front of the church doors. The temperature was near zero.

I couldn’t very well go to sleep in a warm bed knowing someone was sleeping in the cold outside my door. I had my jammies on. What was I to do? I faced a moral dilemma.

I … it’s always I. (I hate that. It’s all about me. My comfort.)

I called the police. They checked on the person. They put him in the squad car and drove off, presumably to a homeless shelter.

I slept peacefully knowing I helped a fellow human being in need. But I woke up in a reflective mood.

Clarity is non-conceptual

Why is it all about me? My comfort? The Buddha said anatman, there is no self. The realization of a homeless person freezing at my feet broke through my self-centered ego. My ego consciousness is so thick that it took a pitiful sight to rend my heart open and pour out a cup of compassion.

In compassion, there is no ego. There is only unity.

That person freezing outside was not some stranger in the night. It was you and me. There is no difference between subject and object. A guy looking out a window and a guy freezing like a flag pole outside the window are the same guy.

Clarity is non-conceptual. If I got stuck in the concept “me/him,” the sun would have rose on a cold corpse outside a church door.

Non-conceptualization erases subject-object duality.

It makes you feel happy.

That’s why I’m not gonna be fooled anymore.

Buddhahood is the way.

I’m sticking to my sweet tathagata.

Vol. 11. January 9, 2021

The Washington Post summarized the events of January 6, 2021 in a memorable headline: Pro-Trump Mob Storms Capitol. 

The rioters disrupted congressional lawmakers who were mulling over the counting of Electoral College votes. 

The violence left five people dead and a nation in shock. 

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), echoing FDR, called it a second day in American history which will live in infamy.

But Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL.) got to the heart of the matter. He questioned, “Are we going to feed the beast of ignorance (and) lie to the American people? We saw that beast here today, roaming these halls, and we won’t welcome it back.”

The insanity of ignorant humanity is not confined to the selfish desires of a president who cannot accept defeat, nor to the mob of thugs he incited and invited to the desecrate the sacred halls of Congress. Its present in all of us. 

A crazy quilt of dark impulses lurks within the human heart. It’s part of what we are.

It’s the part that flees from wisdom, and feasts on ignorance.

Ignorance is Enlightenment Reversed. But do not be mistaken. In highest truth, there is no difference between Ignorance and Enlightenment. Both abide in Universal Oneness. 

Call it what you want — God, the Dharmakaya, Allah, Emptiness, the Absolute — but names are arbitrary conceptions of the One. 

The One is available at any time, free of charge, no money down, through meditation.

Whoever obtains a direct realization of the Buddha Mind, thereby understanding the real form and real appearance of things, experiences the One.

Oneness

As long as we think we will be enlightened by our own efforts, instead of Universal Oneness, we are lost in whimsical thoughts.  

Mind and Form are One. Absolute Reality is the Grand Oneness.

One means one, not two. Reality is one, not two. 

To impose duality on Universal Oneness causes unnecessary suffering for yourself and others. Stop the insanity!

Let Universal Oneness be. Then a happiness will wash over you. A happiness not caused by your own effort. But a happiness that has always been there. A happiness with no beginning and no end. A bliss of knowing that our lives are dreams from which the dreamer awakes. 

If we fail to see that all things exist as One, we go on dreaming.

Buddhas wake up from the dream. 

Buddhas enter the Halls of Nirvana. 

Dreamers enter the Halls of Congress. 

But in the end, both Halls are One.

Vol. 10. December 8, 2020

And lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not. For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you was born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger.”

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven. And peace to people on earth.” Luke, Ch 2.9-14

In Christian belief, Jesus experienced a virgin birth.
In Buddhist belief, the Buddha also experienced a virgin birth.

Jesus and the Buddha, of course, where both born physically. They were humans just like you and me. So why are their birth stories depicted as non-physical? Because virgin birth is a metaphor. Virgin birth symbolizes the birth of the spiritual life.

In Buddhism, we give birth to the spiritual life when we realize there is no individual in matter.

The dualism of Ignorance and Enlightenment made this world. Beyond that is the realm of the Buddha, the indescribable void.

There’s no individual you suffering in samsara. There’s no individual you entering nirvana.

The Buddha neither makes the world nor destroys it. He is beyond the chain of causation.

Ignorance and Enlightenment are merely words representing the absence of the other.

In reality, All is one. All is empty. All is the diamond crystalline void.

Non-duality

The Buddha abides in non-duality, free from arbitrary conceptions, like Jesus/Buddha, hot/cold, enlightenment/ignorance, birth/death.

Dualism made the world. But it took place in the Buddha’s womb. In that womb, ignorance and enlightenment exist due to our conceptual battle. In truth, they are empty. As are we.

Sentient beings, imprisoned in form, dead in dualism, ignorant of enlightenment, do not realize all things are different forms of the same thing, which is empty, yet full, yet neither, yet both.

Selfhood is a product of karma. Selfhood is a Thanksgiving leftover, a wood chip hacked off a chopped down Christmas tree. Selfhood is automatically produced by karma.

When a Black man is gunned down in the streets of Chicago, he leaves an imprint that makes President Joe Biden. Some person died long ago and that cheerful, intelligent spirit gave form to me. But there is no individual in matter.

There’s only the Unity. The Undisturbed Unity.

The Don’t-Worry-All-Is-Well Wonder of the Universe.

That’s the virgin birth.

That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Vol. 9. November 9, 2020

On March 4, 1865, with the end of the Civil War in sight, Abraham Lincoln addressed the nation: “With malice toward none, with charity for all … let us … bind up the nation’s wounds.”

It seems as if America has been through another Civil War. The Election of 2020 has left America bitterly divided. Feelings are raw. Hatred goes deep. Misunderstanding rules the day. Opposing sides can’t talk to each other. If they communicate at all, they argue.

It’s a sad state of affairs. Buddhism calls it suffering in samsara.

Enduring images of the last four years include children ripped away from mothers at the border, Black people murdered in the streets, protesters gassed, immigrants banned, allies alienated, science dismissed, women belittled, empathy obliterated. In a word, Cruelty.

The better angels of our nature don’t do that. But humans suffering samsara do. America needs to heal. How can Buddhism help bind up the wounds of our nation?

Easy. Good moral behavior.

Rock bottom Buddhist morality boils down to five things: Don’t lie. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Don’t misuse sexuality. And don’t use intoxicants.

Think of where America could be if she hadn’t had a deafening stream of lies for the last four years. [Let alone the sex scandals, the blood shed over race, and the bilking of money by corruption.]

Compassion

The Five Precepts are basic morality for any Buddhist. But for those hearts who want to go one step further there is compassion. The term literally means “suffering with” people in the sorrows of samsara. Bodhisattvas do it. And so can we.

Instead of insults, offer compliments. Instead of hoarding wealth through tax cuts, share the wealth with those in dire need.

Compassion resets the moral compass away from selfish desires and toward selfless concerns. People hurting need love, not cruelty.

Why get mad at anything when all things are empty? Why hate anybody when all people are equally loved? Why suffer in samsara when we are all becoming Buddhas?

Gentle behavior and mild speech is not a teahead vision of reality. It’s the way of the Buddhas.

On March 4, 1861, desperately hoping to avoid a terrible Civil War, Lincoln addressed the nation with an impassioned plea:

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

His word didn’t work then. But they might work now.

Especially if one follows the path of the Buddhas.

Vol. 8. October 9, 2020

Euripides once wrote, “When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”

My friends, a presidential election is upon us. The result is sure to cause suffering for some, and happiness for others.

But the result of the election has already been decided by karma — the law of cause and effect.

Karma is predetermined and unchangeable. Karma is immutable reality. It’s inescapable.

Karma comes in two flavors. Short term karma is instant. Be a bitch and some person will be bitchy back to you. Long term karma ripens in a future lifetime.

Seeds planted by the two presidential candidates in previous lifetimes will come to fruition in November.

Whether short or long term, all karma operates according to one principle: do good get good, do bad get bad.

Karma comes from a Sanskrit term meaning “deeds, actions.”

Our deeds are rooted in ignorance. Our actions are based on habitual mental patterns that repeat daily in our lives.

And those actions will reoccur in our future lives. The fruit of our deeds is inescapable.
But is it?
How can we escape karma?

Meditate.

Be the Mirror

Our whole lives we perform actions in front of a mirror.

We accumulate karma without even thinking about it. We ignore not only the result of our actions, but the mirror itself.

The mirror is the mind in meditation.

Don’t jump up and down in front of the mirror like an idiot.

Be the mirror. Meditate.

Be reflective. Be calm. Be present to the moment. Observe each action without judgement.

In meditation, we are free of karma. We are in nirvana.

Buddhas dwell in nirvana. Buddhas see suffering as nirvana because Buddhas are in a constant state of meditation.

If we can maintain our meditation throughout the election, then whoever is elected president we will not suffer.

It may be true that honeyed words from an evil mind can persuade the mob and cause great woe to the state.

But I doubt Euripides ever meditated.

Vol. 7. September 2, 2020

Shakespeare described an image for this time of year: “The whining schoolboy, with his satchel, and shining morning face, creeping like snail, unwillingly to school.”

If Shakespeare were to update his school supply list, he would add a face mask and hand sanitizer.

One issue facing Americans today is should we open schools during a pandemic.

Of course, the issue is not should we open schools, but is it safe to open schools?

Unfortunately for us, to answer the question throws us into one of two political camps.

Buddhism would phrase the quandary this way:
As soon as one thought arises, you fall into dualism.

Samsara is the dualistic world. This swirling vortex of pleasure versus pain, man versus woman, right versus wrong, life versus death. Human beings, trapped in samsara, helplessly flail between polar opposites.

Attachment to one position causes suffering.

Even clinging to the polar illusion of life causes suffering.

How do we escape suffering in samsara? Meditate.

The Diamond Sutra advises, “Develop a mind that rests on nothing whatsoever.”

Including your self.

No Self

The Buddhist monk Nagasena said to King Milinda, “Resulting from my hair, nails, teeth, skin, bones, internal organs, blood, sweat, tears, brain, sensations, perceptions and consciousness, there is that which goes under the term, designation and name of Nagasena. But in the strict sense, there is no individual in that matter.”

Whoever perceives a self in matter is traveling the wrong path.

There are no schoolchildren. There is no you. There is only all-pervading spotless beauty.

Call it the Dharmakaya. Call it Buddha-nature. Call it the Uncreated Absolute. But names mislead. Designations distract. Rather, rest content in Undisturbed Oneness.

Then everywhere your foot may fall is a sanctuary for enlightenment.

Even wending your way unwilling to school.

Vol. 6. August 6, 2020

P. G. Wodehouse once wrote, “It was a lovely day of blue skies and gentle breezes. Bees buzzed, birds tootled, and squirrels bustled to and fro, getting their suntan in the sunshine. In a word, all nature smiled.”

Ah, Summer!

What is it about summer that causes artists to rhapsodize? The clement weather? The happy sunshine? The soft breezes?

Buddhism blames it on the Six Harmonies.

The five senses, plus thought, apprehend the world of nature. The eyes see green trees. The ears hear birdsong. The nose smells flowers. The skin feels ants crawling on one’s bare feet. The tongue tastes an ice cream cone.

The mind thinks, “Ah, Summer!”

Thoughts, sights, sounds, flavors, odors and sensations blend together seamlessly, harmoniously, to give the impression of a beautiful, substantial world out there.

But it’s all an illusion. Anything grasped by the six senses resembles an illusion. At a fundamental level, all things are impermanent, and therefore, empty.

The reason why a summer sunset, or a relationship, is so beautiful is because it’s here today and gone tomorrow.

The Six Harmonies trick us into believing the world is separate from us. That it’s something we can divide, analyze, judge, classify, admire and adore.

But we are no different from it. We are it.

All things are different forms of the same thing.

Buddhism calls that “thing” the Dharmakaya.

The Dharmakaya

The Dharmakaya is the unity of all things existing.

Wisdom is to see the shadows of the Six Harmonies as the unity of the Dharmakaya.

We glimpse it though meditation.

Buddhas come into the world and immediately grab shovels to rid themselves of intellectual crap and emotional garbage so they can perceive the pure Dharmakaya.

While we’re sitting around on a lazy summer afternoon, Buddhas are busy shoveling rubbish out of their minds.

When we do the same, we let meditation achieve its victory.

We are at one with all things existing.

We can then behold a beautiful summer day and sense that … all nature smiled.

Even you.

Vol. 5. July 5, 2020

Any transition is difficult. I recently got married, about a year ago. The transition from bachelorhood to married life has been not a bed of roses.

Adjusting to new sights, new smells, and new messes tests the limits of patience and forgiveness.

For a tidy guy to see wet towels strewn across the bathroom floor twists the tender soul into contortions. For a vegetarian to smell the odious odors of roasting carcasses in the kitchen turns the stomach.

Marriage, I’ve concluded, is a spiritual exercise.

How does a Zen Buddhist approach the bands of bliss? Like a koan.

A koan is a paradox. Paradox comes from two Greek words. “Para” meaning beyond, and “dokein” meaning thought. A koan is beyond thought.

I approach my wife and our marriage as a problem that cannot be solved through rational thinking.

I just let her be. I just let the whole thing be. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. I can’t control it.

But when I slow down, and meditate … the towels don’t bug me anymore. The roasting meat … I open a window. The constant noise chatter … eventually fades.

They’re just sights. They’re just sounds. They’re just smells. The mind in meditation is not attached to form.

Forms are empty. Clinging to forms creates suffering for ourselves and those around us.

Life is a Koan

Zen master Hukuin (d. 1769) once said, “Let your whole life be a meditation cushion. Let the entire universe be your personal meditation cave.”

Approach life as a koan. Life is problem that can’t be solved through rational thinking.

Life exists in a way too marvelous for us to comprehend. Just rid yourself of conceptual thinking and you will have accomplished everything.

Would I recommend marriage?

Only if you decapitate yourself at the altar. Get your head out of the way.

Let it be. Meditate.

Then any transition is an easy one.

Vol. 4. June 10, 2020

Tennessee Williams once wrote: “Life is an unanswered question. But let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.”

The most lethal conflict in American history was the Civil War. 620,000 citizens died in four years.

In the current pandemic, more than 100,000 citizens have died in about 100 days.

To get a sense of the enormity of this tragedy, I spent a while in contemplation in Calvary Cemetery.

In Calvary, the diamonds of 80,000 dead egos lie underground, their lives celebrated in carved stones above. City fathers, former teachers, past parents, holy men and women. Chalices of emptiness.

The Victorian landscape weeps with ornate statues, sad crypts and mournful monuments.

Everything is bleak and silent. Seemingly in motion, seemingly still. Seemingly dead, seemingly alive.

Crickets crawl on the granite carved tags. Nameless names. Faceless faces. Lifeless lives. Deathless deaths.

“Oh, temporary aggregates, transient compounds bound to disintegrate and disappear, weep not for we are all embodiments of emptiness.

“I am not alive, anymore than you are dead.

“Do your dead ears hear the red robins singing?

“Do mine?”

Sitting in a Graveyard

Too weary to worry about the world,

Too enlightened to take anything seriously,

But holy emptiness,

Temporarily thirsty in a shared desert of form,

Vying with this communion of saints,

I wonder: Who is more empty? Who is more silent? Who is more happy? Me or the dead?

“Life is an unanswered question. But let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the question.”

More than 100,000 people started out this year thinking they would be living this summer. They’re gone.

But were we ever here?

Vol. 3. May 9, 2020

Well, here we are, cooped up in Corona Town. There is no sports, little entertainment, no contact with friends. What have we gotten ourselves into?

We’re boxed up in four walls, dreading our neighbors, fighting fake news, fearing for our lives.

Is that any kind of life?

We are … The Lonely.

There’s an old Twilight Zone episode where a prisoner is placed on an asteroid nine million miles from Earth. Desperately lonely, he yearns to be pardoned. He longs to return to human society. Astronauts visit him only once every four months with supplies.

On one visit, he is given a humanoid robot. Alisha talks to him, keeps him company and empathizes with his situation. He falls in love with “her.”

He finds happiness with her. He tastes a contentment and satisfaction unlike any he has ever known in his life. The long hours of solitude pass like minutes as he pours out his heart to his robotic wife. Bliss among the stars.

The astronauts return with good news. The man has been pardoned! But he has to return immediately, without the robot, or forever stay on the asteroid.

What would you do?

You have all you need in solitary confinement. You have love and robotic companionship.

Do you abandon the love of your life for human society?

Nirvana

We have been given a rare opportunity, unlike any other in modern American history. We’re separately together. Can we find happiness on our own private asteroid?

Zen Master Dogen (d. 1255) once said, “If you can’t find enlightenment right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?”

The beautiful Buddha world is spread upon the Earth, but we do not see it. Why? We let our little mind get in the way. Our anxieties, our fears, our frustrations.

Let it go. Meditate.

If you seek for nirvana, you lose it.

If you let go, nirvana finds you.

Even in Corona Town.