In this final talk on the five stages of spiritual life I
want to touch on the topics of Dharmic
Receptivity or Dharmic
Responsiveness and Spontaneous Compassionate Activity. Viewed as a path
of practice this stage is Dharmic Responsiveness
or Receptivity, viewed as a goal it is Spontaneous Compassionate Activity. Dharmic Responsiveness is Shraddha – usually
translated as faith. Shraddha has the elements of intuition, reason and
experience and Dharmic Responsiveness is
in the first instance an intuition – it might simply be the feeling and idea
that there must be more to life. The intuition or feeling that there must be
more to life than survival, procreation, distraction, old age, sickness and
death. At this stage our faith is not faith in anything but when we connect
with the Buddha and Dharma and when we begin to practice meditation, ethics,
reflection and so on, then our intuition becomes, what Subhuti calls “a
harmonic resonance” between the element of Buddhahood in us and the Buddha or
as Bhante puts it – “the response of what is highest in us to what is highest
in the universe”. This intuition is confirmed by reason and experience as we
practice meditation, ethics and contemplation more and more fully.
Traditionally faith (shraddha) is spoken of as having the
three aspects of deep conviction, lucidity and longing. Deep conviction or deep
faith is the intuitive response to Dharma teachings and a conviction that the
teachings are true. I remember that when I first encounter Buddhist teachings,
the five precepts and the Metta Bhavana, I had this kind of response; there was
the conviction of the truth of what I was hearing, together with a heart
response; a deep intuition that I had found what I was looking for, the holy
Grail.
Lucidity refers to the clarity that this deep faith
brings to your mind. There is no longer confusion and vagueness, but a clearer
idea of the goal and the methods for attaining it. Lucidity gives a strong
sense of purpose and meaning. The longing aspect of faith refers to the
aspiration to fulfil our potential. The aspiration to have the vision of the
Dharma unfold in our own being and in our own life. Longing includes the
confidence that Enlightenment is possible, not just in theory, but is possible
for us. I am a human being and therefore I have the potential to be a Buddha –
that is the confidence of shraddha under this aspect of longing.
“What the Buddha overcame, we too can overcome;
what the Buddha attained we too can attain.”
Shraddha is a Dharmic Responsiveness that is intuition supported by
reason and experience. It is deep conviction, clarity and confidence. Above all
it is a heart response; it is placing the heart upon our highest aspirations.
It is falling in love with the Dharma. It leads us to put our trust in the law
of karma and in the whole process of dependent arising – pratitya samutpada. We
know that if we create the right conditions, internally and externally, then
the results will follow.
If we endeavour to observe the precepts – the spirit as
well as the letter; if we meditate; if we take responsibility for our own
mental states – not justifying or rationalising unskilfulness as the fault of
circumstances or other people; not rejecting our skilful mental states through
lack of self-esteem or fear of awareness; if we study the Dharma and try to
understand the basic principles involved, rather than getting sidetracked into
fruitless arguments and discussions about particular teachings or methods; if
we try to simplify our lives and give ourselves fully to the practice of
spiritual community; if we take time out to go on retreat; if we perform Puja
and ritual, which is an enactment of deep faith lucidity and longing – if we do
all of this – we will be setting up the best possible conditions for our own
happiness and fulfilment and we can be confident that a process of
transformation will take place that will be of benefit to others as well.
This is the nature of Reality. There are natural laws in
the realm of physics and chemistry. There are natural laws of biology and
botany and there are natural laws of zoology and basic psychology. These
natural laws such as gravity, photosynthesis, procreation instincts and other
instincts, are known in Buddhism as the niyamas. Niyama means law. These three
levels of natural law are known respectively as the niyamas, Utu Niyama, Bija
Niyama, and Mano Niyama. But in terms of the spiritual life, the life of
awareness and love, there are two further levels of natural law – these are
Karma niyama and Dharma niyama.
Karma niyama, the law of action, is the natural Law we
rely upon as spiritual practitioners. The law of action – karma niyama – is the
natural law which means that skilfulness of action, speech or of thought has
beneficial consequences and unskilfulness has negative consequences. If this
were not the case then there would be no point in any spiritual practice
because the consequences would be random. But because Buddhist ethics is based
on a natural law, then we can rely on our practice of skilfulness to bring
about beneficial results. This is a key understanding for us. If we understand
karma niyama and if we feel we can rely on the natural law of action, then we
have a solid foundation for all spiritual practice, we have indeed a solid foundation
on which to base our whole life. We can be confident that our generosity or
kindness, our meditations and pujas, retreats and study all have a beneficial
effect and are modifying and transforming us. Perhaps gradually and
imperceptibly but nevertheless inevitably we are being transformed.
In the Anguttara Nikaya there is a section with five
reflections for all Buddhists and another section with ten reflections for
monks. Some of these reflections are the same for everyone and one of these
reflections which is the same for everyone is a reflection on karma. It says: “A
woman or man, a householder or one gone forth, should often reflect thus, I am the owner of my karma, the heir of
my karma; I have karma is my origin, karma as my relative, karma as my protector;
I will be the heir of whatever karma, good or bad, that I do.” Dasadhamma
Sutta, AN 10.48.
So this is a reflection or contemplation that the Buddha
is recommending to us. You could see it as a meditation practice – you sit down
and get as concentrated as possible and then reflect on these five or ten
reflections or perhaps just reflect on karma or one of the other reflections.
You could reflect by asking yourself what does it mean to be the owner of your
karma or the heir of your karma? What does it mean to say that karma is my
origin, karma is my relative, karma is my protection? The purpose of reflecting
on karma in this way is not to enable you to write a dissertation on karma. The
purpose of these reflections is to make your so fully and immediately aware of
the law of karma that all your actions of body, speech and mind are thoroughly
influenced by that awareness. Awareness of karma niyama becomes the flavour of
your mind. The law of action – karma niyama – paves the way for Dharma niyama.
If we really act in accordance with the law of karma, we
create conditions which transform us. The nature of that transformation is that
we become less and less egotistic, less and less self willed. When we become
less self-centred and less self willed, something else begins to happen. Karma
is willed action and therefore it needs a degree of self orientation. There has
to be a sense of ‘me’ or ‘I’ as the one acting. A sense of ‘me’ or ‘I’ as the
agent of all the action and a sense of ‘me’ are ‘I’ who takes responsibility
for actions and who receives the consequences. I act and I reap the rewards or
suffer the consequences. This sense of ‘I’ and ‘me’ is essential to the working
of the law of karma. It is because we have evolved beyond the mano niyama of
instinct and have developed self-awareness that it is possible for the law of
karma to come into play.
But if we act skilfully in accordance with the law of
karma then something happens; if we are persistent and consistent over years
something happens, we are transformed and the nature of that transformation is
that we transcend self. We don’t stop being self-aware, but we transcend self
will. We are no longer motivated only by self advantage, we are no longer motivated
by self interest and the whole separation between self and other starts to
break down. The division between self and other becomes diluted and begins to
fizzle out, to wither away. When that happens the motivation for our actions is
no longer a matter of self will, it becomes much more a matter of Spontaneous
Compassionate Activity. This Spontaneous Compassionate Activity is Dharma
niyama. It can be experienced as if something is working through you, rather
than as your own willed action.
Sometimes it is like a call – a call to which you quite
easily and naturally respond. We are familiar with the idea of a vocation or
calling. We may say that someone’s vocation is to be a doctor or an artist – it
is their calling. The word vocation is rooted in the Latin ‘vocare’ meaning to
call. If someone has a vocation or calling to be a Christian priest they
naturally think of being called by God. In the Bible there are many instances
of God calling in this way – to Moses, Abraham, Joshua – those old Testament
prophets were very familiar with being called upon to do something and
responding. Of course when we speak about a doctor or an artist or musician,
their vocation or calling is not usually thought of as being a call from God.
Nevertheless it is a calling, it is something different from a decision to take
up a particular professional career based on weighing up the prospects for
salary and promotion and so on.
We could say the call comes from within. Whether we say a
call comes from within or from outside, that is probably just a matter of
belief structure or how our imagination works or metaphor and really it doesn’t
matter. What matters is that when the call comes we are ready to respond. It is
generally acknowledged that a vocation calling is something higher and better
than a mere career choice. Those of us who have felt called to the life of
spiritual practice know what this is like. We could say it’s the call of a
higher self, that aspect of us that longs for a meaningful life and intuitively
knows that status and salary are not the best response to the fact of our
death.
From the very beginning of our spiritual life we have a
sense of what Dharma niyama means; a sense of what it’s like to respond to the
call of a higher self, even though it won’t bring material advantage or fame. And as we continue
to practice we may experience to call in many different ways. We might
experience a call to honesty – honesty with ourselves and others. We might
experience a call to generosity – impulses of generosity rising up. We might
experience a call to change our lifestyle, to change priorities. We might
experience a call to take responsibility.
So long as we are not fully in the flow of Dharma niyama
we will probably experience some discomfort from these calls to go beyond our
current familiar self. We may find ourselves resisting the call to go deeper,
the call to go further, the call to take the plunge in some way. It is quite
natural that we should experience resistance, but if we keep on practising
ethics, meditation, and wisdom then gradually the law of karma will ensure that
our resistance fades away and eventually when the Dharma niyama predominates
there will be no more resistance to the calls of our higher self. We will be
our higher self. There will be no resistance to the calls of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
because we will embody what they represent.
This language of vocation and calling might give the
impression that only some people, a small few ever hear the call to something
higher. I can’t be sure, but I doubt very much that this is the case. I think
that what happens is that more or less everyone is aware of the call to
something higher. People will interpret this differently and for some it will
mean politics, for others social work or charitable activity. For many it will
simply get buried beneath the demands of ordinary life. For some there will be
a deliberate turning away from the call to something higher because of fear,
fear of disappointing others, fear of isolation or just fear of not being good
enough. Once when I was Chair of the London Buddhist Centre I met someone who
was a member of the House of Lords and also on the board of a large well known
international company. He was interested in meditation and spiritual matters
and was highly intelligent. He could understand things very quickly and deeply.
And having heard something of my life story is said to me that he had not been
courageous enough to pursue the sort of life I had lived. I was struck by that
– that he highlighted courage as a key factor. I had never considered myself to
be courageous, but when I thought about it I could see what he meant. I had
knowingly embarked on a path of life that was materially precarious, with no
knowledge of where it would lead and all I had to guide me was the call to
something higher. From the perspective of any normal rational person concerned
with security and material well-being my course of action was either courageous
or foolhardy.
In his lecture on Perfect Vision, Bhante talks about all
the different ways in which the Path of Vision may arise here he is using the
metaphor of seeing where I have been using the metaphor of hearing. A vision or
a calling amount to the same thing. He says that the Path of Vision may arise
due to personal tragedy, bereavement or loss, or it may be the result of some
unexpected mystical experience, or it could be from engaging with the arts – a
painting or a piece of music, or the Path of Vision might be the result of deep
and prolonged thought or it could happen through meditation or from engagement
in some altruistic activity or it might just happen as a result of the whole
experience of life as we grow older or it might even emerge in a dream. Bhante
goes on to say that this vision is fragile he says: “however it does arise we
should be very careful not to lose it, not to forget it. This happens very
easily, for as the poet says “the world is too much with us”. We may have an
experience so wonderful that we might think we will never forget it. But after
a short time, after a few days or weeks, it is no longer there. It is as though
it had never been.” Vision and Transformation, p. 21. Many people may hear the
call but for some it is soon forgotten, for others it is experienced as a
fearful demand, for others it will find an outlet in the arts or altruistic
activity or some other vocation.
Even if we hear the call of a higher self and respond to
that call by embarking on the path of transformation, the path of spiritual
practice, even then we can be drawn away from that path by pulls in other directions.
In an early lecture on Stream Entry, Bhante talks about the gravitational pull
of the mundane. He imagines Buddhahood as one celestial body or planet and the
mundane world of ordinary concerns as another celestial body and they each have
their own gravitational pull and these fields of gravity overlap to some
degree. When we are on the spiritual path we are in the area where the
gravitational pull of mundane ordinary life overlaps with the gravitational
pull of the higher life of Buddhahood. So we are being pulled in two directions
at the same time. If we stop practising ethics, meditation et cetera we will be
pulled back into the mundane, ordinary life, but if we keep going the
gravitational pull of the mundane will get weaker and the gravitational pull of
the Transcendental, Buddhahood will get stronger. And eventually the pull of
the higher life is so strong that we can no longer be pulled backwards and we
will no longer feel any resistance to the pull of the spiritual. This is when
our whole life becomes a response to the call of Spontaneous Compassionate
Activity – we have reached the stage of no more effort.
Dharmic Responsiveness
is not really a practice, apart from the practice of being aware of the Path of
Vision, being aware of the call to something, whether that call is the small
voice of an impulse to do something generous or a loud call to change the whole
direction of your life. Dharmic Responsiveness
needs space. Mozart is reputed to have said “the music is not in the notes, but
in the silence between them.” Commenting on this Bhante wrote: “as music is
born of silence, and derives it’s significance and therefrom; and as a painting
is born of empty space, and derives it’s significance therefrom; so are our
lives born of silence, of stillness, of quietude of spirit, and derive their
significance, their distinctive flavour and individual quality, therefrom. The
deeper and more frequent are those moments of interior silence and stillness
the more rich in significance, the more truly meaningful, will our lives be. It
is the pauses which make beautiful the music of our lives. It is the empty
spaces which give richness and significance to them. And it is stillness which makes
them truly useful.” Crossing the Stream, page95.
The pauses and empty spaces are the times when we reflect
or meditate or do nothing. They are the opposite of “a life that consists of a
frantic a stream of activities” without any time for inward awareness and
reflection. So if there is a practice that enables Dharmic responsiveness it is probably the practice of
doing nothing. This could be the practice of just sitting at the end of a
meditation or Puja or it could be just a time we put aside each day to do nothing.
In his book The Art of Reflection, Ratnaguna recommends this as a preliminary
to any reflection. He says: “if we want to learn how to reflect, we first need
to learn how to do nothing, because it’s out of the spaciousness of doing
nothing that our minds can open out. This spaciousness allows our mind to range
freely and unhurriedly around and through whatever it is that we’ve chosen to
consider. We need to have a sense of timelessness. I don’t mean that we enter
into the infinite, but that we feel that we have all the time in the world,
that there is nothing for us to do, that it’s okay to do nothing, to achieve
nothing. You might think that you don’t have the time for this, and if that’s
the case it might be a good thing to take a look at your life to see if there
is anything you can cut out, because having time to do nothing is important.
However entering into the timeless realm doesn’t necessarily require a lot of
time. We enter the timeless realm when we give up looking for results, when we
stop trying to meet targets and deadlines, when we cease to think of time as a
commodity. If we’ve only got 10 minutes to spare we can enter into the timeless
realm, as long as we don’t try to fill that time up with something useful.
Reflection is not useful. To reflect we need to feel free – we need to feel
that it’s okay to be totally useless.”p. 36.
In his seminar on the Mangala Sutta, Bhante talks about
what we could call Boredom Practice. He says: “if you feel discontented, say if
you feel bored, what should you do? Not start trying to fill that emptiness and
to remove that boredom: just stop and experience it; but remain with it, remain
in the present: at least you’re in the present. If you can remain with it, and
stop trying to remove the boredom by filling the void with something or other,
then the boredom – the discontent – will slowly dissolve and you’ll feel more
at peace with yourself, more at ease.” Auspicious Signs, page 52. So there is
Just Sitting Practice, Doing Nothing Practice and Boredom Practice – these are
all about leaving space in your life so that you can become receptive, so that
you can receive.
But what do we receive? We could say that what we receive
is the love of the Buddha – we receive the influence of the Buddha, we receive
the grace waves of the Buddha – what is called His Adhisthana – also translated
as ‘blessing’. If we are open to the call of the higher life, the call of the
Buddha – we are blessed, we receive the blessing of wisdom and compassion. When
we do devotional practices such as Puja, we are adopting an attitude of
openness and receptivity to the blessings of the Buddha – we are opening our
eyes to the vision and our ears to the call of the Buddha. This attitude of
openness if it is practised again and again in Puja and Sadhana, gives rise to
an openness in our whole life. Our whole life becomes open to responding to the
call of Buddhahood, responding to the call of higher values. Puja is a
declaration of receptivity and it is also a celebration of Spontaneous
Compassionate Activity that arises when we are fully responsive to the call of
the Dharma. In the sevenfold Puja we declare our openness and responsiveness
when we say:
Saluting them with folded hands
I entreat the Buddhas in all the quarters:
May They make shine the lamp of the Dharma
for those wandering in the suffering of delusion!
With hands folded in reverence
I implore conquerors desiring to enter Nirvana:
May They remain here for endless ages,
So that life in this world does not grow dark.
And in the Transference of Merits and Self Surrender we
celebrate Spontaneous Compassionate Activity. In the threefold Puja we express
reverence for the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Nine times we express reverence
and it is this ability to revere which indicates our openness to something
higher. By reciting this again and again with a wholehearted intention to be
open to the call of the Buddha, we are training ourselves in Dharmic Responsiveness, and eventually that will
become who and what we are.
We are coming to the end of this series of talks on the
five stages of the spiritual life. We could also call them five aspects or five
facets of spiritual life. Like a jewel different facets turn to the light at
different times, but all are part of the one jewel. Spiritual life is one, it
is not really broken up into stages or aspects, because we are one and our
spiritual life is simply a way of talking about or describing our response to
the existential facts of life. However, just as a river is the same river from
source to estuary but changes and widens as it progresses, so we broaden as we
progress. Just as a tree grows from seed to sapling, to a huge shady oak or beech,
we can grow from a vague intuition and meaning to someone whose spread of
awareness and compassion has a positive influence on the lives of many people.
This is what this series of talks has been about and I
hope they will be of benefit to others so that more and more of us grow and
broaden and become spiritually influential, like the offering of incense in the
Puja “whose fragrance pervades the air”. May we all become spiritually mature so
that our positive influence “spreads in all directions throughout the world”.
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