Meeting the Buddha
(originally on The Huffington Post 2/16/10)
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person who likes to go right to the source. So when it comes to studying Buddhism, I want to get right to it- let’s meet Buddha, right? Don’t give me the lieutenant or the maitre d’- take me straight to the Buddha. There’s only one problem- he died 2500 years ago. From a certain viewpoint that could be a big problem!
The problem is that we can re-invent somebody who lived that long ago, and in a sense, re-form that person in our own image. We can take what that person said or supposedly said and kind of mold it to further our personal interpretation.
For example, as regards the Buddha, even at the physical level, if you go to China he’s got a big belly, if you go to India he might have the refined features of Gandharan sculpture. What did he actually look like? The answer is that we don’t really know.
What Buddha really is, on a certain level, is what is called an archetype. In that regard, there are certain things in the representation of Buddha that capture the essence of what he taught, what he represented. For example he is often seen touching the ground, which means his wisdom is grounded and connected to the earth. He is not spaced out. He also has a certain gaze which represents a relaxed, clear awareness. There are many other marks of his qualities and accomplishments in these representations.
So, when we say we want to meet Buddha, what we really mean is that we want to connect with his teachings and his enlightened qualities. The word Buddha means awakened mind. It literally means that. Buddha means awake.
So as we stumble through the fog of our sometimes overly discursive mind and say “I want to meet Buddha,” if you shift that a little and say “I want to meet the awakened state of mind,” then we have clarified what it is that we are looking for and we might actually find it.
But if we want to have a fairy tale about some guy who lived a long time ago and did this and did that and somehow use that story to justify being right about something, or justify our own sensibilities, or wield it as truth against somebody else’s truth, the whole thing can become problematic.
What I personally don’t want to get into with this practice is some kind of thick, dull, archaic accounting of who said what 2500 years ago. In the vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, these teachings are considered to be extremely alive right now. There’s no problem at all that “awww, we missed the boat.” If we are caught up in perpetuating legends, myths, fairytales, it can all be very sweet and entertaining but we can also miss the point entirely.
We actually have to get to the bones and marrow of who we are to meet these teachings. We ourselves are the only gateway. There’s no fairytale that will actually save us from having to encounter ourselves and our lives fully.
The teachers who are passing along this tradition are, in a way, transmitters — like a satellite dish — a transmitting station. They receive the transmission of the awakened state of mind and pass it along to their students.
If we can contact what it is that the Buddha put in a time capsule 2,500 years ago that has been passed along from generation to generation, we will know firsthand why these teachings survived intact. The essence of those teachings is what is called the awakened state of mind — enlightenment. If you look at the Buddha as a discoverer of that awakened state of mind, a carrier and a perpetrator of that, then we can see a mirror of our own path in his journey.
He is the archetype of somebody who started from a somewhat confused, ordinary situation and then underwent a complete transformation and became totally awake and enlightened. He was at first a materialist, then second a seeker, and then third somebody who claimed that he had found a method of transcending materialism as well as transcending the seeking itself. He pointed to a path by which others could have the same realization.
With this understanding, it is possible to meet the Buddha! What do you think?
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Thanks for this article, I just saw you’re performing with Krishna Das in Los Angeles. I’m looking forward to seeing that.
Have you heard Greg Brown’s song about going to hear the “real” swami? It’s called “Dream On” and it’s the first cut on his live album, “One Night.” He wants to get the “true knowledge” from the swami, but doesn’t have a lot of money to pay for any course fees; he asks if he pays half, whether he can get half of the true knowledge. (!!)
The refrain: “Dream on / Little dreamers dream on / This world ain’t what you think it is — it’s just what it is.” Not the most eloquent, but so what?
In the world of fast cars, fast food, etc we seem to loose out in patience and everything we want is fast like instant coffee, instant noodle. etc. We all may want to meet Buddha or reach Buddhahood but there is nothing like instantaneous here. To reach the highest rung of the ladder we must start with the lowest rung of the ladder. To reach a doctorate/master level in any field we must first start with the ABCs. That is the only direct level. All the teachers we meet on the way and all lessons we learn on the way are crucial in meeting that highest level we all aspire. Meeting Buddha or reaching the supreme Buddhahood state is a very noble goal to aspire but to believe it is so simple is only folly in our part. People find so difficult even in meeting their daily domestic chores or responsibilities…forget about other things. Try simply to control anger and one will learn that to even meet ‘a month free of anger’ will seem an enormous task.
well said…. Cyndi’s teacher, Gehlek Rinpoche, told me he doesn’t actually get angry (very deep training) and that blew my mind more than any levitating or walking through walls…. simply transforming our own habitual patterns is a profound challenge and gradual training is so important for that to happen…. good comments!
Best, David N.
I once heard someone say: ‘The reason I like Taoism is because there’s not a guy named Tao.’ Not that this is a plug for Taoism, I don’t actually identify myself as Taoist – but it does make a point about personal identification. Whether you look to yourself or someone else for enlightenment, you’re looking for some guy. In fact, it does seem much of the fascination with this type of teaching is essentially interest in a bigger, better more developed self – reminds me of the teaching about Spiritual Materialism. But Dogen said ‘to realize the self is to forget the self, and to forget the self is to be enlightened by the ten thousand things.’ I supposed teachings are things..
Teachings are things that can point beyond “things” …. one mahayana “slogan”
is “self-liberate the antidote” …. meaning don’t fall in love with the medicine, just take it!
There is no guy named Tao, but it might be a good idea for a tv show, “The Man Called Tao”!
Sending all best and thanks for your comments…. David N.
If I recall, the phrase “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him” comes from Japanese Zen. Of all the major Buddhist traditions, Zen has been the most iconoclastic – moreso than it’s Chinese counterpart, Ch’an.
Of course, it’s a metaphor. It is warning us that we should not idolize any teacher, because ultimately that will be a hindrance. At some point, being attached to someone else’s words is just as much an attachment as any other.
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If Buddha were alive today what would he say about the state of the world?
What did Buddha say to the hot dog vendor? “Make me one with everything.”
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How many Zen masters does it take to change a light bulb?
None!
Oh well… jumped in there anyhow… there are more where that came from! All best, DN
Enlightenment literally means the state of light or clarity. A gradual process of gaining understanding, i.e., a long series of “light bulb moments”, inevitably leads to one (usually dramatic) “lightening bolt moment” when all that came before is instantly synthesized into utter simplicity.
Buddha is not a person. Neither is Christ. Both are just a state of mind – a viewing point – an ultimate perspective that exists beyond the physical creation. And is its source.
And most of us have had some glimpses of it that motivate us to go even further on our journey to reality (and do so happily).
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Interesting…. actually I believe that Buddha was an actual person and so was Christ, and they are also both also “a viewing point – an ultimate perspective that exists beyond the physical creation.”
Ultimate and relative mixed together….. therein lies the beauty of the whole thing….
Thanks for your note! DN
I think that through study, effort and exploration, it is possible to meet the Buddha.
I agree with you that direct experience is the most valuable aspect of the Buddhist endeavor. I also agree that “Buddha,” in the sense of an enlightened being, should be the focus, rather than the various tools that are set up by other humans in order to help us find the Buddha (e.g., countless rituals, ranks, priests and retelling).
On the other hand, I think your writing here, while the overall message is quite good, might be a little too dismissive of the maps and sign posts that we have available to us as supports in our work to experience Buddha directly. We are certainly tempted as human beings to project our own meaning onto any information we come across. However, with discipline and honesty, applying critical thinking to our own interpretations and trying on the face-value meanings of the guidance we’re offered, we are better off than someone who chooses to ignore the gifts and just figure it out for himself.
While we cannot prove what happened in the fantasy collection of thoughts we call “the past,” different Buddhist traditions agree on many of the basic premises, including, even, that the historical Gautama Buddha was slender. In China, as well as other Asian countries, Gautama Buddha is portrayed this way. The image with the huge belly is usually thought to represent Maitreya.
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Thanks for your very cogent comments Michael…..
I absolutely did not mean to disparage or be dismissive of the “maps and sign posts that we have available to us as supports in our work to experience Buddha directly.” Apologies if it came off that way
I also am critical of the approach where you just try to figure it out yourself, ignore the wisdom of the various authentic lineages, and become a “self-made” Buddha. In recent posts I have advocated (or at least delineated) the gradual approach from the sudden approach.
I only meant here to point out the possibility of myth building and story telling to support one’s own version of reality….. In the tradition I have studied (Tibetan Buddhism with Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche) there is a very strong emphasis on studying traditional texts and working with a living teacher, the dharma and the sangha….
So thanks for the emphasis you made… your point is well taken!
DN
Wait… I thought we were supposed to kill the Buddha if we met him.
(yes, yes, old joke)
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See, “killing the Buddha” is, I think, an expression Americans might use. In the koans you might smack him with your walking stick but you wouldn’t kill him! That would be psychic suicide. Much better to kill the You inside, albeit harder. It was easier to be the Buddha in the 7th century, no cars, no jets, no TV or computers. You could go find your tree, sit under it and wait. These days I suspect Gautama would find it necessary to go to a state park that doesn’t allow ATVs. I’d suggest the redwoods, it seemed to work well for me.
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