OLD TIME

Time goes faster the older we get because we no longer need it.

PARABLES OF THE LOTUS SUTRA

A distinctive feature of the Lotus Sutra is the use of parables. The parables contain many layers of metaphor that have inspired a wide range of interpretation. The major parables include:

•The Burning House. A man lures his children out of a burning house (Chapter 3).

•The Prodigal Son. A poor, self-loathing man gradually learns that he is wealthy beyond measure (Chapter 4).

•The Medicinal Herbs. Although they grow in the same ground and receive the same rain, plants grow in different ways (Chapter 5).

•The Phantom City. A man leading people on a difficult journey conjures an illusion of a beautiful city to give them the heart to keep going (Chapter 7).

•The Gem in the Jacket. A man sews a gem into his friend's jacket. However, the friend wanders in poverty not knowing that he possesses a gem of great value (Chapter 8).

•The Gem in the King's Top-Knot. A king bestows many gifts but reserves his most priceless jewel for a person of exceptional merit (Chapter 14).

•The Excellent Physician. A physician's children are dying of poison but lack the sense to take medicine (Chapter 16).

LOTUS SUTRA

Three principal themes dominate the Lotus Sutra. 

First, all vehicles are one vehicle.  Here, the doctrine of triyana, or "three vehicles" to nirvana is discussed.   The triyana describes people who realize enlightenment by hearing the Buddha's sermons; people who realize enlightenment for themselves through their own effort; and, lastly, people who have chosen the way of the bodhisattva, a bodhisattva being one who has postponed buddhahood in order to help others gain enlightenment. But the Lotus Sutra says that the three vehicles are one vehicle, the buddha vehicle.

The second theme is that all beings may attain buddhahood and attain nirvana.  One point of significance here is the Buddha's promise to several women that they will attain buddhahood without having to be reborn as men.  Meantime, the Buddha is presented in the Lotus Sutra as dharmakaya--the unity of all things and beings, unmanifested, beyond existence or nonexistence, unbound by time and space. Because the dharmakaya is all beings, all beings have the potential to awaken to their true nature and attain buddhahood.

The final theme is the importance of faith and devotion.  This is to say that buddhahood may not be attained through intellect alone. Indeed, the Mahayana view is that the absolute teaching cannot be expressed in words or understood by ordinary cognition.  This is why the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the significance of faith and devotion because it makes buddhahood more accessible to laypeople, who do not spend their lives in ascetic monastic practice.

In 6th century China, the Lotus Sutra was promoted as the supreme sutra by the monk Chih-i, founder of the Tiantai school of Mahayana Buddhism, called Tendai in Japan. In part through Tendai influence, the Lotus became the most revered sutra in Japan. It deeply influenced Japanese Zen and also is an object of devotion of the Nichiren school.

BUDDHA-NATURE REVISITED

When the Buddha became enlightened he realized that all beings without exception have the same nature and potential for enlightenment, and this is known as buddha-nature.  This is to say, all beings have buddha-nature because all beings have within them what is called the essence of the Buddha, this seed, which can blossom into a buddha and which constitutes one's potential for enlightenment.

Buddha-nature, also called Buddha-dhatu or Buddha Principle, (Tathagatagarbha in Sanskrit; Bussho in Japanese) is taught differently in the various Buddhist traditions.  In Chinese Ch’an Buddhism, for example, buddha-nature is seen as the essential nature of all beings.  Here, enlightenment is a process of uncovering this inherent nature.  Buddha nature is considered to be identical with transcendental reality.  It is the unity of the Buddha with everything that exists.

Tibetan Buddhism speaks of buddha nature in terms of the true nature of mind.  The true nature of mind, they say, is beyond conception, yet it is present in every object. The true nature is always here, but due to our temporary obscurations, i.e. our activities in the world, our egoic perceptions, etc., we do not recognize it.  Buddha-nature is beyond conception; it cannot be explained, cannot be encompassed by words.  Although we can say it is, for instance, clarity and vastness, we cannot see it or touch it; it is beyond expression. 

The doctrine of  buddha-nature is often associated with the Lotus Sutra and its influence on later sutras.  One of the unique themes in the Lotus Sutra, particularly in the tenth chapter titled "Teachers of the Dharma," is the assertion, again, that everyone has the ability to become a buddha, but that this ability is not limited to monks, nuns, laypeople, or bodhisattvas, but is present to other beings such as non-human creatures.  All living beings not only have the ability to become a buddha, but can be a "teacher of the Dharma" here and now.

MORE GOD: A SHORT STORY

His first contact with God was when he was a small boy, and he likened it to the moment Adam was created by God, as captured by Michelangelo in his famous painting.  His experience of it was just like that picture, where the tips of the index fingers of Adam and God are touching.

Unfortunately, that one moment, that one instance, was not enough for him.  He didn't want a peephole, as the tip of index fingers represented, but a portal to God.

The trouble was, as he grew older the outside world, if not his own developing egoic self, strangled off what little access he seemed to have to God. 

He was raised a Christian, but for him Christianity was not sufficient.  College courses he took in Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, and Taoism, filled in the gap somewhat, but again, only to a point.

He majored in psychology and that played a part, in as much as it told him why he had such a longing to begin with, why he had such a need for God.  It had something to do with his father possibly, that unsatisfactory relationship.  It was part of it at least, he convinced himself, but only one piece, and then no piece at all.

His employment after college was in theatre, film, and television, it so happened, first as a carpenter and then as a rigger.   He was intrigued by how things worked behind the scenes, what made things tick, when what he was really trying to find out was what made him tick, if not what made the world, existence tick.  He could somehow get more access to God that way maybe.

He became a novelist next, six novels to his credit, although none was published.  He didn't push hard to get his books published because they were all tales of Buddhism, or so they turned out to be, but, sadly, not particularly entertaining tales of Buddhism.  And anyway, they were not the point, as he reminded himself again and again, not what he was really trying to get at.

By the end of it all, he had achieved quite a lot in his life, experienced quite a bit, and all with a moderate amount of success.  His lack of total success was for the simple reason that none of what he had done was really him, was who he really was.  Who he really was, was Adam.  What he really wanted was God, more God.

WHY "NOW?"

We emphasize living in the present moment rather than, as we are prone to do, in the past or in the future.  But why is this so important?  When our attention is focused on the present moment, on "now," it is not all out and around but inward, and inward is the gateway to God, or to what Eckhart Tolle calls Presence.  It could just as well be called Buddha Nature, that is, "the uncreated and indestructible essence (svabhava) or 'true Self' of all beings."  In Vedanta it is Atman/Brahman.  Christians refer to it as the kingdom of God, "The kingdom of God is within you," Luke 17:21.  It is living where life actually is and what life actually is.

NO-MIND

"No-mind," in Zen, is a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything.  The word for this in Japanese is "mushin," short for "mushin no shin," meaning mind without mind.  Such a mind is compared to a still pond, which is able to reflect the moon and trees without distortion.

Highly trained martial artists are said to enter into this state of mind during combat.  They rely, in this way, not on what they "think" should be their next move, but on what their trained natural reaction is or on what they feel intuitively is the next move.  No-mind is not, however, a state of relaxed, near-sleepfulness. Rather, the mind could be said to be working at a high rate of speed but with no intentions, plans or direction. 

A demonstration of mushin or no-mind that is well known among martial artists is when a master stands on one side of a stage and a student of his stands on the other side of the stage.  The student shoots an arrow at the master's chest and the master catches the speeding arrow, in one hand, inches from the arrow's destination.  The master does not think about when he should reach for the arrow.  He just reaches.

JUST BEING

We spend most of our time replaying our past or rehearsing our future.  The present, where we actually are, where our lives are in fact taking place, we pay little attention to.  If anything, the present is an obstacle to where we really want to be, which is in the previous moment or in the next moment. 

The present moment is a place of waiting, waiting for the next memory or waiting for what is going to happen next, in the future.  Compounding the problem is how fleeting the present moment, "now," is.  Where exactly is it?  No sooner do we believe we have it than it drops into the past or slips into the future.  Or so we think.   

The solution is to not think, or to think only when we must, for practical purposes.  In Zen this is called no-mind ("mushin" in Japanese, or "mind without mind").  It's just being.  Lots of things in nature live this way, in fact most things do.  A rock just is, a tree just is, other animals just are.  And where are they?  In the present moment, "now."  And they are just fine.

BASIC FIVE

1. Attachment:  Overinvolvement in this world, having desires for things that one does not have and clinging to things one has.

2. Detachment:  Turning away from overinvolvement in the world and towards Brahman/God.

3. Karma:  The principle that governs the unfolding of events, based on the integrity with which a person has lived previous lives and is living his or her current life.

4. Moksha:  Liberation; complete release from the cycle of rebirths.

5. Samsara:  The process of successive rebirths until one reaches moksha.

ATTACHMENT/DETACHMENT

Attachment to this world, by wanting things to be different in some way, contributes to suffering. Detachment counters this and is a spiritual goal. Detachment allows one to turn more fully toward Brahman/God.

VEDANTA AND SUFFERING

In Vedanta, suffering is thought to be part of the unfolding of a person's karma, and a consequence of his or her past inappropriate action.

Suffering is also inherent in the cycles of living and rebirth.  It's simply the way existence is.

Vedic traditions promote, firstly, the acceptance of suffering as a just consequence under laws of karma; secondly, the realization that suffering is transitory and does not affect one’s true Self (Atman); and, thirdly, the view that suffering is not solely negative.  This is to say, a person may embrace suffering as a way of advancing on his or her spiritual path, a case of being tested and learning from a difficult experience.

WE ARE THE ARCHITECTS

What is the cause of the inequality that exists among humankind?  Why should one person be brought up in the lap of luxury, endowed with fine mental, moral and physical qualities, and another in absolute poverty, steeped in misery?

On the surface of it, it is the result of heredity and environment.  On a deeper level, however, it is the result of Karma.  When we say it is Karma we are saying that it is the result of our own past actions and our own present doings.  This is to say, we ourselves are responsible for our own happiness and misery. We create our own Heaven. We create our own Hell. We are the architects of our own fate.

PURPOSE OF THE WORLD

"The purpose of the world is for you to be lost in it, ultimately. The purpose of the world is for you to suffer--to create the suffering. That seems to be what is needed for (spiritual) awakening to happen.  And then once the awakening happens, with it comes the realization that suffering is unnecessary now. You have reached the end of suffering, because you have transcended the world. It (transcendence) is the place that is free of suffering. 

"This seems to be everybody's path. Perhaps it is not everybody's path in this lifetime, but it seems to be a universal path. Even without a spiritual teaching or a spiritual teacher, I believe that everybody will get there eventually. But that could take time."---Eckhart Tolle

PRESENT MOMENT

The present moment is likened to a ship at sea, and we are passengers on board.

Trailing the ship is its wake, representing the past.  The past is what used to be the present moment, now only a memory.  Since we remember what is pleasant and forget what is painful, memory is selective, hence unreliable.

Ahead of the ship is the future.  It is what will become the present moment eventually.  We experience the future as anticipation, expectation, planning, even worry, and in this way it too is selective and unreliable.  How, after all, can we possibly know what will happen to us or know what our situation will be, weeks, months, even years ahead.  We could fall ill ten minutes from now and die, all the anticipation, expectation, planning, even worry, for naught.

All there is, therefore, is the ship of the present moment.  Life is happening in this moment, in the "now."   The title of Ram Dass' book, Remember, Be Here Now, says it all.  Be here now because it's where you actually are.

NETI-NETI

In the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya is asked by his students to describe Brahman. 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 that humans live, nor is it dead. The Divine is not compassionate as we use the term, nor is it without compassion.

This is to say, we can never truly define the Divine 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.

In this sense, neti-neti is not denial per se. Rather, it is an assertion that whatever the Divine may be, when we attempt to capture it in human words, we must inevitably fall short; we are limited in our understanding, and our words are limited in their ability to express the transcendent.

Neti-neti is meant to aid one's union with the Divine.

By the way, neti-neti is not unique to Vedanta. Called apophatic or negative theology, it is also found in Greek philosophy, in Islam, in Buddhism, in Christianity, in Judaism, and in Taoism. The positive approach, called cataphatic theology, is found as well in all these philosophies and religions, including Vedanta.

THE ABSOLUTE

In Vedanta, Brahman is sometimes referred to as the Absolute, or Godhead, which is the Divine Ground of all being. 

Brahman is conceived as either impersonal ("without qualities"), or personal ("with qualities"), depending on the philosophical school.   For example, Advaita philosophy considers Brahman to be without form, qualities, or attributes, while Visishtadvaita and Dvaita philosophies understand Brahman as one with infinite auspicious qualities.

Brahman cannot be seen or heard but can be known intuitively.  This is to say that it cannot be known by empirical means, i.e. as an object of our consciousness, for it is our very consciousness and being.

It may be said, therefore, that moksha, liberation, does not mean to know Brahman intellectually.  What is meant is realizing "brahman-hood," actually grasping that one is and always was Brahman.  Indeed, in Advaita's view, a liberated human being is one who realizes Brahman as his or her own true self.

Generally, Vedanta rejects the notion of an evolving Brahman since Brahman contains within it all possible manifest phenomenal forms.

DOORWAYS

In his book In This Moment: Teachings on the Nature of Consciousness, Vedic priest Aja Thomas writes:

"If you had two doorways, a doorway to heaven and a doorway to a lecture about heaven, you would find the vast majority of people lined up before the doorway to the lecture about heaven.  Often we aren't as interested in experiencing the divine as we are in being able to 'know' about it, talk about it, and impress people with our astounding depth of information about it.

"And what if you could actually open the doors and look in? In the doorway to the lecture about heaven, you would find a room full of beautiful people, drinking organic tea, talking about Gods and Goddesses, doing energy work, singing songs, meditating together, discussing the pros and cons of various paths and spiritual techniques--generally having a great time.

"On the other hand, if you opened the door to heaven, standing outside and peering in, you would see nothing. It would appear empty, dark, and unattractive--because through that door there is nothing for the mind to know, nothing for the body to experience, no concepts or beliefs to grasp, and certainly nothing that would 'attract' our mind, unless annihilation was attractive. For to enter into the absolute is to be totally beyond the mind and ego."

WHAT IS WORTHWHILE DOING?

What is worthwhile doing? The Buddhist says that everything other than the Buddha's Path to end suffering is irrelevant, while the Vedantist argues that everything other than union with the Divine is irrelevant. Buddhism is pragmatic; Vedanta is mystical.

The Buddhist deals only with what meets the eye.  For the Vedantist, there is more than  meets the eye, so he deals with that.  The Buddhist is focused on the surface of the pond, the Vedantist on the depth of the pond.

It is all worthwhile doing.

ECKHART TOLLE

Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher and author.  He was born in Germany in 1948 and studied at the Universities of London and Cambridge.

One night in 1977, at the age of 29, after having suffered from long periods of suicidal depression,Tolle says he experienced an "inner transformation."  Going out for a walk in London the next morning, he found that “everything was miraculous, deeply peaceful. Even the traffic."  The feeling continued, and he began to feel a strong underlying sense of peace in any situation. 

Tolle stopped studying for his doctorate, and for a period of two years or so spent much of his time sitting, “in a state of deep bliss," on public benches in Central London, "watching the world go by.”  He stayed with friends, stayed in a Buddhist monastery, or otherwise "slept rough" on Hampstead Heath, a large, ancient London park.  His family thought him “irresponsible, even insane." 

Tolle changed his first name from Ulrich to Eckhart, by some reports in homage to Meister Eckhart, the German philosopher and mystic.  By other reports he was drawn to that name coincidentally.  

Later, as a counselor and spiritual teacher, he began to work with individuals and small groups. In 1995, he moved from London to Vancouver, Canada, where he now resides.

Tolle is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Power of Now (translated into 33 languages) and the highly acclaimed follow-up A New Earth, which are widely regarded as two of the most influential spiritual books of modern times.

At the core of Tolle's teachings lies the transformation of consciousness, a spiritual awakening that he sees as the next step in human evolution. A central aspect of this awakening consists in transcending the ego-based state of consciousness. This is a prerequisite not only for personal happiness but also for the ending of violence on the planet.

GRIP OF THE EGO

When every thought absorbs your attention completely, when you are so identified with the voice in your head, and the emotions that accompany it, that you lose yourself in every thought and every emotion, then you are totally identified with form and therefore in the grip of the ego---Eckhart Tolle.

SURRENDER: A SHORT STORY

Max just retired at age 66. What worried him was his fate now. Would it be the same as his next door neighbor. That man was exactly like him, a just-retired professor of thirty years. As it happened, his neighbor didn't last six months in retirement. Teaching was all he was, evidently. Take away the teaching and nothing remained. He promptly died.

No longer teaching, Max felt a vacuum in his life too. An abyss was a better word for it, something he was now dropping into in a free fall. What bothered him most about it was what was greasing the chute. It was his knowing that he had accomplished far, far more in his life than he ever believed possible, that he had an education to be envied, had all the possessions he ever wanted, had plenty of friends, had lots of romance, had all kinds of adventures all around the world; there was nothing more he could think of that he wanted to do or have.  He didn't need to live any longer.

Writing a book, taking up a hobby, doing volunteer work, all these were a possibility at this point, he supposed, except that he had done them all already. There was always watching television for the rest of his life, like his parents did, but what good was this?

"Death is next for me, and the sooner the better," he waved all of a sudden.  Was this his neighbor's feeling, too?

But then the question occurred to him, who exactly was it that was ready to die?  Was it his egoic self perhaps?  Certainly it was. And this entity, recalling his studies of eastern philosophy, was an illusion, a phantom. Was he going to pack it all in for this smoke and mirrors?

It was then that the words of spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle came to mind.  Tolle was responding to a person wanting to commit suicide. Max felt like committing suicide too, if not by blowing his brains out, at least by crawling into a corner and sleeping an end to it all.

Tolle said that he highly recommended surrendering to the present moment, suicidal feelings and all.  Don't demand that the moment be any different than the previous moment, he said.  It is what it is.  Complete acceptance of the moment the way it is, is dying before you die, in effect.  The man-made self, the ego dies in such surrender.  Try it, he said.  See for yourself.  You will find peace, a peace that passes all understanding.  Which means you've died.  The ego has dissolved.

Max recalled, then, that the dissolution of the ego was the launching point for all higher levels of spiritual consciousness.  What could be wrong with that?  He felt better already.

SPIRITUAL DEBRIS

Spiritual debris is everything that is transient about a person, everything that is time-bound and will die.  In Vedanta, this debris is called kosha.  It refers to the five sheaths, or coverings, that are located one within the other, enveloping the Atman. 

Beginning with the outermost sheath, they are:

(1)  Annamaya-kosha, the gross physical sheath, which is nourished by food. 

(2)  Pranamaya-kosha, is the subtle or vital sheath, which energizes and holds together body and mind.  As long as this vital principle exists in the organism, life continues.  The gross manifestation of this sheath is breath. 

(3)  Manomaya-kosha, is the sheath of mind, which receives sense impressions.

(4)  Vijnanamaya-kosha, the sheath of intellect, refers to the faculty that discriminates or wills.

(5)  Ananadamaya-kosha, the sheath of bliss (the ego or causal body), is so called because it is nearest the blissful Atman.

The Atman remains separate from the sheaths and is unaffected by their properties.  It is timeless and never dies.  Everything else is so much dust in the wind.

SPIRITUAL ATTRACTION

The Atman--who a person is really--is drawn to Brahman like the needle of a compass is drawn to a magnet.  This attraction leads ultimately to the awakening of the Atman into Brahman, called moksha or liberation in Vedanta.

The trouble comes when the compass that is the Atman is covered in dust and dirt, which is the empirical or egoic self.  Accordingly, the Atman's draw to the Brahman is lessened, which delays its destiny or halts it altogether.

Spiritual practice (sadhana), especially meditation, enables one to sweep away the debris that is the egoic self, making it possible for the Atman to find and, soon enough, unite with Brahman.

JUST ONE STEP

Ramakrishna said, if you take one step toward God, God takes a hundred steps toward you.