The Zennist

The critical difference between Christianity and Buddhism

Perhaps the most significant difference between Buddhism and Christianity is that the former asks its followers to see what Siddhartha the Buddha saw, whereas in Christianity it asks its followers to believe so as to have faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ.

If Jesus Christ, on the other hand had said, “I have realized God and so can you,” the religion would've taken a different turn.  Instead, what we have is a religion strictly based on the firmness of one's belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ. That one may treat him as God’s equal.

Jesus Christ then becomes the intercession between man and God such that one need only faith.  He will take care of the rest, even forgives us of all of our sins so that in a way we don't really have to know God as Christ did. 

The critical difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that with Buddhism there is no salvation except that one attains Nirvana and becomes a Buddha.  Christianity essentially believes that Christ will take care of our problems since we have so much faith in him.

The immaturity of Christianity is evident in its teachings.  It's really looking for followers and will say just about anything to get the attention of the masses.

The sudden transcendence of presuppositions about the absolute

For us to have direct source knowledge or direct knowledge of the absolute, it demands that we become absorbed in the absolute, completely, so that there is nothing left of us.  Even our perception or consciousness (vijñāna) must go because it belongs to us. 

As strange as it sounds this is the way the absolute remains absolute.  As a thought experiment if, for example, the wave phenomenon wishes to know what pure water is then it must be absolutely waveless, in which case, no waviness can be detected in the water itself.  (The mere looking causes waviness.)

I think this helps to explain why enlightenment cannot really be transmitted, not in the way the average person imagines the process.  Let us imagine that A is absolute where B is the transmitter.  How is it to be transmitted to C?  The very act of transmission, itself, is non-absolute (anātman= wavy). 

The total and sudden transcendence of presuppositions about the absolute is extremely difficult to accomplish.  Without exception, people who take up Buddhism and with it Zen depend upon perception or consciousness.  This is their tool by which they hope to unearth enlightenment.  But they must also give up the tool. 

By the way, this is what koans (Hua Tou 話頭) are all about.  They are intended, in a way, to drive the student to their wits’ end.  To know the secret of the koan means that one has given up perception (vijñāna).  For a brief moment they became the absolute.

Superposition and the unconditioned

The so-called quantum world is very much a microscopic world.  Still, it is trying to rise up to a larger scale where the laws of physics become different.  The only thing missing is a religion which goes along perfectly well with this new world.  This is where Buddhism comes into the picture.

At the heart of Buddhism lies also the notion of superposition which is akin to Buddhism's unconditioned (asaṃskṛta).  Before anything becomes a quantum or a measurable amount, it emerges from the unconditioned.  From the Buddhist standpoint the measurable could be a mere thought but, nevertheless, something our perception (S. vijñāna, lit. in two parts knowing) can detect.  We can also think of superposition as analogous to clear light where not a scintilla of color exists.

Our every day reality is not made of clear light inasmuch as it is really darkness that is filled with color!  Not too long ago I wrote this note to myself.

Darkness was in the beginning, then we learned, eventually, to see in the darkness and make shapes from the darkness.  We lived our entire lives in darkness.  Only in great myths and legends were the bringers of light made known to us.  Such was mankind’s terrible fate. Today, mankind is still trapped in darkness which it believes is illumination!

Our modern hubris is astonishing to say the least.  We think of ourselves piously as masters of the universe when we still know little about where we truly came from and where we go after death.  We do not see the big picture but then we imagine that we do! 

From this framework we assume that what is measurable is real and what is immeasurable is unreal but this is not so.   While our sense perception is useful it is also deceptive.  It only takes us to what is useful but not to ultimate reality which transcends the domain of the six senses, the last one being the perception of mentation (S., manovijñāna).

The car is not the driver

Buddhism regards the psychophysical body as an analogue or, the same, a simulacrum of ātman.  This means the analogue body of ours is not the ātman.  It is anātman but also suffering (duḥkha).  If we wish to behold the ātman, which transcends suffering, then we must completely transcend the analogue body. 

Sounds simple but in truth it is not.  In fact, many Buddhists do not even believe the Buddha taught what transcends anātman!  They certainly don't believe that what is suffering is anātman or not the self.  Yet in the discourses of the Buddha he says exactly this (SN 22:16).

What are the components that make up this frail body, i.e., our psychophysical body as an analogue?  They are the five aggregates of form, sensation, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, the last being rebirth consciousness that continues from one bodily existence to another.  And finally there is the Buddha-nature or ātman which is our true self, which many Buddhists reject.

What is the reason for their rejection?  They've been taught by their Buddhist teachers, mainly Westerners, that the Buddha rejected the Hindu ātman and in fact taught the opposite, viz., that there is no ātman, but this is not true.  And this is where a lot of confusion comes into the picture, because most Westerners, who are curious about Buddhists, dislike religion and consider themselves to be atheists if not nihilists.  They are reading something into Buddhism that is simply not there, so they are a bit confused when the true teaching is the ātman is the Buddha-nature.  

The ātman is the Tathagatagarbha.  All beings possess a Buddha Nature: this is what the atman is.  This atman, from the start, is always covered by innumerable passions (klesha): this is why beings are unable to see it (Mahaparinirvana-sutra).

These same people are more interested in holding on to their opinion rather than putting it aside and seeing the truth of Buddhism that the Buddha taught what transcends the analogue self.  In fact, he never denied a transcendent self.  Using today's language the Buddha would say that the driver is not the car, its engine, drive train, brakes, its steering, tires etc. He wouldn't say there is no driver only that the automobile we use is not the driver.

Who you are

True reality is already here, in fact, it has never left.  However, as we approach it with our ideas of what we expect it to be like, we become more confused.  The first road eventually branches off many, many times.  At this point, we are more lost and confused than ever.

Then the Buddha’s teaching comes along.  It talks about awakening to something that even Māra, the Buddhist devil, couldn’t recognize.  Little did Māra know that the Buddha gave up perceiver and perceiving (dual knowing).  He entered a transcendent state in which there was no division or constructs.

Māra, was in a way, a god of the six senses which required a perceiver and perceiving whether it was visual, auditory or even mental (manas) which includes the imagination and intellect.

Even if we take a voyage into our own mind we are more like the people in Plato's Cave facing an artificially constructed world, while the true light is always behind them, in such a way that they are unable turn around and see it. 

Our inner thoughts and emotions arise as do our mental images and what our various senses perceive.  We are facing an illusion not true reality.  Even our fleshy body we inhabit is an illusion.  Transcending illusion is extremely difficult.  Most will be unable to transcend illusion.  Nevertheless, it is important to start the journey of transcendence, of going beyond all illusion where you realize, finally, who you are.

The amazing maze

Pure Mind or absolute spirit is invisible to the six senses, most notably to the sixth which is manas which includes our imagination and speculations.  Thus, what we seek in the way of enlightenment hides and eludes us even while we read about it or contemplate it.  It will not show itself to us no matter how hard we try. 

Still those who have actually mastered Zen behold this spirit singularly and straightforwardly.  It comes suddenly and unexpectedly.  Yes, it’s like seeing something that you never thought was possible.  Before kenshō all your pathways came to dead ends.  The truth which you sought nonstop exceeded your cunning powers.  Strangely, it will awaken you.

Even now we, the unawakened, realize that we may have entered into a maze (since our birth) with no exit.  Maybe we should call it the maze of samsara.  This maze might as well be darkness.  Little do we realize that we are creating this maze.  Every birth we have experienced brought us into this maze from which there was no escape, only to find ourselves in another maze.

Every Zen koan that you study asks you, fundamentally, who put you in this maze?  You draw a blank.  You have no answer but lots of diversions.  I remember those hopeless nights by the kerosene lamp stuck in this maze.  And I also remember the night I broke down and knew I could not obtain enlightenment. How hopeless it was.  (I've met deluded people who even fake this crisis.)  But, figuratively speaking, the door suddenly opens and there it is.

Same teaching just a different way of explaining it

God is SPIRIT or in Lakota "Wakan Tanka". Composite phenomena blindly arise from Spirit and return to Spirit, leaving their desire-seeds for a future composite life filled with pleasure, anxiety and suffering.  And still they have no true vision or even a vague understanding of Spirit.  It is mixed with their strong worldly imagination. 

Those spiritual warriors who abide with Wakan Tanka always in their hearts will enter heaven (S., svarga) when they leave their earthly vessels.  Long ago did they behold the incomposite seed of eternal life (S., tathāgatagarbha).  It was their lodestar; to it they gave their life energy.

When still in the flesh it is a wonderful event when Spirit meets you. It saw your incomposite seed and knew that you were its scion.

Near death experiences

NDEs are very real and very spiritual. They show us how much we have hidden from Spirit by way of the flesh.  NDEs separate us from corporeal body which acts like an interference barrier blocking Spirit.  From this we can gather that the life of human beings is about building up this barrier to a point where Spirit is absent (the dawn of evil & suffering).  On the other hand religious teaching is how to bring this light into the dark world to give all beings true hope and faith. NDEs are very real and very spiritual. They show us how much we have hidden from Spirit by way of the flesh.

Looking within and seeing darkness

Meditation is a great opportunity to look within and see the prison we have made for our self by desiring what is not our self.  It is a strange kind of darkness but a darkness, nevertheless, that keeps the light from coming in.  In a way, it is a true picture of our incarnated life a life that will one day be filled with a great deal of suffering. 

“Think that this body is like a plantain, a mirage in the hot season, watery foam, a phantom, a transformed body, the castle of a gandharva, an unfired brick, lightning, a picture drawn on water, a prisoner facing death, ripe fruit, a piece of meat, the warp on a loom which is about to end, and the ups and downs of a mortar. You should think that all created things are like poisonous food and that anything made is possessed of all worries” (Mahaparinirvana Sutra).

A great Buddhist teacher like Ajahn Chah (Phra Bodhiñāṇathera) might tell us that meditation is a time to see what's inside our cage:  the cage of birth, aging, illness, and death.  As we might guess, looking within is a difficult task for those of us who are used to accumulating desires.  Yes, each desire keeps the light from penetrating the thick, impenetrable wall of our desires.  Such people will attain nothing in their halfhearted search. 

Beginners of meditation always believe that meditation is going to lead them to some profound vision.  What is really at work here is their imagination, not profound gnosis.  Meditation helps us to sober up from our last round of intoxicating desires.  It reminds us that we are still in samsara; we're not going to escape it by having a good time!