seeking the buddha through symbol, myth and archetype by dhammadinna1
1
These are the extended notes for Dhammadinna’s talk, lightly edited for reading as a text.
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Constantly, constantly I recollect the Buddha, And constantly I long for a sight of him. And always constantly I make a resolve to see the Buddha sun. I am consumed with longing To see the Buddha. I long to see him. Out of mercy and compassion, Show yourself to me. These are lines from the Sutra of Golden Light Puja which I have recited many many times and which are expressive of my approach to seeking the Buddha of Imagination. So in this talk I am more focussed on seeking for the Buddha in myth and symbol and how we might do that, rather than for example describing the archetypal Buddha or reading parables, myths and symbols from the Mahayana Sutras. It’s not a cosmic talk, in that sense. We have been invited, encouraged, to engage in a ‘Quest for the Buddha’, to seek for the Buddha, and to re-imagine him, We can connect with the Buddha of history, dwell with the Buddha as an image and symbol in our imaginations, and eventually become like him, as we embody some degree of Reality itself. So we are seeking an effective connection with him, a way to meet the Buddha so that he becomes more and more of a living presence in our lives and imaginations. We are seeking for the Buddha as an embodiment of something outside of ourselves that transcends self-clinging but which also unfolds in our own imaginations. We are being invited to be involved in a quest to re-imagine the Buddha – and of course we already have such a wealth of connection with him. We have all Gone for Refuge to the Buddha. But we are being encouraged to re-connect and to re-focus on that wealth of connection, and to allow his presence to unfold within our own imaginations, asking ourselves, “How does he appear to us, now?” I gather that there are some worries and concerns about what might be happening. Some people fear losing the magic of the archetypal images of the Indo-Tibetan tradition: there will be no mantras, no sevenfold Puja, no magic, no mystery – everything will be stripped down. I don’t think this is what is intended. The archetypal images are essential to us as they express the multifaceted nature of and qualities of the Enlightened mind. The indo Tibetan images express universal archetypes, they don’t belong to any culture, so we need to naturalise them to make them our own, grounded in own lives imaginations and cultures. Others are worried that we will be able to do what we like (some will find that liberating although, of course, we can always do what we like!) –but that with the emphasis on the unfolding nature of our own imaginations, we might all end up visualising Mickey mouse, or even Shaun the Sheep. Parodying obviously, but you get the picture.
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But if our grounding in the Dharma is strong, then we can have confidence in the unfolding of our imaginations, and our connection with the Buddha. We just have to try it and see
what is our present connection with the buddha – in history, myth, and symbol or in reality – and how has that expressed itself during the course of our dharma lives? So I guess each of us could ask ourselves how strong is our connection with the Buddha, now? And could we make that connection stronger and see what effect that might have? When I first thought about this I realised that my shrine is almost completely archetypal – it has various images and pictures of Green Tara and other Bodhisattvas, and a picture of Bhante (Sangharakshita) and his eight teachers – not a Buddha image in sight. Then I thought back to my initial connection with the Dharma and Movement and realised that it was mainly through Tibetan Buddhism – the works of Evans Wentz on the Life of Milarepa, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation (the text now known as Seeing with Naked Awareness), and Tibetan Yoga and secret doctrines. I must have known that Buddhism involved the Buddha but I did not feel a very strong connection with him, though I was very attracted to a non-theistic religion. I was much more drawn to Milarepa and Padmasambhava and their colourful lives. I think in my early Dharma life I saw the Buddha as a bit of a good boy, in comparison to Milarepa and Padmasambhava who were bad boys made good, as it were, and projected a kind of negative Christian sainthood upon the Buddha. I think Bhante once said that we probably saw Jesus as a nice figure floating around Jerusalem in a white robe – and we shouldn’t see the Buddha in the same way, floating around Northern India in an orange robe, kind of nice and saintly, but not very exciting. But I think that I did! Not long after I was ordained, I was fortunate to be on an Udana seminar2 with Bhante which took place in a tent on the Cornish cliffs. It was during this study that the Buddha really came alive for me, and also later when we studied the Sutta Nipata3, both of which are favourite texts for me. I particularly love the Dhaniya Sutta from the Sutta Nipata, which is presented as a dramatic ballad and involves an existential communication – even confrontation – between Dhaniya, the rather self satisfied farmer, and the Buddha, who turns up unexpectedly at dusk. For Dhaniya he is the beggar, the wandering mendicant, the stranger, the unlooked-for, the uninvited guest, the unexpected – who irrupts into Dhaniya’s safe life. There is very little actual Dharma teaching in the sense of lists, etc. – it is an existential communication. The Buddha just is. And from it I have a very vivid picture of the Buddha – in a way quite similar to Milarepa, though in a different context – who just appears down in the valley and sings to people how it is: direct, honest, open, challenging. But my main focus of practice has been on Green Tara – so I began to wonder whether I did have a very strong connection with the Buddha. Then, I remembered, of course, that I had done the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice of the Buddha Sakyamuni for several years whilst I lived at Tiratanaloka. And often, though other figures 2
For transcription, see http://www.freebuddhistaudio.com/texts/read?num=SEM121
3
For transcription, part 1: http://tinyurl.com/3ouhhhn, part 2: http://tinyurl.com/4x89ldc
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would come alive or take centre stage, I was very captivated by that image of the Buddha – the more archetypal Golden Buddha, particularly with the earth touching mudra, and the begging bowl (with all their symbolic significance and resonance), which became very alive for me. I remember kind of falling love with the Buddha. But I haven’t done that practice on a regular basis for a while, so it has been interesting to engage in Buddhanusati (’Recollection of the Buddha’) – either based on the Buddha Vandana from the Tiratana Vandana, or in a more free-form way just calling to mind the Buddha and his qualities more fully before a practice – imagining myself in his presence and seeing what happens. I’m going to say a bit more about this later So its can be an interesting exercise to reflect on what is our actual connection with the Buddha and here I mean by Buddha, the Buddha of history and of myth and as reality – as Bodhi – and how that manifests for us. It is an exploration, a quest, a seeking. I came across a quote that I liked: Never tell people how to do things – tell them what to do – (of course your choice, whether you do it or not!) and they will surprise you! General Patton (!) Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. Or even surprise yourselves! I can tell you what to do – re-imagine the Buddha, seek for the Buddha – though you of course are free not to do so! But I can’t tell you how the Buddha of imagination, myth and symbol is going to look for you. I can give you give some pointers as to where to look for the Buddha as symbol and image – and how to look, attitudes that might be helpful. In The Journey to Il Convento, Bhante says that we are directed by our irrational wisdom to images that move us – which then become symbols for us, expressive of deeper universal archetypes. A symbol to be a symbol has to be a symbol for you. An image or symbol that you resonate with, that moves you, that speaks to you, that has meaning and value for you. Otherwise it is not a symbol, for you. We need to allow that irrational wisdom to discover images of the Buddha that are symbols for us, for you, for me; that reveal deeper archetypal themes. We need to remember that we are using what Bhante calls the ‘language of myth’ – the language of symbol and archetype, of the Imagination, of poetry, parable, intuition, dream, vision, legend,and ritual ; what we have come to call ‘the realm of undefined meaning’, ‘the realm of indefinable meaning’, in which the symbols and images speak for themselves if we are able to listen, to attend. The imaginal world cannot be fully described in words. It is the language of the non-rational that speaks to our heart, our emotions, and conveys deep meaning and value to us; that moves us. The language of myth is another way of knowing truth or reality. To speak this language we need to move beyond concepts. Concepts, thoughts, and words are valuable – they are used to express the Dharma; but at some point we need to move beyond them. thebuddhistcentre.com: triratna writing
At it’s fullest the Imagination moves beyond concepts, words and thoughts and becomes Wisdom, Reality, itself. In reflection we need our thoughts to be clear, directed, flowing; but as we begin to become more contemplative, more imaginative, we need to let go of words and allow the images to speak for themselves. By connecting with an image that moves us, we open up to the Imagination itself, that image perceiving faculty, within which everything has symbolic meaning. It is within this open imaginative space that the illumined image can manifest.
how do we engage with the buddha in our imaginations? First of all of course we need to have faith that we do have a connection – of course we do. Where do we look for those images that move us? We can, of course, as preparation, immerse ourselves in the life story of the Buddha and his teachings through our own reading of the Pali Canon, make our own connection with the Buddha of history – bearing in mind that The Buddha of history is an image for us: we are already in the realm of the imagination when we call him to mind. We can familiarise ourselves with the legendary life of the Buddha, the stories particularly from texts like the Mahavastu and the Lalitavistara – and also the Jataka stories. Again we know these texts to some extent – we have probably read The Light of Asia (by Sir Edwin Arnold)4, for example. We often have readings from the Lalitavistara on Buddha Day festivals. We can make this material our own, through readings, dramatic enactments, story telling etc. We have some brilliant story tellers in our movement, brilliant ritualists. Buddha Day festival could become more like those wonderful Padmasambhava festivals at the London Buddhist Centre that we had in the ‘80s (though I am sure much of this kind of thing happens at Buddhafield). I remember when the figures from the Padmasambhava ritual enactment – the 8 forms and Ye-she Tsogyal and Mandarava (especially the latter two) in costume and masked, entered the shrine room I was immediately uplifted, and even awestruck. They were present, they were real to me, they really did live. I felt I was in another realm – something of a different dimension was about to happen, something unknown and magical. So we can become much more familiar with the legendary life, and allow the spiritual meaning of the myths and legends to speak to us. So then we can call him to mind either through a more formal, structured recollection, as in reflecting on the qualities expressed in the Buddha Vandana of the Tiratana Vandana; or in a more free-form way – imagining doing any practice we are engaged in in his presence, or reminding ourselves that he taught the practices that we do. So that he is there, as it were, at the back of everything.
engaging in more formal buddhanusati in the buddha vandana Such indeed is He, the Richly Endowed: the Free, the Fully and Perfectly Awake, Equipped with Knowledge and Practice., the Happily Attained, Knower of the Worlds, Guide Unsurpassed of Men to be Tamed, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Awakened One Richly Endowed. 4
For the full text, see http://goo.gl/iOI1b
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From the Buddha Vandana We can take each Pali word and explore the translation5, eg. Bhagavan (connotations: The Blessed One, Richly Endowed, Sublime one, Exalted One, endowed with all positive qualities, with all spiritual qualities). This can be a more discursive practice to begin with and each quality can be recollected by calling to mind a teaching or event that illustrates it . Or we can recall a quality and hold it in our minds, leaving a space and seeing what arises. And so on through all the qualities of the Buddha. So, for example, for me, the first quality or description, Bhagavan, brings about a feeling of expansion, of unlimited riches, abundance and potential, magical, vast and bejewelled. But then the next quality or description invokes a different aspect or facet of Enlightenment – the Buddha is also Araham. Here what is highlighted is the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion, and the resulting freedom. He seems to me more like the Buddha that I respond to in the Pali Canon: the wandering mendicant, the beggar, the completely free, the ascetic, the man of naught – who if I do see, I see as a standing figure, out of the corner of my eye. And it is the contrast that fascinates me. There are many sources of the Buddha’s qualities in the texts. Find those that speak to you.
Dhammapada That Enlightened One, whose sphere is endless, whose victory is irreversible, and after whose victory no defilements remain, by what track will you lead him astray, the Trackless One? What does that evoke for you.
Purabheda Sutta6 This is less formal than the Buddha Vandana – qualities that we can relate to, and imagine ourselves having: He has no anger, no fear and no pride. Nothing disturbs his composure and nothing gives him cause for regret And he is not a man who is full of himself, or a man who is addicted to pleasure; he is a man who is gentle and alert, with no blind faith; he shows no aversion to anything.
Ratnakara (Sutra of Golden Light) Pure are your eyes, broad and beautiful like the petals of a blue lotus pure is your thought having discovered supreme transcendence Immeasurable are the ocean of your virtues the accumulation of your good deeds
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For a full treatment of this approach, see Sangharakshita, Tiratana Vandana Seminar: http://tinyurl.com/3opgl9y
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Sutta Nikaya 4.10, giving the qualities of a Muni.
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You affirm the Path of Peace, O great Ascetic, obeisance to you. So we can engage in this type of reflection and contemplation on the Buddha’s qualities from a text or source that inspires – and see what happens.
engaging in a more unstructured practice I particularly like, however, just sitting and allowing the Buddha’s presence to unfold, within our own imaginations, and that this be as non-prescriptive as possible: a natural unfolding, un-willed, as free as possible, as open as possible, where we are receptive, open to another dimension, in touch with our faith and devotion – where we cultivate the quality of Keats’ ‘negative capability’. I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason. We are open, but not knowing what is going to happen, which can be unsettling. And where we are happy, as it were, to wait. That waiting is part of the practice – it doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. We have invited the Buddha to appear – but we are happy to wait. There is an open, creative space – ‘the seat made ready’. That absence, as it were, is a full absence. When we are waiting for someone – especially for someone we long to see – they are, in a way, very present. Everything is prepared. If we are more devotionally inclined we can allow ourselves to long for the Buddha to appear: Constantly, constantly I recollect the Buddha, and constantly I long for a sight of him. And always constantly I make a resolve to see the Buddha sun. I am consumed with longing To see the Buddha. I long to see him. Out of mercy and compassion, show yourself to me. Sutra of Golden Light And then we are responsive to what is actually happening in our experience, our own intuitive and imaginative response. We allow what is unfolding to unfold, without inhibiting it in any way – not looking for what should be happening. Not being inhibited by literalism, or ‘getting it right’ – or at least being aware that might be happening, and relaxing, letting go of any obstacles. So we are allowing ourselves to be as open and as present as possible. We need to be present for the Buddha to be present to us. We need to listen, perhaps the Buddha will speak to us, in some way. So how does the Buddha appear to us, in our own experience? There will be an image in the broadest sense – a felt presence, without any formal structure, not created, manufactured or borrowed. This is not necessarily visual. Bhante has said recently that the sense of presence is thebuddhistcentre.com: triratna writing
important, that this sense of presence is to be cultivated in whatever way possible. The Buddha will appear, of course, in dependence on all the ways we have connected with him before, but we are allowing something new to come into being, a response within us to something beyond us. When I lived in Tiratanaloka and was on Mythic Context retreats leading the Going for Refuge and Prostration Practice of Shakyamuni Buddha, I became aware of how literal I and others could be. How that rich visualisation could become a dead, alienated, sort of ‘painting-by-numbers’ experience. Seen by the eye of flesh up in the head as it were, rather than by the eye of Faith, in the heart. So I developed on the basis of body awareness, what I called a ‘blue sky meditation’: a longer space of being in and with the blue sky – that open dimension of being, for which the blue sky is a metaphor. That sense of a blue sky mind: free, spontaneous, receptive, relaxed, expansive creative. And then encouraging people to allow the visualisation to emerge from that inner space. I also do this on the Sadhana retreats that Parami and I co-lead at Taraloka – creating an open space in which the Buddha or Bodhisattva can appear. On the most recent retreat I also emphasised waiting, a positive experience of waiting, for something to emerge. This had a big effect on many people’s meditation practice. They could see more clearly how they willed things when they didn’t need to. So this approach to how we image the Buddha is very important.
doing nothing At the College meeting last Autumn when the paper7 was new, lots of College members asked Bhante how they could enter or dwell in the Imaginal realm more easily. And he said: you need to do nothing, you need to have lots of space. So this is also part of our preparation. Ratnaguna also encourages us to do nothing as preparation for reflection – I quote him because I think it is such a valuable teaching, and not that easy to find time to do!8 We need to feel that we have all the time in the world because deeper understanding happens in its own time. How will the Buddha – the deepest understanding and experience par excellence – enter into our minds and hearts if we are so busy? We need to have a sense of timelessness – the Buddha who we are inviting into our hearts is beyond time. We enter the timeless realm when we stop trying to meet deadlines, targets, results – or even, paradoxically, get the result of seeing the Buddha; when we can just sit and wait, be open – so spacious, unhurried, timeless.
transition We need to make that transition into the world of imagination – where we are present enough to feel the presence of the Buddha. That presence is two-way: we can set up the conditions, we can do the best we can, and sometimes that shift occurs, a gift, where suddenly we are in that magic internal
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Re-imagining the Buddha by Dharmachari Subhuti: http://tinyurl.com/18r
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See Dharmachari Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection, Windhorse Publications, 2010: http://tinyurl.com/4e7wcuy
Listen to Ratnaguna speaking on The Art of Reflection: http://tinyurl.com/3daawgf
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space, and where everything suddenly feels more real, more vivid, than so-called waking life. Again, we all experience this shift as our meditation goes deeper, or as we relax into a retreat. For me its an experience of ‘dropping down’, being more present, feeling as though everything has come together more, and that the inner world begins to have a life of its own, as things unfold in their own way. The unexpected can happen, something new can emerge. Then we need to be aware that that is happening, and allow the experience, however it manifests, to stabilise so we can continue to contemplate and be with what is happening. This is a subtle way of working. The experience itself will communicate something to us, some meaning, some resonance, some teaching, perhaps, that is embodied in the image itself. So as the inner vision unfolds, we can contemplate what is unfolding, without fixing it. Interestingly enough I discovered some time ago that the word translated from the Tibetan as ‘visualisation’ is mikpa – if that is how you pronounce it – which means: ‘to contemplate’, ‘to focus and meditate upon’ (not necessarily to see, though that might be part of the experience for some). In his book on reflection, Ratnaguna talks about the word ‘contemplation’ as distinct from more discursive reflection – looking at its Latin roots – and says much the same thing. He says it means: to look at with continued attention, to gaze upon, observe, and comes from the Latin contemplare, which his Oxford Universal Dictionary tells him is an ‘open place for observation marked out by the augur, the soothsayer, diviner or prophet’. So he goes on to say: We need to metaphorically open up a space in our minds, a space free from words and thoughts, and we try to dwell in that space so that we can simply gaze upon, and observe, free from commentary. Ratnaguna, The Art of Reflection There are implications of a sacred and ritual space into which we can invite the Buddha – invoke and evoke him. I had a recent experience of this on a silent meditation retreat, doing some Buddhanusati based on the Buddha Vandana, and some Tara practice, as well as a lot of metta bhavana and mindfulness of breathing. I had been mulling over the connection between Tara and the Buddha, wondering how that connection felt for me? I had some sense of a connection from one of the Tara visualisations that I engage in, where at the beginning of the practice lights go out from the seed syllable in the heart and one imagines the whole universe filled with Buddhas who then become Green Tara and send blessing lights back into the heart centre. Anyway I was meditating, and then that shift happened – the imaginative experience began to spontaneously unfold. Interestingly enough, before this happened in a previous meditation I had found myself caught up on an ‘inner court room’ drama, giving vent to some righteous indignation about some event that had happened before the retreat, which I eventually became aware of and let go (though I also reflected why it had arisen again). In the next meditation, I just sat down, heard the rain on the roof and felt very strong grief in my heart – which I stayed with, and which felt much more real and something to be in touch with than the court room drama scenario. thebuddhistcentre.com: triratna writing
So then in the following meditation, that shift into a more imaginal space happened, and I found myself kneeling at the top of a grassy mound, by a curved edge. And under the lip of the curve there were embedded beautiful puja bowls surrounded by offerings. Also the grass was very vivid and the blades of grass interspersed with tiny flowers. So I was looking down and beginning to make offerings myself – first of flowers, and then lights, then incense – then I realised that this curved edge was just a very small part of a huge circle, and in that circle was a tremendous presence. The circle was the seat, as it were, though there was no lotus. There was no form at all, but there was something, because it wasn’t just empty sky. That presence seemed to be both the Buddha and Tara, to have both of their qualities, yet without form. It wasn’t even particularly that there was light – it’s so hard to explain – but there was a vast presence and I knew I couldn’t look up. I stayed with my head bowed, feeling enormous awe and devotion. This was all felt, seen, imaged – no words. It is hard to look on the face of the living god. As I emerged from this experience I had a memory of a book that I loved as a child and as an adult – The Wind in the Willows 9 by Kenneth Grahame, and the chapter, ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’10. Some of you will know the story well. For those of you who don’t, the characters are animals and this chapter particularly involves Rat (who lives in the river bank) and mole, who are friends. They set out in Rat’s boat one night looking for a lost baby otter – on a quest of kindness – and row up stream as the moon rises. Just before dawn, Rat begins to hear music, or a song, that causes him to be entranced and silent for a long space – spellbound. Row on Mole, row for the music and call must be for us. As they row the music becomes clearer to Rat – and finally Mole breathless and transfixed stopped rowing as the liquid run of that glad piping broke on him like a wave, caught him up and possessed him utterly. And Mole rows on: Never had they noticed the roses so vivid, the willow herb so riotous the meadow sweet so odorous and pervading. And eventually they come to a small island – fringed with willow, silver birch and alder – in that magical time just before dawn. They moor the boat and make there way through the undergrowth: this is the place of my song dream, the place the music played to me, says Rat. Then suddenly Mole felt a great Awe fall upon him – that turned his muscles to water, bowed his head and rooted his feet to the ground. it was no panic terror, indeed he was wonderfully at peace and happy, but it was an awe that smote and held him and without seeing. He knew it could only mean that some august Presence was very very near. There was utter silence as the light grew and grew. I sort of half remembered the story, though not the details (I looked it up later). I remembered that sense of presence and awe. 9
For a free version, see: http://goo.gl/AgQBE
10
Chapter 7, see: http://goo.gl/E9RPo
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Mole does look up and sees the great god Pan – with the lost baby otter nestling at his feet. The two animals bowed their heads and did worship. Sudden and magnificent the suns broad golden rim showed itself over the horizon, facing them, dazzling them. When they were able to look once more, the vision had vanished and the air was full of the carol of birds that hailed the dawn. So you might be thinking, poor Dhammadinna, quite barmy! But this is what came to mind, a remembered story, about being in an august presence, the magic, the mystery, the awe – and the losing of the vision as in waking from a dream. But the effect remains. And there is a connection between a quite deep experience and something from my own culture that I love. Not great literature perhaps, but we have to start somewhere! Maybe Rat and Mole are part of a modern Jataka tale. They are, after all, engaged in an act of kindness as they search for the lost baby otter – and they set out on their adventure, brave and heroic. So I am going to conclude there, I have tried to encourage you to allow your irrational wisdom to alight on stories, legends, qualities, images, symbols of the Buddha that speak to you, that are symbols for you; and then to set up the conditions, spaciousness, timelessness, openness, faith, confidence and devotion, and waiting, that allow the Buddha to manifest in your own imagination. To contemplate the image and presence of the Buddha and allow him to communicate with you. Constantly, constantly I recollect the Buddha, And constantly I long for a sight of him. And always constantly I make a resolve to see the Buddha sun. I am consumed with longing To see the Buddha. I long to see him. Out of mercy and compassion, Show yourself to me.
Talk given to the Triratna Buddhist Order Convention, Wymondham, UK, August 2011. Watch this talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZiqoW_XMbU ©Dhammadinna, 2011
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