Building a community
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 4 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Moving Forward‘ and follows on from Re-enchantment. The four ‘means of unification’ (samgrahavastus: pronounced ‘san-graha-vastu’) The Precious Garland of Advice for a King is composed by the great Indian pandit Nagarjuna. The text is famous for its descriptions of the bodhisattva’s path of compassion and for its clear, concise analysis of the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness.[1] In verse 133, Nagarjuna says: You should cause the assembling Of the religious and the worldly Through giving, speaking pleasantly, Purposeful behaviour, and concordant behaviour.[2] In other words, the way that a spiritual community or Sangha is built, is through the dedicated Buddhist (bodhisattva) practicing what are called the four ‘means of unification’ (samgrahavastus.) Of course, the principle can and should apply to building any harmonious community, including a more functional world community. Generosity Firstly, a Buddhist community—or any community–is built through mutual acts of generosity (dana,) whether through gifts of time, attention, financial help, fearlessness, honesty, giving the benefit of the doubt, or through the sharing of the Buddha’s or another’s wise perspective. We build community when we transcend narrow self-interest. ‘As a basis for spiritual life giving engenders and requires faith. Often our reasons for not giving amount to a lack of faith. We don’t want to give because we are worried about depleting our resources whether emotional or financial. The idea of giving can cause insecurity and anxiety. Or we may be so lacking in confidence that we feel we have nothing to give. And of course, our worries and anxieties may prompt us to think that they (whoever they may be) don’t deserve it anyway. We can hold back from giving or only giving in a stinting, miserly, way out of fear, insecurity, or a lack of confidence. ‘But taking up generosity as a definite practise like meditation, not an occasional practice, but an ongoing, regular practise, we can begin to develop a sense of abundance. As the tradition has it, we experience being wealthy and we can come to experience how giving generates abundance. In this way our faith grows too; the faith or confidence that we will receive what we need.’[3] All sorts of unpleasant, shocking, depressing, harrowing things may be going on for us politically, sparking in us righteous indignation or deflation.[4] I have found that focusing on generosity and the person in front of me—probably because that is productive—takes away the pain to some degree. It is not that I am denying real problems; just putting them in...
Being Ready for Anything
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 6 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Kindness front and centre‘ and follows on from The Five Paths as cumulative. Being ‘ready for anything’ Once the five powers have been attained the monk’s ‘spiritual personality’ has been rounded off and made unshakeable; it Is completely oriented towards a dharmic perspective. Once his spiritual faculties are powers, he is ‘fully equipped’ in terms of personal qualities and skills to do whatever work is necessary to attain Nirvana, and thus traditionally is seen as guaranteed to attain Nirvana within seven lifetimes and is known as a Stream Entrant;[1] on the Spiral Path a stage known as ‘Knowledge and Vision of Things as They Really Are’ (yathabhuta-nanadassana). On the Path of Accumulation, the monk accumulates ‘knowledge and merit’, making effort to understand how things are and to develop skill in practice. On the Path of Preparation, he goes for refuge more deeply, turning the spotlight on himself, and preparing to face ‘Things as They Really Are’ through balancing and intensifying his practice. By the time his mindfulness has become an unshakable power, he is able to turn it unblinkingly to anything and everything he chooses, and thus he commences the Path of Seeing. In physics, power is defined as ‘the ability to do work:’ the monk is now ready and able to do the spiritual spadework involved in seeing into the nature of reality; importantly taking on board and working creatively with his deep inner tendencies to Unawakening (anusaya). He has no ‘spiritual weaknesses;’ therefore, Reality cannot shake his mindfulness, confidence, wisdom, meditative concentration and ethical robustness; and whereas before he could only maintain mindfulness under certain conducive conditions, now there are no conditions under which he cannot maintain it. The Path of Seeing, and the remaining two paths, develop this insight all the way to Nirvana. Prior to stream entry, three ‘fetters’ held the monk back: The belief that there are elements within himself that are fixed and unchanging (Skt. satkayadrsti) The tendency to view practice as an end in itself (Skt. silavrata paramarsha) implying ‘going through the motions’ in his practice Vestiges of doubt that the Dharma is the way forward (Skt. vicikitsha) Sangharakshita paraphrases these as superficiality, habit and vagueness. At stream entry these fetters are gone; the monk is guaranteed to attain Awakening because he possesses 1) confidence in his ability to change, 2) wholehearted application to change, 3) clarity in the means to change. Right View Before stream entry the monk entertained one or more wrong views;[2]...
The Five Paths as cumulative
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 5 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Kindness front and centre‘ and follows on from Remembering Loving Kindness. The Five Paths as cumulative The simplest formulation of the Buddhist path is the Threefold Way, consisting of Ethics, Meditation and Wisdom. We try to be ethical by following Buddhist precepts in our daily life, for instance by being kind, generous, content, truthful and mindful. To intensify this practice, we then meditate. When we practice samatha meditations—such as the mindfulness of breathing and the metta bhavana—we cultivate skilful mental states that lead us into dhyana, where our mind and emotions are both highly skilful and have been made ready to take in reality; thus, dhyana provides the conditions for developing wisdom. Mindfulness as a foundation Let’s now look more closely at the Five Paths and how they might be cumulative, correlating with the Threefold Way. As we saw, the Five Paths seem to literally build upon the Satipatthana Sutta because the four foundations of mindfulness are the first element of the Path of Accumulation. The four bases of success When we start to make progress with the four foundations of mindfulness, we attain to the four bases of success; states of samadhi that are naturally associated with each foundation, namely: Mindfulness of body; our desire or intention (chanda) becomes more integrated and focused[1] Mindfulness of feeling; our skilful vigour / ethical robustness (viriya) becomes well established Mindfulness of mind; our mind (citta) becomes firmly established in the skilful Mindfulness of views; our investigation (vimamsa) of views is deep and thorough Mindfulness as a spiritual faculty These states of samadhi form the basis for the cultivation–as we transition to the Path of Preparation—of the five spiritual faculties, both of which naturally correlate with the cultivation of the four foundations of mindfulness,[2] and with the Threefold Way. It is logical to assume that: The spiritual faculty of Meditative Concentration will be developed through practising mindfulness of body[3] The spiritual faculty of Ethical Robustness – and ethical practice – will be developed through practising mindfulness of feeling[4] The spiritual faculty of Confidence – and meditation practice – will be developed through practising mindfulness of mind[5] The spiritual faculty of Wisdom will be developed through practising mindfulness of views[6] We can see this correlation in the following diagram and table: The fullsome development of the ‘Spiritual Personality’ Mindfulness as a spiritual faculty addresses two needs at this stage: the need for an increasing focus on the Three Jewels,...
Remembering loving kindness
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 6 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Kindness front and centre‘ and follows on from Mindfulness and the Five Paths. Remembering loving kindness as a central aspect of the path When Sangharakshita gave a seminar on the Precious Garland[1] in 1976 he laid a foundation for what was to become his central exposition of the Dharma,[2] namely that the path consisted of five elements: Integration Positive Emotion Spiritual Death Spiritual Rebirth Spiritual Receptivity[3] Where he links integration with mindfulness and positive emotion with the four right efforts. As we saw earlier, the Path of Accumulation consists of: The four foundations of mindfulness, which represent establishing the appropriate domains of mindfulness The four right efforts,[4] which represent energy being put into 1) overcoming the four foundations as sources of suffering and 2) establishing them as sources of happiness The four bases of success,[5] which represent the states of meditative concentration that are achieved when our efforts have been successful[6] Sangharakshita is concerned to dispel a common view that one only has to bring mindfulness to a situation for it to naturally resolve. He points out that, because the four right efforts follow on from the four foundations of mindfulness in the teaching of the Five Paths, this indicates that not everything can be achieved by force of mindfulness, the effort to develop the skilful also needs to be involved. ‘In a way (the Five Paths) goes a bit against the Theravada teaching, which does seem, perhaps one can say, a bit dry; if you just try to do everything by force of mindfulness, everything by force of awareness: so that isn’t the Mahayana path, clearly.’[7] Mindfulness on its own has an effect, he says, although it is not a very great effect, compared to when it is combined with the four right efforts.[8] ‘So, it’s as though, when one is practising simply awareness, and simply mindfulness, you are just watching, you’re just the observer. The mere fact of your watching, the mere fact of your observing–body, feelings, thoughts, and thinking as it were of higher things. This has its overall effect, but it’s not a very great effect, and not a very deep effect. …. But when you’re practising the four great efforts you are ‘doing’ something in a much more radical way. You’re bringing about much greater changes. You’re actually making a positive direct effort to throw out the unskilful, to bring in the skilful to an ever greater and greater degree. So this is a much more intensive form of practise.’[9] Linking the four right...
Mindfulness and the Five Paths
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 4 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Kindness front and centre‘ and follows on from Kindness and the Five Paths. Mindfulness and the Five Paths Throughout the Pali Canon we see mindfulness described in a number of ways; in the Satipatthana Sutta it is described as a foundation (satipatthana.) Elsewhere it is described as a spiritual faculty (satindriya,) a power (satibala,) a factor of Awakening (sati bojjangha) and a limb of the Noble Eightfold Path (samma sati.) The Five Paths essentially combine these five forms of mindfulness into one coherent path. Firstly, we have the Path of Accumulation: this is where we build up punja-jnana, merit and knowledge. In other words, we accumulate a basis of positive karma through practicing skilful action and developing knowledge (jnana). At this stage the monk practises the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts and the four bases of success. Secondly, there is the Path of Preparation: this involves the monk preparing himself for the stage of Insight. The Mahayanacommentaries talk of the monk deepening his insight into emptiness and becomes more aware of the impermanent nature of existence and of the ‘faults of Samsara’. As his own plight and that of the beings around him appears more tenuous, he will gravitate towards taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. At this stage the monk practises mindfulness as a spiritual faculty and a power, in order to cultivate the five spiritual faculties and develop them into the five powers (a power is a spiritual faculty made unshakeable.) Thirdly, there is the Path of Seeing: this involves the monk gains insight, seeing clearly the nature of reality: the equivalent of stream entry in Nikaya Buddhism. At this stage the monk practises mindfulnessas a factor of Awakening. Fourthly, there is the Path of Practice: this involves the monk practising the transcendental Noble Eightfold Path, on the basis of that insight. At this stage the monk practises perfect mindfulness. Fifthly, there is the Path of No More Learning: this marks the attainment of Buddhahood. The compilers of the Five Paths must have had good reason to structure the path in the way that they did: the Five Paths effectively: Combine all of the Buddhist teachings on mindfulnessinto one coherent system Reassert the importance of developing samatha (the Paths of Accumulation and Preparation) in preparation for developing vipassana(the Path of Seeing) Assert that the Path of Vision (the Path of Seeing) precedes the Path of Transformation (the Path of Practice) Critique the idea that mindfulness is solely concerned with bringing awareness to mental phenomena (as in, practising...
Kindness and the Five Paths
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 6 minute read This excerpt commences the chapter ‘Kindness Front and Centre.’ Kindness and the Mahayana Five Paths The path to Nirvana—as expressed the Satipatthana Sutta—can tend to be interpreted by Theravada commentators as narrowly focusing upon renunciation; mindfulness of the body and its movements; the mechanical noting of experience within slow walking meditation, and through that practice, noticing how the nature of everything one experiences is subject to impermanence, insubstantiality and inherent suffering (the three lakshanas.) That path also offers challenging insight meditations – such as the meditation on the stages of decomposition of a corpse – for more serious practitioners.[1] The drawback of this approach, though, is that practices and meditations which focus on emotional development, such as the metta bhavana and devotional practices tend to be either side-lined or treated nominally. This narrow and somewhat intellectual approach is attractive to those who identify their Buddhism with wanting a certain personal meditative experience, along with, hopefully, the eventual confirmation of a certain level of spiritual attainment: Buddhism as ‘spiritual materialism.’ Wanting to cater for this desire among westerners for spiritual attainments – in the view that it somehow furthers Buddhism, Eastern teachers have perhaps wilfully ignored certain inconvenient truths, like the centrality of emotional development in life and on the path. However, Mahayana Buddhism – and particularly its expression in Tibetan Buddhism – restores this focus and puts kindness back front and centre. Alienation When Sangharakshita returned to Britain in the 1960s, he observed that Westerners were being taught mindfulness in this narrow way and that it was leading them into states of alienation. Subhuti relates Sangharakshita’s views concerning some of the causes of alienation and we might recognize these same patterns in many young people today. Image by coombesy on Pixabay. When we find that certain feelings are unacceptable, we suppress our real emotions, and ‘assume we experience what we think others want us to feel.’ This pattern extends to thoughts: ‘As to thoughts, we are not so much alienated from them as fail to have any thoughts at all,’ because so many agencies are telling us what to think. ‘The state of alienation … coupled with a wrong understanding of Buddhism, … leads to the extreme zombie-like states witnessed by Sangharakshita.’[2] That wrong understanding of Buddhism can be due to a corrupted form of objectivity: ‘Sometimes, for instance, mindfulness itself is interpreted as standing aloof from experience, watching one’s body, feelings, and thoughts as though from a distance–here the practice of mindfulness is the systematic cultivation of alienation!’[3] Or a wrong view about ethics may...
The Woke Mind Virus
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 11 minute read The chapter ‘The Woke Mind Virus’ commences with this excerpt. Woke: an update Since I first published this material in late 2022, there has been a significant shift in the political landscape. While the influence of Woke ideology continues to permeate culture, there are indications that its extremes are reaching a peak. Fueled by the confinement of the pandemic and the collective hypnosis observed in mass formation, various commentators have pinpointed this phenomenon, with Elon Musk notably among them. Employing a technological metaphor, Musk has referred to it as ‘the woke mind-virus,’ a precise characterization. This virus attaches itself to and proliferates within the ‘compassion centre’ of the mind, as previously mentioned by James Lindsay in Chapter 4. ‘[Marxism has] evolved into different species to attack the West at its weakest points, through our tolerance, through our acceptance, through our openness, through our generosity, through our best traits, actually the things that we should be proud of, being the things that we are proud of being.’ Previously, I titled this chapter ‘Woke as Old Testament Religion’ because the virus also targets and proliferates within another core aspect of the psyche: the ‘fear centre.’ This region corresponds to the reptilian part of the brain, which oversees fundamental instincts related to self-preservation.[1] Asked by Bill Maher[2] why he talks of the ‘woke mind virus’ as pushing civilization towards suicide, Musk says, ‘I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech. Those are the two aspects of the woke mind virus that I think are very dangerous … you can’t question things … even the questioning is bad.’[3] Approaching Musk’s political beliefs, Maher suggests he doesn’t think of Musk as a conservative, Musk says, ‘I at least think of myself as a moderate … I’ve spent a massive amount of my life building sustainable energy: electric vehicles and batteries and solar and stuff, to help save the environment. … That’s not exactly far right.’[4] Maher refers to a stick-man diagram Musk shared on X / Twitter in 2023, showing how the world had changed: in 2008 Musk saw himself as ‘Left of Centre;’ but then in 2012, Musk’s fellow liberal begins running in a Left-ward direction. In comparison Musk’s position appears closer to the Centre; by the time we reach 2021, Musk’s fellow liberal is now a Far Left woke progressive and, the Centre point having moved further Left with him, Musk now finds himself on...
Dysfunctional Imagination
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 5 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter on ‘The Evidence Bases in Religion, Science and Politics.’ It follows on from the section on ‘Poetic Logic.’ Dysfunctional Imagination The second sequence—called ‘Dysfunctional Imagination’—illustrates how a person engages reactively with symbols in a way that deepens their delusion. By taking symbols literally; by engaging with ones of low intrinsic value; by being skeptical about them (when acting ‘as if’ they are true would be helpful); and by approaching reality with fear and superstition, the person will be negatively transformed by the experience, moving further away from reality and deeper into fantasy. Take literally I explored earlier how literalism comes about through focusing on the details of the symbol and questioning their veracity, rather than letting the symbol be a conduit through which a message from the Universe can come through; this is an example of unwise attention, and often of laziness. Of low intrinsic value The second way that we can fall prey to dysfunction when we are dealing with symbols and myths is when we do not engage with symbols of high enough value. Concerned to remain loyal to the group, we settle for folk art or ethnic religion, rather than approach more transcendent values. Or, if we engage with such values, we fail to refine our awareness so that we can truly appreciate them. In short, we veer towards philistinism: philistine: ‘a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts.’ The romantic intrigue and dramatic action of a Hollywood blockbuster may be emotionally stimulating, but may not say much about how we should live our lives; we need to really ask: ‘Does this story make me want to be a better person or deal with my life in a better way?’ Treat with skepticism The third thing that we can fall prey to when we are dealing with symbols and myths is being skeptical about the value of imagination per se: we treat all imagination as fantasy, placing our faith instead in dry reason, as does British-American essayist and avowed atheist Christopher Hitchens: ‘Faith is the surrender of the mind; it’s the surrender of reason, it’s the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other mammals. It’s our need to believe, and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me.’[1] But...
Poetic Logic
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 12 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter on ‘The Evidence Bases in Religion, Science and Politics.’ It follows on from the section on ‘Tantric Deities’ and explores ‘Functional Imagination.’ The five wisdoms (jnanas) The Mandala of the Five Buddhas expresses the fact that a whole range of often complementary qualities are present in the Enlightenment experience. Whatever is at the centre of a mandala orders the mandala: as the king his kingdom. Each Buddha has a specific wisdom: Vairocana’s Supreme Wisdom could be said to be the combined effect of the other four: Aksobhya: Mirror-like Wisdom Ratnasambhava: Wisdom of Equality Amitabha: Discriminating Wisdom Amoghasiddhi: Action-Accomplishing Wisdom We will see how these wisdoms can be brought to bear on current world problems at the ends of Chapters 2 to 6. Poetic logic In Tibetan ritual practice one enters the mandala from the east; then proceeds to the south, the west, the north and finally moves into the centre. This sequence, combined with the symbolism and associations of the Five Buddhas, illustrates the process in operation when we are dealing with the field of Imagination: which includes symbolism, myth; and therefore religion. Imagination and symbolism may be the only way we have to engage our emotions with those patterns in the universe that we wish to respect and remember. And like concepts, they have an inner logic, which I choose to call ‘poetic logic.’ There are five elements to poetic logic: The way that we view imagination, poetry and symbolism The quality of the symbol in representing Right View The degree to which we believe in / dwell upon the symbol The actions we take in relation to it The degree to which we are transformed by it, and into what Or, in one word; 1) Reason, 2) Beauty (the object itself), 3) Emotion, 4) Action (the action in relation to it), 5) The Change brought about; Imagination engages all of our faculties in order to bring about change. However, it cuts both ways; Imagination can lead to growth, but it can equally lead to delusion. The former I call Functional Imagination, the latter Dysfunctional Imagination. Functional Imagination The first sequence—called ‘Functional Imagination’—illustrates how a person engages creatively with symbols to bring about personal growth and transformation. By taking symbols poetically; by engaging with ones of high intrinsic value; by repeatedly dwelling on them with confidence (perhaps acting ‘as if’ they are true: suspending disbelief and stepping into them as if they are the reality); and by...
Ethical feeling
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book… © Mahabodhi Burton 2 minute read This excerpt is taken from the chapter on ‘Buddhist Practice’ and follows on from ‘The Metta Bhavana.’ Recognizing worldly and spiritual feeling Worldly feeling It might be helpful, when we are practising the metta bhavana, to bear in mind the meanings of worldly and spiritual feeling. When we are in the unskilful mental state of hatred and see our enemy and the experience is painful to us, this is worldly feeling. Likewise, when we are in the unskilful mental state of craving and get what we want and the experience is pleasant, this too is worldly feeling. Imagine you are walking down the street, and you see your enemy coming towards you: as a result, you experience a painful worldly feeling. You then have a choice: you can either act on the feeling and turn down a side street and avoid the person. Or, you can recognize the feeling as a worldly feeling and decide to not act on it. By not acting on it you will continue to experience it, that is, until you address the underlying cause: the unskilful mental state of aversion. By practicing the metta bhavana you can work on this mental state and come to see your former enemy as a human being, rather than as an ‘object in your way,’ and it is at this point that the painful worldly feeling will go away. Similarly, imagine seeing something you desire in a shop window: the newest iPhone or Android: as a result, this time you find yourself experiencing pleasurable worldly feeling. Again, you have a choice: you can either act on the feeling and go into the shop and buy the phone. Or, you can recognize the feeling as a worldly feeling, and not act on it. By not acting on the feeling you will be forced to address the underlying cause: the unskilful mental state of craving. By cultivating contentment, through practising being happy with what you have got, you will avoid the mire of compulsion and addiction, and the painful worldly feelings of unsatisfied avarice that comes with it. Spiritual feeling On the other hand, when we are in the skilful mental state of sympathetic joy and see our friend doing well and the experience is pleasurable to us, this is spiritual feeling. Likewise, when we are in the skilful mental state of compassion and we see somebody suffering and the experience is painful to us, this too is spiritual feeling. Imagine encountering a beggar in the street, who looks in...
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