A Fistful of Sand

Fourteen days ago I suffered a “massive heart attack”, whatever that might really mean. This was a cause to consider the often-mysterious workings of karma. During the past year I had been forced for many reasons to consider my karma and why events of my life had taken the turn they had. With the experience of near death came a perspective I had not considered. Life and death are real experiential events and not just philosophical considerations. Some would have us believe that in “emptiness” there is no life or death — a very cool sounding but ultimately useless expression — without emptiness death would not be a reality we must all one day face. We die because we live, we are alive because we were born. Oddly, birth is the cause of death and between the two we live out our lives as best we can. How we live and die and are reborn is a matter defined by our karma. Even within the Buddhist community, where the concepts of “karma” and “Dharma” are central to our practice, bot...

For the past three weeks we've been working with the Medicine Buddha Sadhana. Many people when entering into the Sadhana practice are looking for a magical remedy to their problems. That is not the point of the Medicine Buddha. The point is zeroing in on emptiness and so closer to nirvana. Physical healing becomes incidental. If it happens, well, that's wonderful, but understanding is more valuable - after all, everyone becomes ill, everyone dies. Nothing you can do will avoid these. This reminds me of an apocryphal story in which a man came to the Buddha and explained all of his problems and issues with life. He wanted the Buddha to help him make all of these problems and issues go away. The story goes, the Buddha listened quietly and told the man, "Dharma can help you with sixty-two problems and one it can never help you with. You have this sixty-third problem." "What is this sixty-third problem?" The man was astonished as if e were just g...

For the past 3 weeks the Hongaku Jōdo Sangha in Chicago has been going over the “Short Medicine Sadhana” with a fine tooth comb — not literally, of course. An in depth study of any of the writings or practices making claim to be one advocated or even stated, i.e., taught directly by Siddhartha Gotama, deserves particularly close scrutiny. Both Theravāda and Mahāyāna contain apocryphal sutras; indeed, Mahāyāna is saturated with them. We accept the teachings as being consistent with the intent and spirit of the historical Buddha’s message. We also accept that Dharma is Dharma and it really makes no matter who is teaching it, be it the most unscrupulous teacher imaginable or the noblest human being alive. Truth is truth and truth can be found in the most surprising places. The mature mind does not dismiss the teaching because they disapprove of the source. Today the Internet is saturated with “Fake Buddhist Quotes”. Do we simply dismiss the teaching behind simply because they are n...

Being Overwhelmed The Buddha taught that I person willing to hate is willing to commit any atrocity. He called it an “evil mind”. It corrupts all of our motivations, even those that are quite honorable. Hatred creates in us the ultimate narcissist.   It broods the illusion in the mind of the angry hater that their views, opinions and beliefs are so important that everyone must listen and obey them and believe as they believe. “He who hates his brother is a murderer and a murder does not have eternal life.” The line is from 1 John 3:15 in the New Testament, the Christian Dharma. I used it in an interfaith teaching not long ago. I was admonished by a couple of ministers who were also presenting who told me that John, the spokesman for God in this case, meant this verse only to refer to hating Christian brothers and not persons outside that faith. So, is it okay to hate everyone else? It seems a legalist interpretation of a universal truth. Unfortunately, I have heard s...

In a conversation with an aged Brahmin, the Buddha once explained concisely what a Buddha, an enlightened one, means: What has to be known, that I have known (the five aggregates); What has to be abandoned, that I have abandoned; (the defilements) What has to be developed, that I have developed (concentrations & wisdom); Therefore, O Brahmin, I am a Buddha. These are not only three characteristics of a Buddha; they are also the three objectives we aim at in following the Buddha’s teaching. We follow the Dharma to fully know what should be known; to abandon what should be abandoned; and to develop what should be developed. These are the goals of the Buddhist path and the three accomplishments that mark the attainment of enlightenment. For most of us we can change the Buddha’s statement slightly and we will be adequately described. What has to be known, that I have learning; What has to be abandoned, that I am abandoning; What has to be developed, that I am ...