Tag Archives: pragmatic buddhism

May 10, 2013 · 6:33 pm

Invoking and Calling: Magic and Mysticism

Invoking and Calling: Magic and Mysticism in Contemporary Practice

by Wayne Ren-Cheng, Shi

Ancient man held to beliefs in magic and mysticism as ways to explain the what, who, when, and why of events they couldn’t find ready explanations for. There are some people even now that hold to the same belief. Invoking magic through ritual and word are thought to have the power to override reality. Achieving direct contact with other-worldly beings through activities such as meditation and other bodymind activities are mystical practices that ancient man engaged in, and modern man continues to engage in. In ancient times these concepts served a purpose. Today, what role does magic and mysticism have in the alleviation of suffering and in the development of effective Buddhist social selves?

The belief in magic that arises through the voicing of certain syllables, phrases, mantras and verses came to Buddhism through its Hindu roots. These magics are as old, some say much older than what is found in the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda is one of four foundational scriptures of the Hindu religions. Scholars and linguists have set authoring of the Rig Veda between 1700 and 1100BCE, making it the oldest known religious text still in common usage. In those pages are mythology and epic poems that tell of the world’s origin, mantras and songs to honor the gods, and ancient prayers and divinations meant to bring prosperity, health and the notice of the gods.

The Pali Nikayan texts make no mention of these aspects of religious worship. Early Buddhists who recited the Buddha’s words and the scribes that wrote them down show a more rational, a more existential and pragmatic view of human existence and how the universe worked. In the Pali texts can be found criticisms of rituals that were performed to heighten the power of the Brahmins rather than bring peace and contentment to the people who occupied the other castes of Indian society. In the Sammaditthi Sutta: The Discourse on Right View the Buddha teaches, “There are these four kinds of clinging: clinging to sensual pleasures, clinging to views, clinging to rituals and observances, and clinging to a doctrine of self.” Clinging to rituals and observances for their own sake would lead to suffering and discontentment when what were expected responses to those rites did not arise. On the Rock Edicts of King Ashoka there are warnings against the voicing of ‘magical’ mantras as dangerous practices. The practice of magical ritual and observances had always been a part of Hindu rites, and long after the death of Siddhartha some Buddhist schools began to teach that the constant repetition of particular sounds and words were a path to liberation.

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March 29, 2013 · 8:11 pm

Shattering the Links of samsara — Cycling through samsara to nirvana II

by Wayne Ren-Cheng, Shi

Last week we talked about samsara as the state of mindfulness of the cycle of birth to death that we all experience, and that finding ways to break that cycle will lead us to states of nirvana in our moment-to-moment existence. We used the definition from John J. Holder as a bridge to understanding the concept of samsara and its value in our Buddhist practice.

samsara: cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; mundane, unenlightened existence; escape from samsara constitutes liberation or nibbana.

To “escape” from samsara and experience awakened (or liberated) moments you need to know what are the aspects of the samsara state of mind that will hinder you from those experiences. I ended the talk last week with these words, “It is up to you to get on your bicycle and ride.” So, let’s do it.

A successful bike ride – one that doesn’t end in being lost, injured or discontent – is dependent on a variety of factors, some you’ll have control over and others that you’ll need to react to in appropriate ways. To realize how to react you must first recognize what traditional Buddhist philosophy views as the obstructions to success, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination that can hinder the noble path, in this case the bike path you’ve chosen. Those links are: ignorance, volitional actions, consciousness, psychophysical phenomena, the sense faculties, contact, sensation, thirst, clinging, the process of becoming, birth, and pain-and-death. These are viewed as the aspects of human condition that must be overcome to reach the ultimate destination of Nirvana. Each of links are interconnected with the others even though some may seem to arise and fall away independently.

Before the bike trip begins let’s talk about ‘birth’. Traditional Buddhist thinking is that the fact of being born puts you in the state of samsara, and that through a series of rebirths in the metaphysical sense you are no longer are reborn, find yourself in Nirvana the destination, and ta-da . . . all is good . . . at least for you. In my view that is both pessimistic and selfish. None of us would have the opportunity to experience life, to experience samsara if you weren’t born because no one is born into Nirvana. Without birth though you wouldn’t have the opportunity to walk the noble path and all . . . well, and nothing. So, of the twelve links, this one doesn’t hold much contemporary value except that it is the beginning of our dependent human condition, giving each of us the opportunities to find a path through samsara to moments of nirvana (awakening).

The cycling trip you’re anticipating is from the state of samsara to the state of nirvana. You want that goal to be reached in a joyful, rewarding and positive way, and that takes planning. To do that you’ve got to have knowledge of the route, the bike, possible hindrances, and your own abilities. Being ignorant of any of these things could lead to negative consequences like pain and death for example.

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March 23, 2013 · 12:53 pm

Pragmatic Buddhism: A Common Sense Approach To The Path Of Awakening

Pragmatic Buddhism: A Common Sense Approach To The Path Of Awakening
By David Xi-Ken Astor

The overwhelming reality that I hope emerges from the study of Buddhism from a pragmatic perspective is what does our contemporary worldview require to be cultivated from what the Buddha taught over 2500 years ago.  The primary result of walking the Buddhist path is toward cultivating awakening to how the Universe is and how we are in it.  In the 21st century we are challenged to understand what elements of Buddhist thought is of vital importance for our attention, study, acceptance, and engagement that promotes the survival of a dharma practice that is not obscured by ancient visions of how the world looked to medieval minds.  A good example of this would be the turning away from the metaphysical concepts of reincarnation, and what is the true meaning of karma that moves away from the notion of determinism producing an attitude of fatalism.  Considering the modern advancements of science that inform us of how the Universe expresses itself, any conclusion of what is a truth is still at risk of being wrong.  Yet, we work to improve our perspective of each situation we encounter recognizing our responsibility for the choices we make that have real consequences for ourselves and others.

Not only is this awakening a human endeavor, but a cultural one as well.  This cultural transformation is reflected in acts of social justice, spiritual and religious practices, situational ethic guidelines, artistic expressions, as well as how the culture interacts with others on this very diverse planet of ours.  As Buddhism has an opportunity to merge into the mainstream of a human-enriching practice both here in America and the West in general, it will assume features of our contemporary language and cultural moral and ethical norms that will vitalize specific dimensions of it’s traditional practice that will allow it to assume a perspective of legitimatization.  How this will happen is yet to be seen, but the transformation has begun.  The concern we must be conscious of is that it must not become a marginalized subculture at risk of losing it’s inner vitality.   This is a crucial period of Buddhism’s cultural transformation in the West, in which the traditional schools of Buddhism are being uprooted from their ancient environments and directly confronting the realities of modern science, communication technology, and social unrest.  It is unrealistic to assume that as Buddhism develops roots in the West, that it will remain unchanged.  It is up to those in the West that study and teach the dharma to define a Western orientated path up the mountain as Buddhism struggles to find its voice in a new language.   Perhaps the best way to accomplish this is to emphasize Siddhartha’s humanity.

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March 21, 2013 · 9:31 pm

Cycling through samsara to nirvana.

 by Wayne Ren-Cheng, Shi

Venerable David and I were discussing rebirth the other day, kind of our form of dharma combat, and he offered an appropriate view for contemporary/traditionalist Buddhists. It is a view that can be applied to much of what can be confusing philosophies in this ages old system of beliefs, a system of beliefs that the Buddha himself made clear must change with time, culture and context so that the intent of the dharma could be realized and valued. David said that, “the Buddha’s arising occurred during a time of metaphysics, and as a result his teachings have metaphysical elements used to describe them and to realize them. Now those teachings are arising in a time of science and it is up to us to realize them through a lens of modern society, science and cultural influences in order to harness their potential of positive transformation”.

When I ask for questions or comments after a dharma talk, members of the sangha (at the Buddha Center) are likely to bring up two Buddhist concepts: samsara and nirvana, They first is a place that they feel they are, the second the place they feel they want to be. What if these are not places WHERE one is, but are instead viewed as HOW one is? Can we pull away the traditional veil of metaphysics to reveal the contemporary value of these millennia old concepts that initially arose from Siddhartha’s (and his earliest disciples) Hindu beliefs? I offer that the answer is . . . YES.

Buddhist scholar, professor of philosophy and Pali translator, John J. Holder presents definitions of samsara and nirvana in his book Early Buddhist Discourses, definitions that see these concepts through a traditional lens with a contemporary shading. In these definitions we can recognize the HOW inherent in realizing these important Buddhist ideals.

samsara: cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; mundane, unenlightened existence; escape from samsara constitutes liberation or nibbana.

The reality we know is that we are born and we die. Viewing samsara as the cycle of birth to death that is human existence it is important that we pay equal attention to the positive experiences as well as the negative. It is the joyful, the beautiful, the compassionate, and all other uplifting experiences that help to energize our bodyminds to make the effort, to apply the concentration, and to realize the potential of positive transformation. We must hold the appropriate view that while these positive experiences have value inherent in their effect on us, they are as fleeting and momentary as the negative ones that we tend to apply unequal focus to. All experiences have lessons to learn from. That is the reality of the cycle of birth and death. Nothing really metaphysical to mess with there.

Rebirth. That opens up a whole metaphysical can of fish bait. Transmigration of . . . well, of something . . . from one body to a new body can lead us into a pretty long philosophical debate that in the end won’t have much effect on HOW we decide to be. I must say here that I find it interesting that folks who scoff at the idea of witchcraft, UFOs and Bigfoot can be adamant in their belief in the metaphysical idea of rebirth; and I stand firm calling it a “metaphysical idea” because it arose in a time and culture of metaphysics and still must be taken as a matter of faith not proof.

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January 29, 2013 · 6:48 pm

Conditions For Buddhism’s Transformation Into A Western Contemporary Tradition

Conditions For Buddhism’s Transforming Into A Western Contemporary Tradition
By David Xi-Ken Astor Sensei

“The survival of Buddhism depends upon the experiential rediscovery of its innermost spark, and the articulation of that experience in a language that speaks directly to the deepest hopes and fears of present-day man.”  1
Stephen Batchelor

The overwhelming reality that I hope emerges from the study of Buddhism from a pragmatic perspective is what does our contemporary worldview require to be cultivated from what the Buddha taught over 2500 years ago.  The major intensive result of walking the Buddhist path is toward cultivating awakening to how the Universe is and how we are in it.  In our 21st century we are challenged to understand what elements of Buddhist thought is of vital importance for our attention, study, acceptance, and engagement that promotes the survival of a dharma practice that is not obscured by ancient visions of how the world looked to medieval minds.  A good example of this would be the turning away from the metaphysical concepts of reincarnation, and what is the true meaning of karma that moves away from the notion of determinism producing an attitude of fatalism.  Considering the modern advancements of science that inform us of how the Universe expresses itself, any conclusion of what is a truth is still at risk of being wrong.  Yet, we work to improve our perspective of each situation we encounter recognizing our responsibility for the choices we make that have real consequences for ourselves and others.

Not only is this awakening a human endeavor, but a cultural one as well.  This cultural transformation is reflected in acts of social justice, spiritual and religious practices, situational ethic guidelines, artistic expressions, as well as how the culture interacts with others on this very diverse planet of ours.  As Buddhism has an opportunity to merge into the mainstream of a human-enriching practice both here in America and the West in general, it will assume features of our contemporary language and cultural moral and ethical norms that will vitalize specific dimensions of it’s traditional practice that will allow it to assume a perspective of legitimatize.  How this will happen is yet to be seen.  But the transformation has begun.  The concern we must be consciousness of is that it not become a marginalized subculture that would be at risk of losing it’s inner vitality.   This is a crucial period of Buddhism’s cultural transformation in the West, in which the traditional schools of Buddhism are being uprooted from their ancient Eastern environments and directly confronting the realities of modern science, communication technology, and social unrest.  It is unrealistic to assume that as Buddhism develops roots in the West, that it will remain unchanged.  It is up to those in the West that study and teach the dharma to define the best path up the mountain as Buddhism struggles to find its voice in a new language.   Perhaps the best way to accomplish this is to emphasize Siddhartha’s humanity.

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January 21, 2013 · 2:07 pm

The Chain Of Dependent Origination

The Chain Of Dependent Origination

Siddhartha Gotama was one of the most brilliant and original thinkers of all time.  As are many of the profound Western philosophers that have shaped the foundations of modern culture.   And I believe that as his philosophy is seriously studied, it will influence modern thought beyond the confines of Buddhism as well.  Richard Gombrich, retired Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Oxford Center and Balliol College, in his new book What the Buddha Thought, argues that we can know far more about the Buddha than it is fashionable among scholars to admit, and that his thought has a greater coherence than is usually recognized.  Professor Gombrich stresses the Buddha’s capacity for abstraction, though he made extensive use of metaphor, he did not found his arguments upon it, as earlier thinkers had done.  The book  also establishes the importance of the Pali Canon as evidence.

From a traditional Buddhist perspective the Buddha is credited with having “discovered” the Universal law of cause and effect, or causation.  He demonstrated in his teaching its centrality for a correct understanding of the way the world functions.  Using traditional Buddhist language we say: “It being this, this comes about”; or “Things happen under certain conditions.”  But this is very vague as to be virtually meaningless without some background study.

Siddhartha used the analogy of fire to begin to explain his understanding of Dependent Origination.  He saw all our experiences in life as non-random processes, all phenomena are subject to causation.  He came to realize that nothing we can experience or imagine exists without a cause.  He even included this evolutional thought to include the Universe.  There can be no origin to the Universe, no first cause, no god who is an unmoved mover.  Over many centuries the Buddha’s teaching was categorized as “the middle way”.  The Buddha, in contemplating his own experience, considered the world as being in a constant flux and process.  This process is also a middle way in that it is neither random nor rigidly determined.  Remember, that this was before the advent of science.

A highly specific Buddhist doctrine for Universal causality is termed “paticcasamuppanna”.  In English it is referred to as the Chain of Dependent Origination.  In the Pali, the word “chain” has twelve stages: ignorance, volitions, consciousness, name and form, six sense bases, contact, feeling, thirst, clinging, becoming, birth, decay and death.  When we study these it seems that the Buddha started at the end of the chain and worked his way forward.  He asked himself “what is the cause of all our suffering?”  Having answered that question he then asked “What is the cause of those?”, and went on asking the same question until he got back to ignorance.  This makes sense that one begins with something they have experience with and then work out the chain of causes.  In other words, we start with the origin of a thought or experience and work backwards for a solution.  And that is just what Siddhartha did.  Many of Buddha’s teachings begin with his telling his monks to listen to him with the intent to find the origin of something.  This is the proper attention necessary for us to find the lesson too.  But this process is not in the Pali literature, and this may be identifying a problem.   The Buddha may have been trying to work out how we come to be suffering, and found the answer in a series of steps, such that reversing those steps would solve the problem.

On closer observation the Chain of Dependent Origination is anything but transparent.  What it means in detail has been contested among Buddhist from the earliest times; there is no one agreed interpretation today.  In the Maha Nidana Sutta, the text has a remarkable introduction.  Ananda happily tells the Buddha that he has understood the Chain of Dependent Origination, but the Buddha reprimands him, saying that it is extremely difficult to understand.  The Buddha always tried to make his lessons clear.  There is no parallel to his statement here that this teaching of his is profound and difficult to understand.  This may point to the fact that the early authors of the canon were either unsure of, or did not understand the doctrine themselves.

While there are some academic issues with understanding the chain of dependence, especially the role consciousness plays in the chain, for me it is a lesson on working out the chain of causes in every specific situation we encounter that can add clarity if we want to understand “what just happened?”

Note:  Excerpted from Pragmatic Buddhism: Reflecting Contemporary Vitality, David Xi-Ken Astor Sensei, 2012

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January 17, 2013 · 1:54 pm

Making Our Understanding Real

Making Our Understanding Real
David Xi-Ken Astor Sensei

As informed and educated beings when we respond to a new interest we first work to achieve some understanding in order to know how to engage it’s potential usefulness in our lives.  While there are many ways that we can facilitate this understanding, from my experience, it is generally done in the beginning through reading or listening to an awakened teacher.   Generally though we often approach our initial study by reading and self-directed research.  This is just as true in Buddhism, for after all, many of us started our Buddhist life as “book-Buddhists.”

English language books on Buddhism have increased in number since they began to be published in the nineteenth century.  Until very recently, virtually all of them have taken one of two distinct contemporary forms, either they put themselves within the modern scientific tradition in order to analyze the history and sociology of Buddhism, or from a more romantic sense as they attempt to transmit the truth, and transformative nature, of traditional Buddhist thought.  As Buddhism engages our Western culture we often encounter current re-prints of older Asian publications that also gives us a chance to study Buddhism from an Eastern perspective.  It is my reading experience that each of these forms have tended to criticize the other severely.  From a scientific point of view, romantic transmissions of Buddhism are simply inaccurate.   They project forms of Buddhism more in line with contemporary non-secular ideals than with anything that has ever existed in Asia, and often miss the spiritual aspects of Buddhism.  And from a romantic point of view, scientific studies miss the point of Buddhism altogether.  They inadvertently transmit the mentality of modern science worldview, and do nothing to awaken the mind, or alleviate unsatisfactoriness, for that matter.  The scientific motive for the study of Buddhism is to obtain accurate knowledge of our world – awakening defined as a thorough understanding of world culture and history.  The romantic motive for the study of Buddhism is to give us a breakthrough to a new kind of experience, awakening defined as a fundamental transformation of the human body-mind.  These approaches seemed to be irreconcilable, until recently.

If scientific rationalism and modern romanticism can now be seen to share a similar worldview, the perspective from which this can be seen is no longer completely within either one of them and therefore in some sense has created a stronger platform from which to study Buddhism from our contemporary experience.  And it is this new development that has acted to create platforms like Pragmatic Buddhism.  The quest to understand what Buddhism is without understanding cultural influences is analogous to the academic demand to set aside all personal preferences and just examine the information, or read the text, in and of itself.  Our minds are context-dependent; they come to a particular form of understanding that they do within particular cultural and historical settings.  As we read and study available Buddhist books we have the obligation to take care to also understand the cultural and social references, as well as the perspective, of the author.  I include Siddhartha’s teaching as well.  We should not just read for pleasure.  Critical analysis of philosophical principles require more attention than a popular novel.  We read for understanding and assimilation into our own worldview.  In the language of Zen, it calls forth “the one who is right now reading,” and refuses to allow the reader to cling to their own invisibility.  The dharma is transmitted to each generation through the process of the human connection.  We will do well to remember this.  Transmission is the process through which all forms of culture, including awakening to the dharma, makes their way from one generation to the next,  one form leading to a transformed other and to another, without end.  It is another example of our causal Universe at work.  Here I am using the word “transmission” to mean universal understanding of the dharma (or what is real), not the formal transmission you many be more familiar with where a teacher passes on to their Dharma-heir the “teaching” style and methods of a particular school.  The dharma is transmitted in many ways, reflecting the validity of it’s reality.

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December 25, 2012 · 1:49 pm

An Existential View Of Finding The Buddha Within

An Existential View Of Finding The Buddha Within
David Xi-Ken Astor Sensei

While it can get somewhat complex in its philosophical application, in basic terms, existential refers to existence as we can experience it directly.  In other words, it is the practice of being empirical in our worldview.  It denies the theological expression faith, and the notion of predestination.  At it’s core, existential understanding rejects a metaphysical or mystical worldview.  It stresses the importance of responsibility for the consequences of our actions.  We know the world around us through our verifiable experiences.  You hear Wayne Sensei and I use the term ‘experiential verification’ a lot as being important to our Buddhist practice.  This is a nod toward the existential potential inherent in Buddhist philosophy.

Before we can fully explore what it means to step onto the Buddhist path, it is important that we clearly grasp the basic human drive that awakens the inner spiritual quest that motivates us to seek a path beyond our own narrow self-oriented perspective, or the ‘me’ opposed to ‘other’ thinking.  More precisely, we need to recognize those fundamental components of man’s nature that are themselves authenticated through our actions when taking refuge in the Three Jewels.   The practice of Buddhism is not concerned with the building of a superstructure based on a set of passive unchanging principles, but with the transformation of how we come to understand our life from a state of disorder into a condition of purposefulness, based on useful and productive outcomes.  When I say ‘transformation’ I am implying that something undergoes a process of change.  The clearer we can describe and understand this ’something’, the more firmly our understanding of Buddhist principles will be, and the firmer we stand on this path to awareness.  We will stop relying on unknowing doctrines and focus instead on what is apparent in this very moment when we learn to see through the minds-eye with transformed lenses.  Because this is an existential approach, we must attempt to temporarily suspend our habitual judgment patterns and allow ourselves to confront the world around us as it discloses itself to us in every moment.

So the question is, “What makes one a Buddhist?”  We talk about the first step of taking refuge.  Because it is the first step however, it is one taken without full knowledge of what we are really undertaking.  You can say it depends on our uninformed intentions, but good intentions they hopefully are.  For some it is an act of spontaneous desire or want, for others it is taken after months and sometimes years of discernment.  But for most of us it is somewhere in between.  Nevertheless, perhaps the important motivation for us is associated with the power of the word ‘refuge’.  I find it a comforting word really.  When considering the terms Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, it is generally more easy to understand the concept and principles behind the words Dharma and Sangha.  But the word Buddha, while at first seems rather straight forward, on reflection, can be quite problematic.  What are we really taking refuge in when we say the Buddha?  The answer to that fundamental question comes down to our awakening to what it means to be an expression of the Universe.  It is the taking refuge WITHOUT DISTINCTIONS.  It is not about Siddhartha Gotama, it is not about the iconic image, some Zen masters even say it is beyond words.  But to say it is beyond words suggests a mystical component that is misleading.  So let’s explore this idea of what I mean when I say “without distinction”.

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September 3, 2012 · 7:42 pm

Do Not Leave Your Baggage Unattended: The Art Of Skillful Detachment

Do Not Leave Your Baggage Unattended: The Art of Skillful Detachment
Ven. Dr. Jim Eubanks, Sensei

The following Dharma talk was given by our root teacher, Ven. Eubanks, Sensei, on February 18, 2010 in St. Louis at the CPB Meditation Center.

Acculturation and Attachment: What It Is and What It Is Not
No matter how much we seek absolute personal sovereignty (what is traditionally called “free will”), a deep and honest look at the human condition reveals that existential baggage is unavoidable because we live in a causal world.   The key is to make sure that the baggage we carry is on our terms to the extent it can be, and that it contains expressions of ourselves that we can be proud of and use skillfully.  No matter how long I sit in the silence of a secluded forest, the causal conditions that converge to make me the kind of human being I am, do not go away.  The Zen master who develops Alzheimer’s will not enlighten himself out of his condition.  I am a causally-conditioned “expression of the Universe,” and there are many causal conditions that are not up to my wants OR non-wants.  No amount of philosophy cuts me off from those conditions which create me, no matter who I am or how long I’ve been sitting.  Instead, it is the goal of the reflective and considerate person to understand the major sources of influence in his or her life, to “attend” to the baggage that he or she does and must carry.  There is a term for this existential baggage: acculturation.

All human beings are acculturated beings — the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama included.  Human beings are reflections of the time and place where they arose.  We can become aware of our acculturation and thus positively affect it by learning to embody new influences that promote the “triple H’s”: harmony, health, and happiness.  In taking this path, we naturally “drop” or detach ourselves from those conditions that tend to promote the “triple D’s”: destruction, disease, and depression.

What must become clear is that in Pragmatic Buddhism there is no all-encompassing, indiscriminate, employment of “detachment.”  We do not blindly “detach” ourselves to everything, literally, in practical reality.  If we did detach ourselves from literally everything, we would, as the great philosopher Gregory House, MD said recently, “slowly starve to death in our own filth.”  Some elements of our human lives require a continuous and constant monitoring, and the concept of “detachment” doesn’t work pragmatically.  We can use easy examples such as one’s children or spouse, one’s responsibility to food and warmth, and we can use more challenging examples such as ideological commitments, including one’s unrelenting commitment to pluralism and peace.  In Buddhism a la the historical Buddha of the Pali Nikayas, we are talking only about detachment from those things that lead to destruction, disease, and depression of self and others.  Attachment to attitudes and actions that promote harmony, health, and happiness — what I want to call in this context commitment, or even loyalty — is indeed a positive and necessary endeavor.

In review, we must as Pragmatic Buddhists who are looking to employ a realistic and successful brand of Buddhism recognize the kind of attachment the Buddha warned us about: harmful attachment that ultimately leads to a development or deepening of psycho emotional anguish.  We should avoid those things which propagate such anguish, but we should embrace those things which promote the life of meaning and success for us and others.  When we find ourselves with great affinity (remember “commitment” or “loyalty”) to attitudes and actions that promote a fulfilling and sound life for ourselves and those in our communities, we should not detach from it in the literalist sense at all, but should embrace it wholeheartedly and seek to promote it among those closest to us.

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September 2, 2012 · 2:52 am

Additional Thoughts On Rebirth

Additional Thoughts On Rebirth
Ven. David Xi-Ken Shi

I have spoken many times how a contemporary pragmatic view of the concept of rebirth can be considered.  In fact, I am careful not to consider rebirth, or reincarnation for that matter, as a steadfast principle of Buddhism, unlike some other schools and traditions.  I find no problem teaching the core principles of impermanence, karma, and causality or interdependent origination with out any reference to past lives.  Having said this, I would like to try again to give additional thoughts on how I have come to consider this topic, which as you can imagine will not resonate in positive ways for those still clinging to ancient worldviews.  Just today I was reminded of how contentious the topic is as I read something a well know Buddhist Master said on his blog that all Buddhists believe in reincarnation.   I wanted to write back, “Not so fast Venerable.”

It is mentioned in the Maha-Mangala Sutta that there are three factors that could be considered important in a mans life: merit acquired in the past, living in appropriate surroundings and proper resolve.  Kalupahana in Buddhist Philosophy, a Historical Analysis mentions how early Buddhism points out the importance of consciousness surviving in a psychophysical way.  And he says that even the Buddha himself claimed a knowledge of a past life that follows in the wake of memory.  I think that from a pragmatic Buddhist point of view that any knowledge of a surviving consciousness can not be “experientially verifiable”.  I think also that Kalupahana relied in part on pre-Buddhist source material for his analysis.  It is most important for us to be aware of the intent of our actions in order to create positive results, and dwelling on the issue of past life experience is less worthy of our time.  In other words, why are we so fascinated with this notion of rebirth and past lives?  In some sense, it is logical considering our Judaic/Christian culture and the idea of soul.  So the challenge is how do we discuss this topic with those that consider the topic sacred.

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