The Buddhist Tradition
Q: I believe, as one famous teacher has proclaimed, that truth is a pathless land and that all forms of rituals and conventions that come with orthodox religions just weigh the truth down and keep it in the mundane. For this reason, even though Buddhist ideology strongly appeals to me, it is a path I steer away from.
A: Do you steer away from other religions as well?
Q: Indeed.
A: Where has all this determined steering gotten you? Are you free? Are you on your way to freedom? Or at least can you say you are now committed to a practice that turns you away from the negative patterns of living that entangle and enslave you? In short, are you becoming freed up?
Q: No, I can’t truthfully say that I’m becoming freed up.
A: Then maybe something critical is missing. I don’t doubt your interest or sincerity, but I have noticed other intelligent people like yourself who want to overlook the ground-level aspects of spiritual development. You are just too high-minded, too idealistic. Don’t we need a ground to build upon? In your hypothesis, where is the ground from which you can attain what you aspire to?
We just don’t wake up to the truth of the nature of the universe. In fact, if this realization occurred suddenly, with no foundation and preparation, we wouldn’t be able to be with it. Truth arises through a disciplined practice that is grounded in the factors that incubate spiritual development, that moves step by step from level to level. We grow from coarse to subtle, from external to internal, from material to immaterial, from form to formless.
So we need to begin with external symbols. We can choose an appropriate symbol, one that is in harmony with our aspiration. For instance, we might regard a Buddha statue as a beautiful artifact embodying compassion, stillness, and wisdom. We do this not out of superstition or to follow a cultural norm; that would indeed just bog us down in the mundane. We must see through a spiritual symbol to see what it actually stands for deep in our heart.
The same is true with rituals. We don’t engage in rituals in order to further darken the clouds of delusion that appear between us and the ultimate reality. Rituals are what we make of them. Every seeker must recognize that an external form is merely that—an external form—while the home of the heart is the inner world. Imbue forms and rituals with deep meaning, and they will lead you toward the pathless land, the inner reality where enlightenment blossoms.
Q: I am a person who doesn’t believe in religion at all. Period. Some people say Buddhism is a philosophy, others say it is a religion. Still others call it a way of life. I haven’t decided what to call it. But this meditation that is being taught by monks and nuns seems to me an irrational religious activity.
A: I suppose you can see it that way. But why not just use it as a tool, without trying to dissect it to fit your belief system? Simply practice meditation in order to live a better life, or even just to live a good life, whatever meaning that holds for you. Or, meditate as a means of learning how not to be afraid—of death, or of all the insignificant concerns that paralyze your innate ability to live fully. Meditate to activate creativity. Meditate to recognize the value of the truly good things in life: friendship, honor, respect, compassion, and love.
Meditation accesses the subconscious energy that brings divergent energies into harmony. It lifts us above our sense of self, with its kaleidoscope of apparent needs. This ordinary realm is so dense with suffering that we forget to get out of the way and give ourselves to the appropriateness of the moment.
Q: I have a problem with bowing to Buddha images in the meditation hall. I don’t feel comfortable doing it.
A: You don’t have to bow at all. The images are there for your benefit, not to intimidate you. They are not sitting there waiting to be bowed to. No one is making a video of you bowing to graven images to send to your mother!
If you find these representations helpful for recollecting a way of being, then you should make use of them as such. If you find that they bring up aversion in you, you should make use of them as such. This is a path of wisdom. You are being encouraged to bring wisdom to the present moment in order to see things as they are.
You could practice bowing in private toward a mirror. See what that situation does for you. How does it feel? Do you feel foolish? Do you feel that it is purely a superstitious gesture? See for yourself.
Q: Being a religion that encourages direct experience over belief, is there a place for faith in Buddhism?
A: Faith is reckoned as one of the spiritual powers in Buddhism, but it is faith based on reason rather than blind faith. The teachings of the Buddha are to be investigated and reflected upon until one understands their meaning, depth, and value. Then, when one puts these teachings to the test by practicing them and experiencing their results, one finds that genuine faith nourishes virtue, awareness, wisdom, and liberation.
In Buddhism, as in other religions, certain basic tenets are accepted on faith. One of these is the relation between cause and effect, especially concerning wholesome and unwholesome actions and their results. The Christian counterpart of this teaching is: “You reap what you sow.”
For one who has not yet experienced the fruits of Dharma practice, faith is essential. For some, faith manifests intuitively from walking the Buddhist path and finding that the teachings are worthy of trust.
Q: How do Buddhists believe the world was created?
A: The Buddha purposely steered way from this enigmatic, mind-boggling question. He said that conjecture about creation could so dominate and fascinate the mind that, eventually, the struggle to know what is unknowable would flip the mind and one would go mad. Scientists, of course, don’t go over the top with their cool, rational observations, but they run with their proliferating thoughts until they can’t return to balance again.
How the world was created, if it was created at all, is unthinkable. My intuition strongly suggests that it wasn’t created in any sense we can understand. It is as it always is. This makes understanding it a dilemma of a far greater order than any Western scientific hypothesis can possibly address.
Q: What do you call God?
A: God—that word is too loaded to deal with.
Q: But how do you describe God?
A: To try to describe God is to walk blindly and arrogantly into quicksand. If you must have an answer, call it Nature.
Q: And what is Nature?
A: The wise will leave it at that.
Q: I’ve read quite a few books on Buddhism and have always felt uplifted and inspired by them. Last summer I visited several other Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia and was totally inspired by the Buddhists I met there. However, here in Thailand I become disillusioned when I visit the Buddhist monasteries. Is Buddhism dead? Is Buddhism dying? I don’t see any connection between the morally and ethically exalted teachings I read in the books and the superficial, lethargic sense I get when I visit most monasteries.
A: The absurdity of this age has infected and infiltrated the monasteries here just as it has the monasteries and churches abroad. Still, there are a few islands or pockets where the exalted teachings you have been reading are being lived. A few, not many.
Yes, Buddhism is dying in some places. But it is alive and well in a few remote monasteries throughout Asia. What you have been observing is merely the peel of a delectable fruit, or the outer shell of a pearl-laden oyster. None of that is truly representative of the Buddha’s teachings. This exterior is the fringes of popular tradition mixed up with local custom. True religious teaching is always in conflict with superstition. But superstition, because it offers a quick fix to the problems and anxieties of life, is always popular with the majority of people.
The rise and decline of Buddhism is not a unique story. It is the-way-things-are. You can rest assured that Buddhism in its original and pure form is still practiced and that it is available to anyone ready to make use of it. This is an incredible blessing.
Q: I know that in some Buddhist countries belief in ghosts is very prevalent. Do the teachings of Buddhism include belief in such spirits?
A: The belief in ghosts in Asian culture is very deep and broad. The mainstream cultures and the subcultures have names for all the various species of ghosts that inhabit cremation grounds, hospitals, trees, forests, and such. Movies commonly feature ghost themes and stories.
It wasn’t so long ago that the people of northeast Thailand believed that demons and unfriendly spirits lurked everywhere, waiting for a chance to kill their livestock, or worse still, their children. They would frequently offer food on their farmland and in the surrounding forests to appease ravenous spirits. They sought protective charms and amulets from holy recluses, who they believed had some kind of power over these spirits. They would give unattractive nicknames to their children, such as “mangy dog,” “gecko,” “snake,” “stinky,” and so on, hoping to deceive the evil spirits into believing that their children were not worth devouring.
It wasn’t until the forest monks established their monasteries in the region that the people’s way of thinking began to incline toward Dharma, and their superstitious beliefs started to wane. Their greatest fears—darkness and death—gradually gave way to an understanding of the-way-things-are. The days of wailing and desperate mourning of their dead have been replaced with a more appropriate sadness and affectionate remembrance of the deceased loved one, and then life goes on as before. This is an example of how a community benefits from the wisdom teachings of the holy men and women whom it supports.