Some Thoughts On Virtue

In the Morning Service, a part of my Kagyu pre-ngondro practices, there is a section with the following lines:

"Action done is never without result.
But action not done is never met.
Development is part of all action.
The results of virtue and evil
are happiness and suffering,
inevitably ripening for the doer...
So, if I am not to achieve my own destruction,
I should as a matter of principle believe in
action and result."

I have in the past spent much time developing ways in which I can become more virtuous. During one period of my life, my little scheme was based on being more godly. I had a plan you see. The cult of christianity teaches that you have God in only after you invite him. Buddhism teaches that you are born with Buddha nature. For both of them, the idea is to realize that nature. A lot of where virtue comes from, that character we want, is based on choices.

For the moment I will tell you that some times making a choice is difficult. Habituations that lead to addictions can make choosing difficult. Inevitably we all run up against that choice though. Do I or do I not proceed with this action? This is what is called the development mentioned above, which we can return to later.

Making a choice requires a bit of ability in looking inward. Many choices, lets say those of addictive nature, are based on senses. Making pain go away, or the rush of the hunt, or the actual buzz of the action itself. All followed by the cycle of addiction. The beginning is being aware that you have a choice. Let's use a popular example, and that is sex. Now, in our American standards, and judeo-christian mythology, we have adhered to a centuries old model of marriage that has a failure rate of 50%. One might think it's time to reconsider the model. But that is where we are. So we consider infidelity from that viewpoint of marriage. Do I or do I not choose to flirt, the real beginning, with this person. You're sitting there having coffee, and you know that it's a conversation based on what is going on, nothing on the personal level. To broach the personal level is where flirting begins. "Gee, you look pretty good for your age." That introduces the male/female difference, the gender/attraction dimension into the conversation. You make the choice to make the comment. Why? Ah, the big question.

What do you stand to gain from this course of action. See it? Action. Action brings result. You make the comment, the other party deflects it, you're either embarrassed or hurt, and the potential of friendship or functional community relationship is thwarted because you were trying to fulfill a need for yourself that in reality, that other person can't fill anyway. And a whole new set of perspectives is set in motion, and that's part of the complexity of karma.


On the other hand, you choose to not make the comment. That sets into motion a lot of other karmic results. You've realized that the consequences of making the comment are not favorable, so you keep thoughts and words to yourself, enjoy the coffee break, and go about your life. What you've just done is transformed a little samsara into nirvana. And a lot of little transformations in time add up to big changes. It's the result of constant practice, just like playing an instrument. A lot of mistakes at first, but learning what you are doing wrong, being gentle on yourself, and in time it begins to fall into place. What it boils down to is, is my behavior a response to attention, or reaction?


If it's a reaction, what is being served? Probing that will provide interesting materials, and as the lojong teachings encourage us, "Work with the greatest defilements first." This is a great place to do tonglen for oneself, and Sogyal Rinpoche has a great section about it in his book, The Tibetan Book of Living And Dying. Not only will this help us in outward manifestations, it cuts to even the subtler forms of our habituations, right to where we can catch the thoughts as they occur, and then allow the mind to relax. All said though, the living in reaction mode is living in samsara mode. It's a lack of attention. And the prescription for that is a sitting meditation practice, where we learn the art of paying attention.


Paying attention gives us the choice of honest virtuous action, and the resultant karmic train. The Merit 109, rolling down the Karma Line. Action born of attention is joyous upon meeting, and once we gain stability in that, then just like the samsaric reaction mode was our nature, then the nirvana attention mode will be our nature, and ultimately we will discover, our true nature. One we can rest and relax in. A nature that has a lot of happy meetings of results along the way, one of happiness, and one of virtue. 


Nirvana is just a choice away.

Knower, not Believer.

I am struck by a couple of things this morning. One is an article  by Sheila Samples about the religious right. Nothing really new in it that I didn't already know. In fact, it's a subject I watch closely, because it may well have an impact on whether or not I can practice Buddhism. In an all Christian America, it wouldn't be guaranteed, like the Constitution guarantees I can. And in our last election cycle, one presidential candidate suggested less Constitution, and more Bible. However, I have discovered that in paying attention to this subject, I have changed somewhat negatively. 


Another thing that has struck me is, well, me. I am changing. Partly that is due to having become connected to a teacher that has active involvement in his students, and has definite teaching plans and goals. Friday I got in the mail my copy of the Pema Kilaya Teaching Program. So I jumped into it, and I found several portions of the practice I was missing, and some I was already doing in my rather custom made practice. And like the lit head I am, I gravitated to the back, to see the "suggested reading" list, if there was one. 



He he he, there was.


Books not only suggested, but carefully looked over and recommended by our teacher. And to my surprise, we already own several of them. Further, a couple of them I was interested in are at the library! The upshot of all this is that I am immersing myself in, not what I believe, but what I practice. Let me explain the difference, and in so doing hopefully tie things together.


Lately at work, I have trying not to use the word "believe," especially relative to spiritual matters. I prefer to use the word "know." My reason for that is that I practice, and what does practicing give you? It gives you direct, first hand knowledge. I practice poetry, and in so doing learn what it means to write. I sit down at the drums, and I practice, usually on weekends when no one is home. I learn rhythms, as well as hearing the music of the different drums.  When I sat down at my bosses drum set the other night, I got to learn the music his drums made, because he had different skins, maybe tighter than mine, different cymbals; you get the picture. Because I practice though, I can at least sit down and know how to approach the kit I am sitting at without changing too much of it's set-up. Highly personal stuff you see.


The same goes for Buddhism. We don't call what we do a belief system. We call it a practice. Why? Because that is what we are supposed to do for one, and secondly, the Buddha said to check it out. Don't believe, do it. See if it's real. Prove the words, don't just believe them. But wait you say. How about reincarnation? How can you know that? I can surely believe it because my teacher says it's a reality. I can believe his experience. And one day I will get to know it, as death will happen to us all.  And there are practices such as phowa and shitro for that as well. But any teacher knows that you don't give an aspiring drummer lessons on advanced jazz rhythms when he barely can knock out some of the basic rhythms, or run a set of flams around the set alternating which stick is up. There is a beginning to everything. So I don't necessarily need to practice for reincarnation yet. It may well be that in learning these other practices, I will indeed come to know reincarnation rather intimately.


So I have taken my Teaching Program and started at the beginning. I've already mentioned that Rinpoche has started a meditation class that will run for 11 months. And he started at the very beginning, the Seven Point Posture of Vairochana. The Teaching Program goes into other practices, things to study,  retreat suggestions, and otheractivities that seemed to favor developing compassion. The text suggestion contains at least one on Love and Compassion. Which means that I will be opening my heart, as the lotus opens in the great muddy of the Mekong Delta, or the Ganges. And not just to family, and friends, and snagha members. Practicng compassion and love goes way beyond that. The Bodhisattva vow is relative to all sentient beings. Including those of the religious right who see fit to make sure I can't practice that love and compassion. If I only love those that love me, I am a cracked cymbal, and out of tune drum. One form of the Bodhisattva vow states, "So may I become sustenance in every way for sentient beings to the limit of space until all have attained nirvana." To me that sums up quite well the notion that all are free to discover sustenance from me.


It does sound a bit insane, doesn't it? But it isn't really new. Buddha taught it, allegedly Jesus did. "Love your enemies." It isn't a sentiment we simply nod to though. As Buddhists, we practice the practices we do which will prepare us for those moments in real life when we will have opportunity to allow our heart to be open, potentially wounded and/or a source of sustenance. It will happen. The whole point of practice is to get to know something, and just knowing it on the cushion isn't enough, as any version of the Bodhisattva vow will reveal. That becomes a belief then. Being able to respond to suffering with compassion and wisdom is a goal of our sitting, and those needs are out among those who are suffering, rarely are they there with us on the cushion.


I have to be as open to any "believer" bent by hatred and dogma  as I am to any sangha or family member. It might not be as hard as it seems. I can say that because as I practice, as I study, reflect, and meditate, I begin to see that my heart being open has no limit. It is like when I sit down and play, and pretty soon half the people upstairs drift down to hear who's playing, and they all ask what band I'm in (I'm not)(yet), and where I learned to play. I learned to play because I sat down and grabbed the sticks, and put the stick to the skins. After years of doing that, I decided to get lessons so I could learn what I didn't know, which is a lot. And now I have two teachers, both of whom teach me something, and then leave me alone.


To practice, practice, practice. To go beyond my fear and gain experience. To go beyond believing to knowing. From Grasshopper to Master. To haved an open mind, and an open heart, which is the best medicine for those who aren't.