Book Review: Through The Flames

Through the Flames: Overcoming Disaster Through Compassion, Patience, and Determination is a book in two parts. The first half is about Mr. Lokos' recovery from severe burns in a plane crash, and the second is about the dharma that helped him recover. There is an interesting post script where a nurse tells him him that he is "so kind", which Buddhists will remember Ananada as saying about the Buddha as he passed. Mr. Lokos has a kind of determination and commitment to the Dharma that helps him to organize his experience and chart his course for recovery. He looks at things in the most positive way and keeps his extra stress to a minimum. The extra stress comes from unhelpful stories we tell ourselves. Like putting a second arrow after a first one goes in. He handles  a very challenging recovery very well, and survives despite doctor's predictions that he wouldn't. There is a section where he follows up with his first book, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living. He sees patience as just not over reacting to things, having the insight to not add on. I have read so many dharma books, but this one doesn't overload me with basic instructions, but is also written in a simple practical way that is not overly complex. I read the book while on a camping trip and quite enjoyed it. Now I need to go and visit the Community Meditation Center, which Lokos founded.

Mindfulness of the Buddha

(Udumvara flower)

This is a book review of The Life of the Buddha (Penguin Classics). As noted in a previous blog, the book was written by Tenzin Chogyel in Bhuttan about 250 plus years ago. He's in the Kagyu sect of Buddhism, so the Buddha taught the Mahayana ideals and the tantric spells. This new translation is a blessing. I think it's the first one of this text. It makes me wonder how many other great texts are out there untranslated.

The literature of Buddhism is vast and it can take a long time to read it even with what is already translated. There is even the phenomenon of book buddhists, people who read Buddhist books and find them quite enjoyable and in harmony with their aspirations. I have a similarly modern approach to Buddhism that at the beginning involved a lot of books before I took the plunge into sangha and meditation. There are also tattoo Buddhists, people who put a Buddha on their body, but don't really know much about Buddhism. There are Buddhist who think it's presumptuous to read these texts and meditate, because they've been told it's only for the monks. There's all kinds of Buddhism and there is also a unique form blossoming in America and other countries that where not traditionally Buddhist.

My experience is that Karen Armstrong's biography of the Buddha is a fair place to start. Even though she's not a Buddhist, she's a great spiritual writer. The best book is the collection of biographical elements, by Nanamoli. (The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali Canon). There is a bibliography of recommended books that include Nanamoli and some other books I'm hoping to get to. It's fun to see the differences in this version. Like he had 32 nursemaids as a baby. Vivshpani Blomfeeld's book on the Buddha wasn't on the list, but that's a deep meditation on the Buddha that included stuff I didn't see elsewhere. Unfortunately it's not in print in America, so you can buy a used copy or an electronic version.

I can't remember the scriptures that talk about a fellow who's meditation practice was just to recall his experiences with the buddha, and thinking about the Buddha. Recollecting the Buddha is a positive thing. When I hit on a theme, I chant a mantra that is most appropriate throughout the day. I chant the Buddha mantra. You can also imagine him with you during you day.

There are issues with the miracles. As a modern skeptical person, sometimes it's not clear for me how to translate things from literal to mythical. What does it mean to be born out of the side of someone, instead of coming out the vagina? Do they think women are dirty? Is that misogyny? At the very least it signals him as someone unique who begins talking right after birth. I take it that he has done so much work in his previous lives, that he really hits the ground running.

I don't really have to make sense of it, I can just enjoy it. I've been writing about re-enchanting life, and this account of the Buddha's life certainly does that from a Bhutanese Kagyu perspective 250 plus years ago. There are some interesting little sketches: Mara doodles in the dirt after the Buddha moves past him. There are sections where the devotional writing is inspirational.

If you're looking for your first biography or even second, I might miss this one because you might get some sectarian impressions of the Buddha's life (unless that is your school, of course, or you're considering that school). But if you've read a few biographies and wish to contemplate the Buddha in a new translation, this is a pretty good little book. 

Shoes Outside The Door (Book Review)

(source: http://mentalalchemy.tumblr.com/post/40676959937/internettastetest-untitled)

Shoes Outside The Door (Book Review)

The photo above captures something about the split in idealism about the spiritual life (bottom), and what it's really like (top). Buddhism is about seeing how things really are. Disillusionment is good, you are taking your blinders off. You can always recover your true motivation if it's been hijacked by illusions. Maybe the top one is more beautiful because it is more true. We need our ideals to move us forward, but they are just carrots, and they can mislead us when reality doesn't jive with it.

This book made me think of a lot of things, it's about complications, multiple viewpoints, and displays a rich reality about many thing, and my review will in some ways mirror it's messy inclusiveness.

Michael Downing is the author of many books, and is on the faculty of Tufts. Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Centerwas published in 2001, and has 385 pages, without footnotes, or index.

Through tape recorded interviews, Downing puts together a portrait of a sangha, that includes a meteoric rise through a charismatic but flawed leader Richard Baker at the San Francisco Zen Center. Other teachers are discussed, including Reb Anderson. At the beginning, the writing style is too much tilted towards a teaser, to my taste, but soon enough he's into the story, or setting the background and conditions for the 1983 resignation of Richard Baker, and the aftermath. In a way that's a focus point in the book, but when I read it I'm also thinking about developing a sangha, and Zen culture. I have seen the movie about Edward Espe Brown, How to Cook Your Life. He's famous for his cookbook, which the story mentioned he only got 20% of profits, the rest going to the center. (I reviewed the movie.)

At the heart of the story is the life of Shunryu Suzuki, who's lectures Zen Mind, Beginners Mind is a classic. I've read it many times, and will reread again. My memory of it is to try and be present in the moment by not thinking so much, but by just bringing a beginner's mind to things. I struggle with the anti-thinking way Zen comes off. Thinking is very important, and as my teacher says, you transcending thinking by pushing through and developing thinking, not by avoiding it. My fear is this Zen teachings sometimes subtly suggest avoiding thinking instead of going through and transcending thinking. Here is a quote from the ZMBM:

In Japan we have the phrase shoshin, which means "beginner's mind." The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner's mind. Suppose you recite the Prajna Paramita Sutra only once. It might be a very good recitation. But what would happen to you if you recited it twice, three times, four times, or more? You might easily lose your original attitude towards it. The same thing will happen in your other Zen practices. For a while you will keep your beginner's mind, but if you continue to practice one, two, three years or more, although you may improve some, you are liable to lose the limitless meaning of original mind.

When I read that this book was from recordings an obscure disciple made, who died of cancer, I thought of Suvarnaprabha, who has a cancer blog.

Shunryu Suzuki's own son inherited his temple back in Japan, and he worried this was not good for Zen. Transmission was essentially about families, not necessarily about the Dharma. Suzuki died in 1971.

Dainin Katagiri is included in this story. I read a book by one of his disciples about him, Dosho Port, who has a good blog.

Gary Snyder is also someone interviewed for the book. He is a treasure of a poet, including No Nature: New and Selected Poems. Also Philip Whalen is part of the story and many others, who I need to look into.

The journalist, just trying to understand what is going on, is a familiar kind of Buddhist account. One strand of this book reminded me of The Buddha from Brooklyn: A Tale of Spiritual Seduction, about a charismatic teacher that was recognized as a Tulku.

The book is about a bunch of people who sought to practice Zen Buddhism in San Fran from 1960's to 2000. The stories of how people came, how they were treated, what their experience was, what made them move on, is fascinating.

The was well researched, well written, and it's a compelling story. It's sketchy about administration, there's a lot of general talk, but that's part of administration. You're never at a meeting in the book, but you meet people who never want to go to a meeting again. Sitting in on a meeting might be boring. The running of the center was a major part of the narrative. Mostly you feel there is objectivity, but when the writer pipes in, you feel like it's good to get to know him a little too. In a way this was like a soap opera, with rich vivid characters whom you became interested in. Downing isn't a believer, but he he's sympathetic enough. He never actually states what he believes in, which makes him a little Baker-like. At times something outrageous suggests a belief, but he never formulates it. Perhaps he didn't want to insert himself into the story more.

Also fascinating was how the 3 different centers worked together, the layers of administration, and the businesses that supported it. I think of the right livelihood business in the TBC. I think of Housings Work, Inc.'s book store, and thrift shops. I'm fascinated by these interlocking institutions that had a spiritual base to them. It's too bad, most of them in SFZC were sold off.

Richard Baker ended up using transmission as a carrot to get away with all kinds of shenanigans  which is surprising for a so-called spiritual teacher. It calls into mind questions about trasmission.

Suzuki's son, who was consulted at times, suggested that the teacher never run the place, and not have money, and just focus on teaching the students. Baker was a rain maker, a visionary, and a teacher. I've always thought a charismatic but flawed leader must be the one to start up a center. Is anyone not flawed? Life is messy business. I knew someone who worked for a visionary once, and she found it very tedious at times.

After Baker resigned, the question became "why did we tolerate all that." Literal mindedness and not hearing your own voice led to people being conned.

Richard Baker is compared to Chogyam Trungpa. Some say he was more honest because he didn't hide anything, the way Baker did. Others say Trungpa was more wild, than was possible in the confines of a Zen tradition. (I reviewed a movie about Trungpa.) It's especially apt when Baker takes the wife of a major patron as a lover, and holds her hands at a huge conference. That is the beginning of his downfall and people wonder if he was sabotaging things by acting that way. His narrative is mostly dismissed in the whole book, or trotted out to show how unthoughtful he was. If there's one point where the writer's ideas come through it's in his portrayal of Baker.

I've never met Baker, and I don't necessarily like him, but direct charisma is missing in the narrative. He discusses a few meetings with him, and he paints him as a materialistic guy who liked the finer things, and liked to run with the rich and famous people, who donated money or attention. Jerry Brown hangs out a lot at the Zen Center, but he doesn't meditate. Baker is supposed to walk to Tassajara from SF, as a kind of punishment for what he did, to refind himself, but he took a detour and went to Disney with Linda Ronstadt. That's probably the weirdest thing about Richard Baker to me. I'd love to sit sesshin with him. If I come across free talks, I'd listen to one, or at least start one to see if it was something I want to listen to.

My problem with Zen is that it filters Buddhism through a foreign culture. Don't get me wrong, I love Japan, and find it a lovely country, which I could study endlessly. If I want to chant in a foreign language, I want it to be Pali or Sanskrit. Not Japanese. The historical Buddha was never in Japan. I think it's cool that Japan is a Buddhist country, but I don't think that in America we have to do things necessarily the way the Japanese do. Maybe we could develop an American Buddhism. Maybe we can find out own way, inspired by Japan, Tibet, India, Sikkim, Thailand, and all the great Buddhist countries, but still not just adopting another culture under the guise that it's Buddhist. I prefer to practice essential Buddhism, not cultural Buddhism. Buddhism passes through many cultures, and in America, we can create our own Buddhist culture. Buddhism has a sense that it will coalesce with circumstances. At least make it a western Buddhism for me. That is what I love about the TBC. Even though it's Victorian English at times, that's not so foreign to me. And I can chant things in English. I also chant things in Pali and Sanskrit, which is closer to the Buddha, though still removed. My mind revolts at chanting in Japanese. Since I wrote that, I should try it, I probably won't mind it at all. I do like chanting.

There's a long chapter on Greens, a restaurant my father and stepmother took me to many years ago, and got me the Somerville cookbook: Everyday Greens: Home Cooking from Greens, the Celebrated Vegetarian Restaurant. It's a beautiful, if pricey restaurant, with an interesting and rich history, which is told a little in the book. It has good views and is in an interesting development. My stepmother and father were pretty cool to pick that as something to do when I was visiting out there. They are so kind.

Literal thinking of lineage is a dead end; Inspiration and relationships are what's important. In the book there's a real question whether Reb got a full transmission, but I guess I feel "who cares". The way the book portrays lineage, it's just about maintaining and expanding power, not about deep practice and heart connections.

So it's hard to have a general feeling about the whole book, except it stirred up a lot for me, and I liked it more than I thought I would, approaching the book. I'd recommend reading it if you're interested in sangha politics and the history of SFZC.

A big question when reading a book for me is: Where does this book lead me next, what should my next book be? Do I read the book about Buddhism in America How the Swans Came to the Lake? Do I read Sex and the Spiritual Teacher: Why It Happens, When It's a Problem, and What We All Can Do? I think what I really want to read is Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, which I already have. That contains some of the positive spiritual force that brought about what is coined as the first buddhist monastery in north america. I want to read Philip Whalen, he goes on my poetry list. I think I'll quick polish off a memoir by someone who grew up at Green Gulch from 3-7. This book suggests a lot of other books.

(They say you can't quote wikipedia in an academic research article, but this isn't an academic research article. I know that it's contents are open source, and you can go on line today and change the contents, but someone will turn around and just change it back quickly. I think it's the mother of all wiki. And I link sometimes in case someone is interested in source material, or just want to follow that interest. Linear narratives are so over with.)

Here is hyperlink an account of a visit to the SF Zen Center. An acquaintance had an interesting experience, which he wrote about.

There were a lot of interesting views about what happened in this multi-determined book, but here is a little of the author's voice, which is used very sparingly. Supposedly often in the TBC the founder of a center is autocratic, and things are more democratic after they leave. The author is into hearing everyone's voice, so naturally he's not like Richard, at least in creating this work. Is someone who impresses their will on others oppressive, or they're just a kind of Ayn Rand superman? To a certain extent, the author weighs in by including many voices, which makes for a great narrative.

End: Here is hyperlink an account of a visit to the SF Zen Center. An acquaintance had an interesting experience, which he wrote about.

Book Review: Lust for Enlightenment

In a previous post, I discussed sexuality through the prism of current American Buddhism and the Christianity presumptions of America, and used the catch phrase "eyes wide open" to really look at human sexuality in it's positive and negative potential. So I went looking for a book about Buddhism and sexuality. Lust for Enlightenment is positive or neutral towards sexuality, though it acknowledges there's a puritain strain of Buddhism, and that the Buddha was not longer interested in sexuality once he was enlightened.

John Stevens has been reviewed here earlier for his Japanese Buddhist erotica, which was a more recent book than Lust for Enlightenment: Buddhism and Sex, which came out in 1990, 23 years ago. In this 5 chapter book with 141 pages, John Stevens looks at sexuality through the history and mythology of Buddhism. He is a professor at Tohoku Fukushi University in Japan of Buddhist studies and is my mother's age.

The first chapter is about the Buddha, and includes his enlightenment where he transcends sexuality. It's a sexed up account, until he is enlightened, and then he's beyond temptation.

One might note he sees the Buddha as staunchly heterosexual, which he insists a few times, without proof or cites. Every time he insisted, my mind, trained in many graduate schools, shouted out, "heterosexual presumption!" In fact the book deals with homosexuality in the last pages of the book, where he noted it could be quite common at times.

In the second chapter Stevens discusses the "puritain elders" who say to try and extinguish passions in favor of non-attachment. People are persuaded to be celibate. Meditation on the loathsomeness of the body is seen as a method for calming the passions. See the body as a bag of blood, pus and filth. Also imagine the decay of a dead body. (The author identifies the voice as "puritain Buddha".) I used to have trouble sustaining the image of seeing someone throughout the life cycle, but I'm getting better and better at not reassembling the body into voluptuousness.

Chapter two is a ribald tale where for every monk's transgression, but Buddha makes a rule against such and such. Every, and I mean every, scenario is considered, and forbidden for the monks by the Buddha. This section is derived from the vinaya, which might be a fun read in terms of what people did to bring about such and such a rule. It's a kind of Starr Report; under the pretext of condemning actions, it titillates. Wild times in ancient India with salacious details. I read them out to my girlfriend because they were pretty shocking at times.

Reading what I first read in Vishvapani's book on the Buddha, that the Buddha said it would be better to stick your penis into a snake's mouth, than into a woman, I find that pretty shocking.

My complaint about chapter 2, is I don't know why he occasionally inserts more modern examples into the ancient Pali sanskrit examples. I would have preferred a historical order. But I also admire that he's read all this stuff and collected all these stories into one place.

Stevens is good at culling from the buddhist tradition sexuality, though he doesn't repeat the suggestion he had in his last book, that the Buddha has sex with the rice milk woman. He quotes a lot of primary texts from the Pali Cannon

In chapter 3 he makes the common mistake to see Vimalakirti as a "layman". Sangharakshita deftly puts that silliness to bed in his book about the Vimalakirti Nirdesa, called Inconceivable Emancipation, which is one of his best books about a text. The whole book is about how silly the different dualism of Mahayana and Hinayana are, so to say Vimalakirti is a lay buddhist is to kind of not get the whole text's point.

Stevens uses good footnotes, and he refers to a literature I'm not familiar with. But there were key Buddhist quotes that could be controversial, and called to mind Bodhipaksa's wedsite Fake Buddhist Quotes. He combines the Buddha's last two statements into one statement, for one thing.

Chapter 3 continues on into Tantra, Cha'n and Zen tradition, as does chapter 4. Which brings to mind something a friend said. Someone quoted another order member to support their position, to which my friend said, "you can find an order member who believes in everything." Just because there were times when it was OK to be a Buddhist monk and be very sexual, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. If you are suffering under a repressive idea of sexuality, then this book might be a kind of Kinsey report for you. And I want to know what the tradition says.

Through the countless examples you see varying tolerance to sexuality by society, and how sexuality bubbles over despite "spiritual" desires. At times the guru gains status, at others he loses it.

He also mentions that in quite a few of the sexual practices, the man is not supposed to come.

Chapter 5 is about marriage, and has many examples of various configurations of polyamory, and examples of love and fidelity. You can find statements suggesting monogamy is the best. Here as in other places takes a kind of bookish sociology--what can be found out in books about a buddhist society of the past?

To refrain from sexual misconduct can be interpreted narrowly, a point to chastity, or it can be interpreted widely, and point to the potential joys, and just don't do anything extreme that hurts someone or yourself. Deceit is seen as the unskillful act. Lust, if it is pure, can be a path towards enlightenment, according to Stevens. How to purify lust, he does not really say.

I get the sense that Stevens is interested in his subject, but he doesn't share any instruction in spiritualizing sexuality that he has gotten. All the books that purport to instruct along those lines are out of print, and cost a fortune used.

Stevens is mostly an expert on the Japanese tradition, and he doesn't bring much beyond reporting things. The only implied perspective in the narrative is that collecting and reporting all this stuff is a worthy project. I don't think I was harmed by it. Buddhist culture is very diverse. I bet there existed traditions within all the major religions to spiritualize sexuality.

Writing a book isn't easy, and this one isn't bad for a trail blazer. To my knowledge it's the first English language book on sexuality in buddhism. I don't know why it's so natural to criticize. Listen to sports radio and you mostly hear about how people made mistakes. Teams win sometimes, and then it comes to testosterone filled taunting of the opponents fan base, not a real joy in success. So, avoiding that spirit, I wish to say that while I have these nit picky things to say, it's out of joy in the book that I comment, and that I'm a work in progress, who has a lot of work to do.

Now to read a book about the negative side of sexuality: Shoes Outside the Door: Desire, Devotion, and Excess at San Francisco Zen Center

Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha

I'm on page 275 of MCTB, and have some impressions. First off, it reminds me of David Smith's A Record of Awakening, thought it is many times longer and more detailed. It's kind of tripy like Castaneda's work, there is poetic language put onto complex and deep psychological states, that are often not expressed. The vagueness and the fact that I'm not aware of having them makes it difficult reading, at times, but you have to say something, right?

When I met David Smith, someone said, "Go on; show me a jhana!" Kind of weird thing to say. Is he supposed to meditate and then tell them when he's attained a certain state? Ingram points out that it might be upsetting to talk about attainment because you make others jealous. Now how many times have you seen someone accuse others of being jealous, when they just didn't like a person? It's a confusing and indeterminate situation. There is no comeback to skepticism except, "maybe I have done something." There's always the question of whether you would recognize a Buddha if you met them. Even an arahant. (It's kind of like that song, "what if god were one of us?")

I know someone who was on a retreat, and the retreat leader said he was Maitreya. He had a hard time suppressing his skepticism, but he tried believing it to see if it helped. Seems like something to try. (Even though America is not very Buddhisty, I once saw a sign overhanging a highway, "Maitreya is coming," which somehow warmed and confused my heart.)

A person I know, allegedly reported he became a stream entrant, and was met with much skepticism. I think skepticism is appropriate, and Ingram himself goes on and on about being tricked into thinking you have attained something, when you've just had a deep experience. For him it's more a mistake about where you are on the map.

Only someone at or ahead in his level can really judge. I can't. What Ingram is against is the tradition that shouts someone down if they say "hey, I think I've done something here." Maybe the answer shouldn't always be "NO YOU HAVE NOT!" Instead, I'm curious, lets investigate. Now, I don't have huge attainments, so I don't even think I can judge. For me, the question becomes, does this text have anything in it that is helpful to me. And to that I say yes, leaving aside the question of trying to verify his claim.

The tradition hides and guards progress knowledge. Even though the knowledge may be dangerous and tricky, in a kind of way, I think his transparency is refreshing. I appreciate him sharing his experiences. I feel like I learned a lot reading his book, learned stuff I haven't learned elsewhere. And even though he needs an editor to clean up a few sentences, I think he mostly writes with startling clarity. Sometimes I wonder if this is the kind of stuff you only communicate face to face.

He discusses the map. He's a bit like Dora The Explorer, except he doesn't 3 options, he presents stages in the path. The book is rich, well researched, and rich in references and bibliography. The map is how to move towards enlightenment through meditation. It's mostly in the Vipassana tradition, but he has read widely and presents other maps and discusses other traditions in terms of his, which points to a kind of depth. He makes sense of other traditions without it feeling too reductive.

There is a rich tradition in Buddhism of not bragging about attainments or rich experiences. I was at a sangha meeting once when someone was talking about floating, and the teacher, now deceased, said that he shouldn't get too attached to the pleasant experiences. At the time, I thought that was harsh. Why not enjoy them? I think the answer is that you need to practice even if you have terrible experiences, on the cushion, and if you have pleasant experiences. Ingram points out that you might get overly attached to pleasant states, and not move on form them. Confronting the three characteristics is not a pleasant experience, and if there's one theme throughout this complex book, it's that the three characteristics of existence are at the core of the Buddha's insight. And they aren't a party, though if you can really experience them, they are liberating.

A point is that you might have a false summit, where you think you're at the top, when there's more to go. How can you be sure you're at the top? Perhaps there is fog up ahead, and you can't see another peak. Ingram goes on and on about possible traps into thinking you've become enlightened, that you are mistaken. Ingram presumably has reasons why this doesn't apply to himself. He does say something funny, something like, people are in favor of enlightenment in general, but just not you. I know someone who met him at a conference, and just turns up their head at him, kept walking.

I'm not dismissive even though I don't know what his level of attainment is. He's past me. And what ever his level of attainment is, he does have a rich knowledge of the Dharma, and shares his experiences and thoughts, which are interesting and helpful. He talks about being overly goal oriented, dead ends he's gone down and other mistakes and traps. Because he is ahead of me on the path, I can't really judge exactly where, and just appreciate his knowledge and experience.

He answers his question. Why isn't there more transparency about the map to enlightenment? He goes on to talk about how dangerous and confusing it is, and discusses the need to work with a teacher. Good Dharma books tell you to go get a living teacher, and this one does too, many times.

Ingram talks about the mushroom model, where teachers want as many people around, so they allow people of all levels to participate, and don't put any pressure on people to move forward, or to really understand the commitment and knowledge to move forward. It seems like Ingram has put in quite a lot of work, and doesn't want to keep what he's learned a secret. He likes being bold and brash in his pronouncements, enjoys it, enjoys getting up on his pulpit and strongly expressing his opinions. Will that harm someone? I can't see it. Maybe because he has a day job, he doesn't need to make money on this.

This is a long and complex book, so it's hard to take out bits to look at, but I particularly enjoyed the talk about the Dark Night phase. I've never heard about that, and find the idea very interesting. I want to hear more about that, that's one part I will be rereading.

When I first heard about jhanas, it was beyond my experience, so it was hard to understand. But now I appreciate the talk about it, because it's not easy making sense of our experiences in meditation and the more of that that I can get, the better, even though it's hard to read about experiences I haven't experienced. For someone like me, I have to plough through the book, and then come back and reread. Time will tell if I reread this book.

I've read on forums, people who focused on disproving his being an arahant Because he's married, and has hobbies, and works as a medical ER doctor, they think the's too worldly, and therefore can't be an arahant I don't know anybody who's become enlightened in the modern world, but I have a feeling that the person who dismisses Ingram this way, might be looking at things through the monastic/lay split of the Theravadins or other Buddhist groups. I think it's possible to be lay and become enlightened. Probably harder, but also easier in other ways. Still, I don't know. The reason I went ahead and read the book was because a friend said it was good, and because the criticism of him on line just didn't really make sense to me.

This book taught me that I'm much more attracted to the tradition that asks if you would notice if you were in the presence of the Buddha, than I am by the tradition that says "don't talk about attainments." I also think the fact that he gives away the book is important about his motives. I do think you should be humble no matter where you are on the path, though I don't think you need to hide anything. I regret not talking about deep and troubling experiences I've had with others.

You can scoff or be impressed by watching his videos on line. I think now that I've read the book I have a context to watch them other than scoffing at him. I will put aside the question of whether he's really an arahant because I can't evaluate that. But I don't think his book hurt me along the path. I don't know if it would hurt people to dismiss the book, either.  I didn't read the book because of the claim but because a friend said it was good.

Jim Jones claimed to be the Buddha, but he doesn't leave behind a book explaining how to get there. There is a rich history of people who have claimed to be the Buddha. They all seem like quacks on the current Wikipedia list, except Bomjon.

Ram Dahadur Bomjon is the latest. Whether or not he's enlightened, his meditating 20 hours a day and then going behind a sheet where he didn't meditate, go to the bathroom or eat, is pretty impressive, even if I don't believe what they said when he went out of sight. And he doesn't claim to be enlightened himself, according to the Wikipedia article. He sees himself as a rinpoche. His followers claimed he was. Where ever he is along the path, he's a pretty impressive practitioner.  We will see if he can develop into a good teacher. He's changed his name to Maha Sambodhi Dharma Sangha.

But I digress.  Just some thoughts about MCTB.

Finally, I want to quote the Heart Sutra:  "Attainment too is emptiness"

Final comments on Endless Path

So I've finished up Rafe Martin's Endless Path: Awakening Within the Buddhist Imagination: Jataka Tales, Zen Practice, and Daily Life

As I've written before, I'm into the Jungian imaginary part of the spiritual life, and I found this a great addition to the stories of Buddhism. I think my favorite Jalaka tale that Martin told was "Gentle Heart", but I also liked "Five Weapons". I liked them all really, though some seem more experience far, the ones where you sacrafice your body (The Tigress and The Monkey King).

Rafe Martin quotes from the Talking Heads and other pop culture, and seems to be extremely well grounded in the Zen literature (as might be expected because that's his tradition). I got a good list of Zen books to read while reading this book, seems I have some more reading to do.

The illustrations are interesting and evocative, and it seems Richard Wehrman is a good friend of Martin's.

I'd say you could maybe read some of these stories to children (maybe not my favorite Gentle Heart, but others). Supposedly Rafe Martin is a storyteller and you can hire him to come tell a story.

The commentaries are interesting and organized around the 10 Paramitas. You can join me on retreat up at Aryaloka (or down if you're in Maine) in Newmarket New Hampshire.

He introduces the Jatakas and in the concluding chapter gives his own personal pithy understanding of the Bodhisattva vows, 4 noble truths, 8 fold path and the 10 paramitas.

So with regret I finished this lovely book, and highly recommend it to you if you're interested in some good story telling, some Dharma discussion from a Zen perspective and some good writing.

informal review on goodreads

Learning from the Heart: Lessons on Living, Loving, and Listening by Daniel Gottlieb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I eschew self help type books. The line between insipid simplifications and positive suggestions is so thin. I would not naturally pick a book like his up.



Sometimes I like a simple obvious inspirational books, and I've taken a run at quite a few.



I feel pretty full of facts and information, or not want the challenge of a more theoretical book. I'm enjoying process so much more these days. So I don't totally look down my nose at this kind of book.



I am in a book club at my sons' school, and I've always wanted to be in a book club. This is what they chose to read. So I read it.



I've teared up many times reading this book. It's a touching book.



I think Gottlieb is a JewBu, because he quotes Buddhists, and talked about coming off a retreat, and feeling like the gains were quickly lost. There's a lot of implicit Buddhism, though he doesn't make it explicit, though at times he runs straight into it and talks about the Buddha's ideas about desire. But he also talks about God and the divine.



He's not just a Buddhist, he's a psychologist and a human. It made me wonder about my obsession with the Dharma. Maybe I need to loosen up and be a little more free ranging for a while. I liked his Jewish stories. It's a very spiritual book, and not offensive to me in any ways (it's easy to offend me with facile comments about God).



He tells good stories, and I felt his advice was pretty good about trying to accept things more. He includes poetry and has written a really good book in my opinion. I like his messy authenticity, his commitment to get closer to the bone.



I think much of his insight comes from having quadriplegia. He has to just sit and experience his emotions. Instead of distracting or doing something. He has to just sit there. He shares the wisdom of this experience.



He's also donating the proceeds to charities! Amazing. I can get behind this book on another level.



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Buddhist Erotica out November 1st , 2010

Got an advanced copy of this little book coming out Nov. 1st 2010. It provoked a lot of thoughts.

First off, I have to note the destructive and liberating elements of sexuality. Many sanghas have been turned upside down by the power dynamics that lead to sexual expression. I also wonder whether there has been some liberating elements. Bante is his last will and testament suggested that his experiments in sexuality did not lead to anything that was useful.

Sexuality is natural, human and can lead to quite a ruckus. I think the positive ethical statement about sexuality is to lead life with "stillness, simplicity and contentment", and sexuality can certainly be the opposite of that.

Buddhists in the good ol' USA will surely have grown up in a confusing context of Christian sexual ethics, and the sexuality of materialism, where exciting body parts are used to sell merchandise, objectifying over intimacy. It's a task to shirk off the Christianity, materialism and not embrace the hedonism.

I had a patient once, who was a beautiful rising pop star. She said sarcastically, "Buddhist men haven't transcended desire!!!" She felt their lust as much as anyone else, maybe more. In away, being more mindful, you get in tune with all of yourself. And that can lead to some interesting place. My experience, like Bante's, is that sex is not really helpful to the spiritual life, but then again, not much is helpful except the sangha (sometimes) and your own pure will and effort.

I once drew a mandala of my life, and put yellow over it to mark sexuality, and while I saw it stained yellow, another person saw a rocket ship that propelled my practice along. So I think I still have some work to do shirking my Christian conditioning about sexuality.

On another level, I have read erotica, first reading it in Nicholson Baker, and then branching out. It's a kind of safe way to explore sexuality and sexual excitement. I find erotica an interesting genera. This may be reading this book in a way that it was not intended, but that happens all the time, right?!

Sangharakshita joked in Creative Symbols of Tantric Buddhism, that if you wanted to sell a book, include the following words: secret, tantric, sex and magic. I think John Steven's title includes three of them.

Often times, when I read books that feel like ethnic Buddhism, where basic Buddhism has gone by the wayside, and ethnic expressions of culture predominate, I see the book more as a cultural study than as a study on Buddhism. I am no expert of Japanese culture, but I note it has spawned many interesting sects of Buddhism. How accurate this is about a subset of a subset of Japanese culture, only John Stevens really knows. He claims in an afterword that it is based on many things.

I found the book a smooth enjoyable read, and it challenged me in some ways. To imagine the Buddha accepting rice milk from a lovely maiden after quitting the acetic practice, and then to suggest that he slept with her, well, if Buddhism believed in blasphemy that would make me wonder. But there's no such thing as blasphemy in Buddhism, Sangharakshita has expressed that clearly in one of his booklets. Who knows it was 2,500 years ago he walked this earth. It was before he transcended desire. It's hard to imagine he had the energy after coming quite close to death, but I've often been surprised at energy arising when I thought I had none.

So in the end, I really enjoyed this book, and found it thought provoking.

Manga!

I've read Osamu Tezuka's 8 volume biography of the Buddha, leaving it on the shelf hoping my wife or kids would read it. So when I got Tetsu Saiwai's The 14th Dali Lama in the mail to review, I was quite happy. I like graphic novels, and in this case a biography.



Of course Seven Years in Tibet, Little Buddha and Kundun are interesting movies.







I've even seen a more modern movie that portrays Tibetan culture in exile.



I've even read Palden Gyatso's memoir.



I don't know why the Dali Lama is seen as the spokesperson for Buddhism, when he's a teacher in of one of 6 Tibetan Buddhism schools. His life story is compelling and he seems like an awesome guy. I've read a few of his books, seen him in movies.

I like it when he was asked about Tiger Woods, he didn't know who he was. And when he was explained, he said he thought any spiritual tradition would have about the same thing to say about him. I have read his memoir.



Just read Dharma Punx and Noah Levine says he was influenced by his talks, and meeting him a few times, briefly.

I lean more towards Stephen Batchelor's rejection of reincarnation dogma, and I'm working within the context of the TBC.



Nevertheless, it's quite a story of finding the Dali Lama's reincarnation, and is deeply embedded in the culture of Tibet. What was it like for a little boy? It must be pretty overwhelming, and before you know it, you just accept the role. In many ways it must be like winning the lottery. But then at 15 to be thrust in as leader is absurd, to see the invasion of China with all it's confusions.

In a way, the invasion of Tibet has brought Tibet into world consciousness. Do we talk about Sikkim or Nepal? It has taken him out of his safe place, and challenged him. It is only to his credit that he has responded and become a world leader. Maybe he does deserve to be a world religious leader. As far as I know, he's consistently chosen non-violence, which is an amazing choice and focus considering what has happened.

The drawings are wonderful and they tell this compelling story well. I still get upset when I think about China's invasion. The mystery novels of Eliot Pattison further helps me to imagine what has happened.



I guess the USA only step in if they found oil there. Another symptom of our skewed priorities.

I think there's a temptation to idealize Tibetans, me not knowing any personally. Before China's invasion one out of five people were monastics. What a wonderful commitment to spirituality! Imagine if the USA were like that.

Sangharakshita, in his memoirs, suggests Tibetans are practical people. He was in Kalingpong and Tibetans were fleeing, he got to know quite a few.

The Dali Lama is a world figure and I'm hoping my children will read this book when they get a little older. I do like all things Buddhism, Tibetan culture and world history, so this is an important book, well executed. I can't really judge the historical accuracy of the book, it has to be said, but it was an enjoyable experience to read and look at it.



Here's an article on the book.

Dharma Punx

I read Dharma Punx by Noah Levine on my kindle. I've listened to a few talks on his website, and thought I'd read the book, which came out in 2003. One friend has gone on retreat with him and to his sangha night in NYC.

The first third of the book is a disturbing teenage angst rebellion drug binge, and the development of the punk aesthetic, love of tattoos and hatred of "hippies". Made me think of Sangharakshita's comment that if he hadn't found the Dharma, he would probably gone crazy.

I'm older than Levine, but punk was an alluring movement to me when I was in high school. I certainly didn't get as far into it as he did, and have moved on since then to find my musical true love in jazz, though I have to say I love most genera of music. I'm working on a cross post for a friend who has a music blog.

The pain he was inflicting on himself and others comes to a head about a third into the book, and he turns a kind of corner. In some ways I think he would have written a lot more in some place, I was curious for more details, and I wanted to ask him questions. How did he get into sweat lodges? I wanted more flavor of his friendships. I thought of the old adage about writing, show don't tell, though I can see how this book would be a manifesto for some people. It's a triumph of survival.

I like it when he referenced harm reduction, and the 12 step movements, in his efforts to lead a sober kind existence. I liked it when he explained his transition and changes, and what led up to and his journeys to the east.

His father is a spirituality writer, so he had some inside help and hooked up with Kornfield and the Thai Forest Tradition. But when he gets to the monastery in Thailand, he freaks out and leaves quickly. He tried a couple more times to go on retreat, but he ended up realized he just wanted to be with a woman. He was torn by his urge to be a monastic and his inability to be a monastic. He goes back east on another trip.

I liked his use of slang, I didn't know what shoulder tap was before I read this book. I liked the way he discussed his struggles with women. I had a friend who used to sigh and say, "ah, Buddhist men...." I like Noah's drive. I don't so much identify with his anti-authoritarian rationalizations, the tattoos and bands, but it's interesting. I don't really identify with his anger.

He writes best about his struggles with himself. I don't think he's such a good travel writer. In a way the book was about friendships and his grief over the loss of so many friends.

Certainly made me interested in his next book that came out in paperback in 2007. His punk and Buddhism synthesis is interesting:



I also want to see the documentary about him called Meditate and Destroy.

The Shin Buddhism of Unno

First I’d like to indicate what is for me simpatico, before I review.

"There is never going to be a kind of spiritual welfare state. The goal for everyone is to be oneself a creator of a Pure Land, not an endless consumer of spiritual goodies." (p112 Living Ethically by Sangharakshita).

From the Dhammapada (p.44 Gil Fronsdale edition):

“Purity and impurity depend on oneself;
No one can purify another”

River of Fire, River of Water by Taitetsu Unno is subtitled “An Introduction to the Pure Land tradition of Shin Buddhism”

My initial instinct is that I don’t want to chant a mantra to be reborn in Amitabha’s pure land, that feels too much like praying to get into heaven. But I like Blofeld’s quoting another in saying, “"All the sects are like beads on one rosary." (From Bodhisattva of Compassion: The Mystical Tradition of Kuan Yin). So my question is what can I learn about the devotional from this tradition?

One thing I don’t like about Pure Land is mappo (as posted earlier). Even if you could prove it, and I don’t think you can, I think it has a whiff of a self-defeating idea. We can create our own pure lands.

The idea that meditation is elitist is also suspect (p.3). To say one aspect of Buddhism is superior is restrictive, reductive. Pragmatically for a person, that’s fine, but to state categorically shows a little sense of objectivity about the Buddhist tradition and the path of others. It seems true that if you focus just on mantra recitation you will develop that ability more. But restricting one’s practice to only one item of practice when there are so many feels artificial. It was a development perhaps about the rigidity of the situation in Japan at the time.

The idea that garbage is good, that you can ease into reality by just dropping all the intellectual stuff, and just being devotional is appealing. But you have to be careful not to just rewrite bad as good.

I have to admit that I prefer confrontation to consolation in spirituality.

I don’t feel the connection between the mantra and all the powers he attributes to it—that you appreciate the negatives and accept them; That you raise above your small self with “other power”. He does talk about good things, and it is good to accept yourself fully and work to grow beyond your small self. In a way this book felt like Subhuti’s withdrawn book Women, Men and Angels; It’s exquisitely argued, but I wonder why. If Pure Land eschews the elitist intellectual, than why use their language? I feel like poetry would be more persuasive. Milarepa eschews the academic lamas of his time, and so he sings songs. Feels bizarre to have a well reasoned intellectual justification of devotion. In Sangharakshita’s Ritual and Devotion, I felt like the book wasn’t intellectual, it was just persuasive.

I have to say I do like it that Buddhism appreciates it’s rebels, it’s heretics. Shinran and Honen broke with a rigid tradition, so in a way I appreciate their innovative spirit.

Here’s a good link on devotional practice from someone in the FWBO tradition:
http://vidyavajra.blogspot.com/2009/07/practice-3-delving-into-devotion.html

John Blofeld

I just finished Bodhisattva of Compassion: The Mystical Tradition of Kuan Yin. Quite a lovely book for me. I'm considering Avalokita for my potential sadhana.

In the FWBO you get a sadhana when you join the order. You can of course visualize what ever you want, but to be given a sadhana, initiated, is a wonderful thing. I can also visualize the refuge tree, as part of the prostration practice, which is a maximal practice. Also in there have been other visualization practices done on retreat. So I wondered if Blofeld got the sadhana too quickly, without doing preliminary work, but with such a beautiful book, I think it worked out for him. This personal account is well worth reading.

I have a friend who has a tattoo on his left upper arm of Kuan Yin (Guan Yin on Wikipedia and I've also seen Quan Yin). I also have a friend who named her dog Kuan Yin.

I have a strong interest in Avalokitsvra. My first little talk in front of my sangha was about Avalokita. Avalokita is also in the Heart Sutra, which is an amazing text. The legend of wanting to save everyone in Enlightenment, and blowing up and being put back together by Amitabha, resonates with me. Amitabha's mantra is often chanted in Pure Land Buddhism, a sect of Buddhism which is more devotional. It turns out that Kuan Yin is also evoked and prayed to in a Pure Land tradition.

Blofeld write, "Do not fall into the trap of making distinctions that are meaningful only at a very superficial level. Ch'an, Pure Land and Vajrayana are not three paths to the same goal, but three gateways to the same path, or even one gateway seen in various lights." (p. 121).

He quotes someone saying, "All the sects are like beads on one rosary." (p. 84). He does come at it with a western rational mind, but comes to see Kuan Yin as something that really exists outside his mind, in the world. I appreciate his very personal struggle to make sense of the tradition he did not grow up in.

He gets a little polemical in the end:

"We must cease unctuously exposing children to boring sermons, to affirmations of belief in which we have little or no faith ourselves, to notions of vengeful deities befouled by the smoke of burnt offerings, to symbols of agonizing death quite opposite to a child's inborn conception of what is good and beautiful and joyous. Children's innate perceptions must not be smothered but set free!" (p.140).

I have had to live a lifetime under the dominance of Christianity. It did not fit with me. It wasn't until I found the dharma that I understood what everyone was going on about, I can imagine Christianity now.

To me Blofeld is persuasive about opening my mind to Pure Land, and to opening the mind to the richness of ideas outside our culture. I feel like he gets it, I feel sympatico. It makes me want to read the book on Pure Land that I got at Aryaloka.

I find it interesting the way he traces the origins of Kuan Yin to Avalokitesvra, and I wonder if there is not some American legendary figure that can be transformed into a Bodhisattva. Paul Bunyon? He might be more a manifestation of Manjushri, with his axe instead of a sword. Johnny Appleseed? He was a Christian missionary, so I won't appropriate him for Buddhism. The legendary figures of the west are too violent to be Bodhisattvas. I would say Casey Jones was too obsessed with work, he dies at the throttle. Likewise with John Henry. Roy Hobbs is too sports oriented. I can't find an American folk hero that can be an American manifestation of Avalokita.

Maybe that guy who laid down on the subway tracks to save a man, Wesley Autrey. I'm also inspired by the freedom fighters who died, like Viola Liuzzo.

Anyway, I'm not yet ready to chant their mantras to be reborn in their pure lands, but that brings to mind Bante's quote about pure lands:

"There is never going to be a kind of spiritual welfare state. The goal for everyone is to be oneself a creator of a Pure Land, not an endless consumer of spiritual goodies." (p112 Living Ethically).

I don't believe in mappo, Nichiren's idea that things have degenerated so much that we can't become enlightened. I just don't think it's a helpful idea. If it's proven true, I suppose I'd have to believe it, but I don't know how someone could prove it was true.

So to conclude, this book has many interesting angles from the slice of life in Asia, to the personal spiritual journey, to the thoughts about Pure Land Buddhism, not to mention a detailed meditation on Kaun Yin. I recommend it. It's published by Shambhala, a fine Buddhist publisher.

Living Ethically: Advice from Nagarjuna's Precious Garland

Sangharakshita has a new book Living Ethically on Nagarjuna's Precious Garland.

At first I didn't want to write a review because I'm not an expert on the Precious Garland. I've read it, and had parts read to me on retreat, but in no way do I feel I can judge whether Sangharakshita is true to the text or not, whether I agree with his interpretation. But in the end it's Sangharakshita riffing off of Nagarjuna's Precious Garland, and updating it with his unique vision for modern Buddhists. Whether you like his vision or not, will inform whether you find this book useful.

I would categorize with book with his Mahayana commentaries, Tranforming Self and World, The Inconceivable Emancipation, and The Drama of Cosmic Enlightenment. I might add The Yogi's Joy.

I would also connect it with Sangharakshita's book Ten Pillars of Buddhism in that much of the book is also an exposition of the Ten Pillars:

1. I undertake to abstain from taking life.
2. I undertake to abstain from taking the not-given.
3. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct.
4. I undertake to abstain from false speech.
5. I undertake to abstain from harsh speech.
6. I undertake to abstain from useless speech.
7. I undertake to abstain from slanderous speech.
8. I undertake to abstain from covetousness.
9. I undertake to abstain from animosity.
10. I undertake to abstain from false views.

There are also positive ones of these (which I have modified a little):

1. With deeds of loving-kindness I purify my body.
2. With open-handed generosity I purify my body.
3. With simplicity, stillness and contentment, I purify my body.
4. With truthful communication I purify my speech.
5. With words kindly and gracious I purify my speech
6. With utterances helpful, I purify my speech.
7. With utterances harmonious, I purify my speech.
8. Abandoning covetousness for tranquility I purify my mind.
9. Changing hatred into compassion, I purify my mind.
10. Transforming ignorance into wisdom I purify my mind.

So the above ideas of how to move towards skillful actions play a large part in this book, and I feel the exploration is positive and helpful. He puts it this way:

"Ideally, we should act spontaneously, with ease and flexibility, rather than acting out of a sense of being hedged in on every side by self-recrimination or out of fear of transgressing some immutable moral law. Having said that, our wider aim should be to reach out beyond our personal happiness towards what is of profounder concern to us, namely, benefiting others. If you succeed in doing this, you are being a true friend to yourself." (p. 18)

There is also references in the book to monitoring mental states closely, so as to try and cultivate positive states, which makes me think of Know Your Mind, which is based on the Abhidharma, and it perhaps one of Sanghrakshita's most complex books.

So categorizing aside, this book has many strong messages. In my 7th year or reading Sangharakshita, I'm noticing the theme of intensity. Being a Buddhist is more than just reading books, more than just meditating, there has to be a real translation into action, and not just an ethical action, but also action that takes into account others, the boddhisattva ideal. Of course this book is less intense than The Essential Sangharakshita, because those are the edited highlights of his whole career, and Living Ethically is just one edited seminar. By the way you can find the seminar or seminars this book was based on at Free Buddhist Audio.

For a sample of the intensity and clarity, consider the following quote about vows:

"You might want to make a vow. A vow is a very simply a statement - usually a public statement - to the effect that you will do or not do, something either for a certain period of time, or for ever. Not that you'll try to, not that you promise to: you will. When you make a vow it is already accomplished, and there is no question of your breaking it. To make the vow is to keep it. Even if you don't say it in front of other people, you say it in front of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and you call upon them to witness your vow. For example, you should know yourself well enough not to make a vow out of self-hatred, just as a way of making life difficult for yourself, although even if you did this, you would still have to keep the vow. Should you break a vow, it means you didn't really make it in the first place, and this wills how that you are not an emotionally integrated person." (p. 22)

I found this very helpful about vows.

Consider this quote:

A Buddhist should be a walking paradox in the eyes of the world: he or she should be obviously happy, even in the absence of financial security, social status, luxury consumer goods, or a sexual relationship - all of which are commonly regarded as being essential to human happiness. The sight of such a person would make people wonder, 'How can this be? Perhaps ideas about life are not the whole story.' It is what a Buddhist is that speaks to people, far more than clever presentations of Buddhist Doctrine." (p92)

And this:

There is never going to be a kind of spiritual welfare state. The goal for everyone is to be oneself a creator of a Pure Land, not an endless consumer of spiritual goodies." (p112)

The intensity is provocative. Am I a piker? I've got to get down to it!

There's a lot of really good stuff in this book, and I could have easily produced 3-4 longer quotes that meant a lot to me. I recommend reading this book. And may you be happy, may you be well.

Hello At Last

Hello at last.
You have only
just begun to
know each other.

(Allan Gurganus)

Reading Sara Jenkins’ book Hello At Last, is like meeting someone on retreat and going for a walk with them. On retreat there is a heightened sense of awareness, kindness and receptivity, so in a way you really get to know someone, in a way the ordinary world doesn’t support. There is time, mindfulness and kindness. I have the experience on retreat of wishing everything was retreat. Would not the world be perfect if we could sustain this intensity? I cling to the pleasure of it, and that’s another thing I get to work on while on retreat.

This idea is carried forward into a practical idea of living in a single sex community, working in a team based right livelihood and going along to the center. I’m told it’s like being on retreat in ordinary life. I’m told people make rather rapid progress under such supportive circumstances. Unfortunately, from this perspective, I have a wife and kids, and do not live in the heart of the FWBO order where that would be a real possibility. So my kids are my gurus and I don’t have maximally supportive conditions.

Speaking of living on retreat in ordinary life, don't forget the upcoming Urban Retreat. There are some new photos, videos and talks.

To keep the dharma alive in me, I read. Spending time with a spiritual friend is not easy so reading a book is a kind of substitute. I was quite happy to get to know Sara Jenkins though her personal account of friendship.

Friendship is a lovely subject and Sara Jenkins chooses a more personal approach than Subhuti does in his book, which is much less personal. She writes, “I’m afraid of saying too much, of being too personal. Afraid of saying something I hadn’t realized myself…” (p.72). She is talking about exposing herself to sangha, but her book too is an exposure, deeply personal.

She strikes me as an intellectual introvert; I think I would like her. She experiences TBMSG in India and tries the communication exercises there. I was jealous she went to Pune and toured the sites, met Lokamitra. I’m also reading The Prisons We Broke by Baby Kamble, a Dalit female memoir. My heart goes out to this community.

My first draft of this review focused on what I felt I would like to talk more to her about, my preference for different language. I wish I could be in dialogue with her. I feel this is a wonderful book, and wish to have her further elaborate certain issues.

Her teacher is from the Zen tradition and she talks a lot about dismantling the self. I have a close friend who likes that talk and finds it helpful. I respect other’s path. I myself don’t find that way of talking about it helpful. I prefer to realize my parts, in my multiplicity and transcend them, act skillfully, in my own interest. Of course with awareness, old selves peal away easily and we mature and plot a more pure path. Which is I think an approximation of what getting rid of ego talk is all about.

She writes about a response she thought of, “…it sounds like something a therapist might say", implying she was being “less than authentic.” (p.63). I wondered about her experiences in therapy, I felt defensive as if she was saying therapist=inauthentic. The section is a quite moving account of how deepens her communication and friendship, and perhaps I’m quibbling, but I wondered where this was based on her experiences in therapy. She is well read and elsewhere jokes about Business Attention Disorder (BAD), a made up disorder to describe her struggles to pay attention to the accounting of money in her life (p. 70), as though she has some familiarity with the DSM.

So I quibble with her book, like I quibble with my close friends, a kind of way of intensifying the dialogue, out of a kind of bizarre friendliness. This is a lovely book which I recommend.

Book Review: The Essential Sangharakshita

Book Review: The Essential Sangharakshita

This book is hot with intensity. You need oven mitts to read it.

When I read The Essential Sangharakshita, I read it as someone who has asked for ordination into the Western Buddhist Order, and has been in the ordination process for almost 6 years. I have read most of Sangharakshita’s books and essays, listened to most of his talks, some many times. I have reread many times The Survey of Buddhism, Know Your Mind, and reread The Bodhisattva Ideal, Vision and Transformation, and The Yogi’s Joy. I plan to reread The Three Jewels, Living With Kindness, Living With Awareness. My friends have traveled to meet him, my good friends knew him, and know him, were ordained by him, went on seminars with him, were at the talks I now listen to on mp3s, have lived with him.

I would like to meet him myself. I have a wife, children and work, and I can’t soon justify the expense in time and money, but perhaps someday. I write these essays in small snatches of times when I can, but I’d rather go visit him. I get away for the yearly weeklong ordination retreat, and that’s an imposition on the family, which they so kindly allow. I don’t give up hope to getting there some day. Maybe after I’m ordained, I will go to an order convention in England; I’d hope to meet him then. Maybe I will go over before I’m ordained. There is the risk he could die before I get over there. Life is short. Maybe I will die first, you never know. Reading so many of his books, hearing stories about him, watching videos of him, listening to talks, he is a spiritual hero of mine, but more than that I take refuge in the refuge tree of the WBO, and thus I take refuge in him because he is on the refuge tree.

I take refuge from suffering in the three jewels, the Buddha, the example of enlightenment, the Dharma, the practical teachings to move towards enlightenment, and the sangha or the spiritual community, which supports and is a place to give support on the path to enlightenment. This is an odd kind of formulation of commitment and yet one that yields to deepening practice. When I say I take refuge in the 3 jewels, that is something very important to me. I take refuge in other things, but they are not as substantial. I have other concerns, but they don’t conflict with this emphasis, and the three jewels are what I aspire to orient my life around.

I am grateful Sangharakshita has founded the order that I wish to join and I am grateful that in creating the order, I have a context to seek ordination. He has nurtured many of my spiritual friends. The ripples of his profound actions have touched me in many important ways. I go so far as to say I would not have become a Buddhist without his creating the context in which I seek ordination. I find the other groups too foreign, Sangharakshita´s understanding feel very pure, he has winnowed off the ethnic elements to the essence. To principles and not just practices, beyond literalism.

This is the context in which I read The Essential Sangharakshita. I can’t pretend to be very objective. But I’ve also read quite a lot of him, so reading this I’m not just stumbling upon him, and this context is deep, so there is a level of objectivity in reading him and being outside the movement.

There are many familiar old friends here in this book. Reading the essay about irregular and regular steps was one of the reasons that I asked for ordination. I wanted regular steps, please, in the spiritual development. The essay "Mind Reactive and Creative" is well known to me, but the redactor has paired it down to the most intense paragraphs. One might read this book, and wish to follow through to read the complete essays and books, listen to the complete lectures, which many of his books were created out of.

The essay on religion as revelation versus discovery captures the chasm I feel in difference between the Christianity I experience in the USA, and Buddhism. When I first read it, I was jazzed up in the articulation of the differences, they seemed to capture why I could be a Buddhist and not a Christian. Buddhism is rooted in the subjective experience of the individual and the individual is the ultimate test as to whether something is actually practical on the path towards enlightenment. There is no possibility for heresy, dogma is not part of it, there is no dependent relationship on the clergy, and the freedom and responsibility is up to the individual. The bodhisattva ideal is the antidote to excessive spiritual individualism. The advice of the traditions, the teachings, and advice of our spiritual friends further along on the path, are all important, so it’s not just merely about my experience, there is of course more to it than that.

Some of the writing in The Essential Sangharakshita is very familiar. Some maybe I haven’t read but I’ve heard, or maybe I haven’t read or heard it, but I’ve heard someone paraphrase his ideas. Some, I’ve read it, but I can’t really remember it, but it seem so natural like his essay on how to read the Dharma. Some writing I began to think along the lines in my own thinking, and then I read something that seemed like what I was just thinking on my own—I probably heard it before from him.

This book is almost like a party where I know everyone, and if I don’t know everyone they’re a good friend of a good friend so it’s almost like I know them even if I don’t. Often this book was a dose of spiritual intensity, and there were times when I had to put it away and read something else that was light, not intense.

The way a Mahayana sutra is collected over time, and edited and shaped, there is a winnowing process and a redactor who compiles and edits. I would argue The Essential Sangharakshita has the flavor of a Mahayana sutra to it, though it is more comprehensible because it is of our time. This book is my ideal Mahayana sutra.

Then there are surprises. I have not read the poem that starts Part Two: Buddhism and The Mind. I’ve read some wonderful poems which are included in a profound essay by Cittipala called The Bodhisattva’s Reply, which can be found on his website along with many other excellent essays, that are in the top right margin of this blog under favorite links. There are other poems I have heard before.

Sangharakshita doesn’t expect one to study all the time (even though he is astonishingly knowledgeable, and inspires me to study). Engaging in practice, which is a wide range of activities, is more important that intellectual accumulation, a sort of night table Buddhism. He is concerned that some suffer from intellectual indigestion because they have consumed too many rich texts, without really being ready for them. He’s saying it’s easy to read, run your eyes over the words, but hard to put in into practice. Putting Dharma into practice is the thing. I think Sangharakshita put me onto this quote: “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).

I’m reluctant to say any self-respecting Buddhist should have this valuable volume upon the shelf. Saying that perhaps over reaches this books import to those in different orders, with different primary and secondary text. But if you’re at all interested in going outside your order’s recommended text, and looking at the larger Buddhist world around you, and you’ve read some Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield, Lama Surya Das, Thich Nhat Hahn, Bhante Gunaratna, Shunryu Suzuki, Chogyam Trungpa, Reginald Ray, Stephen Batchelor, Charlotte Joko Beck, Ayya Khema, Lama Yeshe, Geshe Rabten, Dilgo Khyentse, Geshe Sonam Rinchen, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Gomo Tulku, Robert Thurman (and many more), well then you probably should read some Sangharakshita. I recommend reading Sangharakshita before you read all the previously mentioned writers.

Exploring the spiritual classics is a wonderful thing; I have read many spiritual classics that are not Buddhist. Perhaps The Essential Sangharakshita is a world religion classic that deserves attention from that perspective. I you want to work to deepen your own spirituality and you’re seeking a spiritual classic, I think this collection would be well worth your while. I don’t imagine only Buddhist will read this book.

One thing this collection conveys is spiritual intensity. It has challenged me to ask some hard questions. I have reflected deeply on how I could intensity my practice. My schooling in psychoanalysis will be over soon, and I am going to make a serious push to deepen my practice, and I am hoping this will be the final stretch in my efforts towards ordination. Reading this book confirms me in my desire to seek ordination into the Western Buddhist Order. Even though the book doesn’t directly speak about the nitty gritty of the FWBO/TBMSG, in a way it lays down the principles, which is what Sangharakshita is all about.

Book Review: Keep Me In Your Heart A While

I recommend this book.

Keep Me In Your Heart A While: The Haunting Zen of Dainin Katagiri by Dosho Port is an interesting exploration of a relationship with a teacher in the modern American Zen context. With quotes from Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Warren Zevon he gives the fuller elaboration to the Zen spirit. He shares with us his tension between two schools, one that uses koans and another that doesn't. He shares with us his experiences with his teacher.

Reading his book I confront a question, I touched on in a comment on a book review of Stephen Batchelor's book Buddhism Beyond Belief on Wildmind. Bodhipaksa sees it, if I understand his comment correctly, as condescending to point to this distinction between consolation and confrontation, to value confrontation over consolation. I have to keep that in mind because I respect his opinion.

So after bringing the above up, I want to set it aside, and give a few quotes. First is from Ayya Khema "It might feel as though meditation brings more dukkha than we had before, but that is only because we have finally admitted it and see it clearly." (p.43 Be an Island).

There have been times when I talk to people about going on retreat. People often quip, "that must be relaxing." Well, not usually for me. Usually it's disturbing, unsettling, challenging. There have been times when I've found a new level of contentment or peace, but mostly it's been very challenging.

Dosho Port uses the phrase, condescendingly perhaps, that his Dharma is not a warm dharma-hug. It's not intended to increase numbers of a religious institution, but to increase depth, to actually help people to improve. He talks about the process of disillusionment about what one initially hopes will happen on the spiritual path. In some ways I wonder if the distance we are from the goal suggests an extreme reaction to try to get us closer to it. After all, how many enlightened people have we met? And would we really notice if someone was enlightened because of our own lack of development?

So I guess my question is, if you're addressing yourself and not others, is it not OK to have a confrontational and not a consolation approach? But don't forget about Bodhipaksa.

I asked my friend what he thought. He talked about karate and tai chi. The people who do tai chi probably would get a lot from karate. The people who do karate, would probably get a lot from tai chi. So, if you're gung ho for confrontation in spirituality, you might do with more consolation. And the other way around.

I began to reflect on my own ideas of consolation. One friend told me about a conforting Green Tara fantasy he had once, where she's hugging him comforting him, and that's what he needed in that moment of hard meditation. I thought more. I thought about metta. I love it that my order has focused so much on metta. Mental positivity is something very important, and something I struggle with at times. Would it be condescending to tell people they need more metta. I sometimes experience it that way, but I do need more metta. I alternate every other day, but I struggle at times with it. Does the confrontational approach have enough metta? Is it tough love, or tough metta?

By the way, there's a lovely talk by Jnavaca called What's The Metta? on the Padmaloka site.

So this book that is out in January 2008 has lovely elements to it, and got me thinking quite a lot, and I highly recommend this personal journey, with much wit and insight.

They announce the book is being released now, so I'm releasing this review.

Dosho Port has a blog here.