dharmatalks

There is a story familiar to those who are students of the Dharma of the Christ, which many of those who observe the Season of Lent heard repeated in their liturgical celebrations this past Sunday.

In the reading, found in the biblical text attributed to Luke, in which Rav Yeshua tells his disciples that unless they make amends for those things they have done wrong, and reform their thoughts, actions and hearts, they will bring about tremendous personal suffering. He compares the self-inflicted suffering that they will experience with some of the calamities of their present-day – the slaughter of certain Galilean contemporaries, who were on their way to Temple; the eighteen victims crushed by the unexpected collapse of a building… His response was likely framed with a particular mindfulness of the saying from the Hebrew scriptures, in which we read:

“Though the righteous fall seven times, and get up again; the wicked are overthrown by calamity.”

- Proverbs 24:16

Now I don’t believe that the message of Rav Yeshua was one of the same superstitious belief his contemporaries held – a belief in an imaginary being who “punishes” the wicked with horrible events such as genocide, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Sadly, those who fail to understand the cultural context of his message, and don’t look at the bigger picture, taking into account the “whole message”, rather than literally interpreting bit-by-bit, may be misled to imagine such things.

The real “danger” about which Rav Yeshua speaks is the danger of not taking responsibility for one’s actions and moral choices. In the Buddhist context, we call this recognising the karmic consequences of not living according to the Noble Eightfold Path.

In order to avoid this self-created suffering, we must develop a sense of loving-kindness, compassion and self-acceptance – which we call maitri – and which enables us to gently recognise the behaviours, thoughts and habits which directly contribute to the suffering we create in our experiences and the experiences of others. It’s a skilful practice of exposing all our delusional ideas, habits and self-deceptions in a way that is non-accusatory, and deeply compelling.

By allowing ourselves to see this behaviours and habituations in a non-judgmental, truly compassionate light, we are able to choose to let them go. Have you ever been driving somewhere, and you realised you were headed in the wrong direction? Most likely, when you realised that, you simply turned around or changed direction. Right?

Similarly, when we realise our habituations and behaviours are taking us in the wrong direction, we don’t struggle to control them… we don’t condemn ourselves… we simply recognise that we’ve been making choices that were taking us in the wrong direction, and turn around. We recognise that not letting go of these wrong views and wrong actions will destroy our hearts, our minds and our bodies.

In our spiritual practice, we don’t set out to “gain merit and recognition”, but rather to simply cultivate compassion and wisdom, realising that merit will organically be accumulated, regardless of whether anyone “notices” or not. We begin to learn to see in everyone the potential for that person to be our teacher, our mother, our child… and by so doing, ignorance begins to dissolve, and our perceptions gradually transform toward a clear sight.

Does this mean we won’t screw up again? Nope… in fact, we may even feel like we screw-up more often. However, the truth of the matter is that what’s changed is that we’ve become more aware of the times when we screw-up, and our awareness allows us to hold that compassion and wisdom longer, so that we can gently let go of those habits, those ideas, those fears… and choose a new path.

For disciples of the Christ, Lent is a time for mindfully purify the body and spirit, in order to more abundantly be filled with the fruits of that “new birth” or “transformation” metaphorically represented in the Easter mythos. It’s a time for conversion of heart, and letting go of habituation.

Each morning, the Contemplative Monks of the Eightfold Path recite and contemplate the sixteen lines of the Heart Sutra – a text that many traditionalist Buddhist orders require its monks and nuns to memorise. The Heart Sutra describes the liberation of the great Bodhisattva of Compassion, Chenrezig (Avalokiteśvara), who, while meditating deeply of the Perfection of Wisdom (Astasahasrikā Prajñaparamita Sutra), told the monk Sariputra:

Body is nothing more than emptiness,
emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty,
and emptiness is exactly body.

The other four aspects of human existence —
feeling, thought, will, and consciousness —
are likewise nothing more than emptiness,
and emptiness nothing more than they.

All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies,
nothing is pure, nothing is stained,
nothing increases and nothing decreases.

So, in emptiness, there is no body,
no feeling, no thought,
no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears,
no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing,
no smelling, no tasting,
no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard,
nor smelled, nor tasted,
nor touched, nor imagined.

There is no ignorance,
and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom,
and no wisdom to attain.

The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and so with no delusions,
they feel no fear,
and have Nirvana here and now.

All the Buddhas,
past, present, and future,
rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and live in full enlightenment.

The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra,
the highest mantra,
the mantra that removes all suffering.

This is truth that cannot be doubted.
Say it so:

Gaté,
gaté,
paragaté,
parasamgaté.
Bodhi!
Svaha!

Which means…

Gone,
gone,
gone over,
gone fully over.
Awakened!
So be it!

This idea of “sunyata” or “emptiness” is based on the recognition that all phenomena are inherently impermanent, and therefore, lack substantiality. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux.  A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss.

And so once again, the Dharma of the Buddha and Dharma of the Christ challenge us to cultivate compassion, transform our habituation and behaviours in order to adopt a clearer, undeluded view, and gently let go of those things which cause us to suffer.

I’ve included a beautiful rendition of the Heart Sutra as a means of providing each of you with something you can listen to, perhaps while reading the English translation, and allowing the words to wash over you, as the sacred syllables themselves become seeds of transformation in your consciousness.

Namasté

khenpo gurudas sunyatananda

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“Chenrezig, Treasure of Objectless Compassion;
Manjushri, Lord of Stainless Wisdom;
Vajrapani, Destroyer of all adversarial forces;
O Je Tsong Khapa – Losang Drakpa —
Crown Jewel of the Sages of the Land of Snows,
Humbly at Your Lotus Feet I ask your blessing.”

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Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Khenpo Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, Khenpo Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.