|
Something funny happens
the first time someone asks you for spiritual guidance.
It is like starting again in Buddhism from the very
beginning - living a second life, but with a completely
different perspective. You recognize an early version of
yourself in your student’s questions, and then you
remember all the doubts, fears and misconceptions you
had at that time… although soon afterwards you’ve got to
face the difficult task of trying to explain all the
intuitive knowledge you’ve acquired since then in an
easy, beginner’s way.
Here I’d
like to talk about an obstacle everyone has to face: how
hard it is to recognize and accept spiritual guidance.
The first words I exchanged with a Buddhist priest could
be summed-up like this: “I need spiritual guidance!”
“Okay, then do this
and then do that.”
“Of course, but… when are you going to give me some
spiritual guidance?”
When we
first approach Buddhism we all have read or heard at
least a bit about enlightenment, satori, meditation,
koans, and so on. But when we’re given any real
practice, we can’t find the underlying connection
between objective
and means - if there is any! What does breath counting have to do
with the extinction of the ego?. And what about the
technique of concentrating the attention on your heart’s
pulse? Is it really going to help me achieve Divine
Marriage?
When
trying to answer all these questions I found it useful
to regard the Spiritual Path as a road that had to be
traveled. For example, imagine you wanted to go from New
York City to Los Angeles. In this case ‘New York City’
would be your current, unenlightened way of life, while
‘Los Angeles’ would be enlightenment or any other
spiritual goal.
Of course,
you can gather a lot of information about Los Angeles
like maps, guides, books, movies, etc. But if you really
want to go there, there’s nothing so useful as the
information you’ll receive from someone who has already
been there, and that’s the role of a Zen Master. So,
you’re excited when you find the right person, the one
who fills your needs; and you spend countless hours
talking about such lovely spots as Long Beach, Hollywood
Boulevard, and Beverly Hills. But as soon as you ask
your Master about the way to get there, you’re shocked
with the answer: “First
you’ve got to learn to drive.”
What!? Who
said anything about
cars? You can only think about blondes
skating in the sunshine, or movie-star-gazing tours.
What kind of guidance is that? So, your first reaction
would be to doubt your Master’s knowledge and try to
find your own, more direct way to get to Los Angeles.
First, you consider the possibility of taking a plane
there - but that’s too expensive. A Star Trek
transporter would be nice, but nobody’s got one. You’d
take a balloon but the airstream goes the other way.
You’d take a train but if you can’t afford a five hour
plane trip, you can’t handle three or four days on a
train. You could try hitch-hiking but that’s one hassle
after another.
So after
several weeks of worthless effort finally you start to
realize that the easiest and safest way for you to get
to Los Angeles is to go by car. You remember that your
master had one you could use - and some credit cards
too. But learning to drive would take so long and be so
nerve wracking... in New York City, yet.
You give
in. You start taking driving lessons reluctantly. And
who said it was going to be easy? Adjust the seat... the
rear-view mirrors. Learn to shift gears and to park.
Watch the speed limits... the gas gauge...the other cars
around you....the traffic lights, the crazy kids running
after balls. And there’s always someone in the car with
you talking and asking you to look at something at the
side of the street - never in front of you. And all the
time you are trying to learn to drive.
Something
similar happens when you start your meditation practice:
if you concentrate too much on counting your breaths,
you find that you can’t keep the correct pace between
exhalation and inhalation. Keeping your mind empty of
thoughts seems to be by now completely impossible. But
as in our example, we’ve got to have faith in our
unconscious learning process. Thanks to repetition,
little by little we’re relieved of some of these tedious
duties. After some time we’re able to check the mirrors
only when they have to be checked, and we also develop
some intuition about the other driver’s intentions.
Soon, we can talk while driving - like taxi drivers.
Suddenly
you realize that, for the first time in months, you
completely forgot about Los Angeles and focused yourself
on mastering techniques. But do you need to learn any
more? Sure. But you’ve got your driver’s license now and
you’re ready to roll. It’s time to ask your master if
you can use that car and those credit cards. Your
meditation practice was only the means to approach the
objective - Los Angeles. You ask and he nods in
affirmation. Finally you’re ready to continue the
journey... but just in case you get stuck or lose your
way, you write down his phone number.
To sum up,
what do we need in order to advance our Buddhist
practice? Well, if we think again about the similarities
of our example with real life, there are two obvious
requirements: the first of which is Faith. But Faith in
what? We’ve to have Faith in our own capabilities, Faith
in our Master, Faith in the technique, and Faith in the
existence of the Buddha Self and in the Four Noble
Truths. Faith? Here I’m using a word that’s associated
with Catholicism, a word that’s not commonly used in
Buddhism. I must confess that I found Faith quite
unpleasant in Catholicism and that’s why I approached
Buddhism, trying to find something more ‘rational’ or
even more ‘scientific’ than Faith. I was wrong… and what
a wonderful discovery that was! Although this could be
the subject of another essay…
And what’s
the other requirement? Well, that’s the Master. In my
country it is said that if you’re lucky you find
something valuable laying on the street; if you’re very
lucky, you win the lottery; but that if you’re really,
really lucky, you find a Master. But here’s another
famous old saying: “When the student is ready, the
Master appears.” Hmmm…
Only one
thing’s left to say: Enjoy the journey!!!
|