Buddhism Reconsidered

 

There are already a few essays here about Buddhism and/or Zen. My life circumstances conspire to make me take these ideas seriously as a guide for life. So this post is "home" for a few thoughts about using Zen ideas to cope with life.

Here is a link to the "Buddhism" category in Perplexity. I'm sorry, but you can't see the dialogue if you don't have a Perpexity.ai subscription. For me, it is packed with information, questions and answers.

For quick reference, here is a summary of the 8-fold path of Buddhism. I have difficulty remembering it all:

1. Wisdom (Prajna)Right View (Samma Ditthi) - Understanding the Four Noble Truths and the nature of reality as it is.
2. Right Intention (Samma Sankappo) - Cultivating intentions of renunciation, good will, and harmlessness.
3. Ethical Conduct (Sila)Right Speech (Samma Vaca) - Abstaining from false, harsh, slanderous, and idle speech.
4. Right Action (Samma Kammanto) - Refraining from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
5. Right Livelihood (Samma Ajivo) - Earning a living through ethical means that do not bring harm.
6. Mental Discipline (Samadhi)Right Effort (Samma Vayamo) - Cultivating diligence in abandoning unwholesome states, developing wholesome states, and maintaining their development.
7. Right Mindfulness (Samma Sati) - Being fully present and aware of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. 
8. Right Concentration (Samma Samadhi) - Developing a calm, unified, and focused mind through meditation

My thoughts will be more than theoretical. While Buddhism is theoretically simple (we always have a Beginner's Mind), the details remind me of nuclear physics. It's complicated. Part of this is because Buddhism is firmly rooted in the teachings and personality of Siddhartha Buddha himself. It's practical, based on real life and the problems we face in it.  While Siddhartha might have believed in many things that are no longer credible (karma, reincarnation), there is evidence that he discouraged us from thinking too seriously about these ideas. In any case, what he believed is fundamentally important only if Buddhism is a religion for you. It's not for me. Buddhism has some great ideas with a whiff of nonsense.

Death

My mother-in-law is 105. She has lived too long, but she's not able to end her own life. Among other things, she is seriously demented, so she is not legally competent to make that decision.

The question is, would she be better off dead?

As stated, the question is nonsense. Exactly who would be better off? Someone who does not exist cannot be "better off." 

As with many issues, Zen cuts the Gordian knot. The "self" does not strictly exist, or at least it comes and goes. Our concern should be to reduce suffering in general. The world would be better off if the old lady ceased to exist. Numerous family members could get on with their lives. The tremendous stress on my wife would end. Resources tied up with keeping her in her home could be put to better use.

Thus, Zen "squares the circle." I remember a similar situation in Physics, where the "laws" say that electrical forces should be infinite next to an election. We get around this with a process called "renormalization" which gets around the infinities.

The Kerri Coombs Show

My daughter can be annoying. She talks incessantly about herself. Whatever the subject, she will turn it back to herself, making conversation impossible. This has led me to make myself scarce when she is around. I dare not say a word at the dinner table.

This is a special case of a common situation. We all live in bubbles. Our lives seem like dramas starring ourselves, with everyone else being a prop or bit player. Perhaps just the audience. That is frequently (not always) Kerri's state of mind.

The question is, Why does it bother me? Why not accept the Kerri show and my bit part in it? Why do I need to negatively judge her? Should I not have given up my fatherly role a long time ago if it ever existed? It's simply not my problem.

The compassionate option is to let the show go on--not adding to the stress by complaining about Kerri's rude behaviour or character defects. Such complaining would fail the Buddhist rule of "Right Speech". Complaints simply make things worse. On the other hand, calm acceptance of the situation may improve things in the long run.

There is a subtle idea here: in any given situation, the question should be, what can I do? Not what should I do? "Should" questions involve surrendering your free will to some hypothetical judge (Freud called it the superego, while others call it God). We are free to do what we want. The question is, what? In this case, I am free not to act like a stuffy, moralistic father figure. This is a classic example of the problematic Taoist concept of doing by not doing. This leads to another insight.

We are the way we choose, the road we travel.

In Buddhism, the individual is little more than a wave in the Ocean. A temporary "epiphenomenon."

"Tao" is an exciting concept. It is both the "way" of wisdom and the "way" of nature because it's the underlying principle of all things. Tao is eternal and unchanging. We follow our individual paths. In a sense, we are the path we follow. So Tao is both "Nature" and the way of one who follows Nature (or the "Taoist" philosophy). Tao is a pathway. The "Taoist" walks the pathway.

Metaphors are important.

When we think of the actions of others (or ourselves), we can see "ourselves" as making choices and travelling roads. Everyone we see is following a path of his own. Some paths work out better than others. Some lead to chaos and conflict. Some lead to wisdom and peace. But when we think of an individual, we need to think of the road he travels, not the individual he is "like." We can't just "teleport" from one road to another, nor can we instantly become a different person. When someone "accepts Jesus," he embarks on a different path. He's still the same "person". In my own case, I have always considered my "spiritual journey" to be a climb up a long, steep and lonely road. Loneliness is where the path leads - it is the nature of the path.

I suppose all this is loosely related to "karma," which seems to be the non-spooky idea that what happens to you is a result of your choices. Our roads lead to situations that have nothing to do with us, but all roads lead to suffering.

Tao Picture by Perplexity

Way, path, road, doctrine, principle