We hear the great masters say, "Practicing Buddhism is good. It will
bring you happiness in this and future lives," and we think, "Umm...
This sounds interesting." But when we try to do it, sometimes we get confused.
There are so many kinds of practice to do. "Should I prostrate? Should
I make offerings? Maybe meditation is better? But chanting is easier, perhaps
I should do that instead." We compare our practice to that of others. "My
friend just made 100,000 prostrations in one month. But my knees hurt and I
can't do any!" we think with jealousy. Sometimes doubt comes in our mind
and we wonder, "Other religions teach about morality, love and compassion.
Why should I limit myself to Buddhism?" We go around in circles, and in
the process, lose sight of the real meaning of what we are trying to do.
To resolve this, we need to understand what following Buddha's teachings means.
Let's look beyond clinging to the words. "I'm a Buddhist." Let's look
beyond the external appearance of being a religious person. What is it that
we want from our lives? Isn't finding some kind of lasting happiness and helping
others the essence of what most human beings seek?
One does not have to call him/herself a Buddhist in order to practice the Dharma
and receive benefit from it. Interestingly, in Tibetan, there is no word, "Buddhism".
This is noteworthy, for sometimes we get so caught up in the names of religions
that we forget their meaning, and busy ourselves defending our religion and
criticizing others'. This is a useless venture. In fact the term, "Dharma"
includes any teaching that, if practiced correctly, leads people to temporal
or ultimate happiness. It doesn't exclude teachings given by other religious
leaders, provided that these teachings lead us to the attainment of temporal
or ultimate happiness.
Examples are readily available: moral discipline such as abandoning killing,
stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and intoxicants is taught in many other religions,
as is love and compassion for others. This is the Dharma, and it is beneficial
for us to practice such advice, whether we call ourselves Buddhist or Hindu
or Christian or whatever. This is not to say that all religions are the same
in every respect, for they aren't. However, the parts in each of them that lead
us to temporal and ultimate happiness should be practiced by everyone, no matter
which religion we identify with.
It is extremely important not to get bogged down in words. Sometimes people
ask me, "Are you Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Hindu or Muslim? Are you
Mahayana or Theravada? Do you follow Tibetan Buddhism or Chinese Buddhism? Are
you Gelu, Kargyu, Sakya or Nyingma?" To this complexity of concepts, I
reply, "I am a human being searching for a path to discover truth and happiness
and to make my life beneficial for others." That's the beginning and end
of it. It so happens that I have found a path that suits my inclination and
disposition in such and such a religion, and such and such a tradition. However,
there is no use in clinging onto the terms, "I am a Buddhist of the Tibetan
variety and practice the Gelu tradition." We already have made enough simple
words into concrete concepts. Isn't this grasping at fixed and limited categories
what we are trying to eliminate from our minds? If we cling to such labels in
a close-minded way, then we give ourselves no choice but to quarrel with and
criticize others who happen to have different labels. There are already enough
problems in the world, what is the use of creating more by having bigoted religious
views and conceitedly defaming others?
A kind heart is one of the principal things we are trying to develop. If we
run around childishly telling others, "I'm this religion, and you're that
religion. But, mine is better," it is like turning chocolate frosting into
garbage: what was delicious becomes useless. Instead, we would be much wiser
to look inside ourselves and apply the antidotes to intolerance, pride, and
attachment. The true criterion of whether we are a religious or spiritual person
is whether we have a kind heart toward others and a wise approach to life. These
qualities are internal and cannot be seen with our eyes. They are gained by
honestly looking at our own thoughts, words and actions, discriminating which
ones to encourage and which ones to abandon, and then engaging in the practices
to develop compassion and wisdom in order to transform ourselves.
While we are trying to practice the Dharma, let's not get entrenched in superficial
appearances. There is a story of one Tibetan man who wanted to practice Dharma,
so he spent days circumambulating holy relic monuments. Soon his teacher came
by and said, "What you're doing is very nice, but wouldn't it be better
to practice the Dharma?" The man scratched his head in wonder and the next
day began to do prostrations. He did hundreds of thousands of prostrations,
and when he reported the total to his teacher, his teacher responded, "That's
very nice, but wouldn't it be better to practice the Dharma?" Puzzled,
the man now thought to recite the Buddhist scriptures aloud. But when his teacher
came by, he again commented, "Very good, but wouldn't it be better to practice
the Dharma?" Thoroughly bewildered, the exasperated man queried his spiritual
master, "But what does that mean? I thought I have been practicing the
Dharma." The teacher responded concisely, "The practice of Dharma
is to change your attitude towards life and give up attachment to worldly concerns."
The real Dharma practice is not something we can see with our eyes. Real practice
is changing our mind, not just changing our behavior so that we appear holy,
blessed, and others say, "Wow, what a fantastic person!" We have already
spent our lives putting on various acts in an effort to convince ourselves and
others that we are indeed what in fact we aren't at all. We hardly need to create
another facade, this time of a super-holy person. What we do need to do is change
our mind, our way of viewing, interpreting and reacting to the world around
and within us.
The first step in doing this is being honest with ourselves. Taking an accurate
look at our life, we are unafraid and unashamed to acknowledge, "Everything
is not completely right in my life. No matter how good the situation around
me is, no matter how much money or how many friends or how great a reputation
I have, still I'm not satisfied. Also, I have very little control over my moods
and emotions, and can't prevent getting sick, aging and eventually dying."
Then we check up why and how we are in this predicament. What are the causes
of it? By looking at our own life, we come to understand that our experiences
are closely linked with our mind. When we interpret a situation in one way and
get angry about it, we are unhappy and make the people around us miserable;
when we view the same situation from another perspective, it no longer appears
intolerable and we act wisely and with a peaceful mind. When we are proud, it's
no wonder that others act haughtily to us. On the other hand, a person with
an altruistic attitude automatically attracts friends. Our experiences are based
on our own attitudes and actions.
Can our current situation be changed? Of course! Since it is dependent on causes
--- our attitudes and actions --- if we take responsibility to train ourselves
to think and act in a more accurate and altruistic way, then the current perplexed
dissatisfaction can be ceased and a joyful and beneficial situation ensue. It
is up to us. We can change.
The initial step in this change is giving up attachment to worldly concerns.
In other words, we stop fooling ourselves and trying to fool others. We understand
that the problem isn't that we cannot get what we want or once we do get it,
it fades away or breaks. Rather, the problem is that we cling to it with over-estimating
expectations in the first place. Various activities like prostrating, making
offerings, chanting, meditating and so on are techniques to help us overcome
our preconceptions of attachment, anger, jealousy, pride and close-mindedness.
These practices are not ends in themselves, and they are of little benefit if
done with the same attachment for reputation, friends and possessions that we
had before.
Once, Bengungyel, a meditator doing retreat in a cave, was expecting his benefactor
to visit. As he set up offerings on his altar that morning, he did so with more
care and in a much elaborate and impressive way than usual, hoping that his
benefactor would think what a great practitioner he was and would give him more
offerings. Later, when he realized his own corrupt motivation, he jumped up
in disgust, grabbed handfuls of ashes from the ashbin and flung them over the
altar while he shouted, "I throw this in the face of attachment to worldly
concerns."
In another part of Tibet, Padampa Sangyey, a master with clairvoyant powers,
viewed all that had happened in the cave. With delight, he declared to those
around him, "Bengungyel has just made the purest offering in all Tibet!"
The essence of the Dharma practice isn't our external performance, but our internal
motivation. Real Dharma is not huge temples, pompous ceremonies, elaborate dress
and intricate rituals. These things are tools that can help our mind if they
are used properly, with correct motivation. We can't judge another person's
motivation, nor should we waste our time trying to evaluate others' actions.
We can only look at our own mind, thereby determining whether our actions, words
and thoughts are beneficial or not. For that reason we must be ever attentive
not to let our minds come under the influence of selfishness, attachment, anger,
etc. As it says in the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, "Vigilant,
the moment a disturbing attitude appears, endangering myself and others, I will
confront and avert it without delay." In this way, our Dharma practice
becomes pure and is effective not only in leading us to temporal and ultimate
happiness, but also in enabling us to make our lives beneficial for others.
Thus, if we get confused about which tradition to follow or what practice to
do, let's remember the meaning of practicing Dharma. To cling with concrete
conceptions to a certain religion or tradition is to build up our close-minded
grasping. To become enamoured with rituals without endeavouring to learn and
contemplate their meaning is simply to playact a religious role. To engage in
external practices like prostrating, making offerings, chanting and so forth,
with a motivation that is attached to receiving a good reputation, meeting a
boyfriend or girlfriend, being praised or receiving offerings, is like putting
chocolate frosting into garbage: it looks good on the outside, but it's unhealthy.
Instead, if everyday we center ourselves by remembering the value of being a
human being, if we recall our beautiful human potential and have a deep and
sincere longing to make it blossom, then we'll endeavor to be true to ourselves
and to others by transforming our motivations, and consequently, transforming
our action. In addition to remembering the value and purpose of life, if we
contemplate the transience of our existence and of the objects and people that
we are attached to, then we'll want to practice in a pure way. Sincere and pure
practice that leads to so many beneficial results is done by applying the antidotes
that Buddha prescribed when afflictive attitudes arise in our minds: when anger
comes, we practice patience and tolerance; for attachment, we recall transience;
when jealousy arises, we counter it with sincere rejoicing in others' qualities
and happiness; for pride, we remember that just as no water can stay on a pointed
mountain peak, no qualities can develop in a mind inflated by pride; for close-mindedness,
we let ourselves listen and reflect on a new view.
Looking holy and important on the outside brings no real happiness either now
or in the future. However, if we have a kind heart and a pure motivation free
of selfish, ulterior motives, we are indeed a real practitioner. Then our lives
become meaningful, joyful and beneficial for others.