Seeking awakening outside of the mind is as futile as trying to grasp the void.
Think about it. Emptiness is just a concept, an idea. It’s not a something. It’s a lack of something. We can hold something, grab it, pick it up, toss it around. Can you hold voidness?
Now that I’ve said that, some Keanu Reeves mofo somewhere is sitting in half-lotus pondering, “Dude, how can I hold the void?”
Someone punch him in the nose, please.
Cold isn’t the opposite of hot, it’s the absence of heat. Dark isn’t the opposite of light, it’s the lack thereof. Celibacy isn’t the opposite of getting it on, it’s that Natalie Portman won’t return my phone calls.
There’s a classic gatha that Bodhidharma recites for us:
Only the mind is Buddha,
Only Buddha is the mind;
Buddha exists not outside of the mind,
Mind exists not outside of Buddha.
Awakening is within your self. Buddha, Nirvana, all that stuff. Here’s the catch though. They’re all empty. They are all fingers pointing at the moon. Let’s say that through some fancy robes & incense ritual, you gained some level of understanding. Was that understanding in the robes & ritual? What was there before and what is still there after?
On the other hand, there’s a trend in American Zen for rebellion, especially against traditions that existed in Asia for the centuries but the not in the West. These iconoclasts automatically reject things like robes, chanting, bowing to statues, shaving heads, even the precepts, as idiocy, as foolishness systematized and set up by those not truly awakened. They look to teachers like Bodhidharma & say he agrees with them, but in reality, they are fooling themselves just as much as those who say you have to chant this way, and do this ritual, and wear this funny hat.
So where does that leave us?
Turning everything on its head.
5 comments:
Well, I would think that the enlightenment is just as easily attainable without the ritual. However, it is ritual and community that, I believe, allows one to feel harmonic with the company of their fellow people.
Allowing a monotone chant (or music) to enter your mind and propel the soul is the most spiritual event (or non-event) that I experience in life. Now, that may stand to reason that if I am not playing my drums, is that an absence of the musician OR the absence of the music itself?
Sometimes the best way to look at the situation is upside down.
- Shaun
Ritual or no ritual. There are many roads but only one Way.
I agree with Shaun that enlightenment should be attainable without the ritual. Anyone who says, "this is the way you have to do it, and if you don't, you're wrong/it won't work," only limits their own experiences. Ritual is an experience that helps to teach the history and beliefs of a religion; it provides a starting point for those who need it. Additionally, many (most) individuals do not begin their practice with the perseverance they require to move forward. Practicing rituals allows them to explore and grow at whatever pace they need, adding depth to their experience as they are ready.
Maybe it's not what they need, though. Maybe it's just what they want to make themselves more comfortable.
I want a funny hat.
with brush, ink, paper / we drew lines and circles / each seeking perfection / and each so perfect / in its perfection seeking
Post a Comment