Going With the Flow Like Fish in a Stream

Maybe it is the weird effect of climate change. People ask me how I am doing and my answer is pretty much always the same. “I’m cold like everyone else.” Not a particularly enlightened response, but an honest one; and isn;t that part of the practice? Being authentic, I mean. 

Now there is n interesting idea, authenticity. Most people aren’t even when they believe they are. In Buddhism “authenticity” is a peculiar flavor of a concept. It ranks right up there with “compassion,” “integrity,” “emptiness,” and “karma.” Some of the most misunderstood words in all of the Buddhist vocabulary.  Even the word “Buddhism” needs some explanation let alone the problem of “enlightenment” versus “awakening.” What does it even mean to be enlightened or awake? Ask 10 Buddhist teachers and you get 10 theoretically Buddhist answers that are only vaguely similar. If you point our that the Buddha had actually defined these terms an expression of shock comes to their face and the word “hinayanist” drops immediately from their lips like droplets from a melting ice cycle — and I can hardly wait for that event, the melting ice I mean. The other not so much.

The terms and the meanings we give to them is strikingly important to our sense of well being. If I say, “We can hang the heavy curtains if we mount them differently.” The person I’m speaking with might argue, “You mean curtain rod. How we mount the curtain rod.” On the surface the two sentences look like they are talking about the same thing. One mounts curtains on a curtain rod. The two are a unit, but both the curtains and the rod are separate units in and of themselves. My meaning was clear. To the other, my language was imprecise. 

Many people just want to “go with the flow.” I am not really sure what this means. Then came the question, “Which flow?” 

Going with the flow usually means to see where things are going and being okay with it. That doesn’t mean you are happy with it, but just okay. It’s an idea related to the pseudo-Zen expression, “It is what it is.” (I wouldn’t be very upset if that expression would go the way of Disco and chastity belts.) It is an acquiescence to a situation, a specific set of circumstances. This works for some people. It works quite well in a monastery for instance. It doesn’t work as well in a crisis or with a spoiled child with a sense of entitlement. 

Some with the flow by consulting astro-charts to tell her where she should live, who they should marry, what careers they are best suited for. Others consult a “spiritual” type to read the aura, do past life regression or summon spirits with “the wisdom of the ages.” While I find these interesting ideas they raise the question, “Whose flow are you following? Yours? A computer’s? A psychics?” 

What does going with the flow really mean? For the person in question it might mean avoiding responsibility, making her own decisions or even going with the flow. The Buddha talked about the flow quite a bit. For the Buddha flow was about the flow of Samsara. We are like fish in a stream. Sometimes the stream is gentle and we can go with the flow. Sometimes we swim against the flow.

When fish in a stream are at rest they face the current, the on coming water. They place just enough effort in the movement of their tails to stabilize themselves. More effort and they would swim upstream against the current. Less effort would allow them to go with the flow and be taken wherever the stream took them. Here is a lesson in Right Effort. It is only in a flood where the stream overwhelms them that a fish go with the flow. If the stream is gentle and they allow themselves to be taken with it they are ill or near death. Dead fish cannot swim against the current but can only go with the flow.

The Buddha explained that there are four ways of reacting to Mara’s stream. How one reacts depends entirely upon their spiritual practice. The four types of practitioners are

• The individual who goes with the flow. This is an individual who indulges in sensual passions and who develops negative kamma through unskilful acts. The translators use the term “evil deeds” to describe such a one, but the actions do not have to be overtly “evil” since that word has little meaning in reality.
• The individual who goes against the flow. Here is a person with high moral standards and live as ”perfect & pure” but still somehow manage to experience great pain in their lives.
• The individual who stands fast, ending of the first set of five fetters, is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world. Here is a person that is close to Arahantship — almost a Buddha, but still clings to the ego. 
• The one who has crossed over, gone beyond, who stands on firm ground: a brahman.

Of such a person, the Buddha says in the Dhammapada,

383 

Having striven, brahman,cut the stream.Expel sensual passions.Knowing the ending of fabrications,  brahman,you know the Unmade. 

384 

When the brahman has goneto the beyond of two things,then all his fettersgo to their end —he who knows. 

385 

One whose beyond ornot-beyond orbeyond-&-not-beyondcan't be found;unshackled, carefree:he's what I calla brahman.

The stream is owned by Mara who is the embodiment of the lower parts of our human nature — those parts of ourselves are founded on greed, hatred and delusion that prompt us to act selfishly and carelessly experiencing dukkha, a life empty of real satisfaction. His stream can be taken as representing samsara, the "on-flowing" of unwholesome states, unskillful intentions and unfortunate kamma constructions. We can follow the current of this stream willfully, self-gratification being the path of least resistance. In spite of our best efforts we can get swept away in the mighty flood of suffering that causes us to be reborn in other afflicted states after each painful and unnecessary death. Going with the flow is a metaphysical death sentence. It condemns us to die repeatedly because we continue to live in Mara’s Stream instead of entering the stream of the Dhamma. 

We did not enter into Mara’s stream of dukkha. We’ve been there lifetime after lifetime. The Buddha invited us to enter the stream of sukha, that is nibbana. In the Buddha’s stream, we change our lineage from a worldling subject to Mara to a sotapanna and enter the lineage of the Dhamma and the enlightened ones. These are two very different streams.

In the Culagopalika Sutta: The Shorter Discourse on the Cowherd, the Buddha uses the example of a young calf trying to ford a raging river. 

Both this world and the world beyondHave been revealed by him who knows:What's within the reach of Mara,And also what's beyond his reach.

Fully knowing all of the world,The wise one, by awakening,Has opened the door to non-death,Which safely reaches nibbana.

Mara's stream is penetrated!Disrupted, and cleared of its weeds.Be greatly joyful therefore, monks,— For safety is within your reach.

Majjhima Nikaya 34

This verse comes at the end of the Shorter Discourse on the Cowherd, where the Buddha develops the simile of a herd of cows getting safely across the ford of a raging river. They cannot just go with the stream, if they do that they will never get to the other side.

The stronger older bulls jump straight into the water and show the way to the others. These old bulls are taken to be symbols for the arahants who make their way across the flood of death to the safety of the further shore. The other members of the herd also make their way across according to their capabilities, from the heifers and young oxen to the youngsters and the newborn calves, just as the various groups of Buddhist followers reach the goal in due course by different methods and actions.

The Buddha is the one who has first "to cut" (chinna) the river current. Through his wisdom he showed the way to the safety of nibbana on the other side of the river. It is hard to know how best to translate this word in this context. Its meaning is clear enough, being simply a form of the verb "to cut." How does a practitioner, or anyone else for that matter, cut a stream? Most people when hearing the term think of "cutting off" the flow of water. This is not what happens when a river is forded.

On the other side of the river is khema, literally a protected pasture. This means “safety,” “peace,” a sense of satisfaction. Because the Buddha has shown that the crossing is possible the other shore is known to be attainable for the practitioners. The Buddha disrupted Mara’s current by his own passage. By holding firm against the current with his every step he removed many of the obstacles and hindrances simply because he did it and showed it was possible. For us, his followers, we still need to put out our own effort to get across.

The newborn calf in the Discourse of the Cowherd is not carried across the flood on someone's back, but is "urged across by its mother's lowing." The Buddha plays the role of the mother helping even the weakest member of the herd across the danger with the compassionate encouragement of his teaching.

"These four types of individuals are to be found existing in the world. Which four? The individual who goes with the flow, the individual who goes against the flow, the individual who stands fast, and the one who has crossed over, gone beyond, who stands on firm ground: a brahman.

"And who is the individual who goes with the flow? There is the case where an individual indulges in sensual passions and does evil deeds. This is called the individual who goes with the flow.

"And who is the individual who goes against the flow? There is the case where an individual doesn't indulge in sensual passions and doesn't do evil deeds. Even though it may be with pain, even though it may be with sorrow, even though he may be crying, his face in tears, he lives the holy life that is perfect & pure. This is called the individual who goes against the flow.

"And who is the individual who stands fast? There is the case where an individual, with the total ending of the first set of five fetters, is due to be reborn [in the Pure Abodes], there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world. This is called the individual who stands fast.

"And who is the individual who has crossed over, gone beyond, who stands on firm ground: a brahman? There is the case where an individual, through the ending of the mental fermentations, enters & remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having known & made them manifest for himself right in the here & now. This is called the individual who has crossed over, gone beyond, who stands on firm ground: a brahman.

"These are the four types of individuals to be found existing in the world."

People unrestrained            in sensual passions, not devoid            of passion, indulging            in sensuality: they return to birth & aging,            again & again — seized by craving, going with the flow. 

Thus the enlightened one, with mindfulness here established,            not indulging            in sensuality & evil, though it may be with pain,would abandon sensuality.           They call him           one who goes against                      the flow.

           Whoever,having abandonedthe five defilements,                      isperfect in training,not destined to fall back,skilled in awareness,with faculties composed:           he's called                      one who stands fast

In one who, having known,qualities high & low           have been destroyed,           have gone to their end,           do not exist:He's called           a master of knowledge,           one who has       fulfilled the holy life,                                              gone to the world's end, gone
                                                         beyond.

Anusota Sutta: With the Flow

Anguttara Nikaya 4.5

The principles of self-investigation are our most important tools. We have to make a committed effort to master them at all times, with special emphasis on using mindfulness to focus on the mind and bring it to centered concentration. If we don't focus on keeping the mind centered or neutral as its basic stance, it will wander off in various ways in pursuit of preoccupations or sensory contacts, giving rise to turmoil and restlessness.