A Delightful Practice

This talk was given in 2001

The word “Sangha” means “association” or “society” and in this context it is the association or fellowship of all those who follow the teaching of the Buddha. This includes people living very different lifestyles. It includes men and women and it includes people of all ages.

Initially there were two kind of people in the Sangha. Those who left home and took up a life of homelessness, wandering from place to place,begging their food and telling people about the Buddha's teaching. And there were those who had a strong positive response to the Buddha and his teaching but didn't leave home. They carried on with their family life and the business of making a livelihood. The early Buddhist Sangha consisted of wandering mendicants, who were initially all men, but later joined by women and ordinary householders. All of them took refuge in the Buddha and followed his teaching. The wandering mendicants came to be known as bhikkhus or bhikshus. This word comes from the root “bhiks”which means to “share” or “partake” and referred to the fact that the wanderers shared in the food of the wider community. This word Bhikkhu or bhikshu is often translated as “monk”. “Monk” comes form the Greek word “monos” meaning “alone”. It's perhaps not a bad translation if understood in this way. Many early Christian monks were wanderers or hermits too. These Buddhist wanderers in Northern India, 2500 years ago were forced to stop wandering every year when the monsoon rains came. They would gather together on the outskirts of a settlement and meditate and discuss and recite the teachings and mend their robes (and probably exchange travellers stories about how to cope with tigers etc).

As time went by, some of them decided not to wander on at the end of the monsoon season and in this way there gradually came into being a community of settled bhikkhus as well as wanderers. Now there were three kinds of people in the Sangha. Those who were still householders living their ordinary lives, those who left home for a life of wandering homelessness and those who left home and settled in one place. This was still very much alive in Thailand right up until the 1950s when the forests began to be cut down. In the book”Forest Recollections”, there are many descriptions of the lives of the wanderers whose lifestyle was modelled directly on the way of life of the early Buddhists 2500 years earlier. “Thudong monks valued wandering as an ascetic practice, as a means of training the mind to face hardship and the unpredictable. Whenever they wandered far from the relative comfort and security of the monastic life, they had to contend with fear, pain, fatigue, hunger, frustration, and distress; and sometimes they risked death. The areas in which they wandered were not confined by the political boundaries of Siam/Thailand. They often walked across national borders to the Shan states, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia. In Man's time a monk could wander freely into neighbouring countries, and thudong monks willingly did so. Unlike academic and bureaucratic monks in the Sangha heirarchy, they had a keen interest in faraway places and thought nothing of walking great distances to reach them.

The wandering monks' journeys were uncharted. They had no maps, no guides, and often no specific idea of where they were going. It did not matter how long it took to get from one place to another. It was the going, the wandering, that counted. Wandering into unfamiliar terrain forced a monk to be constantly alert and aware. He never knew where he would spend the night, where the next meal was coming from, or what difficulties he would encounter. He learned to live with insecurities and discomforts – life's inevitable dukkha.” (Kamala Tiyavanich, Forest Recollections, p.143)

Incidentally the lives of some of the hill tribes in Thailand in the early 20^th century was also little different from ancient India. “Once Waen and Teu, exhausted and hungry after walking through the forest in Meuang Phrae, entered a Yao settlement hoping to find alms. But the houses were empty, the inhabitants having left for the fields. As they approached the very last hut, a man stuck his head out. “Friend, we have nothing to eat,” Waen said. “Please give us some rice.” “I have only a small supply of rice,” said the man. “I have cooked rice, but it's for us to eat. The uncooked rice is for sale.” Then he looked straight at Waen's empty alms bowl and offered to buy it; he wanted to use it as a pot for cooking rice. “Almost laughed at this,” Waen recalls, “and for a moment forgot how starved we were.” Waen, like many thudong monks, was accepting of local diversity and did not pass judgment. “the Yao man was straightforward and honest. He had no pretensions; he spoke what was on his mind. He wasn't intending to hurt anyone's feelings or displease anyone. He was sincere.”

But, seeing that it was hopeless to get alms, Waen and Teu pushed on. Along the way they encountered a Yao woman. Determined to get some food this time, Waen was more direct. “Friend, we are starving. We have no rice to eat. Please give us some.” The woman asked the monks to wait, then she went into the hut and came back with a container full of rice, which she then emptied in to the monks' bowls. Having found a good place to sit and eat, the monks poured some water into their bowls, mixed it with the rice, and ate.” (Forest Recollections, p148-150)

This description of Thailand in the early 20^th century reads almost like a passage from the Pali Canon. Also in Thailand there were many settled monks whose main practice was study and scholarly work. These would be seen as the direct descendants of the first monks who began to settle down in residential communities. Those who settled preserved the teaching through meditation and discussion and eventually after some four or five centuries the teachings of the Buddha were committed to writing. Down through the centuries it has been the settled bhikkhus, those who preserved the letter of the teaching whether orally or in writing, who have had the greatest influence on how the the Buddhist spiritual life is understood. They set the standards as it were and determined what was to be considered the norm. This could still be seen in Thailand in the 20^th century where the wandering monks were heavily criticised by the settled monks and not considered to be real monks at all.

Right form the very earliest days of the Buddhist Sangha there were these different kinds of people, different trends in practice and different lifestyles. The householders practised generosity and ethics and a little meditation. The wanderers were full-time meditators who occasionally came together for discussion or visited teachers for instructions and the settled monks were the scholars, the preservers of the letter of the teachings. And these different lifestyles and practices led to a certain amount of tension which could be creative tension or could be destructive. How creative the tension was depended on the spiritual insight of the members of the Sangha. In theory those who led the lifestyle of wanderers and engaged in more full-time meditation would be expected to be the more spiritually developed, but real life is never so neat. There may be a hierarchy of conditions which are more and less conducive to spiritual practice and there may be a hierarchy of persons who are more and less spiritually mature but the two hierarchies don't necessarily fit neatly together. As Reginald Ray says in his Buddhist Saints in India: “Not only may saints be found in monasteries and lay life, but – obviously – rogues may be found in the forest. A three-tiered model, with forest renunciants at the top, might suggest that individuals attain value based on their place within the scheme rather than that the scheme attains its value based on what individuals reflecting one or another place in the scheme actually accomplish. It is realized people who are of supreme value rather than the particular lifestyles by which they become realized or in which, once realized, they are found. Any model of Buddhist types must remain to some extent relative and open, for no one can ever know how much, from a spiritual point of view, any individual can or will attain in one situation as opposed to another.” (p.438)

Traditionally the Sangha is spoken of in terms of an Arya Sangha, a Bhikkhu S and a MahaSangha. The MahaSangha or Great Sangha includes all Buddhists, regardless of lifestyle or level of commitment or attainment. The Bhikkhu Sangha is the Sangha of full-timers; not necessarily monks in the Christian sense of the term, i.e. those who live in monasteries. This Sangha is distinguished by the fact that they observe certain rules. It is Sangha as organisation. The Arya Sangha is the “noble” or holy Sangha and this is the spiritual community of all those who have experienced some insight into the nature of Reality. This is the Sangha of those who have reached a stage in their spiritual life which means that they can never fall back from the Path. They have seen into the nature of Reality and what has become clear to them can never become unclear again. This is known as the point of no return, or the point of Stream Entry.

A Stream Entrant is a spiritual practitioner who has seen through fixed self-view, has seen through doubt and indecision, and has seen through any tendency to go through the motions of spiritual practice. Bhante Sangharakshita talks about a Stream Entrant in positive terms as someone who has transcended habit, vagueness and superficiality and attained creativity, clarity and commitment. Stream entry occurs when we break through these three fetters of Self View, doubt and going through the motions of practice. Or as Bhante puts it the fetters of habit, vagueness and superficiality.

The first fetter is the habit of being a particular kind of person. We act as if we have always been and will always be a particular kind of person, with particular abilities and shortcomings. Consciously or unconsciously we tell ourselves stories about who we are and what we can or cannot do and we keep on telling ourselves the same stories, constantly reinforcing a particular version of “Me” with a capital M. A Stream Entrant is someone who breaks through this and has a much more creative view of themselves and others. A Stream Entrant is always aware of the greater potential that has yet to unfold; the Buddha nature yet to be unveiled.

The second fetter is doubt and indecision or a constant lack of clarity. This is not an honest questioning in order to get to the truth. This is a more emotionally based avoidance of clarity, avoidance of the truth. Throwing up obstacles constantly to deliberately obscure the truth about ourselves and about life. This kind of doubt and indecision is a resistance to going deeper into things. A resistance to clarifying what the dharma is all about, a resistance to the implications of practice. It is closely related to the first fetter because this resistance is all about preserving a fixed self-view. Doubt and indecision of this type leads to an inability to truly value the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and therefore an inability to Go for Refuge or make a commitment to the Buddhist spiritual path. A Stream Entrant is completely free of doubt about the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and it is therefore no great effort for a Stream Entrant to place trust in the Three Jewels. For a Stream Entrant it would be very difficult indeed, or even impossible, to not Go for Refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

The third fetter is the tendency to go through the motions of practice or, as it is usually put, reliance on rites and rituals as ends in themselves. When we have been practising for a while we can lose sight of the purpose of practice and then our practice of mediation, puja, study and even ethics becomes empty, empty of deeper meaning. We may forget about the spiritual goal of becoming more aware, and more compassionate. We may forget that we are trying to undermine selfishness and harshness and gain more wisdom and equanimity. We may meditate in order to have good meditations or to have strong experiences. We may do puja in order to feel good and get a bit of a buzz, we may study simply to acquire knowledge and we may practice ethics to be a good Buddhist. But we have forgotten the higher Ideal, we have forgotten about Insight and Enlightenment and we are satisfied with being a little bit happier. This is the fetter of superficiality as Sangharakshita calls it. It keeps us on the surface of our own experience and keeps us immunised against the reality of dissatisfaction, impermanence and insubstantiality. It means we have lost creativity in our practice, we no longer have a cutting edge in our spiritual life. We are a bit lost and in need of re-orientation and re-inspiring. A Stream Entrant is constantly aware of the reason for practice, constantly on the path of compassion and awareness.

A Stream Entrant is someone who has broken through these fetters of fixed self-view, doubt and indecision, and superficiality and has insight into the true nature of reality and the real reason for spiritual practice. Stream Entrants and all those who are even more advanced than Stream Entrants make up the Arya Sangha, the Noble Sangha. This is the Sangha we refer to when we talk about the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. This is the Sangha we Go for Refuge to. This is the Sangha we can rely on. This Sangha, the Arya Sangha, is the living, breathing Dharma. This is where the teachings of the Buddha leave off being concepts or images and take on human form. The teachings live in the Arya Sangha and it is because the teachings have stayed alive in this way that it is still possible for us to encounter the essential spirit of Buddhism even now 2500 years after the Buddha's lifetime.

According to one sutta in the Pali Canon you can recognise a Stream Entrant by four characteristics: unwavering confidence in the Buddha, unwavering confidence in the Dharma, unwavering confidence in the Sangha and as the text says, being “possessed of morality dear to the Noble Ones, unbroken, without defect, unspotted, without inconsistency, liberating, praised by the wise, uncorrupted, and conducive to concentration.” (Digha Nikaya 33)

If you are concerned about someone's spiritual development, whether they are the real thing or not, you need to observe whether they are free from doubt in the Three Jewels and whether they are skilful. Elsewhere it says that a Stream Entrant will confess any breaches of precepts immediately. (Majjhima Nikaya 48.11). However it is not easy to tell whether another person is spiritually developed or not. Externals such as behaviour and speech can tell you something but not everything. There is a sutta in the Anguttara Nikaya entitled “How to judge a person's character” and here it says, “Four facts about a person, O monks, can be known from four circumstances. What are these four?

By living together with a person his virtue can be known, and this too only after a long time, not casually; by close attention, not without attention; by one who is wise, not by one who is stupid.

By having dealings with a person his integrity can be known, and this too only after a long time, not casually; by close attention, not without attention; by one who is wise, not by one who is stupid.

In misfortune a person's fortitude can be known, and this too only after a long time, not casually; by close attention, not without attention; by one who is wise, not by one who is stupid.

By conversation a person's wisdom can be known, and this too only after a long time, not casually; by close attention, not without attention; by one who is wise, not by one who is stupid.” (Anguttara Nikaya, 4.192)

If you really want to tell whether someone is a Stream Entrant, you have to develop attentiveness and wisdom and then you need to live with them, work with them (have dealings with), be around them at times when things are going badly and be in communication/conversation with them. It is not an easy matter to judge another person's character or the nature of their spiritual development. You need to have substantial experience of them (as this sutta points out) and I would say you need to bring intuition and reason into play as well. But perhaps more importantly you need to know yourself too, so that your view of someone else isn't just a projection of the unconscious contents of your own mind. This is what I think is meant by a wise person and an attentive person.

I've spent quite a lot of time talking about the Arya Sangha because this is such an important level of Sangha, this, as I said, is where the Dharma is embodied, where the Dharma is kept alive in its essential spirit. And this is the Sangha that we go for refuge to. Now it is probably too difficult for us to work out whether particular people we know are Stream Entrants, or even beyond that, but fortunately it is not necessary to do this. In fact it is not only not necessary but not even useful. All we need to know is that there are some people whom we feel confident are sincerely and effectively Going for Refuge and are more experienced on the Path than we are. If we can have contact with such people then we will be either directly or indirectly in contact with the spirit of the Dharma, because we can be sure that they are to some degree saturated with the spirit of the Dharma themselves, the spirit of awareness, generosity and loving kindness. If we are intent on finding Stream Entrants or realised Gurus or great spiritual beings, we are probably engaged in the business of looking for a saviour. But Buddhism is the wrong place to look for saviours. The Buddha never claimed to be a saviour, only one who points out the path. The Arya Sangha can do no more. If we put people up on pedestals and worship them and try to turn them into saviours, we will only be disappointed. Nobody can save us. Nobody can live our life for us. The Sangha, our spiritual friends, are part of the conditions which help us to make an effort with spiritual practice, but the effort is all our own. We can draw inspiration from the lives of others, past and present, but we have to act from that inspiration.

As well as the Maha Sangha and the Arya Sangha, traditionally there is the Bhikkhu Sangha and in some places a Bhikkhuni Sangha. This is the Sangha of monks and nuns, or to put it another way, the full-timers. What distinguishes monks and nuns from the rest of the Buddhist populace is the rules they live by . There are many different Orders of monks and nuns spanning many schools of Buddhism and several different countries. The history of the development of the Bhikkhu Sangha is very complex and not something I can go into here. If you want to find out more, then look in “A Concise History of Buddhism” by Andrew Skelton, which has a very clear and readable account of the whole history of the monastic Sangha.

In contemporary Buddhism sometimes the Bhikkhu Sangha is spoken of as if it were the only Sangha. But this is either an error of terminology or an error in understanding. The monastic Sangha, whether Theravadin or Mahayana, Vietnamese or Korean, is simply those members of the Sangha who have adopted a lifestyle based on the rules of the Vinaya. Sangha or Spiritual Community is not an organisation, not even an ecclesiastical organisation. It is a common response to the Ideal; a shared response and a shared practice. It is being on the same wavelength. It is something dynamic, something that happens, something that people do. It is not a fixed thing. We can have labels, such as Bhikkhu or Lama or Master or Mitra or Order Member – but those are just labels. Spiritual Community transcends labels. Spiritual Community is the actual experience of a coincidence of wills; an experience of resonance with the spiritual aspirations and spiritual endeavours of others.

I think it best to think of Spiritual Community or Sangha as a practice rather than as an institution that you become a member of. It is something you do rather than something you belong to. And it is something you practice “both in public and in private”. You come across this phrase in the Pali Canon in relation to harmony between monks. Harmony is maintained and lost because of what they do and say and think “both in public and in private”.

Here is what the Sangiti Sutta says about the the practice of spiritual community, “Six things are conducive to communal living: As long as monks both in public and in private show loving kindness to their fellows in acts of body, speech and thought,..share with their virtuous fellows whatever they receive as rightful gift, including the contents of their alms-bowls, which they do not keep to themselves,...keep consistently, unbroken and unaltered those rules of conduct that are spotless, leading to liberation, praised by the wise, unstained and conducive to concentration, and persist therein with their fellows both in public and in private, ….continue in that noble view that leads to liberation, to the utter destruction of suffering, remaining in such awareness with their fellows both in public and in private” (Digha Nikaya, Sutta 33, similar list in Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 48)

There is this interesting repetition of the phrase “in public and in private”, which reinforces the idea that spiritual community is a practice. In this case it is a practice of loving kindness, generosity, ethics, and right view. The text goes on to say how problems arise in the spiritual community and by implication tells us what we need to avoid. “Six roots of contention: Here, (a) a monk is angry and bears ill-will, he is disrespectful and discourteous to the Teacher, the Dharma and the Sangha, and does not finish his training. He stirs up contention within the Sangha, which brings woe and sorrow to many, with evil consequences, misfortune and sorrow for devas and humans. If, friends, you should discover such a root of contention among yourselves or among others, you should strive to get rid of just that root of contention. If you find no such root of contention...then you should work to prevent its overcoming you in future. Or (b) a monk is deceitful and malicious...,(c) a monk is envious and mean...(d) a monk is cunning and deceitful...(e) a monk is full of evil desires and wrong views...(f) a monk Is opinionated, obstinate and tenacious. If, friends, you should discover such a roof of contention among yourselves or among others, you should strive to get rid of just that root of contention. If you find no such root of contention..., then you should work to prevent it overcoming you in future.” (ibid)

The practice of spiritual community involves avoiding these things. Firstly avoiding anger, resentment, being disrespectful and discourteous to the Three Jewels. Avoiding stirring up contention and argument. Then there is avoiding deceit and malice, avoiding envy and meanness, avoiding slyness, avoiding wrong views, avoiding being opinionated and stubborn. This points again to the sort of practice that we need to undertake if we want to create the spirit of Sangha among ourselves. To put it more positively, we need to cultivate goodwill and be respectful to the Three Jewels and to our teachers. We need to be honest and kindly. We need to rejoice in others and give freely. We need to be open in our dealings with each other. We need to study and discuss so that we develop right views about the nature of existence. We need to hold our opinions lightly and be less attached to them.

The practice of spiritual community is nothing onerous, not something heavy and difficult. It is a joyful, delightful practice of kindness and openness and generosity. It is the practice of relating to the best in each other and living in harmony with each other and the practice of continually cultivating positive mental states. It's a very attractive practice and one that brings great rewards. But it must be emphasised it is a practice and therefore something you have to do for yourself. The spiritual community is mutually helpful, mutually supportive but each and every one of us has to play our part for this fragile network of conditions to flourish. There is no room for complaining that we have no friends or that others are not taking sufficient interest in us. We have to act and befriend people and take an interest in others and as we act in this way we begin to enter into the spirit of Sangha and become part of the “free association of individuals” who experience a mutual spiritual resonance and a mutual delight in each others' very existence.

No Choice

This talk was given at the London Buddhist Centre in 2001

Perhaps the greatest issue facing us in the world today is how to stop destroying the planet and how to begin to reverse some of the damage we have already done. One of the reasons we have done this to ourselves and to our home, the planet Earth, is because we, the human race, have been and continue to be ignorant of the connections between things, ignorant of how all life is interconnected and interdependent. We have been ignorant of the very existence of an ecosystem. And it would be a great mistake for us to continue this ignorance into our search for solutions. It would be a mistake for us to think of environmentalism as concerned with a particular aspect of life. It would be a mistake to think that environmental issues were separate from issues of war or poverty or economics or politics or leisure or work or spiritual life. To think of environmental issues as separate in that way would be to continue the ignorance that has brought us into this plight in the first place. The social, the spiritual and the ecological are not separate spheres of knowledge and activity, they are intimately and irrevocably interconnected and it is ignorance of this that leads us to behave in ways that are destructive to the planet and therefore destructive to ourselves. This ignorance comes about because human beings have developed self-reflexive consciousness. We are aware and we are aware that we are aware.

This consciousness, which is what distinguishes us from the animals, is our greatest asset, our greatest gift and perhaps our greatest curse. Because of this consciousness of self there is a consciousness of other and a consciousness of insecurity in relation to other. The consciousness of self is crude, rudimentary even, and is closely identified with the body, with things, with people as things and with a rigid world view. This self is constantly buffeted by the winds of change externally and internally by the primitive forces of survival and reproduction. So a sense of insecurity is an inevitable accompaniment of emerging self-consciousness. As Subhuti says in The Buddhist Vision "the rudimentary self or immature ego tries to find security by using the same instincts as those by which the animal preserves itself. Just as the animal hunts for the food which will nourish its organism, so the ego tries to possess those things it considers as securing its identity. And as the animal will attack and destroy whatever threatens its survival, so the ego seeks to destroy whatever undermines its integrity. Aided and amplified by the human power of imagination, these reactions can reach the monstrous proportions of ruthless empire-building and of mass destruction through war."

The immature ego is ignorant of interconnection and experiences itself as separate, and as fixed and unchanging. This according to Buddhism is the basic spiritual ignorance, experiencing ourselves as separate and as fixed and unchanging. It is this basic spiritual ignorance that gives rise to the greed for possessions and people to give us a sense of security and it is this basic spiritual ignorance which gives rise to hatred and a violent rejection of anything that appears to threaten this separate fixed and unchanging self. Here we can see the source of all human conflict, the source of consumerism, the source of overpopulation, the source of our blind destruction of our own environment.

This is what is depicted at the centre of the Tibetan Wheel of Life. There are three animals, a cock, a snake and a pig biting each other's tails and going round and round in circles. The cock symbolises greed, the snake hatred and the pig ignorance. They symbolise the animal within us which is covered over with a thin veneer of civilisation. Animals of course are not destructive; it is only the animal in conjunction with self-consciousness that is destructive. This picture is not saying anything about animals. It is a mirror for us to look into and if we are honest we will recognise, perhaps with a shock, that what we see is our own inner self, motivated by greed for possessions, for sex, for status, motivated by aversion to discomfort or criticism and motivated by the yearning for security. This is what the first circle on the Wheel of Life shows. It is directly confronting us with our spiritual ignorance and spiritual immaturity. Because we are dealing with symbolism here it is perhaps better not to over-conceptualise. Ideas can become a barrier between us and the truth. It is better just to look in the mirror and see what we see; a cock, a snake and a pig; pecking, strutting, crawling, hissing, rooting, snuffling animals. However we are self conscious, we are human beings and that spark of consciousness is what can save us from the excesses of ignorance. We have the choice to eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, to borrow an image from elsewhere. We have the choice to do something with our awareness. What we can do with our awareness is develop it. We can evolve further. We can make the choice to evolve our awareness and dissolve the fetters of ignorance, neurotic greed and hatred. We can embark on what has been called the path of the higher evolution, that is the evolution of consciousness or awareness. This is what the spiritual life is about, you could say this is what the truly human life is about and this is the long term and fundamental solution to the problem of human destructiveness. This is the radical solution in that it goes to the roots of the problem.

The second circle on the Wheel of Life is about this choice we have. A choice we make whether we want to or not because even doing nothing is a choice. This circle of the Wheel is divided into two segments, one white and one black. In the black segment, naked and anguished men and women tumble downwards tormented by demons, in the white segment men and women wearing bright garments and performing various benign activities are ascending. The message of this section of the Wheel of Life is that we experience the consequences of our actions. This is what is known in Buddhism as the law of Karma, a much used and often misunderstood term. To understand what Karma is we need to understand a very fundamental Buddhist teaching, the teaching of conditionality. After the Buddha's Enlightenment experience he tried to communicate what he had seen and understood in many different ways. One of the ways he used to explain his insight is formulated as the law of conditionality, which very simply states that everything arises in dependence upon conditions. In the texts it says "this being that becomes, from the arising of this that arises. This not being that does not become, from the ceasing of this that ceases." so everything comes into being in dependence upon preceding conditions. This applies to everything: a thought, a giraffe, a mountain, a war, a planet, a universe. This would appear to be a very obvious and simple assertion, that everything arises in dependence upon conditions. However, simple and obvious as it may seem, it is the most fundamental teaching of Buddhism and it has vast implications. Karma is just one kind of conditionality.

There are five kinds; there is conditionality on the inorganic level, the level covered more or less by the laws of physics. There is conditionality on the organic level, the level of biology. There is conditionality on the lower mental level involving such things as perceptions and instincts. Then there is conditionality on the level of intentional action which is the Karmic level and above that is the transcendental, Dharmic level of conditionality. The reason I have enumerated this rather technical list is simply to make the point that Karma does not explain everything that happens to us. There are a multitude of conditions at work all the time and it is impossible to separate out what results from our own intentional actions and what results from other kinds of conditionality. We need to beware of simplistic understandings of Karma. It is not a model of linear cause and effect and it is not an exhaustive explanation of everything that happens to everyone. Everything arises in dependence upon conditions but not all conditions are Karmic.

Put simply Karma is intentional action. Buddhism teaches an ethics of intention. Traditional ethical systems in the West speak in terms of 'good' and 'bad'. Buddhism doesn't think in terms of good and bad actions. It focuses instead on the intention behind the action. Indeed the terms good and bad are alien to Buddhist ethical teaching, instead we use the terms skilful and unskilful. A skilful or ethical action is one that arises out of a mind that is loving, generous and wise and an unskilful or unethical action is one that arises out of a mind that is selfish, hateful and ignorant. Actions are understood to be of thought, speech and body. So the law of Karma states that unskilful actions have negative consequences and skilful actions have benign and positive consequences. Difficulties, suffering and unhappiness which we experience may be due to our unskilfulness in the past i.e. may be due to our past Karma, or may be due to other conditions. Happiness and good fortune may be due to our skilfulness in the past, i.e. may be due to our past Karma, or to other conditions. But the importance of the law of Karma is not that it may explain our present circumstances or help us to analyse the past. The importance of the law of Karma is that it allows us to shape the future and, because all things are interconnected, how we shape our own future inevitably affects others and even the whole planet.

Skilful or ethical action of thought, word and deed is the best way to create a happy and satisfying life. Skilful action is based in mental states of kindness, generosity and wisdom which are by nature expansive, outgoing and compassionate. This has a beneficial effect on everybody we encounter and on all the creatures and plant life. When we are experiencing kindness, love, generosity and wisdom we do not harm the world around us, we enjoy and protect it.

So the choice we have to make is whether to embark on the difficult task of overcoming our natural instinct to seek security for our fragile ego sense or go beyond that natural instinct by deliberately evolving consciousness that is expansive and self-less. It would seem that the obvious answer would be to say yes, lets go for it. However that is not a choice that the majority of people make. Most people decide to stay within the confines of their narrow self interest and seek as much security as they can from the world around them. This is because the spiritual path, the path of the higher evolution of consciousness, is truly difficult. It is not the work of a day or a week or year but of twenty, thirty, or more years and even then the fruits are gathered slowly. The truly spiritual life goes against the whole trend and logic of ordinary life. I have to make the effort, I have to change, I have to be transformed even, but ultimately it is not about any acquisition for me, not even the acquisition of wisdom. Certainly we must use our natural self interest to get started. We can be legitimately motivated by a desire for happiness and well-being. But ultimately all self-centredness is transcended, and our sense of self and other is radically transformed, so that to act in the interests of others is no different from acting in the interests of self. This is something that can be understood intellectually, but intellectual understanding is not sufficient to sustain consistent effort over many years. We need to have a heart response to the possibilities open to us, the possibilities of great wisdom and compassion that transcend all hankering after security all desire for personal gain, status, happiness even. We need to have a heart response to the ideal of becoming more truly human so that we come to value co-operation above competition, to value simplicity above wealth, value harmony above gain, value peace above revenge, and the welfare of all beings above our own life. We need to have a heart response because the heart or the emotions are where our energy is, where our motivation is and we will need energy and motivation to make progress on the spiritual path. Because if we are not motivated strongly enough we will not be able to overcome the many obstacles and struggles that we will inevitably meet along the way.

For instance we will want to meditate but may get discouraged when we experience nothing but distraction for weeks or months on end. We will want to be loving and kind but may get discouraged when we meet people, especially Buddhists, who are not nice kind people and who perhaps don't even like us. We will want to be wise but may get discouraged when nobody wants to listen to our wisdom and they even laugh of us. We will want to be ethical but may get discouraged when others take advantage of us. We will want to be more aware but may get discouraged when we become more aware and realise that we are not as good and truthful and kind as we liked to believe. We will want to transcend selfishness but may get discouraged by the tenacity of our egotism.

Spiritual life is not easy, it is not for the faint-hearted. It is a tough choice but it is worthwhile and it works. The alternative is to continue to seek security and happiness in ways that cannot ever deliver happiness and security. It may be difficult to make progress on a spiritual path but wisdom, happiness and compassion do arise in dependence upon the effort made. The mundane path of material success and status may appear easier but it is an illusion from top to bottom and it only brings sorrow and pain. This doesn't need any great elucidation, it is plain to see all around us and it is evident in the history of the human race down through all the generations. The great difference that has occurred over the last couple of centuries is that the world has become smaller due to the advances in technology and the human race is capable of massive destructiveness also due to the advances in technology. Our choice to pursue the life of material gain, power and status has greater implications now than ever before. And those implications have become more visible in such things as climate change, radioactive waste, weapons of mass destruction, large scale poverty and starvation and overpopulation. The implications of choosing a life of awareness, simplicity, ethical behaviour and compassion for all sentient life are also greater than ever before because of the possibilities of global communication and because of the spiritual vacuum at the heart of the world.

When we choose a life of spiritual quest within a Buddhist context, we undertake to live by five specific principles. These are the principle of non-violence, the principle of generosity, the principle of contentment, the principle of truthfulness and the principle of awareness. The practice of meditation helps us to live by these principles.

The first principle underlies all the other principles and is the cornerstone of the whole edifice of Buddhist philosophy and practice. This is the principle of non-violence or to put it more positively, the principle of love. This love is what we call Metta, a love that is sustained, consistent, spontaneous and seeks no reward. This principle has implications for every aspect of our lives; most obviously it implies cooperative, forgiving and kindly relations with other people, even those we disagree with or dislike. It rules out revenge, it rules out prejudice, it rules out persecution, it rules out discrimination, it rules out character assassination, it rules out slander, it rules out doing anything to others that they don't wish us to do. It rules out all kinds of manipulation and exploitation. All of these things appear in gross forms in the world around us, but as we become more ethically sensitive we will discover their more subtle forms in our own hearts and minds. We will begin to notice the edge of competitiveness or malice in our humour. We will begin to notice the subtle emotional blackmail between lovers. We will notice all the little ways we have of undermining the achievement of others. We can multiply the examples if we pay honest attention to what goes on in the privacy our hearts and minds. Here we find our working ground and it is here in our everyday relations with others that we can begin the process of cultivating a compassionate mind.

The principle of non-violence has implications beyond our relations with other people. It applies to our relations with all living things: animals, birds, insects, trees, flowers etc. Before the Chinese invasion in 1950, Tibet was a safe haven for wildlife, and vast herds of antelope and musk deer roamed the plains together with bears, wolves, foxes and wild sheep. But all that has changed now. The American photographer and author Galen Rowell in his essay" The Agony of Tibet", writes, "the invaders made a sport of shooting indiscriminately at wildlife. In 1973, Dhondub Choedon, a Tibetan now in exile in India, reported that "Chinese soldiers go on organised hunts using machine guns. They carry away the meat in lorries and export the musk and furs to China". Important habitat for vast herds of animals was soon over grazed as the Chinese forced nomadic families into communes to raise livestock for export instead of their own subsistence. Tibetans, including the children, were forced to kill 'unnecessary animals' such as moles and marmots that vied with humans for grain and dug up valuable grazing land. Children were given a qouta for small animals to kill that, if not met, resulted in beatings and other forms of punishment." It is so sad to think of the children being conditioned to kill animals. A stark illustration of how totally different a materialistic outlook is from a spiritual and non-violent outlook.

The principle of non-violence or love extends also to our attitude to the natural world. The Thai monk Prayudh Payutto has said that it is best to avoid using the word 'environment' in our concerns for ecology. He feels the word 'environment' betrays its origins in Western attitudes that separate human beings from the rest of nature. Nature includes us. Ecology includes us. When we really begin to understand and see this then we see that the effort we make to transform ourselves is ecological work and that all our activities have ecological implications. If a river dries up it is relatively easy to see the ecological implications. If human hearts dry up the ecological implications are far greater. We must keep our hearts moist with the life-giving waters of love.

Prayudh Payutto has written an essay entitled "Buddhist solutions for the 21st century". In it he states that modern human civilisation is in the grip of three harmful and tenaciously held views, these are:

"1. The perception that mankind is separate from nature, that mankind must control, conquer, or manipulate nature according to his desires.

2. The perception that fellow human beings are not fellow human beings. Rather than perceiving the common situations or experiences shared among all people, human beings have tended to focus on the differences between themselves.

3. The perception that happiness is dependent on an abundance of material possessions.

The first perception is an attitude toward nature; the second perception is an attitude toward fellow human beings; the third perception is an understanding of the objective of life."

He goes on to say that for human beings to live happily there must be freedom on three levels: physical freedom, social freedom, and inner freedom. Inner freedom is the ability to live happily and contentedly within ourselves without needing to manipulate and exploit the world around us. Without inner freedom human happiness is totally dependent on manipulation of the external environment and social exploitation. This inner freedom, which is freedom from neurotic craving, freedom from hatred and freedom from spiritual ignorance is essential to the ecology of our planet. Without this inner freedom we are at the mercy of forces which push us into over-consumption and violent competition and a search for happiness and security where happiness and security cannot be found.

These are some of the implications of this first principle of Buddhism, the principle of non-violence. The other four principles are, as I said, based on this one. The principle of generosity extends the principle of love into our relationship to property and possessions. Generosity is basically an attitude to possessions, property and money which sees sharing and giving as more important than acquiring and owning. It is an attitude that holds things lightly, regarding ourselves as only temporary owners of whatever we have. In fact it is even better if we can see ourselves not as owners but as stewards, we are simply looking after something until it passes on to someone else. The Buddha said that a strong possessiveness about things or people leads to suffering; all things are impermanent and the stronger we hold on to them the more painful is the inevitable letting go. This applies to everything including our own body and sense of identity.

The principle of generosity runs completely counter to what has been called the 'religion of consumerism', with its scriptures and liturgies dedicated to exciting greed and its places of worship designed to entice us to acquire things we neither need nor want. Consumerism could be said to be the dominant ethic in the developed world today and this makes the principle of generosity all the more radical. Generosity as a practice in a society and world which is dedicated to its opposite is not an easy practice. To develop a truly generous attitude, an attitude of non-ownership, non-possession, non-acquiring, an attitude of sharing, stewardship and giving requires a big effort to overcome the constant conditioning and brainwashing that we are subjected to and have been subjected to since childhood.

Another Thai monk, Sulak Sivaraksa, writes "consumerism supports those who have economic and political power by rewarding their hatred, aggression, and anger. And consumerism works hand-in-hand with the modern educational system to encourage cleverness without wisdom. We create delusion in ourselves and call it knowledge. Until the schools reinvest their energy into teaching wholesome, spiritual values instead of reinforcing the delusion that satisfaction and meaning in life can be found by finding a higher-paying job, the schools are just cheerleaders for the advertising agencies, and we believe that consuming more, going faster, and living in greater convenience will bring us happiness. We don't look at the tremendous cost to ourselves, to our environment, and to our souls. Until more people are willing to look at the negative aspects of consumerism, we will not be able to change the situation for the better. Until we understand the roots of greed, hatred, and delusion within ourselves, we will not be free from the temptations of the religion of consumerism, and we will remain stuck in this illusory search for happiness.” (Dharma Rain, Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism, p.182)

The third principle is the principle of contentment and this is traditionally related to our sexual activity. On the one hand we are enjoined to refrain from any form of exploitation or manipulation to satisfy our sexual desires and on the other hand we are encouraged to practise contentment with our current sexual status, instead of constant neurotic seeking after new experiences. Ultimately this principle aims at what is referred to as a state of stillness, simplicity and contentment which frees us to a large extent from any neurotic dependence on sex. For most of us this principle will in practice mean trying not to use subtle, or even not so subtle, manipulation or emotional blackmail to get others to behave as we want them to and it will also mean meditating to attain to more tranquil and contented states of mind.

The fourth principle of Buddhist ethics is truthfulness. Truthfulness is essential to the functioning of any society. Without truthfulness there can be no trust and without trust human relations fall apart and we are left with an atmosphere of suspicion and hatred. (Since I gave this talk in 2001 the paucity of truthfulness in public discourse has become even more pronounced) Truthfulness as an ethical principle has to be based on loving kindness and not used as a weapon to hurt others. And truthfulness, like all these ethical principles, begins with ourselves. We need to be honest with ourselves about what we think, what we feel, what we do and what we say. To be honest with oneself is not necessarily an easy matter, it may entail facing up to unpleasant aspects of our character and it may seriously dent our pride and even possibly put us in the position of needing to apologise to others.

Truthfulness means, firstly, being factual in what we say or write. It also means steering clear of exaggeration for effect. Exaggeration is one of the great building bricks of egotism. Truthfulness means not understating things and it means not deliberately omitting relevant information. Omissions can distort a narrative to the point of falsehood. And of course, truthfulness means not deliberately lying. When we tamper with the truth it is usually because we want to be seen in a particular light or we want to gain some advantage: we want to be liked, we want to be popular and bending the truth can seem to be an easy way to get attention and approval or get whatever we want. Of course if we do that habitually the person who gets attention and approval will be a fiction and in our hearts we will be lonelier than ever. For friendship to exist, for any loving human relationships to exist, there has to be honesty, otherwise we only have fictions relating to fictions, facades relating to facades, which is, to say the least, unsatisfactory.

The fifth principle of Buddhist ethics is the principle of awareness or mindfulness. You could say that awareness is just as fundamental as love. We need awareness that is saturated with love and compassion and our love and compassion needs to be as aware as possible. Love and compassion without awareness can degenerate into sentimentality and pity and awareness without love can be cold and alienated. So these two qualities, love and awareness, need to be developed in tandem. That is why we teach the two meditation practices, Mindfulness of Breathing and the Metta Bhavana. The Mindfulness of Breathing cultivates awareness and the Metta Bhavana practice develops loving kindness. Awareness begins with ourselves. We need to become more aware of our bodies and our actions, we need to become aware of our thoughts and of our emotions. This forms the basis for awareness of other people, awareness of the world around us and ultimately awareness of reality.

Sangharakshita has said ''awareness is revolutionary”. It is revolutionary in that it brings about change of a far reaching and profound nature. Awareness is naturally expansive. As we become more and more aware we become more expansive and full of life. Our energy becomes more focused and more available to us and we become more capable of taking responsibility for our lives. Our normal state is not really one of being aware, we don't really know what we're thinking, feeling, doing or saying and other people are just projections of our unconscious needs, desires and aversions. We think we're being original when all our views and opinions are received. We think we are independent of influence when our whole life is a constant swinging from one influence to the next.

Awareness gives us the possibility of a genuine individuality and more real relationships with other people. It is revolutionary in that it throws the light of truth onto our lives and wakes us up to what is really going on. Awareness transforms us. The greater the awareness the more far reaching the transformation and there is no limit to how aware we can become. Buddhahood or Enlightenment could be said to be a state of perfected awareness. Awareness of other people and awareness of the world around us shows us that we are one with humanity and one with nature. It shows us that there is beauty everywhere. Lack of awareness, which is self-centredness, is narrow in perception and sees threat and ugliness everywhere. Awareness sees beauty and optimism even in the most unlikely places.

Awareness of reality is a constant immersion in the reality that all life is process, all life is flux and change, all life is interconnected and interdependent. To be constantly immersed in this vision, to experience this all the time is to be free from all ill-will and possessiveness. This awareness gives life a quality of lightness and a vast perspective that turns all personal fears and anxieties into absurdities and makes much of what seems important in the world around us look ridiculous. Perhaps that is why the Dalai Lama is always laughing so heartily! However because of the presence of compassion there is no arrogance or impatience in this awareness. There is rather, a tender regard for the suffering of the world which is one's own suffering too when one ceases to separate oneself from others and the world.

These then are the five principles that we undertake to live by when we embark on the spiritual path: non-violence, generosity, contentment, truthfulness and awareness. These are the principles that we train ourselves in over and over again in order to transcend the poisons of neurotic greed, ill-will and spiritual ignorance, which are the cause of human suffering, both on the personal level and the global level. By training ourselves to live by these principles we contribute to our own well-being and to the well-being of the whole world.

The Wheel of Life is a mirror of truthfulness and in it we see ourselves, warts and all. We also see the seeds of our happiness, the seeds of our Enlightenment even. Sometimes our vanity leads us to the mirror and sometimes our vanity keeps us away from a mirror, but this mirror shatters our vanity so that we can begin to see things as they really are and so that we can make the choice to embark on the path of the higher evolution of consciousness, which is in reality no choice, because we cannot live by choosing death, we can only live by choosing life.

To conclude here is a little story from 'The Snow Leopard' by Peter Matheson which perhaps illustrates this point quite well, "the Lama of the Crystal monastery appears to be a very happy man, and yet I wonder how he feels about his isolation in the silences of Tsakang, which he has not left in eight years now and, because he's crippled may never leave again. Since Jang-bu, the interpreter, seems uncomfortable with the Lama or with himself or perhaps with us, I tell him not to inquire on this point if it seems to him impertinent, but after a moment Jang-bu does so. And this holy man of great directness and simplicity, big white teeth shining, laughs out loud in an infectious way at Jang- bu's question. Indicating his twisted legs without a trace of self-pity or bitterness - they belong to all of us - he casts his arms wide to the sky and the snow mountains, the high sun and the dancing sheep, and cries, "Of course I am happy here! It's wonderful! Especially when I have no choice!"

Manjughosa

This talk was given at Vajraloka Retreat Centre, March 2001

Manjughosa is the archetypal Bodhisattva of Wisdom. There are four things in that sentence which need to be elucidated – Manjughosa, archetypal, Bodhisattva and Wisdom and that's what I will endeavour to do in this talk, although not in that order. I will look at what is meant by archetypal first, then I will go into the term Bodhisattva, then Wisdom and finally Manjughosa. But before I say anything about these I want to talk about the weather and the landscape. We are here in North Wales with its lush green landscape watered by frequent rainfall throughout the year. This very beautiful landscape is a product of geological and meteorological conditions prevailing over large periods of time. If we move in imagination to Australia or Libya or Alaska or Ecuador, we will find very different landscapes, all beautiful and unique in their own way and all the product of a myriad of interacting conditions.

We ourselves, our minds, are like landscapes . The landscape of your mind, your consciousness, has been moulded by a vast web of conditions over a very long time and each mindscape is very different and has its own beauties and unique features. When you introduce something new into a landscape it can have a huge effect. Whether it is a new weather condition or a new insect or a new tree. So we have to be careful what we introduce onto our landscapes. Similarly with our minds, when we introduce something new it can have a big effect. In fact we often introduce something new in order to have an effect. We introduce a new language for instance so that we can become familiar with another people and culture. And we introduce meditation and Buddhism into the language of our minds so that we can become more aware and kinder and be a better person all round.

But when we introduce something new into a landscape it will often encounter resistance from what is already there and when we introduce new ideas and views into our mindscape, resistance is encountered too. Existing views and ideas don't want to be disturbed. Our minds often want to stay as they are and to a certain degree they will stay as they are. Our uniqueness is our uniqueness. But by introducing new elements such as meditation, study and retreat our whole mindscape can be vastly expanded and its creative fertility boosted to a very high degree, like bringing water to a desert.

When you listen to a talk you will have many responses. Something is being introduced into the environment of your mind and your mind will respond in various ways depending on the conditions that have brought your unique consciousness into being and into contact with these ideas of the Dharma. So as you listen you could note your responses and use them as food for reflection later. With a talk you have the content to reflect on, you have what the speaker communicates apart from the words to reflect on and you have your own responses to reflect on. If you approach a talk in this way you can gain a great deal, even from a mediocre or bad talk, because you are engaging in a practice of awareness of thoughts and emotions as well as learning from the ideas and person of the speaker. In this way the landscape of your mind becomes more expansive, as if you were seeing the stars of the night sky for the first time. We need to remember that our minds are often limited like a local landscape but we have the potential to be whole countries, continents or planets even, embracing many variations of landscape and in harmonious communication with the numberless galaxies. Our minds can become universes and the gateway to that vastness is awareness. I will return to this later but for now I will go back to Manjughosa the Archetypal Bodhisattva of Wisdom and I'll begin by looking at archetypal. What does archetypal mean?

An archetype is a pattern. It is a psychic pattern, a pattern of the mind. This pattern or archetype manifests in the form of symbols. The archetypal pattern is the deep unconscious strata of the mind. Archetypes of the mind become visible as symbols. These symbols are common to all humanity, although they may take different forms at different times and in different cultures. Examples of archetypal symbols are the wise old man, the dark lord or devil, the young hero or warrior. These are deep unconscious layers of experience and perception in the human psyche that form into patterns which manifest as archetypal symbols.

In Buddhism, the archetypal Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are manifestations of the pure or Enlightened mind. When the human psyche is purified of hatred and greed and ignorance what emerges are the basic patterns or archetypes of Wisdom and Compassion. Wisdom and Compassion are two words which hint at the basic reality of consciousness when it is free from delusion. This basic reality of consciousness finds expression in the symbolism of archetypal Buddhas and Bodhisattvas – a rich symbolism of sound, image, colour and gesture. All the myriad forms of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are symbols of the same archetype, the same pattern, the psychic pattern of Enlightened, purified consciousness.

Bodhisattva literally means “Awakened being” and the word is used in many different ways. In early Buddhism, which is recorded in the Pali scriptures, the term Bodhisattva (Bodhisatta in Pali) refers to the previous lives of Gautama the Buddha. Before he gained Enlightenment or Awakened he was a Bodhisattva during many lifetimes. A Bodhisattva is someone who is striving for Enlightenment, especially someone who is motivated by compassion for the suffering of others. Any of us could be referred to as a Bodhisattva if we are genuinely striving for Enlightenment out of motives of compassion. We would be novice Bodhisattvas. More usually the term would be used to refer to someone who had attained some level of transcendental Insight and was therefore compassionate in the true sense of being concerned for the spiritual welfare of others. And then the term Bodhisattva is used to refer to purely archetypal and symbolic figures such as Avalokitesvara and Tara and Manjughosa. A Bodhisattva in this sense is a symbol of the Enlightened mind which emphasises a particular aspect of the Enlightened mind. But all Bodhisattvas symbolise the same purified Enlightened consciousness. There is in a sense only one archetype but we in our comparative spiritual ignorance see many different Bodhisattvas and are attracted to some more than others. All this symbolism is a communication from Awakened consciousness to unawakened consciousness and every means is employed to engage our minds, to attract us to the reality of Wisdom and Compassion.

An archetypal Bodhisattva arises out of the deep meditation of Transcendental awareness and communicates something of that Beauty and profundity to us. Some Bodhisattvas will emphasise compassion, like Tara and Avalokitesvara, or energy, like Vajrapani, or wisdom like Prajnaparamita and Manjughosa. Again there really is no difference between the spiritual qualities of Compassion, Energy and Wisdom. These words or concepts also just give emphasis to an aspect of Enlightenment. But there is no quality of Compassion that is separate from Wisdom, no Wisdom that is divorced from Compassion, no transcendental energy that is different form Wisdom and Compassion. There is just one state of Enlightened Consciousness that these words point to.

Manjughosa is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. The emphasis is on Wisdom but we need to understand that Manjughosa is just as much a Bodhisattva of Energy and Compassion. But we will approach Manjughosa through this concept of Wisdom. Jnana or Prajna in the Sanskrit. Perhaps we need to understand what spiritual ignorance is first and based on that we can begin to intuit or imagine what Wisdom might be. If you watch your own mind for a while you will have a direct experience of spiritual ignorance. There are many ways to talk about spiritual ignorance and about Wisdom. We can speak in terms of hindrances and expansiveness, in terms of defilement and purity, in terms of blindness or obscurity and Insight or clarity, in terms of ignorance and realisation, in terms of duality and non-duality and so on. These are all ways in which we can talk about ignorance and Wisdom and it is good that we have many concepts and images so that different temperaments can approach the whole process of spiritual life form different angles.

In terms of hindrances, the spiritually ignorant mind is limited by craving, aversion or doubts. In very ordinary terms this means that we want some things or experiences and we don't want other things or experiences and we get confused or uncertain about spiritual practice when it doesn't give us what we want or gives us what we don't want. When we are no longer limited by preferences, likes, dislikes, wanting and not wanting, when our consciousness expands into a realm of abundance where no lack is felt, then we are moving into the arena of Wisdom. Wanting and not wanting is the functioning of the ego. Wanting and not wanting and the fear of not getting what we want or getting what we don't want. This is the limited and limiting ego at work. Egotism or selfishness is a mode of consciousness, a mode of awareness. It is the mode of consciousness that operates from the basis that there is a fixed self at the centre of life which has to be served and defended in all sorts of ways. This is an unconscious and deeply held belief that forms the basic pattern for unenlightened consciousness. And it's not true. According to Buddhism there is no fixed self. There is only the process of thoughts, perceptions, feelings and so on, ever-changing and ever-changeable. This deeply held unconscious belief is the big hindrance that limits us. And when we see through this completely our consciousness is no longer fettered by wanting and not wanting – no longer fettered by fears and preferences. It becomes expansive and happy.

We can also look at ignorance and Wisdom in terms of duality and non-duality. Duality here is the duality between self as subject and other as object, me and you, I and the world. This is how we experience the world and in a sense it is how we have to experience the world in order to function on a day to day basis. It is a relative truth. You and I are different and separate. However according to Buddhism we are not separate in an absolute sense. This is because consciousness is essentially process rather than substance. The fluid and expansive nature of mind means that we interpenetrate and flow through each other rather than remain discrete and separate. This is the reality. But that is not our normal experience and as Sangharakshita says: “For practical purposes we must think in terms of going from a lower state of consciousness to a higher state. Any kind of spiritual development has to be based upon dualistic assumptions; we posit two principles, one of which we move away from and the other of which we move towards. All spiritual systems have a practical working dualistic basis of this kind. Some, like Zoroastrianism, regard that basis as metaphysically ultimate. Others, like the Mahayana, do not regard it as metaphysically ultimate, and still others, like Hinayana Buddhism, don't say anything one way or the other.” (Complete Works, Vol.14, p.591)

From the viewpoint of Mahayana Buddhism, the dualistic framework is considered inadequate. Again to quote Sangharakshita: “....the dualistic framework is seen to be insufficient, something to be dismantled or dissolved. This is achieved through realizing the third dimension of sunyata: mahasunyata, the “great sunyata”, the emptiness or non-validity of the distinction between the conditioned and the Unconditioned. What this means from a practical point of view is that Enlightenment consists not in passing from samsara to nirvana – as though both were separate realities – but in realizing their essential non-difference. Thus in the highest sense the spiritual life is an illusion. As this cannot be realized except through the spiritual life, it must be said that non-dualism has no meaning for us at all. It is only words, or at best an abstract idea. If a non-dualistic perspective discloses itself to us as we work our way up the spiritual ladder, that's fine. But we realize that there was never any ladder in the first place, or that there is no difference between the “top” and the “bottom”, only when we have worked our way to the “top”. We cannot base our spiritual practice upon a purely intellectual understanding of non-duality.

Even on the philosophical level the idea of non-duality presents an insurmountable difficulty. Owing to the fact that thought itself is irreducibly dualistic, it is impossible to construct a statement of non-dualism that is not dualistic, at least in form.…..

….In stating your position as one of non-duality you inevitably imply a duality. Every philosophy is bound to be dualistic inasmuch as no statement is possible without at least two ultimate principles....

...We cannot win – we are not meant to win. There is really not much we can usefully discuss at all. We must change the very structure of our consciousness – especially through meditation – so that it ceases to split everything up into subject and object.” (Complete Works, Vol.14, p.591/593)

So, yes we can talk about ignorance and Wisdom in terms of duality and non-duality, but for practical purposes we have to content ourselves to work within the duality imposed by thought, language and concepts. Even when we have an intuitive realisation of non-dual mind, we can only communicate that realisation in dualistic, subject /object, terms. Although the rational mind may be confounded we still need to try to understand and experience the significance of dualism and non-dualism. Another way to look at ignorance and Wisdom is in terms of defilements or poisons and purity. Looked at from this perspective our minds are poisoned by greed, envy, doubt, hatred and pride and our task is to purify ourselves by, as it were, taking the antidotes to the poisons.

The antidote to greed or craving in the Buddhist tradition is the Recollection of Death, meditation on a dead body and meditation on the six elements: earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. This could be seen also as reflection and meditation on the changing nature of all things including ourselves. The antidote to envy is to perform skilful actions so that we have something to commend ourselves for. The antidote to doubt is wisdom, in the sense of studying and assimilating the Dharma. Also we can combat doubt by looking at the spiritual progress already made by ourselves and others. The antidote to hatred is Metta Bhavana, rejoicing in merits and the Sevenfold Puja. Also the practice of Kshanti which is patience and tolerance. The antidote to pride is generosity. Pride is an over-focussing on self and generosity implies awareness of others. By applying these antidotes we can gradually purify ourselves of the poison of negativity until our minds are bright with the light of Wisdom.

These are a few ways to talk about ignorance and Wisdom; hindrances and expansiveness, duality and non-duality, defilement and purity. Whichever way we talk about Wisdom, Wisdom itself is something different. Wisdom is essentially a complete and radical transformation of consciousness that cannot be fully grasped in concepts and can be hinted at and pointed to by metaphors, images, and symbols. Manjughosa is a symbol of Wisdom. If we can fully engage with Manjughosa to the point where we become Manjughosa then we will have become Wisdom too. And the task of the spiritual aspirant is to become Wisdom rather than know Wisdom.

I'm not going to say very much about Manjughosa because really symbols are not to be explained. You need to engage and relate to a symbol, not with a picture or statue but with the archetype. Manjughosa is in the form of a young man, sixteen years old. His body is a golden amber colour. He is seated in the full lotus posture. His right hand is raised aloft and he is very gently holding a sword, with flames dancing round the end of the sword. His left hand holds a book to his heart. He has long black hair and wears a crown of jewels. He is seated on a white moon mat which rests on on a light blue lotus. The name Manjughosa means “gentle-voiced one”. I'm going to look at just two elements in this symbolism, the sword and the book.

The sword held by Manjughosa is the word of Wisdom; it cuts through all ignorance. It is not a blunt instrument. It is a very sharp sword, held very gently and gracefully. The sword of wisdom requires very little exertion to cut off ignorance. It is a subtle and refined instrument and the flames that dance on its end symbolise the transformation that happens when the sword of Wisdom comes into play.

In practice what this means is that we need to refine and subtilise our minds through meditation and puja so that wisdom can come into play. Wisdom is a very very subtle awareness. Wisdom can manifest as a very fleeting intuition which reaches deep into the roots of our psyche and turns us upside down. The effects can be enormous, but the experience may be like a tiny half-thought, almost imperceptible. The name Manjughosa, “gentle-voiced” one, points to this subtlety too, as does the pale blue of the lotus. Egotism is subtle, always rationalising and we need to find an even greater subtlety to catch egotism at work and undermine it. We have to constantly ask ourselves where the egotism is in our thoughts and in our responses to the world and to other people.

The sword of Manjughosa is the sword of our awareness. When our awareness becomes so subtle and refined that egotism cannot escape it, it becomes sword-like. Our minds run on in the channels cut by habits of thought. We are made up of assumptions and ideas and beliefs which we defend and protect. When we meditate and when we come into contact with the ideas and concepts of Buddhism, our minds may feel threatened and rationalisations start to multiply as our defences get to work. But as we grow in awareness another aspect of our minds strengthens and we begin to see through the assumptions and beliefs and habits that we have identified with. This seeing through is like the sword of Manjughosa transforming us. The more we resist it, the more painful it feels. Growing awareness is often experienced as making us unhappy, as our mind tries desperately to push away the sword of our own awareness. If we continue to grow in awareness eventually we will experience the sword as gently and sweetly cutting through the fetters of our fears and hopes and liberating us into the vastness of unlimited consciousness. However the first step in the road to freedom is to become aware of all the views, beliefs, assumptions, ideas and so on, that have been part of our lives since birth and which have formed and conditioned us. As we start to become familiar with these we can start to let go of those that are unhelpful and allow ourselves to be more receptive to spiritual ideals, more receptive to Manjughosa perhaps.

The book which Manjughosa holds to his heart is the Perfection of Wisdom. The Perfection of Wisdom texts consist largely of paradox which deliberately thwarts the rational mind again and again. Inevitably we try to make rational sense of the text but continually we find that what was said in one line is contradicted in the next. Here is a bit from the Diamond Sutra: “Subhuti asked: How, O Lord, should one set out in the Bodhisattva-vehicle stand, how progress, how control his thoughts? - The Lord replied: Here, Subhuti, someone who has set out in the Bodhisattva-vehicle should produce a thought in this manner: “all beings I must lead to Nirvana, into that realm of Nirvana which leaves nothing behind; and yet, after beings have thus been led to Nirvana, no being at all has been led to Nirvana”. And why? If in a Bodhisattva the notion of a “being” should take place, he could not be called a “Bodhi-being”. And likewise if the notion of a soul, or a person should take place in him. And why? He who has set out in the Bodhisattva-vehicle – he is not one of the dharmas.

What do you think Subhuti, is there any dharma by which the Tathagata, when he was with Dipankara the Tathagata, has fully known the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment? - Subhuti replied: There is not any dharma by which the Tathagata, when he was with the Tathagata Dipankara, has fully known the utmost, right and and perfect enlightenment. - The Lord said: It is for this reason that the Tathagata Dipankara then predicted of me: “You, young Brahmin, will be in a future period a Tathagata, Arhat, fully Enlightened, by the name of Shakyamuni!”

And why? “Tathagata”, Subhuti, is synonymous with true Suchness (tathata). And whosoever, Subhuti, were to say, “The Tathagata has fully known the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment”, he would speak falsely. And why? (There is not any dharma by which the Tathagata has fully known the utmost, right and perfect enlightenment. And that dharma which the Tathagata has fully known and demonstrated, on account of that there is neither truth nor fraud.) Therefore the Tathagata teaches, “all dharmas are the Buddha's own and special dharmas”. And why? “All dharmas”, Subhuti, have as no-dharmas been taught by the Tathagata. Therefore all dharmas are called the Buddha's own and special dharmas. (Just as a man, Subhuti, might be endowed with a body, a huge body.) - Subhuti said: That man of whom the Tathagata spoke as “endowed with a body, a huge body”, as a no-body he has been taught by the Tathagata. Therefore is he called, “endowed with a body, a huge body” (quoted in Complete Works, Vol14, p.387)

The rational mind is confounded. This is not to say that the rational mind is useless. Far from it. What we need to do is think as clearly as we can and as far as we can. We need to exhaust the possibilities of the rational mind as we transcend it. This is not to say that we all have to become great scholars or philosophers. It is our own mind that we have to transcend, not somebody else's mind. The book at Manjughosa's heart represents the furthest that language and thought can take us. Then the sword of wisdom cuts through all concepts and we are left speechless. In that speechless silence, that thunderous silence, we hear the sound of Wisdom, the mantra Om ah ra pah cha na dhih, and we encounter the archetypal bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjughosa, in the midst of a vast blue sky, shimmering with a golden amber light and radiating the perfect peace of freedom from all limitations, freedom from all views; the perfect peace of the perfection of Wisdom.

The Four Samgrahavastus

This talk was given at the London Buddhist Centre, January 2001

Skilful means (upaya kausalya) is how a Bodhisattva communicates the Dharma to people who need it but are too spiritually ignorant to be receptive. This is the seventh of the ten perfections. The first six perfections may be more familiar to most of us. They are generosity, ethics, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom. Then this seventh perfection is all about the compassionate response of a Bodhisattva to those who need the Dharma. A Bodhisattva uses skilful means to enable us to listen and take in the message of the Dharma. Traditionally skilful means is seen as consisting of a number of different practices and these are broken down into the four Samgrahavastus, the four pratisamvids and the dharanis. Pratisamvid means something like analytical knowledge and the four pratisamvids are the knowledge of principles, the knowledge of meaning, knowledge of etymology, and the knowledge of courage. The dharanis are somewhat like mantras. They are usually longer than mantras and have more conceptual content. A dharani is used by a Bodhisattva as a sort of protection from danger or evil.

The four Samgrahavastus are the other element of skilful means and are somewhat more accessible. Although skilful means is the practice of a Bodhisattva, to help people understand the Dharma, the four Samgrahavastus can also be related to our own more mundane level of practice and even used as a measure of the effectiveness of our practice. The four Samgrahavastus are generosity (dana), kindly speech (priyavadita), beneficial activity (arthacarya), and exemplification (samanarthata). Samgrahavastu is translated in different ways but the translation which Bhante Sangharakshita prefers is "means of unification of the Sangha". The Samgrahavastus involve the practices of generosity, kindly speech beneficial activity and exemplification as a means of unifying the spiritual community, a means of creating harmony between people. I will look at the last three Samgrahavastus first.

Kindly Speech

Kindly speech as a means of creating harmony in the spiritual community, involves rejoicing in merits. We need to rejoice in each other continuously. We need to look out for what is good and praise it. And rejoicing like this can be either to the person concerned or behind their back, so to speak. Either way rejoicing in one another creates harmony. It is very pleasant to be praised and perhaps even more pleasant to hear that you have been praised in your absence. Kindly speech also includes expressions of gratitude. Anybody who is meditating and practising the Dharma, has much to be grateful for. It is good for oneself to give expression to that gratitude and it is another way to enhance the harmony of the Sangha. Another form of kindly speech that brings about harmony is passing on compliments or praise that you have overheard. This helps to keep up a flow of goodwill through the Sangha, that continues to grow the more it is expressed. Kindly speech is also encouraging speech. It is easy to criticise. It is easy to see faults in ourselves, in others and in situations. But if we really want ourselves, others and the situations around us to improve, then we need to be encouraging. Encouragement helps people to grow. This is clear when you consider how you yourself respond to encouragement. It helps enormously and a spiritual community that is constantly mutually encouraging will be a spiritual community that grows in strength and confidence.

Kindly speech, of course, represents communication generally. It is the sort of communication that creates and develops the Sangha, creates and develops the feeling of fellowship and mutual helpfulness between us. This communication includes truthfulness, appropriateness and openness. It excludes gossip and slander and all kinds of cynical and malicious speech. We need to be ever mindful of our speech because what we say can have a huge effect and can cause the breakup of friendships and years of bitterness and resentment. What we say can also bring about harmony and friendliness and add to the pool of goodwill in the world. Another aspect of communication is listening and as well as kindly speech we need kindly listening. There is no communication without listening and yet listening is quite rare in the world. To really listen you have to take an interest in the other person, you have to want to know them and understand them. You have to listen to their whole being, not just their voice or the content of what they are saying. Listening is quite an art and we need to practice it in order to get good at it and in order to really communicate. If you are too intent on getting across what you feel and what you think and what you need, you may succeed in getting the information out but you may fail to communicate. Communication requires awareness of the other person and that awareness involves listening and being aware of them. Even in the Sangha people can carry on for years not communicating because they haven't understood the importance of listening. Kindly speech is a big topic and obviously very necessary for the health and vitality of the spiritual community.

Beneficial Activity

The next Samgrahavastus is beneficial activity (arthacarya). This is activity for the spiritual benefit of others. To benefit others spiritually means to help them to attain higher or more expansive states of being. To do this we have to benefit ourselves spiritually, we have to get ourselves into higher and more expansive states of consciousness. To get ourselves into higher and more expansive states of being we need to feel motivated and we need to be inspired to act. If we experience this motivation, this inspiration to act in our spiritual interests then we will be able to engage in the Samgrahavastu of beneficial activity because it is essentially about communicating our motivation, and inspiration, to others. This does not necessarily mean talking about what inspires us, but rather through our actions communicating our sense of excitement and inspiration. Our sense of the adventure of the spiritual life. If we are moping around doing very little in terms of Dharma practice, nobody will believe us anyway, no matter how much we talk about the wonderful Dharma. The communication of emotional positivity and a sense of inspiration through how we live our lives is the essence of beneficial activity as a Samgrahavastu. The image that comes to mind here is from the Threefold Puja when we speak of "incense whose fragrance pervades the air". The fragrance of the perfect life, that is the spiritual life, spreads in all directions throughout the world. This means that if we practice the spiritual life quite wholeheartedly and fearlessly we will have an influence, a beneficial influence, that spreads in all directions. Bhante Sangharakshita talks about the Bodhisattva being "like a candle that lights thousands upon thousands of other candles after which they go on burning on their own fuel. Not only that: all of them in their turn light thousands upon thousands of other candles". (Complete Works, Vol.16, p.487)

This is how the Sangha grows, this is how the message of the Dharma spreads, this is how the world changes. If we share our joy and inspiration we will be practising beneficial activity and we will be contributing to the harmony and unity of the spiritual community.

Exemplification

The next Samgrahavastus is samanarthata, which is translated as 'exemplification'. Perhaps this seems to be too much to ask. For most of us there is going to be a discrepancy between what we sincerely believe and our ability to embody it. But what we need to exemplify is not perfection, we don't have to be Enlightened, we don't have to exemplify perfect Wisdom and perfect Compassion. We don't even have to exemplify perfect mindfulness and perfect Metta. What we need to exemplify is our willingness to change and our honest efforts to change. The process of the spiritual life is what is important and that is what we can exemplify, that is what we can embody to some extent. We simply need to be honest about ourselves, our thoughts and feelings and our virtues and successes. If we are honest and willing to change then we are well and truly on the spiritual path and we will be contributing to the creation of spiritual community. Honesty and willingness to change are the hallmarks of the individuals whose mutual cooperation creates spiritual community. Exemplification does not mean pretending to be something you are not, it does not mean putting on a show or always being very nice. Exemplification is a matter of engaging with the struggle to change yourself for the better and being honest about the ups and downs of that process. This honesty and engagement and willingness to change are the energy and muscle of the Sangha.

Generosity

Now we come to Dana Samgrahavastu; generosity as a means of unifying the spiritual community, generosity as a way of creating harmony between people. Generosity is a very fundamental practice for the spiritual aspirant. It involves the first steps towards self transcendence and has no limits to its practice. That is why generosity is encountered at every stage of the path. One never goes beyond generosity as a spiritual practice. If one is progressing spiritually, then one will become more and more generous. You can measure your spiritual progress by the degree of your generosity.

Generosity appears first as a precept. As a precept generosity is part of our spiritual training. We may not feel naturally inclined to be generous. We are still very attached to things and people and it is an effort to let go and give. It is an effort to be aware of other people's needs and an effort to respond appropriately. But it is an effort we are willing to make because we know in our hearts that generosity is good, good for us and good even for humanity. At the level of the precept generosity is a practice. We are making an effort to be generous as part of our spiritual training. The effort involves not taking what is not given to us and also openhanded generosity with what is ours. It is an effort to be less greedy or covetous about what we don't have or don't own. It is an effort to be less attached to what we do have and do own. That applies to money, possessions, ideas, opinions, lovers, friends, time, energy, territory and so on. The practice of generosity as a precept involves less of wanting what we don't have and less of holding on to what we do have.

Generosity is also one of the six perfections. It is one of the expressions of the compassion of the Bodhisattva. At this level generosity is much more spontaneous, much more just an expression of our being. We may not even think of it as generosity. Giving would be so natural that our whole way of being would be a flow of non-attachment, and natural outgoingness in terms of time, energy, money, possessions, opinions and ideas. There would be no closing down, no defensiveness. Just letting go and letting go and letting go all the time.

Dana or generosity as a Samgrahavastus is when that spontaneous generosity is particularly channelled into creating and maintaining a spiritual community. It's generosity that brings about harmony between people. We can talk about different levels of generosity and perhaps even different motives for being generous, but in fact we don't need to concern ourselves with that. If we practice generosity we will progress spiritually. If we progress spiritually we will become generous to the core of our being. We will be naturally and spontaneously generous hearted and when we are naturally and spontaneously generous we don't even think about being generous, no more than we think about breathing. The main thing is just to be as generous as we can and keep moving beyond the limits of our current generosity. Generosity implies moving more towards a simple life of few wants and away from a life of over-consumption and greed. This does not mean a life of austerity and self punishment. In fact the generous life is a very rich life.

I meditated on the Buddha Ratnasambhava for many years. Ratnasambhava is the archetype of generosity. His mudra is the gesture of supreme generosity, the open-handed gesture. When I have reflected on what I have learned from my years of reflecting and meditating on Ratnasambhava I have come to encapsulate the message of Ratnasambhava in three words. The three words are 'generosity generates abundance'. That is the message of Ratnasambhava as I understand and experience it. This probably seems very simple, obvious even, but the implications are vast. If we really believed it and lived by it, it would turn our lives upside down. If generosity generates abundance then it is perverse to be less than generous. What I have also understood and experienced as a result of my meditation and reflection on Ratnasambhava is that generosity is not about giving. What generosity is really about is letting go, not holding on. The difference may seem subtle but it's a difference worth reflecting on. It's worth noticing the difference between, say, giving someone a gift for their birthday and letting go of some possession that someone else likes or needs. Or the difference between giving advice and letting go of opinions or views.

Sometimes it is said that Buddhism begins with the Enlightenment of the Buddha. Of course this is true, but another very significant event that came before that was what is called the going forth. Siddhartha Gautama went forth from the household life to become a wondering mendicant, a seeker after truth. This was a very radical thing to do. Even today in our society and culture this is a radical and revolutionary thing to do. It is not something that would be condoned by government and church. After all the family is seen as the basic unit of society, the foundation on which everything else rests. But Siddhartha didn't see things this way. He said: 

“Friends, before my self-awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta (Sanskrit: Bodhisattva) being subject to birth, to sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion, I was seeking happiness with what is subject to birth, to sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion.

Then the thought occurred to me, ‘Why do I, being subject myself to birth, to sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion, seek what is likewise subject subject to birth, to sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion? What if I, being subject to birth, were to seek to understand the suffering of birth, seeking the unborn and the unexcelled release of the yoke, the unbinding. What if I, being subject to sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion, were to seek understanding of the suffering of sickness, to aging, to death, to sorrow, regret, pain, distress, despair, to greed, to aversion, to delusion? What if I were to seek the unborn and the unexcelled release of the yoke, the unbinding? So, at a later time while still a young man, black-haired, early in my life, my parents crying, I shaved off my hair, put on a robe made of rags, and went forth from home to homelessness." (Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta 26)

This is the going forth and what this represents is non-attachment. It represents letting go of mundane pleasures and acting for the greater good. Letting go or non-attachment is there right from the beginning in Buddhism. This going forth was a great act of generosity. He was giving himself completely, giving his whole life to the pursuit of truth, the attainment of wisdom. It is easy for us to take things for granted and allow others to make efforts, while we settle into a sort of Buddhist suburbia of domesticity. Suburbia is urban sprawl, Buddhist suburbia is spiritual sprawl. The household life, where the focus is on domesticity and creating a nest, is still crowded and dusty. From a spiritual standpoint it is still as necessary as ever to go forth. It is necessary to loosen our attachments, to let go of worldly life and give ourselves to the path. We need to give ourselves to the pursuit of truth. Perhaps it is even more necessary for us to go forth from domesticity and nest making because it is so easy to fool ourselves into believing that we are just making a lifestyle choice. This is part of the curse of consumer culture: the triumph of choice over truth. But it's a choice that does make a difference spiritually.

People are of course at different stages of development and going forth in this radical way may not be appropriate for everyone. Going forth from the crowded and dusty household life may not necessarily be a literal going forth. It may be more a mental or emotional going forth. An emotional letting go of attachment and a willingness to broaden out beyond the exclusive relationship and the attitude of my home is my castle. This broadening out into friendship and sharing is essential to the spiritual life. This is one of the lessons I understand from Ratnasambhava's open-handed gesture. Generosity is a matter of letting go, a matter of not holding on. It is a matter of letting go of narrowness and limitations of every kind. Holding on or not letting go is an attitude of me, me, me and mine, mine, mine and letting go is an attitude of us and ours. Me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, is the opposite of generosity and us and ours is the essence of generosity. An individualistic attitude leaves us feeling a lack, it leaves us in the world of poverty mentality. Whereas a more sharing, community minded attitude generates abundance and a feeling of plenty.

A spiritual community that really embodies the spirit of generosity will be a spiritual community that is transcending egotism. It will also be a spiritual community where there is an atmosphere of giving and abundance. We can't expect that to happen overnight but it is something worth working towards. It is an ideal that is worth striving for. We can apply this idea that generosity generates abundance to lots of different areas of our lives. We can apply it to our own particular skills, talents, possessions and energy and try to let go a bit. We can try to share a bit more of what we usually hold on to. Of course we need to do this sensibly and appropriately and with awareness, but we shouldn't be so cautious that we don't do anything. If everybody is too cautious, if everybody is waiting to see how generous the next person is going to be, then a spirit of generosity is not generated. If Siddhartha had waited to see if someone else was going to go forth first, there would be no Buddhism. Some people have to take a risk, be more confident and take the plunge into a life of greater and ever greater generosity. In that way you give confidence to others as you give of yourself. In short, generosity does indeed generate abundance.