Now and Here

In the Washington Post yesterday an article by Michelle Boorstein ("Religious devotees worry about the yoga-ization of meditation in the U.S.", 2015-06-06) muses about faith-based versus secular meditation. Likewise in the final issue of Inquiring Mind earlier this year, Bhikkhu Bodhi ("Facing the Great Divide", Spring 2015) analyzes the clash of traditional Asian Buddhism, itself a multidimensional tapestry, with pragmatic non-religious mindfulness-insight. It's a complex and difficult topic. For many people, a historical foundation — Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, whatever — makes the challenges of modern life easier to bear. Bhikkhu Bodhi's summary of classical Buddhism includes:

• acceptance of "canonical texts" which originated centuries or millennia ago
• a "beginningless chain of rebirths" within which beings are continually "... rising and falling in accordance with their karma, their volitional deeds"
• "five realms of existence" in "a vast multidimensional cosmos"
• the Buddha as "an exalted being, the teacher not only of humans but of deities and beings in other realms ... [who] attained buddhahood as the culmination of countless lives ... [whose] enlightenment involved a breakthrough to ultimate truth ... [who] eradicated the mind's defilements, penetrated the spiritual laws of the universe and acquired various kinds of psychic powers"
• a hierarchical organization, involving respect for and donations to authorities (e.g., monks and nuns) who define, interpret, and teach the true path

To many, however, such beliefs seem singularly unsatisfactory, even childish, when examined in the light of objective reason and modern knowledge. The alternative? Perhaps nothing: no separate selves, no goals or expectations, no magic, no exotic enlightenment experiences, no faith, no leaders, no followers.

Or as Zen teacher Charlotte Joko Beck suggests, be the present moment — simply here and now — no drama.

Just attention ...

(cf. Buddhism - A Way of Life and Thought (2008-09-30), Not Always So (2009-07-04), O (2012-10-24), No Beginning, No End (2013-03-24), 01 (2013-11-05), 0-1 (2014-08-29), Nothing But Faith in Nothing (2014-09-07), ...) - ^z - 2015-06-07