Alright, this is the first entry of my blog (well, first real entry – we’ll try and forget the one day I started the blog, with all intentions of writing something profound, added a song by that crooner guy who I’m not really that fond of, and then did nothing else with it for six months). So, a friend gave me the idea to blog about the stuff I’m reading so I’m going to dedicate this blog to be a book review of sorts. I’ve heard that the best way to really learn something is to teach it, so here’s my feeble attempt at that.
I know, I know. Buddhism and other Eastern religions sometimes get chalked up as being a load of crap and being too readily adopted by trendy people being trendy. That really wasn’t my intention. Actually, after a pretty profoundly confusing religious experience, and in a moment of existential angst, I picked up a book off a roommates desk called The Red Book, by Sera Beak. I felt this to be nudge from the Universe (as Sera Beak would say), as I would never have been in said roommates room, had she not gone off to California and left her alarm clock to jolt me out of a deep sleep on a Sunday morning.
As I was blindly clutching to yank the thing out by its chord (much simpler than figuring out how to turn it off at 6:30 on a Sunday morning) I spied this book on the desk, picked it up, and started reading it. The Red Book is sort of a new-agey, geared towards girls, guide to adding spirituality to a modern, busy life. Sera is a “world-traveled Harvard-trained scholar of comparative religion”, and it shows in the way she is able to seamlessly take a little bit from Buddhism, Hinduism, philosophy, and just a dash of Christianity and throws out some suggestions I think anyone could benefit from. It happened to be just what I needed at the time and it sparked an interest in Tibetan Buddhism or Zen Buddhism. Hence, The Joy of Living by Yongey Rinpoche.
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche is a master of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism (lineage is a very important thing in Buddhism). Basically, Yongey was recognized at a very young age as someone who could become a great teacher and has spent his whole life dedicated to teaching Zen Buddhism and helping people recognize the peace and contentment one can feel when they learn how to rest the mind. As a boy, Yongey was severely plagued with, what we call in the Western world, an anxiety disorder. He spent most of his childhood isolated and fearful. It was only through the study of meditation that he learned how to rest in mindfulness and overcome that burden.
Yongey has taken a special interest in science and the way the Western world views the study of the mind. Through his travels, he has had the opportunity to meet many influential scientists and others in this profession and compare how the Western scientific study of what happens in the mind is similar to and supported by Buddhist thought.
Yongey talks about how he has travelled quite extensively in his position as a Tibetan monk and has experienced very humble living conditions and also the great wealth of the western world. He was surprised to find that often times, the people living in the West, with all the modern-day comforts, were often profoundly unhappy. The question is why? Why, with all we have are we so prone to feeling isolated and lonely, anxious and worried, and chronically unhappy?
One of the basic ideas behind Buddhist thought is the idea that the natural essence of the mind is calm, confident, and full of clarity. Often times, the mind is clouded over by worry, anxiety, anger, or any other emotion or “stories”. The idea is to retrain the mind by using meditation (which is a form of being non-judgmental – that is the practice of seeing thoughts come and go and not attaching values such as positive or negative to those thoughts), mantras, and some other techniques. The goal from this “retraining” is to experience the calm, confident un-clouded natural mind more. This is a simplified explanation, but essentially, if we can clear the mind of all this unhelpful dialogue, we can experience the space between thoughts, and that is where we will find enlightenment.
One of the profound ideas I got from this book, is the Buddhist thought that all the dissatisfaction and unhappiness in the world is caused by three mental afflictions or the Three Poisons. These are ignorance, attachment, and aversion. Ignorance is “a fundamental inability to recognize the infinite potential, clarity, and the power of our own minds”. It is the idea that until we are enlightened, we are existing in a state of ignorance. Ignorance that we can be happier – now, more content – now, or that we don’t have exactly everything we need – now. The catch-22 here is that a truly enlightened person would never realize they were enlightened because to become enlightened one would have to give up any notion of reaching an enlightened state. Wow! That just happened - shake and bake.
Attachment, is the idea that there are some things we need to survive in this world and then there are many things we don’t need. The problem occurs when, through conditioning, we create neuronal connections that have a greater hunger or need than necessary. “Attachment in many ways is comparable to addiction, a compulsive dependency on external objects or experiences to manufacture an illusion of wholeness” or, I would add, well-being. What are you attached to? Is it your job title or position? It is being married to someone? Or is it food, alcohol or television?
Finally there is aversion. As Yongey puts it, “every strong attachment generates an equally powerful fear that we’ll either fail to get what we want or lose whatever we’ve already gained.” He goes on, “a resistance to the inevitable changes that occur as a consequence of the impermanent nature of relative reality”. I think of aversion as fear. I know, as a chronic worrier, I’ve spent a great deal of my life walking around in fear and it has caused great unhappiness.
I like how Lama Surya Das sums up the Three Poisons in his book, Awakening The Buddha Within (this might be next on the list):
The Three Poisons usually work together to create pain in this fashion: Because we are ignorant of the truth, we think we can be made happy by fulfilling our attachments to a specific person, place, thing, or feeling. Inevitably we are disappointed, and then aversion, dislike, or even hatred rears its ugly head.
One of my favorite parables from Yongey’s book is a story about a king who built a new palace. When the new place was finished, he was faced with the problem of having to secretly transfer all his wealth – jewelry, gold, statutes, paintings, titles and other objects from the old palace to the new palace. He couldn’t do the task himself, because he was too busy performing his royal duties and if he did it, it would be rather obvious. There weren’t many people he could trust either. Finally, he thought of one loyal general who he could completely trust.
The king summoned the general and explained that he needed him to move all his wealth from the old palace to the new palace. The most important part of the task, aside from the secrecy, was that it had to be accomplished in one day. There was one day of the year when everyone would be at a festival and the general could move things back and forth without notice. If the general could accomplish this task, the king would bestow upon him vast tracts of rich farmland, stately mansions, gold, and jewels. It would be enough wealth, in fact, to allow him to retire in comfort for the rest of his days and would guarantee that his children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren could live their lives in great comfort and splendor.
The general awoke the next morning, quickly dressed, and set himself to moving the king’s treasures from the old palace to the new one. All day long he ran back and forth, along secret passageways with boxes and chests of gold and jewels. He allowed himself only a short break for lunch to keep his strength up. Finally, just before the sun was setting, the general succeeded in transferring all the wealth to the new palace. He went to the king, reported on the task, and the king heartily congratulated him and handed him all the deeds, titles, gold and jewels that were promised.
The general returned home, took a hot bath, dressed himself in comfortable clothes and settled himself on some soft cushions in his private room. He was exhausted, but content on the difficult task he had just accomplished. During that moment, he experienced a complete sense of confidence and accomplishment. He was able to let go and experience the freedom of being exactly as he was in that moment. This “perfectly effortless state of relaxation is what is meant by natural peace”.
In conclusion (as if you couldn’t tell), I really liked this book and it was exactly what I was looking for when I picked it up. I’d highly recommend it. Let me end this first blog as Yongey ended his book (because I think its perfect) with the prayer of the Four Immeasureables:
May all sentient being have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings have joy and the causes of joy.
May all sentient beings remain in great equanimity, free from attachment and aversion.
