Adaptive Buddhist viewpoint relevant to modern world

Home Dharma Dew

There are some lessons to be learned from a former Buddhist monk about nudging religion into the modern world, writes Ian Harris.

Otago, New Zealand -- Understanding religion from a secular viewpoint, without assuming any hotline to heaven, is the approach which many cutting-edge Christian thinkers take today. They are not abandoning their 2000-year heritage, but trying to give it substance in a vastly changed world.

And they are not alone. Some adherents of an even older tradition are on a parallel track, as became clear during the visit to New Zealand last month of a former Buddhist monk, Scottish-born Stephen Batchelor.

Author of seven books on Buddhism, Mr Batchelor has steeped himself in the diverse Buddhist traditions of Tibet, Korea and South-east Asia. Each of those cultures adapted the Buddha's teaching to fit their own times and circumstances, but Mr Batchelor does not identify with any of them.

Instead, he is bent on nudging Buddhism into the modern secular world. In this he has been strongly influenced by liberal Protestant thinkers of the past 70 years who have been pioneering a new path for Christianity.

"I found in them both the inspiration for a living transformation of religious tradition, and an example of it," he says.

For example, where scholars of the Jesus Seminar in the United States set most store on texts from the earliest years of the Christian era, Mr Batchelor goes back to Pali texts (a variety of Sanskrit) closest to Siddhartha Gautama, who lived some 450 years before Jesus. When the texts are studied in their ancient Jewish or Indian settings they reveal more clearly the original teachings of the founders of their faiths.

There are other parallels. Jesus the Christ (or anointed one) and Gautama the Buddha (or one who has awoken) are worshipped as God by millions of their followers. Secular-oriented scholars say they were never divine beings, but entirely human.

That frees both Jesus and Gautama to be re-imagined for our own time and place. Released from the elaborate theological and institutional structures built upon their memory, they emerge as men of extraordinary vision and insight.

Over centuries the teachings of Gautama and Jesus about a new way of life morphed into belief systems, but today their original emphasis is being increasingly affirmed.

There is obviously a tension here between loyalty to the tradition and responsibility to the future. Mr Batchelor fears the attempt to preserve the tradition intact is condemning it to irrelevance.

"The difference between modernity and the traditional Asian forms of Buddhism is now so great that in a secular world it is necessary to leave behind the belief system and move towards a way of living," he says.

"Belief-based religion is basically about consolation. It not only explains everything, but also shows how to achieve some sort of salvation - nirvana in Buddhism, heaven in Christianity. Putting the emphasis on pursuing a way of life in the here and now changes the dynamics completely."

Which explains why Buddhists seeking a credible modern faith are rejecting belief in reincarnation, while among Christians the classic creeds and rituals are losing their potency.

Meditation is so closely associated with Buddhism that in the West it has cornered the meditation market. Mr Batchelor sees a danger in that: it could reduce the ideal of cultivating the whole personality to a self-improvement technique. A religious culture cuts deeper than that.

The goals of Christianity and Buddhism - freedom grounded in love, integrity, mindfulness of the whole of life, and the courage to be fully the people we can be - also overlap.

And for secular Buddhists like Mr Batchelor, the gold is not the goal but the path they are on. Traditionally, the nirvana of bliss and inner peace is achieved through release from the cycle of death and rebirth. His modern expression of this is the stopping of deep habits of mind to cultivate another way of living, releasing people from being determined by their instinctual drives.

"That stopping is nirvana, even when it occurs only momentarily. It is an inner awakening, the resonance of the Buddha within."

Christians will see a parallel here with the apostle Paul's concept of the Christ within, a life-centred symbol of love, grace and transformation.

Mr Batchelor thinks an evolving Buddhism can learn from Christianity - and an evolving Christianity can learn from Buddhism, especially by recovering the contemplative tradition that was once so prominent in the churches.

The imaginative adaptation of both religions offers a philosophy, ethic, psychology and way of life that embraces all aspects of existence without the need to appeal to any supernatural order of being.

That will be a step too far for many, but for others a refreshing new prospect.

View the original article here

Buddhist values more relevant today

Home Dharma Dew

Timphu, Bhutan -- Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse, a prominent tulku associated with Dzongsar Monastery in Derge, Eastern Tibet and also a renowned filmmaker and writer, shares his wisdom on issues that relates to our daily world.

Where do you see our central monastic body heading towards 30-50 years from now?

This is something that we have to really think about.  You need vision. It’s a very big gamble. I have seen monasteries in India, China and Bhutan and I tell them to really think about admitting girls and changing the curriculum. I am not a big fan of the education system that exists today in this world. Do you know that some of the most successful people in the world and Bhutan are all school dropouts?

I have been sort of saying that we should really think dramatically and change it drastically. But you are talking to devotees, to people who are stuck with morality and values. It’s really tough. Yes, I will tell bravely, that I can see, our dratshangs, judging from what’s happening, 50 years from now on, there will probably be only 50 monks.

Having said that, there is a lot of encouraging signs also, like young people I have met who say they want to become a monk but feel guilty because their parents have spent so much. How encouraging for the spiritual world. This is what we should bank on.

Should we allocate more resources towards spreading teachings than proliferating Buddhist infrastructure?

I don’t know whether, “we”, this democratic Bhutan, systematically develop the infrastructure of Buddha dharma. But I would strongly say that Buddhist values, wisdom and message are certainly very relevant today more than ever. It is something I don’t think we should lose because this can happen. I see sometimes, many of the younger Bhutanese are beginning to have some interest in Buddhism because all these chilips are beginning to have some interest. That’s not so good. I always say this, that Mahatma Gandhi who is known for non-violence got the idea from foreigners who got the same idea from Indians. So this could happen to you.  You could be learning Buddhism from some John.

Will anarchy alleviate all sufferings because it seems the foundation of all sufferings is a result of a society, its rules and perceptions.

I have always said that the biggest contribution to the world from the west is not science or technology. It’s anarchism. But this I say half jokingly. The thing is, we human beings are such a sucker to rules. We love rules. I don’t think we have the courage and wisdom to live with anarchism. So it’s not going to work. I think its good to, since we will not know how to live with lawlessness, might as well live with some law, even though it’s really not good.

If trulkus are reincarnations of former masters, why do they have to be subjected through exhaustive re-education process?

That is if only they go through all these exhausting training these days. They don’t even do that now. Trulkus are just pretending that they have to go through all these.  After all they are trulku, trulba, which means show magic, drama, exhibition.

Rinpoche’s comments on religion divides people.

It doesn’t take much to divide human beings. Religion just happens to be a very good device. This religion has created lot of chaos and havoc but I have to say that religion has also answered lot of personal quests. When we say religion, are we talking about some kind of a systematic religion or a spiritual path?

Spiritual path is different. It’s necessary, like songs, romance and poetry. Romance from the mathematic, scientific point of view, is just so ridiculous. But it gives some kind of a solace and religion is or especially the spiritual path has so many profound answers to many of the budding questions that we have.

Gomchens say its korzey when they perform prayers and also receive payment. Aren’t they paid for their work like any one of us?

When this gomchen says its korzey, is he being humble? There is a little bit of negative connotation when you say korzey. I really wish these gomchens and gelongs know wholeheartedly that devotees offering money or gifts or service, even a short bow, is kor, which basically is karmic debt. And if you don’t perform your job well, it will haunt you, rather go through the consequences.

I don’t know whether it should be considered like a normal wage, probably not. Although, I am sure within 20 years, if the religious aspect of Buddhism is still thriving in Bhutan, I can already see sort of hotlines for rimdos and gomchens. Like dial 8888 for rimdo.

Is there anything as black magic or nyen in Buddhism?

In Buddhism the most important is the wisdom of non-duality. Rest, methods, anything is fine. Mahayana Buddhism has infinite methods of dealing with people. Generally you’ll never find black magic in the sutras and sastras. There’s none. Actually there are only three that Mahayana Buddhists are not supposed to have – covetousness, harmful thinking, and wrong view. Other than that, anything can be the path.

Why is it that sometimes the more we practice dharma the more pain one goes through, where as the more negative act one commits, the more successful they become?

There is a prayer where Jigme Lingpa says, “Buddhists and Bodhisattvas, please make sure that what ever I want never happens.” Buddhist blessings, he said is when 100 things that you wish never come true but 1,000 things that you dare not wish come true. That’s Buddha’s blessing. So I would say, if you are a serious dharma practitioner, you are fulfilling your wish when things are going wrong. You are seeing the truth, actualising it and when that is happening, you should see it as a blessing. Next time when things are going wrong, go home and throw a big party.

How do wangs, prayers and mantras work?

Wang actually is like lets say, you had amnesia, forgot your name and whereabouts. Then somebody says, you are from Paro and your name is Dorji. You wake up because we have all forgotten our true identity, which is the Buddha.

On the more relative level, if you are a Buddhist, this is something you must know. Buddha dharma is probably the only system, only path that wholeheartedly and completely embraces the system of cause, condition and effect. So in this way, Buddhism is very scientific. Everything depends on cause, condition and effect. And cause and condition are endless.

Some ask me how Buddhist karma works because some do lots of prayers and are not successful while some kill and steal and are still successful. You know this unpredictability of karma. I can tell you karma is basically a science of cause and condition. These advanced scientists today can’t predict tomorrow’s or this afternoon’s weather, how can we ignorant, limited beings predict the complex situation of cause, condition and effect. But one thing we know is that nothing emerges out of the blue. And as Buddhists, we don’t believe that things are created by god, so prayers, blessings, are or could be part of those intricate, complex of cause, condition and effect.

View the original article here