Indholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2021 i Buddhadharma: The Practitioner's Quarterly

GUO GU is a Chan teacher and professor of Buddhism and East Asian religions at Florida State University. The founder and teacher of the Tallahassee Chan Center in Florida, he is the trainer of all Western dharma teachers in the Dharma Drum lineage of master Sheng Yen; in 2020, he also founded the socially engaged, intra-denominational Buddhist organization Dharma Relief. His books include Essence of Chan and Silent Illumination (2021). JISHO SARA SIEBERT is a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and teacher at Zen Fields in Ames, Iowa. Led to Buddhism by the suffering she saw in her work to prevent domestic and sexual violence, she found her way to Los Angeles, where she first met her teacher, then to Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, monasteries in Japan, and…

THE UPANISHADS, the late Vedic texts that preceded the rise of Buddhism, proclaimed the supreme aim of the contemplative quest to be the realization of the atman, the immortal self, the ultimate subject that remains unchanging behind the flux of experience. The atman, these texts declare, is essentially identical with brahman, the changeless ground and source of the manifest universe. The task of contemplation is to discover this nondual identity, and this realization is itself the key to immortality. This quest relegated the actual person, the empirical self, to a secondary status. For the Upanishads, people in their individual being are mere ephemeral phenomena covering up the changeless reality, the atman–brahman, which stands silent beyond the range of thought and speech. When the Buddha appeared on the Indian scene, his…

IN GENERAL, mind or consciousness refers to inner experience. This includes feelings that are pleasant or painful, states of mind that are happy or miserable, emotional experiences such as fear of danger, anger toward those who inflict harm, affectionate attachment to close relatives, and compassion when observing suffering sentient beings. It includes sense consciousness—such as a visual consciousness that sees a vase filled with beautiful flowers, or an auditory consciousness that hears the sounds of music or singing. It also includes cognitions that remember previous experiences, as in “I remember this” or “I thought this,” and cognitions that consider reasons and think “If this is the case, then that must also be the case,” and so on. Whatever position one holds—that the mind is material or immaterial—in general what we…

BOTH THOUGHTS AND THE MIND that observes thoughts are equally mind. Thoughts arise within a context, and it is that vast field of receptive awareness called mind that provides the context for thoughts. That is, there is a mind without thoughts and without a sense of self, that can and must be found. It is a mind that is not bound by the brain, nor is it limited to interaction with the environment. It is not defined by the past, nor is it looking to the future. It does not move, does not reach out to take hold of anything in the physical or mental spheres. It is a mind that knows itself, and yet it can drop the perspective of an observer in an instant. Though we live right…

Science and Philosophy in Indian and Buddhist Classics, Vol. 2: The Mind Conceived and Introduced by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with essays by John D. Dunne edited by Thubten Jinpa; translation by Dechen Rochard Wisdom Publications, 2020 576 pages; $29.95 IN 2015, during his opening remarks at the Mind & Life Dialogue at Sera Monastery in south India, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama remarked that the dialogue was not between Buddhism and science, but rather between “Buddhist science and modern science.” With this slight rhetorical gesture, likely unnoticed by most in the audience, the Dalai Lama reframed the dialogue between Buddhism and science. The phrase “Buddhist science” is a neologism that was coined from this context and is not part of the classical Tibetan Buddhist lexicon. As the Dalai Lama…

IN JANUARY, the Dalai Lama and Greta Thunberg came together with leading scientists for an online discussion about feedback loops that are accelerating the climate crisis. The Dalai Lama listened intently as the scientists explained how melting ice, thawing permafrost, warming forests, and disruptions to the jet stream are all amplifying global warming and “spinning out of control.” Many scientists are telling us that the sixth mass extinction—which threatens all life forms, including human civilization—is already well underway. So it only seems fitting that the world’s most famous climate activist should join forces with Buddhism’s most renowned living emissary. After all, this is as much a spiritual problem as it is an environmental one. At its core, the climate crisis is samsara writ large. I know many of you are…

WE’VE NEVER TRULY experienced things as they are. We’ve only ever experienced things as we imagine them to be. In short, we live in a simulated world, and our perceptions are basically invalid, stuck in a loop created by our consciousness. This is not to say that the world doesn’t exist; it’s just that we’ve never lived in it. That is the radical teaching at the heart of Yogacara (pronounced Yogachara), an influential Indian Mahayana school also known as Cittamatra, or Consciousness-Only. Yogacara is not concerned with whether there are real things “out there.” Instead it’s concerned with the way we reify and solidify experiences into discrete things that we perceive as permanent and separate from us. It points out that our modes of perception are inherently biased. We habitually…

I prostrate to GautamaWho through compassionTaught the true doctrine,Which leads to the relinquishing of all views— Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way), translated by Jay Garfield Not knowing is most intimate.— Luohan Guichen, Case 20 of The Book of Equanimity, translated by Gerry Shishin Wick If even one thought appears, that is already a mistake.— Zen Master So Sahn, The Mirror of Zen, translated by Hyon Gak I do not teach Buddhism. I only teach don’t know.—Zen Master Seung Sahn, The Compass of Zen ALMOST EXACTLY FORTY-FOUR years ago, I went to a talk by the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn at the Cambridge Zen Center. As a very new Zen student, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but whatever it was, it didn’t happen. He held…

IN THE MANY LINEAGES of the buddhadharma, there are thousands of expositions articulating the inseparability of emptiness, selfless compassion, and skillful action. Why is this teaching important? Because bodhicitta—the mind of compassion–emptiness—is the driving force that brings us to the path of awakening. Bodhicitta is sometimes called our “way-seeking mind.” It is the motivation to awaken for the benefit of others, to liberate all beings drowning in the ocean of samsara. It is the basis of all Mahayana Buddhist practices. It arises as the aspiration to engage in generous, patient, wise, and effective activity, as defined by the paramitas. Walking the path to complete realization fulfills this deep desire for universal liberation, what Suzuki Roshi called our “inmost request.” TWO PATHS TO THE DHARMA Traditionally, taking refuge in the path…

IF representation matters, then who gets to represent “American Buddhism”? Chenxing Han’s stirring ethnographic memoir Be the Refuge: Raising the Voices of Asian American Buddhists (North Atlantic) vocalizes the indignation felt by the Asian American Buddhist community for being either invisible in the eyes of mainstream American culture or pejoratively relegated to the status of superstitious heritage Buddhists. Though one of Han’s most important interlocutors is the late Aaron Lee of “Angry Asian Buddhist” fame, it is not anger that fuels Han or Lee’s work. Instead, this book burns with openheartedness, genuine curiosity, and the empathetic love that could only be the result of deep listening. She writes: “My interviewees taught me that it’s possible to center our stories without forcing ourselves into false dichotomies: traditional–modern, rational–devotional, meditating–chanting, immigrant–convert, and…

ROXANNE DAULT: The body is at the heart of the Buddhist path. It is our guide within the experience of the present moment and an important vehicle for our awakening. One might think at times that the body is an obstacle, that we need to push it away, ignore it, or deny what it tells us, but the teachings and our practice clearly demonstrate the opposite. In the Pali canon, mindfulness of the body is at the center and is seen as an essential practice. In the Kayagatasati Sutta, the Buddha says that mindfulness of the body, when developed and cultivated, is of great fruit and great benefit. In the Anguttara Nikaya, the Buddha repeatedly states the importance of the body as a frame of reference—that true happiness, the end…

AN ARTIST I WORK WITH in Haiti hadn’t communicated in a long while. Approaching the end of 2020, I asked him how he was, given the state of the world. He said, “The time is a difficult one for everyone. But you know, before we came to this world in this time, they prepared us for this.” It’s true—all the buddhas and ancestors do prepare us, and in spite of the difficulty, the bodhisattva chooses to be in this world to wake up together with all beings. Practically, though, amid systemic racism, mass sickness, and other hardship, what on earth does that choice look like? Dogen Zenji taught that we should maintain “a joyful mind, an elder’s mind, and a great mind.” This instruction, a description of the internal world…

THREE GREAT PHILOSOPHICAL and contemplative traditions are described by many Tibetan masters as the essential standpoints of their tradition: the Great Seal, or Mahamudra, most often associated with the Kagyu school; the Middle Way, or Madhyamaka, which is the philosophical stance claimed by most Tibetan Buddhists; and the Great Perfection, or Dzogchen, best known for its centrality to the Nyingma tradition. Do practitioners of these different systems ultimately experience the same reality? The Third Karmapa of Tibet, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), provided this answer: Free of mental activity, it is the Great Seal;Free from extremes, it is the Great Middle Way;Comprising everything, it is called the Great Perfection—Be confident that by knowing one you realize the meaning of all. The Karmapa’s assertion—echoed by lamas from all the great lineages—that these (and…

1. First, train in the preliminaries. 2. Regard all dharmas as dreams. 3. Examine the nature of unborn awareness. 4. Self-liberate even the antidote. 5. Rest in the nature of alaya, the essence. 6. In postmeditation, be a child of illusion. 7. Sending and taking should be practiced alternately. These two should ride the breath. 8. Three objects, three poisons, and three seeds of virtue. 9. In all activities, train with slogans. 10. Begin the sequence of sending and taking with yourself. 11. When the world is filled with evil, transform all mishaps into the path of bodhi. 12. Drive all blames into one. 13. Be grateful to everyone. 14. Seeing confusion as the four kayas is unsurpassable shunyata protection. 15. Four practices are the best of methods. 16. Whatever…

Rest at ease within the naturally settled state.In this fresh state of present awareness,Unspoiled by mind’s grasping at fixed points,You will see the uncontrived nature of phenomena,your true nature,Clarity without thought or anything that can beidentified Within great exaltation, natural liberation of thesix collections of consciousness,The sun of happiness dawns from within.You reach the unassailable state that is never joined or separated. From Wisdom Nectar: Dudjom Rinpoche’s Heart Advice, translated by Ron Gerry (Shambhala)…