What is the substance of spiritual practice? In Buddhism people may refer to seated or walking meditation, chanting, bowing/prostrations, lighting candles or incense, and visualization techniques. Yes, things things can be helpful and have their place, and they can be an anchor/touchstone for spiritual awareness and depth, but do they constitute the sum or even the bulk of spiritual practice (and we can for other sacred traditions list similar activities)? I bet my regular reader(s) can guess my answer.
If you predicted my answer would be "no", you've chosen correctly. Spiritual development should be challenging and provocative as well as humbling and uplifting. Yes, regular adherence to certain rituals can be an invaluable keystone, but it should be a jumping off point rather than a daily destination. It should point us to what we need to confront in our lives and give us the strength to do so.
No one can really tell you what it is you need to challenge and scrutinize in your own life. A Buddhist may believe that the problem is somehow rooted in a failure to actualize the teachings on emptiness, dependent co-arising, or no-self, but that does not predict how that will manifest in the life of a specific individual. Such introspection can reveal an issue expressed in how one deals with authority, overeating, anger problems, extreme shyness, or any of a number of things with which one regularly struggles.
The subtle misconception is that a spiritual practice is intended to solve such particular problems. However, it is more accurate and useful to see such issues as symptoms of a more profound underlying cause. As noted, Buddhists tend to see it as a result of a false sense of separate, intrinsic existence and delusion of separation. But that's an academic abstraction, not the living experience and wisdom of the underlying truth upon which the principle is based.
Spiritual practice is not simply a glorified 'self-help' process or support, however, personal transformation is part and parcel of such practice. And it isn't something you can fake or compensate for by how often you impress others or try to impress yourself with your daily acts of devotion or piety. It is being completely honest, more honest that we can usually comfortably deal with. Beyond the sense of identity we keep deep, deep down. That one is a good person. A bad person. An important person without whom the world couldn't keep spinning. An insignificant person whose life is of no appreciable consequence.
It can be scary thing sometimes being that honest and open, listening to the deepest spaces of the heart, but it can also be liberating.
You've asked some good questions here.
ReplyDeleteI can only speak about my own spiritual practice with any amount of accuracy.
As a Buddhist I believe that the substance of my practice is the Eightfold Path. Of course this Path encompasses all of life, every moment of it. Therefore I would say the anchor for me would be Right Mindfulness.
I am becoming very aware of the necessity that mindfulness is. Once we have attained a certain degree of understanding about the Dhamma (Right View). If we can maintain Right Mindfulness, then we cannot fail.
spirituality is a very personal strong experience.
ReplyDeletei admire spiritual people.
i waiver back and forth because when things do not go the way i want i blame my higher power. however, i also go back to the concept that my higher power is there for me and sometimes i do not really know how things will turn out. i have to can my ego when i do not get what i want and trust that my higher power is with me and showing me the way.
Hello Gregor, thanks for your comments. I want to be clear that my reply is not intended to be flippant nor dismissive, because online it is hard to "read" feelings and motive with the lack of pitch, tone, and body language. So with that caveat up front, I would ask--
ReplyDelete--so what?
What does that really mean? It sounds nice. But how does it translate for you into real terms? We can all talk about being open to each moment, to the potential of all beings and all experiences, blah blah blah, and it does seem very Buddhist.
Still, what is the point of mindfulness? How does it work? How can it be applied? I am not asking you to answer these questions here, nor am I faulting you for giving a brief generalized answer, I am just unpacking it a little to incorporate it into the larger theme of the post for other readers to consider (which is why I didn't want it come across as a personal challenge).
As regards the path itself, I would suggest that it is like a guide for those who want to understand the heart of a Buddha. It's a description of how an enlightened being would behave. And if one follows it with full faith and commitment, it can awaken the same wisdom in compassion in us. But only if we follow the path without regard for consequence (what will I get? what will this do for me/some one else?) because otherwise it can become a source for pride or false piety or self-righteousness. To paraphrase a talk I once heard and adapt it to the the discussion of the eightfold path - not "I will practice skillful speech" but "Practice skillful speech". Ultimately, imho, the point isn't just to follow the path but to find that in ourselves which is already in accord with the path that has become encrusted with the delusions resulting from not experiencing the truth of teachings such as dependent co-arising, etc (the dharma seals).
Hey Marcia, thanks for the visit. One of the hardest things to do is accept that we never know for certain how things will turn out. Your post reminds me of the opening of the serenity prayer:
ReplyDelete{God} grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
tinythinker,
ReplyDeleteI understand that my original post could be seen as a bit vanilla and lacking much substance.
But, as a Buddhist I feel that if a spiritual practice is not based on the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path, then it is not the Dharma. This does not make another path bad, Its just not the path I follow.
Thanks for your questioning. I appreciate the opportunity to dig into the question a bit deeper.
I'm not really interested in explaining the in and outs of what mindfulness is. I'll leave that to someone more qualified. But, I would like to share what I think is the point of it, why it is important.
I don't like to see the eightfold path as a moralistic tool or even a strict code. I don't think that approach works. But, for me it is the anchor.
I'm coming to an understanding that mindfulness is the thing that will direct us to follow the path.
Without it we are not alive in our practice, or present in our lives. I think it comes down to the realization that reality it what is here, right now. Reality is all around us we don't need to study it or even pursue some kind of goal for transformation. Mindfulness is the balance in our practice.
Now, when we pursue the truth, the truth originally is all around: why rely upon practice and experience?
ReplyDelete-Dogen
This points to what I am trying to say much better than I am able to.
I understand that my original post could be seen as a bit vanilla and lacking much substance.
ReplyDeleteIt was fine. It was also a good foil for making a bigger point. Again, I was not challenging the completeness or usefulness of your answer, but rather using it as a jumping off point ("Yeah, but so what, how can we actually appreciate such a principle or practice?").
But, as a Buddhist I feel that if a spiritual practice is not based on the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path, then it is not the Dharma. This does not make another path bad, Its just not the path I follow.
That was never in question, but again, I was hoping to get people to think not about what a practice is based on, but how it would look in action (and not just the formal stuff, but the actual nitty gritty).
I don't like to see the eightfold path as a moralistic tool or even a strict code. I don't think that approach works. But, for me it is the anchor.
I would agree it isn't moralistic, but I would say it is a akin to a map. And then there is the question I heard asked once - when you truly grasp the situation, are you "walking the path" or is the path "walking you"?
I'm coming to an understanding that mindfulness is the thing that will direct us to follow the path.
Without it we are not alive in our practice, or present in our lives. I think it comes down to the realization that reality it what is here, right now. Reality is all around us we don't need to study it or even pursue some kind of goal for transformation. Mindfulness is the balance in our practice.
I am not challenging that here. I would see that as addressing a different level of discourse on the topic of practice. However, many people who are exposed to Buddhism only ever see what look like slogans or truisms. So that is why rather than trying to contradict you, I am generically asking (i.e. not specifically asking you) that "So what?" question. OK, so you are present, what does that show you? Yes, reality-as-it-is has always been/is/will always be. And? What is the point of such realization? What difference does it make?
In other words, it is one thing to have an awakening or to come to appreciate the veracity of a teaching or principle, but precisely because mindfulness or whatever we call it is ever-present, then being attuned to it would involve, inform, and inspire every moment, so it should have relevance to things like how one engages with a difficult coworker, how one eats, or the act of using the bathroom, etc. So that's the big punchline - the substance of practice is the substance of our lives (like the description at the top of this blog).
Now, when we pursue the truth, the truth originally is all around: why rely upon practice and experience?
-Dogen
This points to what I am trying to say much better than I am able to.
Yes, but I am not asking about the Truth of reality-as-it-is. There is nothing to attain or acquire in that regard. As I chant when reciting the Heart Sutra, "and so in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no mental formations, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no color, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no thought, no realm of sight and so forth until no end of consciousness, no ignorance, no end to ignorance and so forth until no old age and death and no end to old age and death, no suffering, no desire, no cessation, no path, no wisdom, no attainment."
So I think I sense that you are reading "spiritual practice" as "pursuing the goal of seeking to gain wisdom or knowing the truth". I am thinking of it more in terms of dealing with those things, the self-made delusions, that we have in place that keep us from experiencing the awareness we already possess. So combined with the question of substance of practice, then brushing one's teeth is practice, etc, but only if we don't complicate it ("I must focus on brushing my teeth, I must try to be fully present as a scrub each tooth" - just brush your teeth ;o) ).
Following up dozens of other posts I've made on the topic (which is why this is getting long), it's just too much for us to be. By the time we think we need to "be in the moment", the separation of a separate "I" and a separate "moment" has already arisen. Yet that teaching isn't something you or I can just actualize simply because we give it our intellectual assent. It requires faith, or entrusting of the heart, and this in turn is manifested in our actions, speech, and thought. That's where having the framework of the eightfold path comes in. Which is why I commented that ultimately, imho, the point isn't just to "follow the path" but to find (or "accept", "surrender to", "realize") that in ourselves (that is, in our nature) which is already in accord with the path (our Buddha-nature) that has become encrusted (symbolically) with the delusions resulting from not experiencing the truth (that is, our self-made prisons/chains).
In Chan, this is done by attempting to perceive this directly. In what is often chosen to be the "opposite" of Chan, Shin says "simply trust/have faith". These are not so different. By trusting (faith) you can see (realization), and by seeing you can trust.
I would not say that my practice is not about following something or trying realize the truth. It used to be, but it is evolving. Practice like life is ever changing.
ReplyDeleteTo use your exmaple of brushing the teeth. . .it comes down to exactly what you are talking about, just brush your teeth, ect.
I was not intending to play point-counter point, just attempting to discover why mindfulness is important. I don't think either of us are looking at this conversation in a dualistic manner.
I too agree that Buddhist discusions can get bogged down into sounding like a bunch of slogans - - I suppose this is the trouble in trying to use words to explain something that can really only be conveyed by direct experience.
Unless, someone has practiced mindfulness in their life, it may be be difficult for them to see the true value of it.
I was not intending to play point-counter point, just attempting to discover why mindfulness is important.
ReplyDeleteNoted. I hope my style of engagement didn't come across as confrontational.
I would not say that my practice is not about following something or trying realize the truth.
Ahh, yes, that could have been stated better. I wasn't suggesting you believe that, but that I got the impression it's how you were interpreting what I was saying. It's like I said before, its hard sometimes reading other people's text without the accompanying "in person" cues, so I suppose I put a lot in my comments about my reactions so that I don't come off as being dismissive or glib or disingenuous. I'm glad you mentioned this to clarify it for others who may read our dialog.
BTW, for those who have been as impressed with Gregor's insights as I have been, check out the blogroll for Entering the Path where you can find more of his writing.