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Transformative Practices A Buddhist Perspective
As another example of the synergism of individual practice and cultural change, Richard cited the Japanese view of wood. They look at it in terms of age, grain, smell, and strength. They don't paint wood but use its qualities in unique ways. This relationship to wood leads to a different kind of architecture and a different kind of world. Japanese culture is heavily influenced by Buddhism, even the cuisine. Cooking, serving, and eating food are viewed as part of the same unit. Thus they often have small restaurants so that the cook can serve the food as well. Food becomes a way to relate to people, not just feed them. Small differences of perspective can amplify into larger cultural differences. Richard thinks that one way to practice wisdom is to create phrases that allow us to feel the disjunction between the cultural understanding and the deeper understanding. Wisdom phrases like those found in koans get behind perceptual and conceptual processes. For example, a shift of perspective occurs when we see space as connecting people rather than separating them. In the West, we have a root belief that space separates us. All of our perceptions reinforce that view. It's possible to change this by making a new phrase -- "already connected" and repeating it in mindfulness over time. This changes social relationships and even changes culture since there is no longer a need to make connections in the same way. A connection already exists. This leads people to be much more comfortable with silence. The idea is to plant these wisdom phrases into the alaya vijnana, the mind before conceptual and perceptual processes start. The more the idea of connection is planted, the more one feels that love is the condition of the world. It is right here all the time. He likens the Buddhist understanding to the Big Bang, which created space as it expanded. We are in an elastic space that we are creating. It is known only through itself and is not graspable. A dharmic mind is present to each nonrepeatable, nongraspable moment. One of his main propositions is that you can't really practice Buddhism unless you reformulate your world. Teaching reformulations: 3 forms of daily consciousness, 3 functions of self, 4 elements, 5 skandhas, 6 vijnanas, 8 vijnanas. These are all practices that reformulate how it is that we are in the world. The Heart Sutra, for example, is a latter step in the process of reformulation. It assumes that we have first transformed the ordinary dualistic or object-based perception into the 5 skandhas, vijnanas, and so forth. Once we have done that, then it is possible to see that these constructions are empty. In other words, it is easier to be freer of self and to transform self when it is seen as a construction and a way of functioning. If one began practicing with the notion of the three functions of the self -- separation, connectedness, and continuity -- one would begin to notice all of the ways that one perpetuates separation, develops connectedness, and establishes continuity. Reformulating our world does trigger fear. Part of the practice is to bring attention to the breath, which allows us to weave together mind and body and shift identification from thoughts to an identification with breath, body, and phenomena. When one feels one's continuity in the immediate present, it is not so important what happens in thoughts anymore. There is a pulse of dissolving the self in each moment. Practice reformulations: 8-fold path, breath, dissolving self & other, mindfulness. There are views that constrict us and wisdom views that free us. Practice happens more naturally once we begin transforming our world as well as our self. We then bring that world with us. Individual practitioners become the occasion for cultural and social transformation. George asked about why Zen developed in Japan. Richard said he is actually practicing Tang and Sung Dynasty Chinese Buddhism more than Japanese Buddhism. Suzuki Roshi's vision was to go back to a Buddhism before it was divided into schools. That period represented a particularly extraordinary flowering. Koans from that period still amaze him. He thinks the key element they had was sangha -- spiritual community. Over some hundreds of years, their constant interaction created real synergy. Historically, Japan developed an ability to borrow heavily from other cultures while remaining intact, which is what helped them Westernize so quickly. Zen also deeply influenced the arts, especially painters and poets, who were more attracted to it than to the more philosophical schools. Schools that emphasized an engaged relationship with the world eventually prevailed. Jeff asked about the role of the West in transforming Buddhism today. Western Buddhism seems much more mature and developed to him than many forms of Western Hinduism (that is, Hinduism practiced by people of North America or European descent). Richard commented that Hinduism does not traditionally travel since it was embedded in the caste system. Theravadan Buddhism also doesn't travel so well because it is very monastic. And though Mahayana Buddhism is conceived as a Buddhism for laypersons, the teaching and practice is still mainly embedded in monasticism. However, in the end, Buddhism is a human teaching, not an Asian teaching. And Zen, through its emphasis on Original Mind, the mind before acculturation, travels well. In addition, the practice of Zen cultivates a wisdom mind that one is not born with. Buddhism also welcomes change and adapts to new forms. He believes Western culture will not transform Buddhism so much as give us a different opportunity to practice Buddhism. "Not knowing is nearest." In order to work with a phrase from a koan like this, we bring the phrase into the background mind and gradually let it emerge into moment-by-moment perception. The ability to sit still without moving can free us from the adhesive connection between thinking and action. Then we can think anything and yet know that we won't act it out, which creates a space where there is neither repression nor expression. This opens up what he calls the courage of the moment. Non-interfering observing consciousness allows us to notice the physical component of every state of mind, thereby freeing us to know, develop, and stabilize many states of mind. Richard's spoke about the three forms of daily consciousness -- immediate consciousness, secondary consciousness (mentation based on the immediate situation), and borrowed consciousness (such as a birthdate). Our usual education system revolves primarily around the last. We measure ourselves by how much information we have, how good our memory is, etc. Immediate consciousness is always rooted in the present moment whereas borrowed is not. The practice of Buddhism is to keep finding oneself in the present moment, through immediate and secondary consciousness. Richard discussed how one of the most important things to come out of a gathering like this is a kind of mutual embeddedness, a deeper sense of entrainment with each other. Just by doing this we are bringing transformative practices into the culture with us. Kaisa asked whether it is possible to have interesting conversations in immediate consciousness. Richard felt that in this group, with all of its years of practice, we often operate in immediate consciousness. Michael Murphy asked if there are cultures or parts of the world that are more immediate than others. Richard notices it in Ireland, which is the only country in Europe that wasn't Europeanized. George emphasized how trainable this is with practice. In his groups, they would do an induction exercise to get centered and grounded in the present. They would then walk around Mill Valley and, without doing anything weird, make it a happy place for the morning. Fred added that in a recent pilot project with congestive heart failure, they did an 8 week training in meditation and gratitude. There was a difference in how far patients in the experimental and control group could walk after the training. He doesn't know if it is reproducible yet, but it is striking. There is something that changes with a positive orientation to life. Michael Murphy added that in a study of ultra elite marathon runners' mental styles, they consistently stayed present to every stride rather than going somewhere else to avoid pain. Arnold Schwartzneggar told Mike that "a pump with the mind in it is worth, ten without the mind in it." Staying completely present to the moment thus gives benefits in many realms.
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