Reflections

The "subject" is not something given,  it is something added and invented and projected behind what there is. ~ Nietzsche;  The Will to Power I am beginning to think that anatta (no self) is an invention of the narcissistic mind; and that sesshins, retreats, caves and monasteries are all unnecessary prisons in which to figure out, in a breathtaking breakthrough moment (arguably deserving of the title “kensho”, awakening or enlightenment) that it’s not about me.    The saying goes “great doubt great awakening”.  But maybe that's only if you've got a great ego to begin with.  There is a story about a peasant woman making a long trek to see Huineng (I think) so she can ask him one very simple question.  When he answers her, she is awakened, says thank you, and walks away.  Small ego, small awakening.   Nothing to write home about.    T hose who are the most blown away by what they discover at the heart of the...

Any object you have in your mind, however good, will be a barrier between you and the inmost Truth ~Meister Eckhart     My faith had been unwavering for over three years.   It was a faith without object, purpose or design that had erupted laughing at its own undisclosed secret, a word that finally sprang to my lips with nothing whatsoever to say.    Still it oriented to the mystery of my own existence, a gentle “yes”, clear and present down to the depths of unknowing, from which it presumably came. At first I celebrated it like a newborn baby, marveling at this wonder of wonders that had alit with such grace into my world.   But over time I learned that it did not depend on me for survival, and would just casually touch into it from time to time with a furtive glance from my heart’s eye.    Then, one day, I lost it.    I panicked like a mother waking up in the middle of the night searching madly for her baby under...

True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy, Which is as thin of substance as the air And more inconstant than the wind ~ Mercutio (from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet) There are several internet conversations going on right now on the subject of Buddhist morality, specifically on the subject of “right speech”.   These conversations have been sparked by an apparently growing divisiveness over the behaviour of certain Buddhist teachers, their ethics and/or misconduct, and how this relates to “the dharma”. The details of various instances of misconduct are unimportant (and so apparently are the facts, which seem to hold little sway over personal allegiance to our teachers or institutions of choice). That is because the current debate is not over the truth, whatever that turns out to be, but about being right and especially about speaking right. While the offender is almost always accused of having spoken to...

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. ~ Abraham Lincoln Thanks to some stimulating conversation on Speculative Non-Buddhism , I have been thinking a lot about the subject of power.   It seems to me there are three main takes on it. There are those who view power as intrinsically naughty, as a destructive drive or appetite that, like Nietzsche’s “will to power”, becomes blind and dangerous ambition when left to its own devices.   On this view, power is apt to lead to the ruthless domination and subjugation of others unless it is curbed by an equal and opposing benevolent force like altruism or the “will to love” as in When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace (Jimi Hendrix). There are those who, on the contrary, view power as a rather “good” thing but something that, like a natural resource, should be equally apportioned to prevent it becoming concentrated in the...

As far as I'm concerned, if you're going to make things right and wrong you can never even talk about fulfilling your bodhisattva vows. ~ Pema Chodron; No Right or Wrong , an online interview published on Tricycle I am no moralist.   My doctoral thesis explored the reasons why women in various countries endorsed the practice of female circumcision.   The thesis called for cultural sensitivity and was, in a sense, an apologetics more than a dissertation.   Even if the tradition of circumcision appeared to me as harmful and senseless, I argued, there is no absolute right or wrong, no absolute moral standard, by which I, as a cultural outsider, can judge this practice or the people who endorse it as intrinsically “bad”.   Moral values and judgments are relative to our cultures and traditions.   Far be it from me to declare any action universally wrong even if I may see it as wrong myself. I stand by this argument.    What I cannot stand i...