Bodhisattva

"When I first started studying Buddhism with Gudo Nishijima as my teacher, the thing that bugged me most about him -- the thing that had me so pissed I decided on numerous occasions that I was finished with his crap for good, only to find myself back in a couple weeks -- was his insistence that what he taught was True Buddhism. The implication was that anything which deviated from his view of what Buddhism ought to be was unworthy of the name. He often went so far as to single out whole Buddhist traditions, schools of thought that had existed for centuries and claimed millions of loyal followers, and say they were pretty much a waste of time. He sounded just like one of those bouffant haired, white suit wearing obnoxious preachers I used to see on American TV all the time (before they started resigning after being involved in sex and money scandals).

But the other day someone at one of my lectures asked me why I kept talking about "true Buddhism" and asked how all the other Buddhist schools fit into the picture. She said I was sounding a little like a fundamentalist. Uh-oh...

So I started wondering just how and why I'd somehow been brainwashed into not only accepting, but promoting Nishijima's particular brand of religious fascism. How I can be so cocky as to say that I've got True Buddhism? It's an arrogant claim to be sure. And honestly speaking, there is very little difference as far as verbal expression goes in my saying that what I'm spewing out here is True Buddhism and Jimmy Swaggart or Pat Robertson saying that their brand of Christianity is the only real Christianity there is.

There is very little difference. But, as the fellow said about the fact that there's almost no difference between men and women, vive le difference!

Let's step into the Wayback Machine and try to imagine what things were like when Gautama Buddha was doing his thing in India 2,500 years ago. After a lot of struggle and pain, Buddha noticed something truly startling. He discovered that the Truth of the Universe had been with him all along, that it was absurdly easy to see once you understood how to look. And he saw that this truth was available to anyone who could honestly look for it. But he also saw that human beings -- himself included -- love to deceive themselves. They'll go to tremendous lengths to avoid reality. Lots of folks would rather suffer unbearable agony than face up to what they truly are and what the Universe actually is. At first he thought he would just keep his discovery to himself, that even if he did try to teach it, there was no one who would be willing to make the effort to understand. But then he changed his mind. He decided that even if no one ever got it, he had an obligation to his fellow human beings to at least try.

Buddha's teachings became extremely popular in India even during his lifetime. But, as with any such popular movement, the number of people who actually understood the teachings was extremely small. I imagine Buddha's attitude was that even a misunderstood version of what he was trying to get across was better than anything else on the market. So he kept on speaking to whoever wanted to listen and hoped for the best. When you look at the history of early Buddhism (I recommend Schumann's The Historical Buddha) you get the impression that a fair number of Buddha's early followers weren't exactly the crispiest Corn Flakes in the bowl. Some of the early sangha just did not get it at all. Still, after the man himself was gone, even the dopiest of his followers could legitimately say that they were there when the Master spoke and could, by extension, claim a certain degree of authority on the subject of his teachings even if they actually slept through most of the lectures they attended.

Buddha's ashes weren't even cold before there were guys having heated arguments over the real meaning of what he said. Various councils were held in order to keep the sangha (group of monks) a unified whole. But the schisms had already formed. Still, real Buddhism remained. And against all odds it has persisted right up to the present day, like a stain you just can't get out of your favorite pair of jockey shorts.

The Zen lineage is pretty arrogant as a whole when it comes to the point of who's really teaching what the Buddha taught. Of course, all the Buddhist lineages make the same claim. In fact, every sect of every religion in the world is adamant that they've got the real truth and everybody else is full of crap. These days, though, we don't like that kind of talk. We want to be politically correct. We don't like intolerant butt wads who claim their religion is the best. And us politically correct types are especially prone to be attracted to Zen which we often see as supporting all our idealistic views about tolerance and all that. So when we dig a bit deeper and find out Zen isn't quite as PC as we thought, we're pretty shocked. I know I sure as hell was.

So why did I come back to Nishijima time and again in spite of the fact that he was clearly no better than any ordinary fire and brimstone preacher who claimed his religion was right? I came back because I could sense that, in spite of the fact that he talked exactly like those guys, his talk came from an entirely different place.

The difference between Nishijima's insistence that he teaches real Buddhism and one of those loud-mouth preachers you see on American TV's insistence that he alone knows the real mind of God is not so much in what they claim, but the way they claim it. Religious fundamentalists are deeply fearful of anyone who doesn't believe what they believe. This is because their beliefs are based not on reality, but on a shaky foundation of idealistic notions. Reality needs no support. It is what it is and that's that. Ideas, on the other hand, need tremendous amounts of reinforcement on a constant basis. Ideas attempt to remain static while reality itself is constantly shape shifting into something new. Even the mental state that gave rise to a particular thought doesn't remain. So it's very hard to hold on to an idea. In fact, it's not possible. Try it for yourself. The harder you try and hold on to your own ideas, the crazier you become. That's one of the fundamental causes of most of the world's problems; people's attempts to hang on to static ideas in the face of an ever changing world. And that's all our deepest beliefs really are. Just ideas. But we mistake our own ideas for reality all the time.

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Bodhisattva

On the other hand, Buddhism isn't based on anyone's ideas. It's based on what is true. You can challenge an idea, and no matter how powerful that idea is you might come up with one that's even better. But you can never challenge what's true. You can try, lots of people do, but you'll never win. The only secret a Buddhist has is the understanding that it's futile to attempt to go against the truth. We don't claim to understand the truth because the truth is beyond understanding. We've just learned to stop trying to fight it quite as much as most people do. This isn't the same as throwing up your hands and saying, "Oh, I'll never get it!" When you stop trying to fight against what's true, a different kind of understanding emerges. Not an understanding which can be expressed in words. But something deeper. The deepest kind of understanding there can be. Sorry if that doesn't sound PC. But I'm afraid it's true.

So, unlike a religious fundamentalist, someone who understands real Buddhism doesn't bother to try and convince anyone he's right. I once saw Nishijima end a discussion with a particularly block headed individual by saying, "It is your right to be mistaken." You can stand next to the Rock of Gibraltar and kick it as much as you want for as long as you live. But that rock doesn't care. It still ain't going anywhere. A real Buddhist doesn't need to feel that others support his or her beliefs. What people believe has no bearing at all on what's true. A real Buddhist doesn't even necessarily believe in all of his or her own beliefs. Like a good scientist, a Buddhist is ready to throw away any belief he or she holds the second it becomes clear that that belief conflicts with reality.

There may be loads of people out there believing in a lot of screwball ideas and calling those ideas "Buddhism," but that doesn't change what Buddhism really is.

But there's another problem. How can a guy who wasn't even born until 25 centuries after Gautama Buddha's death, who never met the man, who doesn't concur with what generations of respected scholars have concluded the Buddha's words mean, how can such a person claim that what he says is real Buddhism especially in the face of the fact that almost no one else who claims to be a Buddhist agrees? There's no easy answer to that one, I'm afraid, because asking that question is actually asking, "How can I recognize real Buddhism?" If you're looking for a nice sound byte that sums it all up, you're headed for disappointment. In order to answer this for yourself, you have to bravely face who and what you really are over and over and over again until you finally get to the core and you can't deny the truth anymore. And then you have to keep on doing that for the rest of your life. Truth is not a static thing, nor is it the possession of any one human being let alone any group of human beings. It is a living fact. Align yourself with it and there is nowhere else you can go. That's Buddhism.

It's tempting to want to just drop the word "Buddhism" altogether. If the word Buddhism has come to mean something other than what Buddha himself really intended why not just forget the word? It's an attractive sounding idea. But I can't do it cuz for me that'd be like rearranging the Willie Dixon's song You Need Love, putting a psychedelic guitar break in the middle, changing the title to Whole Lotta Love and then claiming I wrote the thing. When Led Zeppelin did that they got sued. And though Gautama Buddha's estate isn't likely to come after me for ripping him off, I couldn't claim that what I was teaching was something completely unconnected with any tradition and still keep a clear conscience."

http://homepage.mac.com/doubtboy/

-Brad Warner

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Whispering words that scream of outrageous sin
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No one religion ever gets it right man, when will they learn?

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-"Behold, I have given you every HERB bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, ... And God saw EVERYTHING that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. (Gen. 1:29-31)

-"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."

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judge not lest ye be judged!

You too have not gotten it right!


The way is there, it always has been, even before humans existed.

Buddha, Jesus, and thousands upon thousands of other world teachers were all in-tune with the Way. Their work, and their understanding could all be different, just as we are all seperate drops of eternity. HOWEVER, they all followed the way, just as we are all ONE.



great article brother, It is truth.

Bodhisattva

Nice one Kosh!

Much Metta,
-bodhisattva

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