INSIGHTAotearoa
A newsletter for New Zealand's insight meditation practitioners and communities
98 Riverside Road, Gisborne, 4010 Aotearoa New Zealand
deborah @ insightaotearoa.org | ISSN 1177-5076
AUGUST 2009
IN THIS NEWSLETTER YOU'LL FIND...
1. EDITORIAL: HARMLESSNESS
2. Power of Harmlessness
3. Peace of the Ultimate
4. A Buddhist Declaration of Climate Change
5. Poem: The Peace of Wild Things
6. Poem: Interrelationship
7. Questions ... questions ...
8. Sangha news
9. The Last Word: Doing No Harm
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EDITORIAL: HARMLESSNESS
Spiritual practice can lead to the question, "What do I do?" The Buddha's response was quite simple and clear. "Do no harm, act for the good, purify the mind."
The theme of this August edition of INSIGHTAotearoa is harmlessness and will focus on the path of non-harming. Peter Fernando opens the newsletter with The Power of Harmlessness followed by Peace of the Ultimate by Ajahn Chandako. A Buddhist Declaration of Climate Change suggests a path of action. Joseph Goldstein offers the Last Word with Doing No Harm.
I will abide pervading one direction with a heart of loving-kindness;
In the same way, a second, third and fourth;
Pervading above and below, all around and everywhere;
And to all, as to myself,
I will abide pervading the all-encompassing cosmos with an awareness imbued with loving-kindness:
Abundant, expansive, immeasurable, free from hostility and free from ill-will.
-- The Buddha
With Metta,
Deborah White
Editor
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Do not take lightly small misdeeds.
Believing they can do no harm:
Even a tiny spark of fire
Can set alight a mountain of hay.
-- Patrul Rinpoche
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2. THE POWER OF HARMLESSNESS
-- by Peter Fernando
Harmlessness (pali - ahimsa) is a principle that applies to all areas of the Buddhist path – from the everyday to the subtle. In a way one could say that this quality of heart, this intelligence, is the essential foundation of all spiritual practice. In technical terms one could also say that it relates directly to the principle of karma or cause and effect – the realization that whatever energy one acts upon will at some point have an effect on either our inner or outer world. Or, put another way, the intuition that ‘self’ and ‘other’ are one in the same. The Buddha didn’t say that karma would return to us in exactly the way it was created, however — only that the corresponding brightness or darkness of energy would condition our state of being – whether in the present moment itself, later this life, or even later than that.
But what is important is not so much trying to predict in what way, or when our actions will come back to us — it’s more about having a deep connection to the principle itself, and so feeling the quality of our intentions moment to moment. If karma is based on our own volitions, then, it suggests the possibility of a kind of mastery –“ if the wellness or illness in our lives depends on how we act, on our intentional actions, then that implies that we are at the hub of this cause and effect process in every moment. However, that’s not how it feels a lot of the time, is it?
Tragically, our consciousness can get quite far removed from the actual quality of intention itself — like for example in an argument where one wants to prove that one is right. We can get so caught up with the details or the content of what’s being said, that we lose touch with ‘Hey, what am I wishing for his person? Am I wishing to hurt them in some way, or put them down, just so that I can feel like I’m right?’
So the realm of intention is an interesting one. When one gets inside it, things begin to look quite different. If we walk the Buddhist path sincerely, our orientation quite naturally changes, the deeper we see how pertinent the Buddha’s teachings on karma are. That every moment, our own intentions are shaping this very consciousness in terms of well-being or stress. To me this is a revelation all in itself. It opens up a sense of curiosity, of wonder at this thing called ‘mind’.
With this quality of wonder, our attention can then stay centered at the hub of our experience, rather than being fixated on the details themselves. It’s like tuning into a heart consciousness rather than a head consciousness. The head is always getting pushed around by images and ideas and a particular ‘take’ on this situation or that situation — and being caught in that realm leads to a lot of confusion. Perception and feeling can configure experience in many ways – and if we take those fragmented constructions as absolute, we can get quite pushed around by our own thinking.
Instead, it can be very useful to ask ourselves, ‘what would it be like if I rested in a sense of dispassion towards the thinking mind? What would that be like?’ It’s a kind of friendly suspicion. There’s a phrase used in Thai Forest monasteries quite a bit, which I quite like — ‘not sure’. We can bring forth this attitude of ‘not sure’ in the way we relate to the mind’s thinking and perceiving. The mind is very powerful at concocting images and views about ourselves and others, and when you’re right in the middle of them, they seem so convincing. Whether it’s about ‘me’ in the form of self-criticism, or 'them’ in the form of judgments and views, they can seem so absolute. But with this trusting in ‘not sure’ we can begin to release from the storylines themselves, and bring our attention to the quality of heart itself, asking ‘is this bringing harm to myself and others?’
With that question we come into our true spiritual strength. We can then act or not act according to what we know in our gut. The more intimately we feel how closing our hearts to another, or to ourselves, closes ourselves off from our own well being, the less inclined we become to follow this habit. And the more we feel the fullness and vitality of the open heart, the more inclined we become to treasure whatever brings about its fruition. Harmlessness is then felt in the heart as an opening into wholeness and peace, a letting go of pain, and an alignment with our deep aspiration for well-being. The more we trust in its power, the more the path joyfully opens up before us.
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3. PEACE OF THE ULTIMATE
Sunday Sermon, Skinner Chapel, Carleton College, June 21, 2009
-- by Ajahn Chandako
Thank you. You know, I really don’t go to church all that often…so it is a real honor to have been invited to give this sermon, and give it to a community for which I have so much respect. This morning I would like to talk about peace.
There are many forms of peace and many levels of its depth and stability. I believe that peace is what human beings most deeply wish for. As the Buddha said,
‘Natthi santi param sukham’, ‘There is no happiness that
transcends that of peace.’*
And yet we seem to intentionally do so many things to destroy the peace we seek.
On a global level our generation faces tremendous challenges, challenges to peace unique in their far reaching consequences, challenges that prove that when human greed and self-centeredness are amplified on a grand scale, suffering and conflict are the inevitable results.
On a personal level, it is also easy to lose touch with a sense of serenity: the serenity of a canoe on a lake, of mountains, of silence, of free time, or simply the serenity of being still. This is one level of peace, the peace of simplicity. In the modern world we have become simplicity-challenged.
And when it comes to peace, our religions have the power to perfect it…or to destroy it. All over the planet we see how societies can break down along religious lines of division, fueled by conflicting world views that too often result in violence. When we have different religious traditions, each with millions of followers, each with holy books with different opinions about ultimate salvation, and many of these books claiming the same author, there is no getting around it: we have to expand beyond our narrow confines if we are going to learn how to live in harmony.
It takes an unusual open-mindedness and integrity to not just delve fully into and explore one’s own belief system, but also to make an honest attempt to understand the teachings and perspectives of others.
A year ago I was on my way to a family reunion in Saskatchewan and was on a small plane to Calgary. The plane was just big enough to be three seats wide, and I found that my seat was in the very last row in the back. After a couple of minutes a middle-aged Canadian man sat down next to me and after we spoke for a minute he asked about the significance of what I was wearing. I told him I was a Buddhist monk, etc.
After listening politely, he said that he was a Christian and that God said that the only way to Him is through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ...and that all other paths led to eternal damnation.
So at this point I could have smiled and nodded and said, “Thank you for sharing that with me,” and spent the rest of the flight looking at the clouds out the window. However his words didn't bother me much, so instead I decided to find out more about what he actually did believe and how he lived his life. As it turned out, yes, certainly he was of a fundamentalist stripe, but it seemed that he was sincere in trying live a peaceful, kind life modeled after Christ; and was as put off by the self-righteous and hypocritical fundamentalist Christians as anyone else.
He tried his best to convert me, for which I give him much credit, but to no avail. As we spoke he kept coming back to this same memorized phrase that there is only one way to God and that is through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, and well, sorry to say, all other paths are leading to eternal hell-- including all other Christian denominations that were different from his.
At this point the woman sitting in front of me couldn't take it any more, turned around, put her head between the seats, and it turned out that she was originally from India.
“No, no...God is not like that. God is love and embraces all good people everywhere. You are so fortunate to have swami sitting next to you. That is your good karma. Swami is blessing you with his presence. You cannot limit the scope of God. Listen to swami's wisdom. The Buddha included all people in his compassion.”
I had to smile. The fundamentalist Christian wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Our Indian passenger then fully joined our conversation, and the three of us developed various religious themes further. We then turned to the man sitting next to her and asked him what he was. He said he was a Roman Catholic. As our four-way discussion became more animated, it could be heard by most of the back half of the small plane.
The man sitting next to me, in all his certainty, kept speaking in terms of 'God thinks this...' and 'God is like that.' I suggested, for the purpose of our discussion, “How about if you phrase your statements, not as 'God is like this' but 'I believe God is like this' or 'I believe that there is only one way to heaven.' Because this opens the door for other people to express their, possibly different, beliefs and doesn't automatically put others on the defensive. And we'll all do the same.” He reluctantly agreed, although we had to regularly remind him when he got excited. In Buddhism, you see, it's not belief, per se, that is of primary importance. It's direct experience, insight and understanding. These are considered to be the key qualities that lead to 'salvation' or enlightenment.
Anyway, when our flight attendant reached the back of the plane we heartily invited her to join our interfaith gathering. She curtly said she was a “Catholic... and an angry Catholic,” and then quickly pushed her cart to the front of the plane. It wasn't too long however, before she was back again, joining our conversation and seemingly forgetting all about her flight attendant duties. She told us the whole, long story of why she was so angry at her priest, and by the end she seemed much lighter and happier.
We were really enjoying ourselves by this time, and our discussion lasted to the end of the flight and on into the baggage claim. The point of the story is this: by the time we reached our destination, none of us had significantly changed our beliefs or positions, but in the process we all had a great time. We laughed and joked and discussed meaningful things and learned from each other. And most importantly, we all parted as friends.
Because attachment and clinging to any view—even a good view—leads to stress. s. Even our religions are merely social conventions designed to lead us to a reality beyond them.
In the Judeo-Christian tradition we talk of developing an awareness of the presence of God. In Buddhism we talk of developing an awareness of the present.
Whether we speak about prayer or meditation, rather than getting sidetracked by the words and concepts, we can take a look at what effects our spiritual practice is having in our lives. Is it leading to peace? To being at peace with ourselves? Is it leading to clarity, to greater understanding? To living harmoniously with people who we perceive as different from us? Is it leading to a heart of kindness that includes all beings? Does our spiritual practice prepare us for death?
Because there is no escape from the limitations of the body. Life melts away like the last dripping icicles of March (...or April...or May), and as we get older, there is no escape from physical pain: back aches, leg aches, toothaches and head aches. Fortunately there is some temporary respite, but in the end we either make peace with physical pain or we suffer more.
With emotional pain, however, there is an escape. Anger, depression, loneliness or fear: these are optional. These disappear with proper understanding, and this is where religion or a path of spiritual development, has a vital role to play. Learning to harmonize with the way things are and actively contemplating life, gradually gives rise to wisdom, and wisdom brings peace.
One element of realizing peace is to be living in a way that is consistent with our deepest values. This is the peace of integrity, of self respect born of living our values. This peace is not inactive. In fact, it is one of the most powerful forces for positive change that we can bring into the world, and when the peace loving people of the world stand up with courage and be strong, then we see that meek is not weak…and our strength is in being true to ourselves.
There are many practical things we can do in daily life to experience peace more readily. For example, there is the peace that comes from contentment. We may think of contentment as the culmination and reward of a spiritual path, but it is also a quality we can develop every day: cultivating the habit of stopping and appreciating how much we already have, appreciating the people around us and what has already been accomplished. Because, the truth is, we have everything we need to be happy right here and right now.
And then, there is the peace of forgiveness. Carrying around a negative perception or memory of another person is just too heavy a burden for a human heart. In some cases, not forgiving is easier, and easy to justify, but is it worth sacrificing peace of mind, sacrificing our ability to feel joy? So we practice forgiving others for the faults we perceive in them, for not always living up to who we think they should be, because every person in our life is a teacher of forgiveness. And sometimes we have to forgive life for not giving us what we want, and, maybe most importantly, it's good to practice forgiving ourselves: forgiving ourselves for having areas where we are not yet strong, for occasionally making mistakes or for being too self-critical. We forgive ourselves for not being perfect.
Knowing ourselves brings peace: mindfully being aware of what motivates us, being aware of our emotions. When we are up, we know. When we are down, we know. And we know how these states of mind always pass. With simple and non-judgmental awareness of what is happening both inside and out, we can replace an emotional roller-coaster with an inner mountain of unshakeable peace.
There is the peace of compassion, because tuning into the pain of another being and responding with understanding and love is one of the greatest of human abilities.
And there is the peace of understanding our world with insight, because our world is composed of what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and cognize, and making peace with every sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thought is to make peace with the world.
And then there is the peace beyond the world. It doesn’t matter what you call it, because the concepts have a knack of obscuring the issue. I’ll read you a poem from the Japanese tradition:
There is a reality prior to heaven and earth.
Indeed, it has no form, much less a name.
Eyes fail to see it. It has no voice for ears to detect.
Even to call it ‘Buddha’ or ‘mind’ violates its nature.
For then it becomes a visionary flower in the air.
Absolutely quiet, and yet illuminating in a mysterious way,
It allows itself to be perceived only by the clear-sighted.
It is the truth of nature, beyond form and sound.
It is the truth of nature, having nothing to do with words.
O my good and worthy friends gathered here,
If you wish to listen to the thunderous voice of Truth,
Exhaust your words and empty your thoughts,
For then you may come to recognize
This one essence.
(taken from a poem by Dai O Kokushi)
As individuals, and as a collective species, we humans have tremendous potential. Clearly we have the potential to be intelligent and creative, to be kind and beneficial members of society, to be loving parents and loving towards our parents, and to be courageously patient in the face of hardship. We have the potential to recognize that we are essentially no different from each other, the potential to see how clinging to things and people and opinions leads to the pain of a divided heart and a divided society. We have the potential to be unified and whole…and to be unified with the whole.
But even more than that, we have the potential to free our conscious awareness from the limitations of who and what we think we are, from the web of identifications that create an illusionary world of what we perceive ourselves to be. This is real freedom, and this is true peace.
Please never think that you, as one small individual, have no power to change the world. Because you do. When there is generosity in your heart, it manifests in the world. When your mind is filled with thoughts of loving-kindness, it is unavoidable that love and kindness fill your life. When your heart is filled with understanding, it touches every person you know.
If we want to live in a world of mutual understanding and love, then we can create it by cultivating those qualities in our own heart…and as the world changes, it brightens. It softens. It wakes up. And it is friendly back. When we experience the peace of a pure heart, the ripples go out, expand, are felt by everyone in our lives and eventually touch distant and unimagined shores. It’s possible.
And when you do discover some peace, please share it with others, because the world needs more peace, and when we have experienced peace and offered it to others, we will know that we have lived a life of true benefit.
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Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
-- Leonard Cohen
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4. A BUDDHIST DECLARATION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
In the run-up to the crucial U.N. Climate Treaty Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009, the Declaration that follows will present to the world's media a unique spiritual view of climate change and our urgent responsibility to address the solutions. It emerged from the contributions of over 20 Buddhist teachers of all traditions to the book A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency. “The Time to Act is Now” was composed as a pan-Buddhist statement by Zen teacher Dr David Tetsuun Loy and senior Theravadin teacher Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi with scientific input from Dr John Stanley.
The Dalai Lama was the first to sign this Declaration. We invite all concerned members of the international Buddhist community to study the document and add their voice by co-signing it at the end of this page.
The Time to Act is Now
A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change
Today we live in a time of great crisis, confronted by the gravest challenge that humanity has ever faced: the ecological consequences of our own collective karma. The scientific consensus is overwhelming: human activity is triggering environmental breakdown on a planetary scale. Global warming, in particular, is happening much faster than previously predicted, most obviously at the North Pole. For hundreds of thousands of years, the Arctic Ocean has been covered by an area of sea-ice as large as Australia—but now this is melting rapidly. In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast that the Arctic might be free of summer sea ice by 2100. It is now apparent that this could occur within a decade or two. Greenland’s vast ice-sheet is also melting more quickly than expected. The rise in sea-level this century will be at least one meter—enough to flood many coastal cities and vital rice-growing areas such as the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
Glaciers all over the world are receding quickly. If current economic policies continue, the glaciers of the Tibetan Plateau, source of the great rivers that provide water for billions of people in Asia, will disappear within 30 years. Severe drought and crop failures are already affecting Australia and Northern China. Major reports—fromm the IPCC, United Nations, European Union, and International Union for Conservation of Nature—agree that, without a collective change of direction, dwindling supplies of water, food and other resources could create famine conditions, resource battles, and mass migration by mid-century—perhaps by 2030, according to the U.K.’s chief scientific advisor.
Global warming plays a major role in other ecological crises, including the loss of many plant and animal species that share this Earth with us. Oceanographers report that half the carbon released by burning fossil fuels has been absorbed by the oceans, increasing their acidity by about 30%. Acidification is disrupting calcification of shells and coral reefs, as well as threatening plankton growth, the source of the food chain for most life in the sea.
Eminent biologists and U.N. reports concur that “business-as-usual” will drive half of all species on Earth to extinction within this century. Collectively, we are violating the first precept— “do not harm living beings” – on the largest possible scale. And we cannot foresee the biological consequences for human life when so many species that invisibly contribute to our own well-being vanish from the planet.
Many scientists have concluded that the survival of human civilization is at stake. We have reached a critical juncture in our biological and social evolution. There has never been a more important time in history to bring the resources of Buddhism to bear on behalf of all living beings. The four noble truths provide a framework for diagnosing our current situation and formulating appropriate guidelines—because the threats and disasters we face ultimately stem from the human mind, and therefore require profound changes within our minds. If personal suffering stems from craving and ignorance—from the three poisons of greed, ill will, and delusion—the same applies to the suffering that afflicts us on a collective scale. Our ecological emergency is a larger version of the perennial human predicament. Both as individuals and as a species, we suffer from a sense of self that feels disconnected not only from other people but from the Earth itself. As Thich Nhat Hanh has said, “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” We need to wake up and realize that the Earth is our mother as well as our home—and in this case the umbilical cord binding us to her cannot be severed. When the Earth becomes sick, we become sick, because we are part of her.
Our present economic and technological relationships with the rest of the biosphere are unsustainable. To survive the rough transitions ahead, our lifestyles and expectations must change. This involves new habits as well as new values. The Buddhist teaching that the overall health of the individual and society depends upon inner well-being, and not merely upon economic indicators, helps us determine the personal and social changes we must make.
Individually, we must adopt behaviors that increase everyday ecological awareness and reduce our “carbon footprint”. Those of us in the advanced economies need to retrofit and insulate our homes and workplaces for energy efficiency; lower thermostats in winter and raise them in summer; use high efficiency light bulbs and appliances; turn off unused electrical appliances; drive the most fuel-efficient cars possible, and reduce meat consumption in favor of a healthy, environmentally-friendly plant-based diet.
These personal activities will not by themselves be sufficient to avert future calamity. We must also make institutional changes, both technological and economic. We must “de-carbonize” our energy systems as quickly as feasible by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources that are limitless, benign and harmonious with nature. We especially need to halt the construction of new coal plants, since coal is by far the most polluting and most dangerous source of atmospheric carbon. Wisely utilized, wind power, solar power, tidal power, and geothermal power can provide all the electricity that we require without damaging the biosphere. Since up to a quarter of world carbon emissions result from deforestation, we must reverse the destruction of forests, especially the vital rainforest belt where most species of plants and animals live.
It has recently become quite obvious that significant changes are also needed in the way our economic system is structured. Global warming is intimately related to the gargantuan quantities of energy that our industries devour to provide the levels of consumption that many of us have learned to expect. From a Buddhist perspective, a sane and sustainable economy would be governed by the principle of sufficiency: the key to happiness is contentment rather than an ever-increasing abundance of goods. The compulsion to consume more and more is an expression of craving, the very thing the Buddha pinpointed as the root cause of suffering.
Instead of an economy that emphasizes profit and requires perpetual growth to avoid collapse, we need to move together towards an economy that provides a satisfactory standard of living for everyone while allowing us to develop our full (including spiritual) potential in harmony with the biosphere that sustains and nurtures all beings, including future generations. If political leaders are unable to recognize the urgency of our global crisis, or unwilling to put the long-term good of humankind above the short-term benefit of fossil-fuel corporations, we may need to challenge them with sustained campaigns of citizen action.
Dr James Hansen of NASA and other climatologists have recently defined the precise targets needed to prevent global warming from reaching catastrophic “tipping points.” For human civilization to be sustainable, the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is no more than 350 parts per million (ppm). This target has been endorsed by the Dalai Lama, along with other Nobel laureates and distinguished scientists. Our current situation is particularly worrisome in that the present level is already 387 ppm, and has been rising at 2 ppm per year. We are challenged not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to remove large quantities of carbon gas already present in the atmosphere.
As signatories to this statement of Buddhist principles, we acknowledge the urgent challenge of climate change. We join with the Dalai Lama in endorsing the 350 ppm target. In accordance with Buddhist teachings, we accept our individual and collective responsibility to do whatever we can to meet this target, including (but not limited to) the personal and social responses outlined above.
We have a brief window of opportunity to take action, to preserve humanity from imminent disaster and to assist the survival of the many diverse and beautiful forms of life on Earth. Future generations, and the other species that share the biosphere with us, have no voice to ask for our compassion, wisdom, and leadership. We must listen to their silence. We must be their voice, too, and act on their behalf.
Contact: ECOLOGICAL BUDDHISM
http://www.ecobuddhism.org/350_target/350_target/buddhist_declaration_on_climate_change___read_an/
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5. POEM: The Peace of Wild Things
-- by Wendell Berry
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
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6. POEM: Interrelationship
-- by Thich Nhat Hanh
You are me, and I am you.
Isn't it obvious that we "inter-are"?
You cultivate the flower in yourself,
so that I will be beautiful.
I transform the garbage in myself,
so that you will not have to suffer.
I support you;
you support me.
I am in this world to offer you peace;
you are in this world to bring me joy.
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7. QUESTIONS ... QUESTIONS ...
Do you have a question about your practice or about Buddhism in general? Send it in, and we will put it before a teacher. If it can be answered easily, it will be in a future INSIGHTAotearoa. Send your question to deborah @ insightaotearoa.org or by post to Newsletter, 98 Riverside Road, Gisborne 4010.
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8. SANGHA NEWS
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http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.htm
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9. THE LAST WORD: Doing No Harm
It is impossible to separate moral and ethical behavior from meditative realization. The entire spiritual journey rests on the morality of nonharming. This is the expression of the love and care we feel both for others and ourselves. Without this foundation, wisdom does not endure. Especially in times of changing values like our own, the importance of personal integrity and responsibility needs to be rearticulated again and again so we do not get lost in the confusion of our own desires. Our challenge is to give it vitality in a modern world, and to do so without becoming moralistic, judgmental, or divisive.
-- Joseph Goldstein