it is Dharma / it is non-Dharma

idly leafing through The Taoist Experience, Livia Kohn's comprehensive compedium of Taoist texts, i was struck by a verse from the Qinjing jing (Scripture of Purity and Tranquility) -

Use emptiness to observe emptiness,
And see there is no emptiness.
When even emptiness is no more,
There is no more non-being either.

what caught my attention was the similarity with Nagarjuna's comments on 'the emptiness of emptiness' in Chapter XXIV of the Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way), primarily to combat the adoption of sunyata as view (the whole purport of Nagarjuna's opus is diametrically opposed to such, being as it is concerned with the extinguishing of views), and thus somehow inherent essence of phenomena.

i'm certainly not brave or clever enough to launch into a discussion on either text, instead what interested me was the idea of exchange and cross-pollination between various spiritual traditions and Buddhism that this similarity presents.

in the history of most monotheistic religions "might is right" always seems to have paved the way for their development outside their country of origin. indeed, early histories can often be read as blood-bespattered accounts of the usurping of old and heathen, idolotrous ways. Buddhism on the other hand, seems to have displayed the curious tendency to absorb the existent beliefs and customs of other traditions into its own lore and canon wherever it has taken root.
some Buddhists argue that this process is a bad thing, that it muddies and distorts the true intention of the Buddha's teaching and introduces concepts which are often flat out contradictory and incompatible with the doctrines of anatman, co-dependent arising etc. i think there may well be in some cases some truth in this pov (eg. ancestor worship as syncretic practice in early Chinese Buddhism's history and still prevelent to some extent today) but by and large such an attitude has us chasing after a false chimera of 'Pure Buddhism' which taken to the worst conclusion can erupt in sectarian dispute.

ultimately such blending and adaptability, be it the absorption of the Shinto kami into the Bodhisattva canon, the adoption of Bon Gods and Demons as Vajra Dharma Protectors or the transformation prevelent in Goddess Tara's course from the Hindu to the Buddhist tradition are all things to be admired and appreciated.  it certainly beats the hell out of running after their worshippers weilding a flaming sword, yelling "repent or be damned!" and i like to take it as as upaya, a skillfull means less obnoxious than heavy-fisted evangelising and more welcoming than raving threats of hellfire.

while the above examples i give are concerned only with pantheon i guess the more difficult issue is the one of adopting/adapting and exchanging practice (we've been here before). for example whilst the Qinjing jing quote may well appear to fit neatly alongside Nagarjuna's expounding of 'the emptiness of emptiness', and i'm presuming the word was adopted by the Taoists from the Buddhist tradition, i can't say i know there's no varience in meaning of the terminology between the two (i might be able to return to that matter with more confidence at a later date, then again i might not). and if a varience does indeed exist then wouldn't it by rights effect the very value and purport of a given practice once uprooted and transplanted?

i guess in terms of the Dharma, for each step we put forward we should pause to remind ourselves of the following -

If it counteracts negative emotions it is Dharma. If it doesn't, it is non-Dharma.
If it doesn't fit with wordly ways it is Dharma. If it does, it is non-Dharma.
If it fits with the scriptures and your instructions it is Dharma. If it doesn't
fit, it is non-Dharma.
If it leaves a positive imprint it is Dharma. If it leaves a negative imprint it
is non-Dharma

- Patrul Rinpoche, Words of My Perfect Teacher

- perhaps then we can proceed with some level of confidence.

namu amida butsu

into the Mystic...

once again, Killing the Buddha throws up another great reflection from someone struggling with and working through their own faith (and doubt, as the case may be). it came at just the right time, as i'm currently making my way through Kempis' much loved Imitation of Christ.

i'm not going to attempt to retell what Prothero says, such a personal reflection deserves to be left to speak for itself. one thing that struck me though is the following -

Apparently such faith as I have resides in visible rather than invisible things—in blackberry bushes and snowstorms and the turn of a hip. When I find myself with a woman I love, what I love is the woman. And when I find myself in a place like the Province Lands, what I love is the place—the sand shifting underfoot, the shooting stars overhead, and the endless rhythm of waves that announce their arrival on shore just before giving themselves up forever.

...it made me think back to my own  earlier reflections about nature, sunyata and the nembutsu. i can sympathise with Prothero's friend who says with a honest conviction in her heart when looking out over the Cape Cod landscape "God is here". of course, i can't know what her conception of this God is precisely but i have felt, at times, a huge pull to attribute divine workings to the beauty of a sunrise, autumn's colours, the intricacy of a spiderweb...

i also sympathise with Prothero's faith, which resides in visible rather than invisible things. letting the beauty of form speak purely for itself, deviod of anything we may yearn to attribute to it. but further, i am left feeling that what appears to our senses is not the whole picture. my faith then, resides in the intricate working of interdependence - the sunlight which nourishes the earth and causes it to bloom, the spider from whence the web came, the rain which quenches, the wind which carries... and our minds can't grasp the entirety, how vast or intricate this network of interdependence is because it has no Alpha or Omega. it is endless compassion, not apart from, but neither residing within phenomena, simply the unfolding of phenomena itself.

namu amida butsu

"...there is nothing that is not the nembutsu"

Among all living things

mountains and rivers,

grasses and trees,

even the sounds of blowing winds

and rising waves -

there is nothing

that is not the nembutsu

- Ippen

during Shokai, while viewing the beautiful slides of Shogyoji a visiting priest kindly brought with him to show us all, a good dharma friend exclaimed to me how easy it is to miss the beauty that is all around us. as pictures of lotus flowers, dry river-beds and trees wearing their autumn foliage, all set against the back drop of the temple appeared on the screen i got to thinking how busy and occupied we let our minds become and how much as a consequence, we miss. (note - the following are my own photos and in no way compare to how beautiful those of the temple were to see)

i've always loved the above waka by Ippen since the moment i first came across it but i feel much as i cherish it there is a danger upon reading of mistaking the nembutsu for some kind of pantheistic life force (certainly a danger i have come across in my own understanding frequently). and admittedly, my understanding of the complex doctrine of sunyata is a shallow one but it seems that, if we spend our time searching for the nembutsu in something, then we miss its calling us. a tree is just a tree, a mountain just a mountain, a rising wave just a rising wave - none of them require us to look for or discover some inherent essence lying inside them in order for them to retain their wonder and meaning.

 

but how often, as my dharma friend mentioned, do we miss what is right infront of us? i think of the times my mind has shamefully wandered during otsutome, or as i've recited the nembutsu or even, despite my best efforts, during a dharma talk by friends and teachers at Three Wheels. is it any surprise then that if, even during times we would wish our minds to be calm and receptive they swing about from branch to branch, we miss out on the beauty and wonder that surrounds us each and every day?

nonetheless, i find myself asking - does a tree require my noticing it in order for it to be? or again, does a mountain? a rising wave? similarly, the nembutsu is working all the time...it has been calling us even before we came into this life and it is precisely because our minds are unsettled and clouded over that such a Vow as its cause was pledged by Dharmakara.

 

of course, it would be wrong of me to say therefore that it's perfectly okay to just lie back and let the mind drift along chasing concern after concern. no, certainly it's right to want to focus and approach otsutome, nembutsu recitation and hearing the Dharma with the respect they deserve. but believing that Amida's compassion will somehow fail in its working if i can't attain constant, undivided focus is really just so much noise and jiriki.

namu amida butsu