dharmatalks

This afternoon, I decided to take a walk up to one of the small recreational areas, here in downtown Lancaster, to enjoy the historic sites, and take advantage of the beautiful weather.

While I was sitting there, I met a couple college-aged students, who were sitting in the same area, one bench over, and engaged in a very lively discussion. Of course, being the only ones in earshot, it was difficult not to hear some of the fundamentalist rhetoric coming from one of the young women, and the thoughtful replies from two of her friends, in response to her intolerance. At one point, realising that she was speaking very passionately, the young girl of maybe 20-23, turned to me and said, “I’m sorry if we’re getting a little loud…”

I smiled at them and said, “No need to apologise, my doctorate is in theological anthropology, so I have to confess that I was probably listening more attentively than I should have been!”

With that, I was invited to join the conversation. Now the interesting thing is that I was asked to join by the fundamentalist woman – an ultraconservative Lutheran (Missouri Synod) – because she was certain I would take her position.

The discussion was about the dangers of allowing children to be taught that Islam is an honourable spiritual path, and a side conversation about how the so-called Palestinians were “depriving” Israel of the land promised to them in their ancient scriptures. As it turned out, this young woman was, by bloodline, a Messianic Jew, and was quite knowledgeable about Judaic tradition.

Her point went further, as all three of these students were majoring in childhood education, to state that she worried that if we “embrace Islam as an equal spiritual path”, then soon “atheists, pagans and extremists” would be added to the list of acceptable spiritual traditions, and our country would be damned.

She was also concerned that Islam is a religion of “violence and intolerance”, which was probably the point at which I could no longer listen to her diatribe, and gently interrupted…

Now, most people know that in addition to strongly supporting spiritual diversity and pluralism, I am a calculating and decisive teacher, who knows how to get attention by rattling cages… and that’s exactly what I did.

I interrupted and said, “You know, Karen, I cannot understand why all religions couldn’t be as peaceful as the religion from which your own church was founded… after all, if the Crusades were still going on, you would never have to worry about protecting your students from those godless atheists, the pagans or radical Buddhist monks.”

She stopped dead in her tracks, and suddenly, her two handsome colleagues looked at one another and grinned widely.

“What we need,” I continued, “is a rallying call for jihad.”

Her confusion was clear and she started to imagine that was an opening for her to make her point. “You see, that is the single greatest proof of what a terroristic religion Islam is… every Muslim is called to jihad!”

Below is a paraphrased summary of the impromptu Dharma talk that followed:

Indeed they are, Karen. And I will go further to say that I encourage every person, regardless of their spiritual tradition, to find inspiration and follow the example of our Muslim brothers and sisters. (Now Karen was growing a bit irritated.)

I explained that, like so much of the manipulative and distorted ideas that were advanced by institutional Christianity (to the present day), the idea that jihad means “holy war” is an innovation of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, under Pope Urban II, who wanted to justify his murder of so many devout Muslims. In fact, the word jihad actually means “to strive in the way of…” in other words, it is a word connoting the “interior struggle” that purifies us, when we choose the higher path.

About 40-50 years ago, Muslim extremists, having been violently deprived of their homelands by the invasion of Zionists in the Holy Lands, began using the distorted and corrupt definitions of their persecutors, and started to equate jihad with “holy war”.

However, the word jihad has never, in any way, been representative of such violence or terrorism, in the actual teachings of Islam, and especially not in the Quran. Ask someone who is fluent in Arabic, and they will tell you the word for “holy war”. It’s nothing close to jihad.

In fact, for those familiar with the Jewish tradition, there is a word that every devout Jew is familiar with, which is the exact equivalent of jihad, and that word is mitzvah.

When I explained that to Karen, she was a bit surprised. To an observant and devout Muslim, it’s a jihad to to do the right thing to “make things blessed”. Taking care of a homeless person is a jihad. Feeding your cat or dog is a jihad. Exercise and study are jihads. Being kind to one another is a jihad. The Muslim way of life is a way of peace, of respect, and of honouring the Abrahamic traditions, just like Judaism and Christianity. And just like Judaism, which was distorted into Zionism, and Christianity, which was distorted into 103 varieties of fundamentalism, Islam has its share of distortions. But the core teaching is one of love, respect, peace and compassion for others.

Someone on Facebook told me that they believe I hurt my business by publishing my spirituality blogs, links to my books, and my political activist comments on there. Surely, people will realise that I do not subscribe to their superstitious beliefs in personal gods or goddesses… that I am one of those “godless, atheist, homos”, who count pagans, Druids, and animists as his friends! Surely they will recognise that I am a threat to the preservation of their superstitions, and might corrupt their children into thinking for themselves.

And they’re right. Hopefully, I will always inspire people to think for themselves, and find the spiritual path that works for them.

My way is a way of non-violence. In order to end suffering, I believe that one of the most powerful and positive steps we can take is to focus on eliminating violence, including intolerance. After all, when you look at the world with an unobstructed and fair view, you realise that only a relatively small percentage of people are engaged in acts of violence. Most people are engaged in acts of compassion, kindness, and humility. Our challenge is to help those who are otherwise engaged, to allow the dominant force… the natural force… in their minds – peace and compassion – to overcome their distorted perceptions and prejudices.

In a sense, this is a “holy war” – but like the true meaning of jihad – there is a “lesser jihad” and a “greater jihad” – and the greater jihad is the one which seeks to purify, transform and rebuild interiorly… the “holy war of purification” of ourselves.

The fundamentalists claim that the bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan, the torture in Abu Grahib, the continued perpetration of the September 11th Psy-Ops propaganda are all necessary to “preserve the peace and safety” of their “Christian nation.”

These same people, who claim to want peace… who claim to be “pro-life”… who insist they are the beacons of Christ’s message of hope… contradict themselves.

It’s easy to claim to want peace, cooperation and compassion… but when your own self-interests are at stake, the writing ends up on the wall.

If you’re in favour of the unprovoked war in Iraq and Afghanistan, you’re not in favour of peace. If you’re in favour of capital punishment, you’re not pro-life. If you believe that we’re justified in illegally detaining and torturing prisoners in Guantanamo, you’re not a follower of the teaching of the mythical Buddha or mythical Christ.

As Ghandi wrote, “Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being.”

Preferring to start the week with a smile, as I walked back to the hermitage, I couldn’t help thinking about how the devout Christian was unwilling to waiver, but her two friends might have actually come away with a little greater appreciation of the need to stretch our idea of compassion. Karen said that she’d pray for me, since she cannot help but believe that I am an “apostate bishop and priest”, and that my being a Buddhist monk is disgraceful to the church… blah-blah-blah. So I decided to hum a little tune that always makes me smile… a tune that seems to be written for homophobes, Fundie McNuggets®, and today, in a special way, for Karen.

Click here to enjoy this special musical interlude (NSFW).

Namasté!

– dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda

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I’ve often been asked why, as a non-theistic monk, I extend a wish for blessings upon others. What or whom blessed others, if not some mythical god(dess)?

Simply put, in our tradition, the Tibetan word for blessing actually refers to "transformation through indwelling power". This idea is consistent with the philosophy of the great masters, including the Perennialist Jesus, who said, "The sovereign domain of the sacred is within you." (For those unfamiliar with the more accurate translations from the Aramaic to English, you may have read that passage in your texts as, "The kingdom of God is at hand." It is important, however, if we are going to study the words of the Masters, to understand what they meant within that particular cultural context.)

The concept of "blessings" for me then, means to bring about a personal transformation, as a result of our experience, wisdom and compassion, within one’s mind. This transformation can be seen in the same way as the metaphor of removing one grain of sand from the beach, and thereby changing the entire shoreline.

When we transform our minds, we transform the world in which we live.

Whenever someone hurts me, particularly when they hurt me deeply, I focus my awareness on the desire for blessings to come upon that person. And the practice is two-fold. First, because I am hurt, I recognise that I need personal transformation within my mind as well, and therefore, I take responsibility for allowing impermanent phenomena to throw me off-balance. I recognise that the phenomena themselves are impotent, and that my own delusion threw me off.
Second, I recognise that the individual who hurt me is unaware of his or her own potential, and is acting out of fear or pain. The only compassionate response to such behaviour is to wish for transformation in that person’s mind and heart. And we must always guard ourselves against becoming attached to the outcome. We can desire blessings for another, but only that person can, when they are ready, empower their experiences to express as manifest blessings.

Namasté!

I’ve often taken considerable heat from those who disapprove of my outspoken expression of concern over the corruption, manipulation and distortion of truth found in institutional religion. Twice this past year, when referencing such fundamentalist adherents as "whitewashed tombs", I found a renewed level of chatter on various discussion groups about what an heretic I am.

Gandhi once remarked, "No man could be actively non-violent and not rise against social injustice, no matter where it occurred." And that is why I found the recent outcry against President Obama being invited to deliver the commencement address at Roman Catholic Notre Dame University on Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church continues to disappoint, disgust and provoke me to speak out against its gross injustices, intolerances and deliberate propagation of a myth as historical events.

Now fundamentalists and Catholic conservatives are rallying with some of the most repugnant of allies — people like Randall Terry, who has promised to "make a circus out of Notre Dame’s graduation ceremony". The reason? President Obama does not support the anti-abortion agenda of the fundies, who misappropriate the title of "Right to Life" for their movement.

The problem is that the so-called "Right to Life" or "Pro-Life" groups are neither. They are little more than modern-day equivalents of the Sadducees and Pharisees, who thought themselves to be so very pious, and beacons of righteousness, yet whose disregard for social justice, compassion and care for the marginalised provoked Rav Yeshua to address them as "blind guides" and "sons of the dogs who murdered the prophets".

In Matthew 23:24, which according to the mythos, takes place a week before Jesus was allegedly crucified, we read a potent account of how the Master viewed these religious leaders:

Woe to you, teachers of the Talmud and Pharisees… hypocrites to a man!  You give tithes …  but have neglected the more important matters of the Law — justice, mercy and faithfulness.  You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides!  You strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

I could only imagine the Great Rabbi responding to the anti-abortionists with the same type of denunciation today. Now, I don’t want to give the impression that I approve of abortion, because I consider all forms of violence disgraceful. I believe that all life deserves respect and honour. However, I don’t believe in legislation of morality, and I never will. The separation of Church and State must be restored in the theocracy left in the wake of the Bush Cabal’s near destruction of Amerika. Again, Ghandi writes, "Democracy disciplined and enlightened is the finest thing in the world. A democracy prejudiced, ignorant, superstitious will land itself in chaos and may be self-destroyed."

I’m not sure that many realise how frightfully close this country came to meeting such an end in the hands of the terrorist Bush Regime. And I am not one to join the ranks of those who whole-heartedly applaud the Obama administration either, given his backing off on the commitment to put an end to the illegal tribunals of the Bush Cabal, and to hold those responsible for such horrors accountable. But I do applaud the aggiornamento — the breath of fresh air — that the new President is bringing to this country’s economy and recovery.

I also applaud those from Notre Dame for having the courage to extend such an invitation to the President, in keeping with that university’s progressive history and theology.

I encourage people to embrace all of life as sacred and important. And that is why the anti-abortionists sicken me… because they are not truly "pro-life", they are simply anti-abortion. If they want to legislate against abortion rights, then they need to do so with their wallets. Don’t tell a woman she has no right to end a pregnancy, unless you are PERSONALLY willing to pay for that woman’s care during pregnancy, and support that child until it reaches the age of majority. Don’t pretend to be "pro-life" if you turn your head to avoid the glance of the homeless person on the exit ramp of the highway. Don’t tell me you defend the "right to life", when you do nothing to ensure that the elderly and poor have enough food, heat and adequate shelter.

In the Buddhist texts, we read the words attributed to Buddha Sakyamuni: "If you do not care for one another, then who is there to care for you? Whoever would serve me should serve the sick." (Mahavagga 8.26) And in the prophetic words attributed to Jesus, we read: "Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray, and because of this, the Way (Dharma) will be diminished and the love of many will grow cold." (Matthew 24.11-12)

That is why I continue to refer to the leadership of so many institutional churches and religions as "whitewashed tombs", because like those tombs — coated with a bright and pleasing exterior — we find inside the same rotting, decaying and unpleasant surroundings in which there is only death and lifelessness.

The very essence of the Mahayana School of Dharma is compassion. It remains my firm belief that compassion is more important and far more useful than religion. And the Roman Catholic Church, like Protestant Fundamentalists, continue to demonstrate that my belief is well-founded.

As you approach this new week, resolve to stay motivated by wisdom and compassion, so that your every action will benefit all beings, not just your individual selves. Let this compassion create a positive atmosphere, and bring you and the world in which you reside peace.

Namasté!

Every act in which we engage, indeed every thought we entertain should be imbued with reverence and gratitude. But because that is not always the case, we have chosen arbitrary days in the calendar year as reminders of some of the many reasons for that need for reverence and gratitude. These special days – Christmas, Rosh Hoshanna, Eid, Secretary’s Day, Grandparents’ Day, Valentine’s Day, Solstice, Fathers’  Day, and of course, Mothers’ Day – to name a few, are exercises in mindfulness.

When we truly begin to contemplate the world in which we live, we develop a great sense of wonder – not the kind of wonder that stems from grasping or yearning, but one in which we simply experience a glimpse of that clarity of thought, realising that all things are indeed impermanent phenomena, and at their core, we find only Love.

For the Buddhist, we are taught to see all beings as having potentially been our mothers at some time. The idea is that we have an innate appreciation for the fundamental gratitude each of us owes our mothers, and once we recognise that interdependence that exists among all beings, it becomes easier to cultivate genuine compassion toward others.

It’s been a year since I had the privilege of visiting, and spending time with my parents and grandmother, down in Atlanta. Circumstances and conditions have prevented me from being able to get down there, as much as I would like to do that. Over the next couple months, I plan to get down there with my companion, and spend a couple days with them.

As a contemplative monk, the images of the Mother Archetype has always been an important part of my spiritual journey. The compassion of Kuan Yin, the wisdom of Tara, the courage of Kali and Vajrayogini inspire me to become a better “son” to the mothers of the world. And there has undeniably been a central relationship in that contemplation, from which more of my spiritual path has developed than any other part of the spiritual mythos – and that is embracing, contemplating and choosing to emulate the example of the Blessed Mother Mary, mother of Rav Yeshua the Nazarene.

One can easily see that despite my being non-theistic, my spiritual journey has, from the age of seven, been consecrated to the image of the Immaculate Heart of the Mother. In the apparent perfection of the stars, the breathtaking beauty of the night desert in bloom, or the tranquillity of the oceans and mountainscapes, I see a reflection of the perfect love, surrender and non-attachment of the young Mother of the Great Master.

Such reverence for our mothers comes with experience and care. The Tao tells us that only when we tire of our excesses can such brilliant esteem arise. Most of us would be hard pressed to claim to have had a “perfect mother”, but it is actually in the imperfections… the cracks, the dings from wear and tear, the slight imperfections in colour… that we find the real beauty – a resilience that if nothing else nurtured and gave refuge to our embryonic form, until we matured to the point of our own entry into this life.

On Mother’s day, I am grateful not only for my biological mother – Cecilia Salvato – or for my “extended mothers”: Bishop Jeanne Cortopassi, FCJM, Christine Gibbs and Sharon Daube… or for those who are my principle spiritual mothers: Kuan Yin, Tenzin Yangchen, Kali, and of course, the Immaculata… but also for every being who has touched my life in ways I’ve known and ways I may never have known.

Each of you, in one way or another, gives “birth” to me each day… each of you provides me with refuge… and in so many ways, inspires me to learn to be less attached, less concerned with controlling the arising cloud of circumstance and conditions.

And so I honour my Mother, my Sisters, my Teachers… all of you reading this, on Mother’s Day, and every day, and hope that a worthy gift for you will be my effort in the coming year to remain more mindful of the thoughts I now contemplate and put into writing.

Namaste!

It’s interesting. If you take a look at the blogs and microblogs of the people with whom I interact most, you will seldom find very many people asking “permission” to blog about things in the way that they do. You won’t find many people asking if everyone “wants” their blogs or even their groups to focus on this particular interest or approach, or another.

I’ve learned a lot in recent months, as I extricated myself from two of the so-called “Buddhist groups” with whom I previously interacted online. I realised that not only did I find the combination of the righteous indignation of some of the more fundamentalist Theravadan and certain Nichiren adherents to be disappointing, and the irksome outbursts of some of the blatantly clueless idiots, using the boards as a place to garner attention by baiting and attempting to discredit those for whom Buddhism has been a lifelong pursuit and practice to be a waste of time; but I also noticed that I was frustrated by the lack of genuine leadership that I was seeing by members of the sangha, who indeed knew better and should have stepped in when others were being attacked.

While beginning the first week of a very slow, apparently painful recuperation from this reconstructive surgery, I spent some time considering this, and looking at my reaction and response to these phenomena, recognising that none of it is real, and that there must be a lesson therein for me.

What I kept thinking about was that although both the Dharma of the Christ and the Buddhist Dharma (indeed, the Sanatana Dharma as well) teach that we are to focus on creating a better world, there is a more basic, primal instruction that teaches us to first create a better, more awake self… a task that seems contradictory, because we also realise that the mind which perceives all illusions as “reality” can never truly correct that which is the root of the delusion – the mind itself. So we back up and realise that we are, through the mind, creating our lives… and we can learn to create better lives, improving the conditions in which awakening can more easily occur.

Thomas Merton wrote, “The centre of Christian humanism is the idea that God is love, not infinite power. Being love, God has given ‘himself’ without reservation to humanity, so the He has become man. It is man, in Christ, who has the mission of not only making himself human, but of becoming divine by the gift of the Spirit of Love.”

The spiritual path of the Enlightened and Anointed Ones does not teach that we must extract ourselves from the material world, in order to attain the inner ideal of Sacred Tranquillity and Awakening. Neither does it teach us to abstract ourselves from these material phenomena, including ritual, liturgy, and spiritual practice, as a means of achieving the desired Calm Abiding. The Dharma of Compassion teaches you and me to give ourselves to all of humanity and all beings in a service of love in which that Eternal Law (which some call Intelligence, others call God, Sunyata, Emptiness, or the Void) manifests its creative power through dependent arising and the cloud of causes and conditions. Then, freed from the bondage of our own “ideas”, we can begin living in the moment with greater awareness, and can choose to respond from a place of loving service to all.

I don’t think I will likely ever understand the bizarre phenomena of those who permit others to be so blatantly disruptive or disrespectful as one often finds on the net. Especially those who profess to be Buddhists, and allow monks, nuns, and respected authorities to be attacked. I’ll understand even less those who profess to follow Christ or Buddha’s teaching, and who do nothing to help those who are hungry, in personal or financial need, hurting or alone.

But at least now, I have come to recognise their behaviours are indicators of how very little work they have done on actually internalising the Dharma. Such folks, it seems, have turned Buddhism into a curiosity or a “religion”, much like those who have distorted the Dharma of Christ, turning that into a religion as well.

How unfortunate that more do not see with the eyes of St. Francis of Assisi, who taught, “What you are looking for is what is looking.” For after all, as Alan Watts so brilliantly queried: “If you do not get it from yourself, where will you go for it?”

Thank you for your continue patience with my intermittent lapses of posting during the past couple weeks. The reconstructive surgery was quite successful; however, when they opened the arm, they realised the damage was much greater than anticipated and were therefore not able to do the kind of procedure they’d hoped for. I will still regain about 40-50% of the use of my arm over the next six months, and the intense pain I am now experiencing, which is only unbearable because the insurance company refuses to cover one of the only narcotic pain relievers to which I am not allergic, will subside over the next twelve weeks. I continue to sit for two hours each morning and evening in meditation and remember all of you (en masse) during puja and our Eucharistic liturgy.

A few have written with hopes that this surgery would have magically caused me to waiver from my non-theistic perspective. I cannot, I am afraid, bring those folks the news for which they are hoping. I continue to believe that religion and theism are purview of those who find comfort in the imagery, superstition, ritual centring and communal traditions of such primitive practices. I see nothing inherently wrong with embracing such a path, if that is something that works for you. I draw deeply on the mythos and legends of the Christ, typified in the teachings of Rav Yeshua the Nazarene, despite a great deal a new scholarship indicating that the existence of the Nazarenes (Essenes) is (like most biblical tales) fictional and midrashic innovations of later centuries. I draw on the rich tapestry of the Divine Feminine, personified in the images of Mary the Christotokos, Kali, Kuan Yin, Tara, Vajrayogini and the Great Spirit – without feeling compelled to imagine any of those stories are based on physical beings.

Let it be comforting to you that I am well, as I know that you are. And let peace flow there between us, and love fill the space between the breaths.

Namasté!

– dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda

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