Demons for Every Occasion

This talk was given at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, Padmasambhava Day , September 15th 2013

There is a lot of conflict in the world, whether at the level of nations going to war, or civil wars, or terrorism or gang warfare in cities and towns or even neighbours quarrelling. There has always been conflict among human beings; competition for resources, competition for sexual partners, struggles for power. There is conflict between humans, external conflict, and there is conflict within each person, internal conflict. The external conflict is not total however. It is restricted, restrained. There is civilisation, co-operation and helpfulness too and on the individual level there also exists contentment and happiness. There is conflict in the world and in individual people because of greed, hatred, ignorance and fear. There is co-operation and contentment in the world and in individuals because there is spiritual aspiration and a sense of moral values.

When we embark on the spiritual path we can find ourselves in conflict with our own immediate world. Family and friends may think we are becoming strange, taking a wrong path, joining a cult. We also experience internal conflict; our nascent spiritual aspirations come into conflict with our lower nature. We want to love but we discover ourselves hating. We want to be generous but we experience greed. We aspire to courage and boldness but we experience fear and insecurity.

I experienced this very strongly myself for the first four or five years of my involvement with the Triratna Community. I had a very strong aspiration to change, to become a bodhisattva, to help others, even to contribute to solving the problems of conflict in the world. But I discovered aspects of myself were petty, angry, frightened and altogether childish. I went through periods of mental and emotional anguish; intense fear, depression, self hatred, blaming others and all the time the spiritual aspiration was there. I was a mess, a conflicted and unhappy mess.

In a passage in his book , A Record of Awakening, David Smith describes a period of internal conflict that he suffered: "The mind broke into two halves: one half, totally possessed by Mara, had nothing but hatred and contempt for me and my hypocrisy and impure practice; the other half tried to reason, defend, and contain this onslaught. Mara didn't let up. He tried with all his might and cunning to get me to let loose the tremendous power that consumed my whole being, battling the whole time with the part of me that brought forth insight, the part that say's 'Don't react, just accept'. The intensity just never let up. It really did take all of my years of experience to keep myself contained. I could easily have fallen into the delusion that this creature came from outside of me, for it was quite happy to finish my life, but I never once saw it like that. The battle was always seen as a product of my own deluded mind. I felt cut open. With all these terrible thoughts coming up from the great depths of the subconscious I felt very vulnerable and near to despair." (David Smith, A Record of Awakening, p.51) It seems that for many people the path to Insight is paved with the crazy and cracked paving of internal conflict.

In the Lalitavistara there is a description of the lead up to the Buddha's Enlightenment. Mara's armies, Mara's daughters and Mara himself appear and create as much disruption as possible. These are personifications of the forces of hatred, craving and ignorance and these are what constitute ego. When we talk about our ego, it can sometimes get a bit abstract, as if we were talking about a thing, something within us that makes us behave selfishly or angrily. There is no ego, there is no such thing. There is just spiritual ignorance, craving and ill will and these are not things either. These are tendencies of our minds, they are activities of our minds, our speech and our bodies. They are movements of energy. We are energy and that energy flows through our thoughts, our emotions and our actions. Our thoughts and emotions and actions are a flow of energy and that flow of energy is what we are. The spiritual life is all about giving a positive, helpful, cooperative, compassionate, wise direction to that flow of energy. We are able to do that because we have self awareness and aspiration towards higher values. Awareness and spiritual aspiration are also energy; energy in pursuit of the good or what we call virya. Padmasambhava, the great Guru, personifies virya.

Padmasambhava, as far as we know, was an historical character, living in the eighth century. But more importantly he has become associated with a very rich symbolism and it is a symbolism that deals very much with the conflict that arises in spiritual life. Symbolism, images and myths are all crucial to understanding and practising in a spiritual context. Spiritual practice needs to address, to move, very deep subconscious energies and these energies cannot be encapsulated in concepts, ideas and lists. The deeper energies manifest in dreams, in images, in visions, in mythic forms and in the language and forms of symbolism and metaphor.

In my own experience, during the period when I experienced a great deal of conflict; my dreams were a key part of coming to a greater understanding and awareness of what was happening. And as the conflict subsided new images emerged in meditation, more peaceful and expansive imagery. At one point I could even see quite clearly that it was as if I were two people who looked different and had differing thoughts. They gradually came into dialogue and an understanding of their mutual dependence. This is just like a mythological story of conflict and resolution.

In the David Smith example he sees the forces of destruction as Mara and then he also personifies the Dharma. He says: "I have always had a wonderful relationship and rapport with the Dharma itself. I would talk to it, pray to it, and sometimes even curse it when I didn't get my own way. I always felt protected by it as it guided me so skilfully through each new situation and experience along the Path. I always trusted that each new twist in my life, however unexpected, would work out okay, and so it always proved to be. Now I needed help like never before. I opened myself to the Dharma, bowed, and asked for help, it came. It came in the form of the 'inner voice'. the link between me and the Buddha." (David Smith, A Record of Awakening, p.52)

He evokes the image of a guiding voice, that helps him along the way and from conflict to peace. In the case of the Buddha, Mara's armies are hideous and violent and turbulent, Mara's daughters are seductive and insinuating and Mara is tempting and undermining. They are all highly symbolic of the powerful forces, the powerful energies aroused by spiritual practice. Then resolution comes with the arising of the Earth goddess, Brahmasahampati and Mucalinda; even more powerful energies, but this time peaceful, cooperative and helpful. These powerful energies are aroused by spiritual practice. Both negative and positive, destructive and constructive, reactive and creative: these energies play a huge part in the symbolism and myth of Padmasambhava.

There are three major schools in Tibetan Buddhism and these three schools grew out of the particular emphasis in the teachings of three great Gurus. These three founders were very different and are depicted very differently. Tsong Khapa, who founded the Gelug School, is in the dress of a scholar and appears with books, symbols of wisdom. Milarepa, founder of the Kagyu school, is a naked Yogi, deep in meditation and singing of the bliss of shunyata and Padmasambhava, founder of the Nyingma school, is richly dressed in different coloured robes and carries a trident, a vajra, a bell and has many special symbolic additions to his dress. Broadly speaking the emphasis of the three schools is respectively on wisdom, meditation and action.

Padmasambhava is the 'action man', concerned with accessing and transforming the deep energies of the human psyche. Padmasambhava is concerned with radical transformation. Buddhism from the beginning was concerned with bringing about radical transformation in the individual human being. The Buddha seemed to have the effect on people of transforming them. This can be seen in a passage from the Pali Canon that gets repeated many times. Here is an example: " Then the brahman, trembling with his hair standing on end, went up to the Blessed One, and fell with his head at his feet and said this to the Blessed One: ' Wonderful, Venerable Gotama, wonderful, venerable Gotama. just as, venerable Gotama, one might set upright what has been overturned, or uncover what has been covered,or point out the way to one who had gone astray, or bring an oil lamp into the darkness, so that those with eyes might see shapes, in the same way the doctrine has been declared by the venerable Gotama in manifold ways." (K.R. Norman, The Rhinoceros Horn (Sutta Nipata), p. 13) This is a strong image of someone being radically transformed. Shaken to his roots, trembling, hair standing on end. To set upright what has been overturned is an image of complete change of direction and this is the affect the Buddha could have on people.

In later Mahayana Buddhism this experience is spoken of as the parivritta, the 'turning about', which happens in the Alaya Vijnana, the 'storehouse consciousness'. It means that all our volitional thoughts and words and deeds, our kusala karma and our akusala karma, are all deposited, so to speak, in the storehouse consciousness. Or to put it more simply: what we are now is the result of what we have been and what we have done. If what we have done is skilful, then the build up of skilful karma eventually pushes out the effects of any previous unskilful karma. When that happens, what is experienced is the 'turning about' (parivritta) in the Alaya Vijnana, which Suzuki translates as 'the deepest seat of consciousness'. The Yogachara is concerned to bring about this 'turning about in the deepest seat of consciousness'. Ordinary consciousness, mundane consciousness is transformed into the wisdoms of the five Buddhas. This is also what the Vajra symbolises; this transformation of the poisons of ordinary consciousness into the ambrosia of the five wisdoms. When Padmasambhava wields the Vajra he is holding reality and he is wielding the energy that arises when consciousness is integrated and transmuted.

Padmasambhava went to the cremation ground to meditate. He sat on dried human bones. He encountered his deepest fears and all the powerful forces of the subconscious mind. As 'The Life and Liberation' puts it: “There to be seen countless dakinis. Some of them have eyes that dart out sun rays, others give rise to thunderclaps and ride water buffaloes. Others hold sabres and have eyes which inflict harm. Others wear death's heads, one above the other, and ride tigers. Others wear corpses and ride lions. Others eat entrails and ride garudas (great winged birds). Others have flaming lances and ride jackals. Others, five-faced, are steeped in a lake of blood. Others in the numberless bands carry many generations of living beings. Others carry in their hands, their own heads, which they have severed. Others carry in their hands their own hearts which they have torn out. There are others who have made gaping wounds in their own bodies and who empty out and devour their own intestines and entrails." (Quoted in Sangharakshita talk, Padmasambhava Day 1979, see www.freebuddhistaudio.com/texts/read?num=151&at=text&q=padmasambhava&p=3)

The Dakinis are primordial energies of the mind which have to be integrated into the conscious mind. Natural forces that have to be transformed, even tamed, so that they are supporting spiritual practice, just as the animals support the lotus thrones of the five Buddhas. They are not energies or forces that should be crushed or cast out in the night, because without them our spiritual practice would be anaemic, bloodless, dull, stagnant. When these energies are integrated, transformed, our spiritual practice takes flight – there is energy, there is direction, there is courage, there is joy and abundance. The Dakinis dance naked through the sky, uninhibited by egotistic boundaries and anxieties, abandoned to the great play of the Bodhisattva's compassionate activity.

But how are the energies integrated? How do the Dakinis become friends and protectors, instead of disruptive forces of nature? First of all we have to meet the Dakinis. Padmasambhava meets the Dakinis by meditating in cremation grounds. Cremation grounds were terrible places for ordinary people: inhabited by ghosts and ghouls and everything fearful,especially at night and especially when you're alone. You meet the Dakinis in the places, or perhaps better to say, on the occasions when you are alone with the things that cause you fear and anxiety. When your sense of insecurity is at its greatest, especially when you have no choice but to go through with whatever it is you fear. When you can't back out, when you have to face your fear, then this tremendous energy is released and you find you can do things you were convinced you couldn't do. For some people simply being alone is enough, for instance, on solitary retreat. Somebody told me recently that they had spent the two weeks of their solitary retreat working with fear. That is what sitting in the cremation ground means.

For others the cremation ground, what Bhante Sangharakshita calls 'the crucial situation', might be giving a talk or presentation, or travelling alone in a country whose language you don't speak, or doing something your parents or family disapprove of (for example, going on retreat at Christmas), speaking up even though you know you will be criticised, or showing your artwork publicly or singing a solo. It is almost any situation in which you fear failure or humiliation. There are more crucial situations than there are people and it's in these crucial situations, in these cremation grounds, that we encounter the Dakinis; these energies, these primordial forces, that can paralyse us with fear or that can lift us to heights we never thought possible. The Dakinis live on the other side of the wall erected by our fears and anxieties and insecurities. And as the Dakini energies are integrated we find great confidence and the free flow of energy.

Later in the career of Padmasambhava he is invited to Tibet by King Trisong Detsun, who wants to re-establish the Dharma there. The great scholar saint Shantarakshita had already been to Tibet to teach the Dharma but his efforts were opposed by the local gods and demons. Why did the local gods and demons oppose Shantarakshita? What did he do to upset them? It seems that what he did was ignore them. He didn't even notice them, he was unaware of their existence. But who or what were the gods and demons of Tibet? And what if anything is their relevance to us? The gods and demons are the non-rational forces at work in each individual and in society as a whole.

Shantarakshita went to Tibet and set to work laying out the principles of the Dharma. He taught the ten precepts, he taught the eighteen elements of the perceptual situation, he taught the twelve nidanas. He systematically taught Buddhist ethics, philosophy and metaphysics. When asked by the king, what is your doctrine? He replied straightforwardly "my doctrine is to follow whatever is proved correct after examining it by reason and to avoid all that does not agree with reason." His approach was quite rational, almost scientific. It has a logic to it. But he didn't teach meditation, he didn't introduce ritual. He ignored the deeper forces at work; the non-rational, emotional energies that constantly bubble away beneath the surface of the rational and the well mannered.

Padmasambhava, having passed through the cremation grounds and danced with the Dakinis, had a different approach. He was very aware of the local gods and demons and set about subduing them so that they would become protectors of the Dharma, rather than opponents. In this Padmasambhava is successful and then Shantarakshita can return to Tibet and together they work to build Samye monastery and to establish Buddhism in Tibet. The rational and non-rational approaches work together in harmony and gradually out of their efforts a spiritual community is founded. In our own situation we too have to appeal to both the rational and non-rational aspects of ourselves and others.

Rationally, we understand the precepts and we aspire to be good people and good Buddhists. We know the importance of mindfulness and Metta. We know the importance of regular meditation, of retreats, of spiritual friendship. We know a lot of things. We know what the best conditions for spiritual practice are. We know so much and we know it very thoroughly. We study it, we discuss it, we explore it, we reflect on it. And in spite of all that we continue to be unmindful, to harbour ill will, to distract ourselves with all sorts of rubbish, to miss meditation, to neglect friendships and to deliberately put ourselves in conditions that are not conducive to spiritual practice. We continue to crave satisfaction from all the wrong things, we continue to be deluded.

It's as if there are gremlins in the works! We know what's right and perversely we do the opposite. Our demons are at work, Mara is playing with us or to put it more conceptually, we have not yet found “emotional equivalents for our intellectual understandings” (Sangharakshita, Vision and Transformation,1990, p.36). That is how Bhante Sangharakshita puts it and all our spiritual practice is to help us find these emotional equivalents. Our responses to Puja and to symbolism, story, myth and metaphor all play a part in gradually transforming our intransigent Mara nature into a heartfelt faith and energy that enables us to follow our spiritual aspirations without great conflict and distraction.

But in order to find this level of emotional integrity and wholeness, we have to be willing to fearlessly face our demons. We need to get to know our little demons and acknowledge them as ours. We need to be aware of and recognise and acknowledge our own craving and ill will and fear and insecurity and ignorance. We need to be able to accept our imperfect state, our perversity. To put it simply we need to own our mental states and moods as our own and not blame others or situations for our state of mind. The shops with all their wonderful array of baubles might be designed to give rise to craving, but the craving is ours and we need to take responsibility for it. Our craving for gadgets is not engendered by Apple or Samsung, they just tap into what is already there. It's not Next or John Lewis or Zara that cause craving, they just use it. It's not our colleagues at work or other road users that cause our ill will and anger, they just provide opportunities for it. We need to learn to see our demons, get to know them thoroughly and through that awareness we will begin to transform them. Of course, in order to be able to look the demons in the eye and acknowledge them as ours we need to love ourselves, demons and all.

Because human beings are unawakened and subject to craving and hatred. Because this is what unenlightened consciousness is like, it follows that human societies are pervaded and permeated by these demons too. And because we are dealing with deep irrational energies not under the control of reason it follows that all human societies will be affected by undercurrents of greed and hatred and delusion. From time to time these undercurrents will burst out in explosions of energy that shakes society to the core. This is war, this is economic melt down, this is religious fanaticism, this is mass hysteria and delusion. I want to look at just one of these external demons, demons of our society, one many-headed monster.

In the story of Padmasambhava, he encounters a monstrous character who is known as Black Salvation and also as Matarangara, which means 'the one who devours his mother'. The depiction of Black Salvation is a description of everything that is repulsive and revolting and monstrous and it is a symbolic way of saying that Samsara is repulsive and monstrous. It is a way of saying that what we have to overcome on the way to spiritual awakening is something that has tremendous power and energy and fills our world, a huge monstrous presence. Listen to the talk given on Padmasambhava Day 1979 to hear Bhante reading out the description of Black Salvation. (www.freebuddhistaudio.com/audio/details?num=151)

For our society, for us, I think the great monster is what is known as consumerism, or progress through consumer led growth. Why is consumerism monstrous, a Matarangara, one who devours his mother, a Black Salvation? Our whole world is based on a view, a philosophy even, and this view manifests as an accepted way of life and this accepted view and accepted way of life exerts a powerful influence on all of us. It is all around us, it pervades and permeates our world. It is so ever present that we cannot see its influence sometimes. It reaches into the depths of our emotional and subconscious life. For many people, for the vast majority of people, this view, this philosophy is so self evidently true that it's not possible to conceive of another view or another way of being.

The view, put very simply, is that happiness and fulfilment are a product of economic well-being. Your security, you contentment, is dependent on the possession of a sufficient amount of money and goods. And as our irrational minds engage with this view, our natural craving assumes that greater happiness and fulfilment is achieved by a steady accumulation of money and possessions. Also an offshoot of this view, is the view that choice is a supreme good and having choice is the equivalent of freedom and the more choice we have, the more freedom we have. Another head of this many headed monster says everything is something to be purchased and appropriated, whether it's a smart phone, an overcoat, a car or meditation, yoga and Buddhism. It's all something we can accumulate and possess. Individualism is also part of the logic of consumerism. Individualism leads us to consider ourselves as somehow separate from and unconnected to others. Consumerism also encourages narcissism; the tendency to see everything in terms of how it affects me and the self-centredness and vanity that goes with that.

In a culture of consumerism we are consumers before we are anything else. Before we are citizens or family members or adherents of a religious doctrine. Above all of that we are consumers, that is our identity and if we refuse that identity we will find ourselves pitted against the many headed hydra of consumerism. In Greek mythology when one of the heads of the monster Hydra is cut off, two more grow in its place.

That would suggest that in encountering the many headed demon of consumerism we need a more subtle and intelligent approach. Cutting off heads that regrow doubly is no solution. In the work of overcoming the demons of the mind and the demons of the marketplace, we need intelligence and awareness, alertness and love. Intelligence shows us how to be skilful how to create the conditions that give us the most advantageous position. If you want to grow flowers, you have to plant flower seeds and tend them. If you want to grow wisdom and compassion you have to plant the seeds of wisdom and compassion and tend them. Awareness helps us to see the demons around us and within us. The light of that awareness starts to transform the demons and love or Metta is the context in which the whole drama can play out to a satisfactory conclusion.

If we are not to be swamped by the consumerist culture that surrounds us and forms the ideological basis for our whole society; affecting our relationships with each other and with our environment, our conception of freedom, progress, happiness, success and so on; then we need to be alert, we need to be aware of how the influence of consumerism is being exerted on us continuously. We need to be aware what that influence leads us to experience, to feel and to do. We need to see and acknowledge the ways in which we are deeply affected by consumerist attitudes and assumptions. Denying that we are influenced in this way may hold us back, unless we really are above it all on a different level of consciousness. As always in the spiritual life it is essential that we are honest with ourselves. We need then to find intelligent ways of gently diluting those attitudes and assumptions and leading ourselves in a more positive, expansive and compassionate direction. Skilfulness of all kinds is the way to tend the seeds of awakening and compassion. And the context of kindness or Metta is supremely important because it helps us not to polarise with all the aspects of ourselves and our society that are symbolised by the demons.

Padmasambhava does not destroy the demons and gods of Tibet, he subdues them and transforms them into protectors of the Dharma. He does not destroy the deep irrational forces of the subconscious, he transforms them into allies. Our task is not to destroy the deep irrational forces of our nature or of our society, it is to transform them.

It is interesting to note that in Western mythology the monster is usually killed – St George kills the Dragon, Hercules slays the Hydra, Beowulf kills the monster Grendel and his mother, in the film of Jaws the hero Brody kills the shark, and so on through science fiction, westerns and warfare: the monster is killed. I can't think of a Western myth in which the monster is subdued and changes sides – unless Beauty and the Beast is interpreted in that way. Perhaps this may show how Buddhism is very different to the underlying currents of Western culture, which are cast in the much more polarised form of good versus evil, God versus Satan, rationalism versus the irrational, hero versus villain and so on. It would be interesting for someone to do more research on this. The underlying current of Buddhism is that no one is beyond redemption, all have the potential to awaken. This is seen in how the Buddha never tries to destroy Mara. It is seen in the conversion of Mara's daughters in the Vimalakirti Nirdesa and it is seen in the subduing of the demons and gods of Tibet by Padmasambhava and in all the symbolism associated with Padmasambhava.

Padmasambhava is a figure of great optimism and joy. He is the one who shows that no dark forces of the mind or the world are irredeemable. He is the one who shows that if we face our fears and insecurities, if we face our greed and ill will, if we face our ignorance and delusions and acknowledge them as our own, we can become free from them and experience the liberation of the sky dancers, the uninhibited freedom of Dakini consciousness.

Padmasambhava comes to us via Bhante Sangharakshita. Bhante's first encounter with Padmasambhava was in a Tibetan Gompa or Temple in Darjeeling. He writes about it in his memoirs, the volume entitled Facing Mount Kanchenjunga : "I had never seen an image of Padsambhava before, perhaps not even a painting. As I entered the temple, all the greater was the shock, therefore, when I saw in front of me, three or four times larger than life, the mighty sedent figure of the semi-legendary founder and inspirer of the Nyingmapa tradition, a skull cup in his left hand, a staff topped with skulls in the crook of his left arm, and the celebrated 'wrathful smile' on his moustached face. All this I took in instantly, together with the 'lotus hat', the richly embroidered robes, and the much smaller flanking figures of his two consorts, one Tibetan and one Nepalese. Having taken it in, I felt that it had always been there, and that in seeing the figure of Padmasambhava I had become conscious of a spiritual presence that had in fact been with me all the time. Though I had never seen the figure of Padmasambhava before, it was familiar to me in a way that no other figure on earth was familiar: familiar and fascinating. It was familiar as my own self, yet at the same time infinitely mysterious, wonderful, and inspiring. Familiar, mysterious, wonderful, and inspiring it was to remain. Indeed, from then on the figure of the Precious Guru, - Guru Rimpoche, - was to occupy a permanent place in my inner spiritual world, even as it played a prominent part in the spiritual life and imagination of the entire Himalayan region." (Complete Works, Vol.21,p.93)

Later Jamyang Khyentse Rimpoche asked Kachu Rimpoche to give Bhante the initiation into the Padmasambhava Sadhana. The ceremony took place in Bhante's Vihara in Kalimpong and lasted two days. Padmasambhava has been a huge influence in Bhante's spiritual life. And being a big influence in Bhante's life, Padmasambhava has come to be a tremendous influence in the life of the Triratna Order and Community. The teachings about the cremation grounds, subduing demons, and other elements of Tantric practice have been translated by Bhante into forms that are useful and effective for us in leading our spiritual lives and it is just for us to open ourselves to their message. It is up to us to face our demons, to recognise our cremation grounds, to free our energy for the radical transformation that comes about if we allow Padmasambhava, and all that he symbolises, to touch our lives.

Spiritual Friendship and Ethics

This talk was given in the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, March 2013 

This year it is thirty years since I became a Buddhist. In August of 1983 I was in West Berlin, as it was then called. I had been there for over two years and I was about to leave. Just a week before I left I went to visit the Buddhist Temple in Frohnau, in the suburbs of Berlin. I had been there before to use the library and enjoy the gardens, but this was the first time that one of the resident monks approached me and spoke to me. He asked me whether I meditated and I told him that I chanted a mantra, which I had learned from a book. He sat down and taught me the Metta Bhavana and talked to me about the five precepts. This conversation had a huge impact on me and by the end of it I was a Buddhist and I have been ever since. The monk was from Sri Lanka and his name was Maha Dhammanisanthi. He asked me to send him a photo of myself so that he could include me in his Metta Bhavana practice. I did send him a photo. When I visited Berlin again seven years later he had left and gone back to Sri Lanka, and I never saw him again. But I am very grateful to him and I regard him as my first Kalyana Mitra. Eight or nine months later I got involved with the Triratna Buddhist Community . This was as a result of reading a book by Subhuti called Buddhism for today. When I read this book I knew immediately I wanted to get involved with Triratna.

The first Order Member I met when I got involved with Triratna was Danavira. He helped me in many practical ways including with housing and looked after me extremely well. He was a real exemplar of generosity. Then I met Atula who was very at home in the world of dreams, emotions and psychology and who helped me open up emotionally and cope with distress. When I started working at the London Buddhist Centre I was working with a man called Colin Lavender who later became Sumangala. He was a very close friend of mine for many many years. There are many others over the years who have helped me enormously just by being there to listen and by befriending me. There were Satyabandhu, Vimalabandhu, Maitreyabandhu. Now there are many people that I am a spiritual friend (Kalyana Mitra) to and people who want me to be their preceptor. I hope I can give them some of what I have received from others over the last thirty years.

Spiritual friendship is one of the main gifts I have received from involvement in the Triratna Community and Order and it is a gift, whether receiving or giving. I experienced the very idea of spiritual friendship and the practice as gifts from Bhante Sangharakshita and therefore he too has been a Kalyana Mitra to me over the last thirty years. Looking back like this and remembering all those friendships and connections which are woven into the tapestry of my life and considering all the friendships and connections I am involved with in my life just now, and also reflecting on all the friendships and connections that I will encounter in the future, I feel very rich. This is where the wealth of my life is; not in property, not in bank accounts, but in friendships and relationships. It is other people who give my life a sense of richness and abundance.

Also when I look at all these relationships I have a sense of the flow of spiritual friendship from Bhante to people like Subhuti, Atula, and Danavira and from them to me and from me to others and from those others to more and more people and so on. A giant river of Kalyana Mitrata flowing on and on down the generations. Or to change the image: it's a huge matrix of connections stretching over space and time, encompassing the lives of more and more people. And what it is all about is people communicating with other people and what is being communicated is the experience and understanding of the Dharma. The Dharma, the message of the Buddha, is being passed on through relationships of one kind or another. The Dharma, is animated, is given life by being practised, and those who practice begin to embody the Dharma. It is this living, breathing Dharma that gets passed on through Kalyana Mitrata.

The Buddha was of course the original spiritual friend. After his Enlightenment he sought out people he could communicate with and when his communication had transformed the hearts and minds of his first sixty disciples or friends, he asked them to go off and communicate with others: "go now and wander for the welfare and happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of gods and men. Teach the law that is good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end, with the meaning and the letter. Explain a holy life that is utterly perfect and pure. There are creatures with little dust on their eyes will be lost through not hearing the law." (Nanamoli, Life of the Buddha, p.52)

In the Dhammapada he teaches the importance of association with the spiritually mature. He says: "

One should not associate with friends who are evildoers nor with persons who are despicable; associate with friends who are virtuous, associate with the best of men." (Verse 78, trans. Radhakrishnan) The words for 'friends who are virtuous' are mitte Kalyane.

Spiritual friendship is at the heart of Buddhism. In the beginning our practice is to be receptive to those who can guide us; later on our practice is to be mutually supportive with those on the path with us and later still our practice is to share our experience and knowledge of the Dharma with others. This is Buddhism in a nutshell: learn how to practice, practice, share your experience of practice with others, and this is all about spiritual friendship. Friendship based on common spiritual aspiration and a common spiritual practice. Spiritual practice does not mean meditation practice. Meditation is only a small part for most of us. In a 24 hour day we spend about seven hours asleep and perhaps one hour meditating. The other 12 hours are the really important part of the day for spiritual practice.

What then is spiritual practice? Perhaps we need first to answer the question - what do we mean by spiritual? Based on our understanding of what the spiritual is we will be able to understand better what spiritual practices and what spiritual friendship is and how they relate to each other and this in turn will help us to understand the relationship between spiritual friendship and ethics, which is of course the theme of this talk.

The spiritual in the Buddhist context is that which relates to states of consciousness which transcend our normal mundane mind experience. Our mundane experience is fundamentally flavoured by our ego identity. According to the Buddha this means that normal mundane consciousness is characterised by greed; which is a grasping after whatever will enhance our sense of self, possessions, people, comfort, security and so on. Normal mundane consciousness is also characterised by aversion; pushing away anything that appears to threaten our sense of self, people, events, demands, and so on. Normal mundane consciousness is also characterised by lack of wisdom about the true nature of reality even a wilful turning away from the fact of impermanence, the fact that actions have consequences, the fact of our own delusion.

Transcending this mundane mind means moving towards becoming generous, abundant, non-grasping, non-attached, instead of greedy and a grasping. It means becoming loving, kind, open and receptive, rather than averse and hateful. Transcending our mundane mind means becoming wise and fully accepting of the impermanence of our self and all things, and fully accepting of the need to change and grow and develop into a more mature and expansive human being.

The essence of practice is repetition. To practice is to repeat something again and again. Just as a musician or an athlete practises. Spiritual practice is the repeated activity of body, speech and mind which enables us to attain the spiritual. Spiritual practice is the repeated activity of body, speech and mind which enables us to transcend our egotism and grow into embodiments of compassion and wisdom.

Spiritual friendship is the friendship between people who are committed to and engaged in spiritual practice. The repeated activities which together make up a spiritual practice are: acts of giving, acts of kindness, words of kindness, truthful, helpful and harmonising words, and thoughts of kindness and generosity. All of this is in a context of a growing awareness. As our awareness grows our activities of body, speech and mind can become more sensitive to others and more subtle.

Awareness is developed through meditation in conjunction with and in interaction with other people who share our aspirations and practices. Meditation if it is isolated from the context of interaction with others who share our aspirations and practice, can in the worst case lead to greater delusion rather than a greater awareness. This is why spiritual friendship is so important, a spiritual friend in the form of a teacher or guide can help us to understand our own experience better and prevent us from interpretations that don't lead to spiritual growth. Spiritual friends who are on the same level of experience support us through difficult times and also help with the mutual exploration of experience. And spiritual friends who are less spiritually developed provide a context in which the truth of our spiritual insights are tested; are we really more aware, more honest and open, kinder and more generous than we were before? This is tested when we begin to share our experience with others.

The big test of our growing spiritual maturity is not whether we can focus on the tip of our nose for half an hour, it's not whether we have peak experiences of bliss when we meditate, it's not whether we can sit in meditation for ten hours a day. These things may all be very valuable and a great boost to our spiritual practice, but the real test, what is of real significance, is what happens in our interactions with other people . When our actions, words and mental states become more kusala, skilful, and others are able to experience that our actions, words and mental states are kusala – then we are truly making progress in the direction of higher states of consciousness. We are beginning to embody the spiritual and are becoming spiritual beings.

Ethics is the word we often use in place of kusala or sila or sikkhapada. Kusala means skilful. Sikkhapada is the training principle. Kusala is how a spiritual being behaves. Someone who has realised the true nature of reality, whether a Stream Entrant or a Buddha is kusala, skilful. What they do is kusala, what they say is kusala and what they think and feel is kusala. Kusala describes the world of a Buddha.

When we decide that we want to grow and develop and move in the direction of Buddhahood, we start by trying to make our actions kusala, our words kusala and our minds kusala. The most fundamental act that moves towards Buddhahood is the act of giving because it transcends self-centredness. Giving is the basis of kusala. In terms of words it is honesty that is most basic and in terms of thoughts and feelings it is Metta, loving kindness, which is most basic. The foundations of our spiritual life are giving, honesty and Metta and these are practised towards ourselves and towards others.

Spiritual friends are an essential ingredient in any life dedicated to spiritual practice and the attainment of Buddhahood. They are essential because we can learn from them. Without the Buddha there would be no Dharma, without Bhante Sangharakshita there would be no Triratna Community and Triratna Order, without the Triratna Order there would be no Cambridge Buddhist Centre, without the creation of the Cambridge Buddhist Centre you would not be listening to me here tonight. The flow of spiritual friendship from the Buddha down the generations has found expression in this event that is happening right now. Many, many people have led up to this moment.

A second reason why spiritual friends are essential to our spiritual practice is that it is only through communication that we can really gain self-awareness. By communication I mean confiding in others so that we are not burdened by secrets. I mean confessing our unskilfulness so that we are not burdened by a bad conscience. I mean giving expression to our experience and understandings so that we don't fall into false interpretations. I also mean listening, so that our awareness and sensitivity grows stronger

A third reason why spiritual friends are essential to our spiritual practice is that they are aware of us. We are trying to realise, to penetrate into the true nature of reality and we do this by reflecting on concepts such as impermanence or karma, by meditating, by engaging our imagination with the qualities and lives of the Buddha's, by training ourselves in ethics. All of these help us to see into reality. But other people have the unique quality of being able to return our awareness. What we are, who we are is more surely reflected back to us by others than by any concept, image for experience. We can control to some extent our reflections, experiences and interpretations but we cannot control another person's awareness. If we are open to it and willing to explore it in the spirit of the spiritual adventure, we can gain a huge amount from hearing and seeing and experiencing how other people respond to us. With close friends we can invite them to tell us how they experience us and then reflect on that as an aspect of reality. Spiritual friends are essential to spiritual practice because we learn from them, we can communicate with them and they are aware of us.

I first became a Buddhist through a brief encounter with a Buddhist monk and what impressed me most was not what he said to me, but the congruency between what he was saying and how he was living his life. It was the fact that he was actually putting into practice what he was talking about that really touched me and drew a deep response from me which has shaped my life ever since. That is the power of the person.

It was reading Subhuti's book Buddhism for Today, that got me involved with the Triratna Community. In this case it was the ideas, but it was also the fact that people were living out the ideas. I had no illusions at that time about idealistic people. I knew that people can be very idealistic and very nasty at the same time. That was my experience. But they were idealistic and trying to put their ideas into practice by creating Buddhist centres, communities and right livelihood businesses. I was deeply impressed by that and I still am. When I see the work being done here at the Buddhist Centre to provide these facilities these events, I am impressed and inspired. When I reflect on how many other people are doing selfless things in a similar way throughout the Triratna Community around the world, I am even more inspired and impressed.

When I got involved with the Triratna Community the first Order Member I met was Danavira and he was so kind to me. He found me a place to live in his small community and he looked out for me and befriended me. Through him I saw generosity in action and learned some of the fundamentals of spiritual life I also learned that I shouldn't take people for granted. I had a habit at that time of making decisions without telling anybody. I decided to ask to become a Mitra without telling Danavira even though I was living and working with him at that time. I think he found this bit strange, if not upsetting. I learned from that that friendship is not just something you can be a passive recipient of, you have to engage and reveal your thoughts and feelings. Not to do so was not kusala, not skilful. It was not being sensitive and taking into account another person's feelings .

Another friend I learned from early on was Atula. The main things I learned from Atula were, the importance of being aware of people, the importance of listening and not just with your ears, and the importance of being aware of your own emotions and motivations. Atula was another exemplar of kindness and generosity and I was a direct recipient of that. I found that being on the receiving end of kindness, help, generosity and friendship made me question my view of myself, which at that time was quite negative. Other people treated me better than I treated myself. Other people thought more highly of me than I thought of myself. Other people could see the good and the valuable in me that I couldn't see in myself. In this way other people contributed very directly and tangibly to the whole process of development. Atula was one of those people, perhaps the one who had the biggest impact on me. And for that I am extremely grateful.

I was learning from others, from what they said and from how they acted, they exemplified something for me and they also explained many things to me. This was kusala Karma. I was learning about what kusala means through experiencing it from others. Spiritual friendship conveyed ethics in the most direct way.

At the same time that I was learning from people who were more spiritually experienced than I was, I was also exploring and discussing things, practising alongside other friends who were at the same or similar level to me. Friends like Sumangala, Aryaguna, Satyabandhu, Vimalabandhu and many more. Being young men we no doubt sometimes competed with each other, but we were also very open and honest with each other and from that I learned that I shared a lot in common with others. My struggles were not unique to me, my idealism was not unique to me, my confusion was not unique to me. I found it immensely helpful to be able to share all of me with at least some other people and to know them deeply enough to see what was universal experience. I also learned from these friends that we all have different strengths and weaknesses and therefore can support each other. Although we all had struggles and confusions and doubts they were not the same struggles or the same confusions. One of us might struggle to understand and another might struggle with faith and yet another with concentration and through friendship we were able to help each other along the path and provide a context in which we could all explore what was kusala and what was not kusala, and confide and confess when we were clearly falling short or when we were just unsure.

After I was ordained in 1988, I increasingly found myself in the position where others were looking to me to explain and exemplify kusala. This is challenging and if you engage with it, it encourages you to become a bigger and a better person just to be able to give guidance to others. I trust that many friends have benefited from my explanations and my example. I trust it because it's what they have told me many times. But I have gained a great deal from these friends too, the people to whom I am a Kalyana Mitra and those I have ordained and those who have studied with me. They have inspired me and heartened me. Seeing them make progress on the spiritual path has been the source of profound joy to me and has enhanced my faith in the Buddha dharma. Friends like Priyavajra, Danapriya, Satyadasa and Maitrighosha , among many others, people I have seen growing and changing from their early tentative steps on the path to now, when they have become substantial guides and exemplars themselves. This is such a delight to see it is hard to explain. Perhaps it is similar to being a parent. Together with these friends I have also explored and continue to explore what is kusala and that keeps my own ethical sensitivity alive, keeps me on my toes so to speak.

And now there are others who have asked me to ordain them and before my eyes I see them growing and because of previous experience I have a good sense of what they can and will become. Friends like Dougie Fraser, Pedro Vidal, Pete Cox, all very different, but all sincerely energetically on the path and all thoroughly engaged with trying to practice and explore what is kusala. Encouraging and guiding these men is a big part of my spiritual practice and it's also a big inspiration and encouragement to me.

Traditionally the relationship between spiritual friendship and ethics is spoken about in terms of appatrapya (ottapa in Pali). Usually this is envisaged as what happens in spiritual friendship between someone who is more spiritually experienced and someone who is less spiritually experienced. Appatrapya is the emotion that arises for the less experienced person when they are unskilful and they bring to mind the person who is their guide and teacher. You could say it's a feeling of having let themselves down or of having let down their friend and guide. It is a pang of conscience that is heightened by the thought of the teacher or friend. Sometimes it's translated as 'shame', but I don't think that quite gets it. In my experience it's more like a sense of regret accompanied by a resolve to do better next time. It's a kind of strengthening emotion. It is building the muscles of kusala behaviour. The example of the teacher, of what's possible, assists that process.

So far in this talk I tried to clarify what spiritual friendship is and how it relates to spiritual practice and how that connects with ethics, kusala Karma. And I've used examples from my own life to try to describe the process of spiritual friendship giving rise to actions, words, and mental states which are kusala. I've also tried to make clear the fundamental importance to spiritual progress of actions words and thoughts which are kusala.

Before I finish I will just go into a little more detail, using the five precepts as a framework. The first precept is about refraining from harming living beings and put positively it is about engaging in acts of loving-kindness. The first recipient of your loving-kindness needs to be yourself. As the form of the Metta Bhavana indicates, loving-kindness overflows out to others. However sometimes it is easier and more practical to start by developing loving-kindness towards friends. Many people find it easier to get in touch with goodwill towards friends and then, as it were, treat themselves as a friend. Also by acting in ways that are kind and helpful, even when we are not experiencing the mental state of kindness, can cause kindness to arise. We tend to think that mental states are primary and our actions emerge from our thoughts and emotions. However, in our experience it can easily be seen that the opposite is also true. If we act as if we were experiencing kindness, love or generosity, the action will influence our minds and lead to states of mind that can then flow out into more acts of kindness and thus create a positive spiral of spiritual momentum. If we actively befriend people by being kind to them we will benefit from that in many ways.

The second precept is about not taking what is not freely given and more positively it is about giving. The connection between spiritual friendship and giving is clear. Spiritual friendship is all about giving; giving material things, giving help and assistance, giving encouragement, giving praise, giving criticism, giving our experience, talents and gifts. Generosity is almost always kusala. If it's not skilful, it probably doesn't deserve the name of generosity. Sometimes people may give money or property or time but without stating it they are expecting something in return. In their own mind that giving is part of a bargain. But this is not really giving: this is making a down payment or a deposit and expecting to earn interest or a reward. Friendship is not a transaction, it is not a bargain and it only really works well when you're not expecting or demanding a return. Paradoxically the less you want from friendship the more you can get and the more you want the less you get.

The third precept is about refraining from sexual misconduct and more positively it is about contentment. Sexual misconduct is about the whole sorry business whereby human beings use violence, coercion, emotional blackmail, exploitation and manipulative behaviour to satisfy sexual desire. Contentment is about dealing with the dissatisfactions that underlie our overemphasis on sexual relations. There are two levels to our fascination with sex. There is the level of the basic animal drive and much of civilisation is about bringing a measure of control and discipline to that. Every human society has its rules and norms to regulate this basic drive. The rules and norms can vary enormously, what is or is not acceptable can vary enormously. These rules of society are often tied in with questions of property ownership and peaceful relations between clans, tribes or nations. So that to breach the rules is not just a personal matter but something that affects the stability of the society.

The second level to our fascination with sex is more emotional and psychological. In order to have sex you have to be physically intimate with another person and this physical intimacy becomes a way into emotional intimacy. However physical intimacy is not emotional intimacy and all sorts of problems can arise when a society accepts and encourages the view that physical intimacy is emotional intimacy. Aligned with this is the view that there cannot really be emotional intimacy without physical intimacy. This is the view that has grown up in many societies over the last couple of hundred years. Sex has become, to some extent, divorced from questions of property and alliances and has become more a question of a search for emotional fulfilment. This is the romantic ideal. The positive side of this is that people are not forced into unsuitable relationships or relationships that are repulsive to them. The downside is that it can overload one relationship with too many expectations. Especially a relationship that is sometimes built on the shaky foundations of a physical attraction and physical intimacy. The spiritual community can help by being a further source of emotional fulfilment. When we have friends with whom we are emotionally intimate, it can take some weight off the relationship where we are also physically intimate. It helps us to lower the expectations we have of our sexual partner, which can also help us to become more content. Contentment is a state of feeling rich and fulfilled, so that there isn't a constant aching yearning for something more or someone more. If we are content and feeling emotionally rich there is less temptation for us to try to manipulate others for our satisfaction..

The fourth precept is about avoiding falsehood and being truthful. Being truthful is not so easy and probably all of us have at some time in our lives told lies, either large or small. Sometimes we lie to gain some advantage, sometimes we lie to avoid conflict, sometimes we lie to be polite, sometimes we lie for no discernible reason at all, perhaps it just gives us a sense of power. But at some time or other we have all probably done it. And sometimes we lie most to our nearest and dearest; husband, wife, parents, children, partner, lover, siblings. We lie to keep the peace, to avoid upsetting people and so on. What's the problem with being untruthful? If telling lies can help to keep the peace, avoid conflict, avoid upsetting people, what's so wrong with that? It removes the basis for a relationship; it removes trust.

If we have been on the receiving end of lies and deception we probably all know what it feels like and how it changes our view of the person who has lied to us or deceived us. It leaves us unsure of what is or is not true. We are unsure what to trust. We start to think, if that bit of the picture is not true, could it be that there is more that's false. What can we trust? We find that what we thought was solid ground is actually quite shaky. Being deceived can be much more upsetting than whatever the deception was trying to hide. For instance, sometimes in families, the parents don't want to upset the children by telling them about a diagnosis of cancer, or something of that nature. But of course that deprives them of the opportunity to give their love and support and also the opportunity to come to terms with the probable loss of a mother or father. It can be very heartbreaking to be deceived in this way. Or sometimes the children insist to the parent that they will get better when it is obvious that they won't. This can make the process of dying more difficult than it needs to be. Even lies that are told with good intentions can have very unfavourable consequences.

By definition spiritual friendship has to be based on truthful communication. There can be no spiritual friendship if what is communicated is false or meant to deceive in some way. Deceiving a spiritual friend is in the end self deception. Spiritual friendship can be a context in which we learn to be more and more honest, including honest with ourselves.

The fifth precept is about avoiding things that cloud the mind and developing more mindfulness. When we are practising kusala karma in the context of spiritual friendships we are developing awareness of others through observing and listening to them and we are developing awareness of ourselves by being reflected back. Intoxication with alcohol or other drugs is a method of becoming less aware and avoiding our inner life and is not compatible with spiritual friendship.

All the precepts together are kusala karma – skilful action – and they enhance spiritual friendship and are enhanced by spiritual friendship. In this talk which is on the theme of spiritual friendship and ethics I have tried to avoid the word ' ethics' as much as possible. I have also avoided the word 'morality' and I avoided the phrase 'training principles'. I don't find any of these terms satisfactory – 'ethics' sounds like an academic discipline, ' morality' conjures images of a disapproving deity, ' training principles' could be about weightlifting or business management. I have opted instead for kusala karma – skilful action or simply kusala – skilful.

Kusala is a word that is easy to say, it has a pleasant sound and as Buddhists we are free to clothe it in positive connotations just as we have done with the word Metta. Perhaps it will catch on, so that we can speak of our practice of kusala karma or even trying to be kusala and it will carry connotations of positive emotion, friendliness, awareness, honesty, kindness and generosity. It could become for us a word so rich in meaning that just to hear it would be uplifting. A word like friendship, which is also uplifting just to hear, because it carries so many positive associations. Friendliness, friend, friendship are all very positive words and what they stand for is even more positive.

Spiritual friendship is wholly positive and a source of great joy. Kusala karma is wholly positive and a source of great joy. It's important to understand spiritual friendship and kusala, are completely intertwined and that both are the fertile soil out of which spiritual insights grow. If we understand this and act upon it, spiritual progress is inevitable and all our other insights and understandings will have a stable basis in the reality of human interaction and the reality of actions having consequences.

The Reality of Spiritual Friendship

This talk was given at Triratna Order Day in Cambridge Buddhist Centre, April 7th 2013

We have all heard the story about Ananda and the Buddha. Ananda says to the Buddha that he has realised that Kalyana Mitrata is half the spiritual life and the Buddha responds – “say not so Ananda, say not so, it is the whole of the spiritual life”.

Here is how it is told in the Samyuta Nikaya and following this story the message is repeated and emphasised in a dialogue between Sariputta and the Buddha.

"Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling among the Shakyans where there was a town of the Shakyans named Nagaraka. Then the Venerable Ananda approached the Blessed One. Having approached, he paid homage to the Blessed One, sat down to one side and said to him . Venerable sire, this is half of the holy life, that is, good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship.

"Not so, Ananda! Not so, Ananda! This is the entire holy life, Ananda, that is, good friendship, good companionship, good comradeship." (The Connected Discourses, trans. Bodhi, p. 1524)

I have realised that although I have been familiar with this story for a long time and have accepted it on a superficial level, I am not sure I have ever really fully believed it. I thought I'd use this talk is an opportunity to reflect on this exchange between Ananda and the Buddha and explore what it might mean in practice if one was to fully accept and act on the assertion that spiritual friendship is the whole of the spiritual life. I want to start my reflections by trying to clarify what we mean by the spiritual life, then I want to explore what the Buddha meant by Kalyana Mitrata and hopefully that will help to show that Kalyana Mitrata is indeed the whole of the spiritual life.

The spiritual life is the phrase we use to translate Brahmacarya and it's worth noting that it's not a literal translation. Brahmacarya is an image, spiritual life is a concept. Brahma is, in Indian mythology, the king of the gods. Brahma stands for that which is highest in the universe. From a Buddhist perspective that which is highest in the universe is Nirvana, Buddhahood, Enlightenment; so the Brahmacarya is the Buddhacarya or the Bodhicarya. We have come across the term Bodhicarya before, as in the Bodhicarya avatara. Carya is the way, as in the path or the practices or the methods or means. The Bodhicarya is the way or the means to Awakening. If we say Kalyana Mitrata is the whole of the Brahmacarya, this means that Kalyana Mitrata is the whole of the Bodhicarya; the whole of the way or means to Awakening. The means and the end are not separate. The end is included in the means. That which is the whole of the way is also the whole of the goal.

What Is Awakening? It's worth noting that it's an image – a metaphor of waking up from a sleep. Shakespeare says "our little life is rounded out by a sleep". However the Buddha says our life is one big sleep and we need to wake up. The metaphor of sleep and waking only partially works, because of course we cannot stay awake permanently. Sleep is essential to our well-being, whereas Bodhi is a permanent Awakening. And when the Awakening that is Bodhi happens, it is not possible to go back into the sleep of ignorance. Ignorance is not essential to our well-being. What the metaphor is really doing is trying to give us a feeling for the experience of realisation or spiritual awakening, by saying it's like waking up from a deep sleep. It's contrasting two states that we are familiar with, sleep and wakefulness, to hint at what Bodhi is. Nirvana is also a metaphor; the blowing out of the fires of the passions. Enlightenment is another metaphor; bringing light into the darkness.

After his awakening the Buddha spoke of his experience in terms of liberation from the rounds of rebirth,another metaphor, and he spoke of the house builder who had been seen and could no longer build the house; an image of discovery and revelation. Conceptually, probably the most familiar description of the Buddha's insight is in terms of pratitya samutpada, the law of dependent origination or conditioned co production, or more simply the law of conditionality.

The Buddha saw or experienced or woke up to the fact that everything arises in dependence upon conditions and ceases when those conditions cease or in other words he saw or understood or experienced or awoke to the fact that everything is impermanent and insubstantial. The Brahmacarya is the way or the means leading to this insight into or experience of the nature of reality. The spiritual life is the life that is lived as a means of reaching this insight, this vision, experience or realisation of reality.

When it is said that Kalyana Mitrata is all of the spiritual life, a definite link or connection is being made between Kalyana Mitrata and pratitya samutpada. A definite link or connection is being made between Kalyana Mitrata and impermanence and insubstantiality. A definite link is being made between Kalyana Mitrata and all those metaphors pointing to the Buddha's experience; awakening, nirvana, liberation from rebirth, bringing light into the darkness, destroying the house of ignorance. All of these are linked to Kalyana Mitrata and the Buddha seems to be saying that Kalyana Mitrata is essential, indeed the most essential element needed, if we are to achieve this insight or realisation. It would appear therefore that it's important to get a grasp of what is meant by Kalyana Mitrata.

Mitrata means friendship (Mittata in Pali) and is of course related to Mitra meaning friend and maitri or metta meaning friendliness. In the Pali English dictionary Kalyana Mitra has two meanings, one general and one more technical. Here is how Subhuti describes it in his book on spiritual friendship, "the Pali Text Society's Pali English dictionary offers two definitions of Kalyana Mitra. The first one is 'a good companion, a virtuous friend, an honest, pure friend.' Such a friend is said to 'have faith, be virtuous, learned, liberal and wise.' In the second sense, a Kalyana Mitra is 'a spiritual guide, a spiritual adviser.' In this case there clearly is an unequal or hierarchical aspect to the relationship: a guide must be someone whose spiritual knowledge and experience are superior to one's own". (Subhuti, Buddhism and Friendship, p.25)

The phrase Kalyana Mitrata encompasses both of these meaning and this corresponds to what Bhante Sangharakshita calls horizontal and vertical friendships. Vertical friendship refers to the relationship between teacher and pupil and the Buddha refers to himself as a Kalyana Mitra in the story quoted earlier from Samyuta Nikaya.

The other use of Kalyana Mitra seems to be often combined with two synonymous phrases kalyānasahāyo and kalyānasampavanko, which are translated as 'good associates, good companions' by John D Ireland. Sometimes the word 'comrade' is used. This usage emphasises a personal relationship. In the Rhinoceros Horn Sutta, which is often taken to be an exhortation to live in seclusion, what the Buddha actually says is, if you can't find a good friend then you're better off living alone. "If one finds a wise friend, a companion living according to good virtues, prudent and having conquered all dangers, then live with him happily and mindfully. Certainly we praise the acquisition of friendship and friends – those who are either higher or equal in attainment or development should be associated with. Not finding such friends enjoying blameless food, let one live alone.” (Saddhatissa, Sutta Nipata, 1985, p.5)

This aspect of Kalyana Mitrata as a personal relationship is further emphasised on other occasions by the Buddha. For example in the Anguttara Nikaya the Buddha gives a teaching to his lay disciple Dighajanu: "And what is good friendship (Kalyana Mitrata)? Here – in whatever village or town a family man dwells, he associates with householders or their sons, whether young or old who are of mature virtue, accomplished in faith, virtue, generosity and wisdom; he converses with them and engages in discussions with them. He emulates them in regard to their accomplishment in faith, virtue, generosity and wisdom. This is called good friendship.” (Nyanaponika & Bodhi, Numerical Discourses,1999, p.221)

On another occasion the Buddha speaks to King Pasenadi. He tells the King the story of how Ananda came to him saying that Kalyana Mitrata was half the spiritual life and he recounts his response to Ananda. He continues: "therefore, great King, you should train yourself thus: I will be one who has good friends, good companions, good comrades. It is in such a way that you should train yourself.” (The Connected Discourses, trans. Bodhi, p.181)

Kalyana Mitrata covers a spectrum of relationships; friendship with fellow aspirants who are pursuing the path with us; this is the spiritual community whether lay or monk. The spectrum goes through to teachers, guides and Awakened Ones. The Buddha seems to be saying all of this is essential. All of this wide spectrum of Kalyana Mitrata is the means to Bodhi, is the whole of the Bodhicarya. This is the beginning, middle and end of the spiritual life.

To understand this better I think we need to explore more deeply and in more detail what the Dharma life is about. The Buddha talks about his realisation in terms of liberation from the rounds of rebirth, he also speaks of it in terms of discovering the builder of the house of ignorance and of being like finding a lost city in a great jungle. Then in what seems like more conceptual terms he talks about his realisation in terms of pratitya samutpada. "When this exists, that comes to be. With the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be. With the cessation of this, that ceases." (The Middle Length Discourses,Sutta 79, trans. Bodhi,p.655) This insight that everything arises in dependence upon conditions is to be applied to our human predicament. What is the human predicament? The human predicament is that our lives are unsatisfactory and the ways in which we go about trying to find happiness and security don't work and then we die. As Woody Allen puts it: "Life is full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness and it's all over much too quickly.” (Woody Allen. Annie Hall, opening scene)

Here is how Vishvapani puts it in more Buddhist terms: "Dukkha encompasses all the unsatisfactoriness that is inherent in life, and the sense that something is awry even when things go well. For Gautama, this was more than a mild unease: it was a shattering awareness of aspects of reality he had previously ignored. He had a remarkable talent for identifying the universal truths in particular experiences, but he may have been helped by spiritual teachings heard in Kapilavastu. He later quoted powerful verses, attributed to an ancient teacher called Araka, which say that human life vanishes as quickly as, the dew drop on the tip of a blade of grass – a bubble on the surface of the water –a line drawn on water –a river that has arisen faraway in the mountains – the life of humans is brief and fleeting and full of pain and despair, the verses continue. You should heed advice, do what is wholesome practice the spiritual life; there is no escape from death". (Vishvapani Blomfeld, Gautama,2012, p.32) The question for Siddhartha and the question for all thinking human beings is what can we do about this state of affairs. What is life about really?

Dukkha arises in dependence on conditions. Therefore if we can discover those conditions and eradicate them we can destroy Dukkha. When the Buddha looked deeply into his mind he saw that craving and attachment were root causes of suffering. So the question becomes, how do you remove craving and attachment from your mind?

Craving and attachment are so strong because of the notion of a fixed permanent and substantial self. This notion, which is ignorance, is also a cause of suffering. And because of the notion of self-essence there is also a strong urge to protect that self and this gives rise to aversion and hatred. This unholy threesome of belief in self that is fixed and permanent, craving to satisfy that self and aversion to protect that self; these three are causes of suffering. But these go very deeply and cannot be dismissed just by saying so.

First it has to become ever more clear to the individual who wants to be free that the fixed and permanent self is not real. Pratitya samutpada applies to the self. It says everything is process and what we think of as 'I' or 'me' is also a process, an ever changing process. First we need to see that. And to see that, we have to become aware of our own experience in more and more subtle ways. We need to become aware of the fact that we do have the notion of a fixed, separate, permanent self . More than a notion; a deep attachment. We need to become aware of how we build and protect and enhance this sense of self, this sense of I and me and mine. However, there is a danger here too. If we spend a lot of time and energy on the self or ego; trying to undermine ego clinging or thinking in terms of 'my ego does this or does that', we can inadvertently create more self and more ego.

Bhante Sangharakshita warns about this in his book Living Wisely: "The language we use can be less than helpful when it comes to the ego. Expressions like "transcending the ego" can create a lot of confusion by apparently fixing something non-existent in the form of an apparent object of knowledge. The result is nonsensical: we talk of getting rid of something that never existed or even denying this object of intense interest and concern any reality at all. The ego we say is not real. If we are not careful, we can spend a lot of time talking about something that does not exist in such a way that it becomes more real to us than it was before we started making so much of it." (Living Wisely, 2013, p. 25)

His remedy for this is, as usual, quite clear and simple. He says: "If our gut feeling is that we have or are a self, it can feel as if the Dharma is going to take something away from us that is central to who we are, when in fact the Dharma is there to help us see ourselves, whatever we may be, more clearly. Instead of challenging ourselves to explode our deluded conception of the self directly, it may be more helpful to think of breaking out of the closed circle of self interest that is the emotional expression of our delusion. We can think of expanding that circle through the cultivation of Metta or loving-kindness until our self interest is absorbed in a concern for the welfare of all living beings. Overcoming ego is not just an idea; it is an experience, a way of life." (Living Wisely, 2013,p. 23)

We want to be aware of our ego identity in the sense of being aware of when we are closed in on ourselves, when we are too self concerned, or self obsessed, but at the same time we want to avoid that awareness becoming another form of self-centredness of self obsession. "The ego is a way of behaving a kind of revolving on our own axis", as Subhuti puts it. To free ourselves from this we need to behave differently, more expansively "by going out of yourself, by orbiting around something bigger than yourself".

Bhante goes on to say: "Instead of saying that the ego does not exist or that it is not real, you could say instead that to be constantly turning in upon yourself is not the most satisfying form of existence. There are better options available to you. Instead of saying to yourself "just drop the ego", you can say, "let yourself open up a little" or even "let yourself go". To the extent that you think of others with genuine concern, you are non-egotistic. Even if you are just thinking of your own wife and children, that is an important step towards being non-egotistic. Thinking about your family is certainly a more effective way of beginning to realise the truth than just reading about it and understanding it intellectually.” (Living Wisely, 2013,p. 26)

In the Buddhist tradition there are methods for doing this more systematically as a meditation practice. For me it has been the Ratnasambhava practice – which is all about expansiveness, abundance and richness. There is also the practice of exchanging self for other in different forms; Bodhichitta practice, Tonglen, Brahma Viharas. Because self view is a delusion, other-view is also a delusion and because this is the nature of reality the implication of realising this reality is that we become naturally compassionate. By practising compassion in the form of exchange of self for others and developing empathy we begin to embody the wisdom of pratitya samutpada.

Coming back to the theme of spiritual friendship, it is perhaps obvious, that if we are to practice exchange of self for other we have to begin with those others who are closest to us. There is no point in making practice more difficult than it has to be. It should be easier to practice exchanging self for other with close friends and then in time we may be able to extend that further and further until it encompasses all beings. As Subhuti puts it: "we can start to practice the exchange of self and other simply by being more and more mindful of the needs of our friends, and putting them before our own. Whenever one makes some kind of sacrifice, and gives up something for the sake of a friend, one takes another small step forward on the path of transcending self: one enters more deeply into the friends subjectivity and lets go attachment to one's own. In Anuruddha's words, "why should I not set aside what I wish to do and do what these venerable one's wish to do?” (Subhuti, Buddhism and Friendship, 2004, p.110)

Any shraddha, any motivation to spiritual practice, must include a spark of compassion. Those who see and experience the human predicament as a spiritual problem already have sufficient imagination to see that this is not just their personal predicament. Those who consider what is a universal predicament to be their very own predicament, will look for solutions that in the end won't work. Those who lack the imagination to see the predicament at all will not be motivated to a spiritual path.

Siddhartha was motivated by his own suffering, mental, psychological and existential suffering. But he also saw that his predicament was a universal problem so there was the spark of compassion in his quest from the beginning. Most of us will have had something of this experience even if we were only dimly aware of it.

After his enlightenment the Buddha's life is all about sharing his insights with others and doing what he could to help them to alleviate their suffering. Compassionate activity is the expression of the wisdom that sees the impermanence and insubstantiality of self and others. You may have wonderful peak experiences in meditation, but unless they manifest in the world as friendly, kindly activity, they are of no greater significance than getting drunk. You may study the Pali canon, the Sanskrit sutras and all of Tibetan Buddhism, but unless it leads to friendly, kindly activity in the world, it is of no more significance than reading a newspaper.

Buddhism makes no sense without compassion or to put it more explicitly in terms of today's topic – Buddhism makes no sense without Kalyana Mitrata. As Bhante Sangharakshita puts it in Living with Kindness: "Metta and insight are not separate aims. Indeed, Metta is a necessary aspect of insight, and with reflection on the real nature of Metta, insight will shine through. Having developed Metta in a limited sense as an equal kindness towards others, you can go on to reflect on whether there is really any difference between yourself and others and, if so, what that difference might be. Thus reflecting, you will begin to see that the idea that ' I am I' and ' he is he' is no more than a delusion, and in that way Metta begins to blend with insight." "When Metta is experienced in this fully expansive mode and is universal in its scope, there is no experience of a self that is separate from anyone or anything else. To speak of oneself at this stage is almost a contradiction in terms. Forgetting the self as a reference point, no longer asking what any given situation means for you alone, you can go on indefinitely and happily expanding the breadth and depth of your interest and positivity." (Living with Kindness, p. 134 &136)

Kalyana Mitrata whether vertical or horizontal, whether we are guiding or teaching others, learning from others or being mutually supportive, is all part of the flow of compassionate activity and that's why it is the whole of the spiritual life. At the beginning when we can only be receptive, our motivation for wanting to learn has within it the spark of compassion. The unease, the Dukkha, which propels us to take up the spiritual quest is not just a purely personal unease. It is an intuitive sense that life has meaning beyond our current understanding and experience. And with a bit of luck, or is it merit, we find someone, or a group to teach us the path and put our yearnings into context and our first experiences of Kalyana Mitrata are of being helped by those more experienced.

Each one of us can probably make a list of those who helped us get started on the path. Some who had not much more understanding than ourselves, some who had vastly more understanding, some we met only through books or videos, some we had very personal relationships with. I can immediately bring to mind many people who looked out for me when I was torn and troubled in my first few years as a Buddhist. They all acted in a selfless way with great kindness and got precious little back from me as I was so self obsessed and troubled by psychological conflict. It was my first experience of Kalyana Mitrata and I was mainly unaware of it and often ungrateful. Only later did I realise how much people had done for me and experience a great deal of gratitude. I try to be aware now of what is being done by others that benefits me. They may not even be trying to benefit me in particular but I am a recipient of a lot of selfless acts on the part of many people. Of course there are also people who do give to me personally and often I find myself receiving help in my spiritual practice from people who don't know that they are helping me. I'm inspired by someone's enthusiasm, chastened by their ethical sensitivity and encouraged to reflect more deeply by their questions.

Kalyana Mitrata is the living out of the compassionate project of Buddhism, the project of friendly and kindly activity. For all of us it means sharing our experience of living the spiritual life, whether in groups of various kinds, in one-to-one conversations or in formal teaching situations. Our participation in the life of the spiritual community can be Kalyana Mitrata, our participation in the life of the local Buddhist Centre can be Kalyana Mitrata, all of our interactions have the potential to be Kalyana Mitrata.

Finally, and I will finish with this, here is how Bhante Sangharakshita sums up this whole topic with his characteristic clarity and simplicity.

"The Brahmacarya or spiritual life is that way of life that leads to the Brahmaloka or spiritual world. But how is it able to do this? To fully answer we must turn to yet another early Buddhist text: in the MahaGovinda sutta we find this very question being asked: "how does a mortal reach the immortal Brahma world?" In other words how can one cross from the transient to the eternal? And the answer given is short and simple. "One reaches the Brahma world by giving up all possessive thoughts, all thoughts of me and mine." In other words, one reaches the Brahmaloka by giving up egotism and selfishness, by giving up all sense of I. Thus the intimate connection between spiritual friendship and spiritual life starts to come into focus. Spiritual friendship is a training in unselfishness, in egolessness. You share everything with your friend or friends. You speak to them kindly and affectionately, and show concern for their welfare, especially their spiritual welfare. You treat them in the same way you treat yourself – that is, you treat them as being equal with yourself. You relate to them with an attitude of Metta, not according to where the power between you lies. Learning to relate to our friends in this way, we will gradually learn to respond to the whole world with Metta, with unselfishness. It is in this way that spiritual friendship is indeed the whole of the spiritual life." (The Essential Sangharakshita, p. 511 & 512)