Question:

I am reading your introduction to the Eightfold Path. I’m a little lost with Right Effort (step 6) Do you go more fully into the 4 major actions, in any other podcast that I just haven’t found yet?

Answer:

Not yet, but now is a good time for it!

Right Effort is one step of the Eightfold Path. Way back in April I explained:

Right effort consists of four major actions that a Buddhist should attempt at all times:
1. Make an effort to prevent the creation of unwholesome states.
2. Make an effort to abandon pre-existing unwholesome states.
3. Make an effort to encourage wholesome states.
4. Make an effort to maintain pr-existing wholesome states.

What Buddha actually said was:

(i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

(ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.

(iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.

(iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds & exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, & culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen: This, monks, is called right effort.

(From the Magga-Vibhanga Sutta, which I’ll include in full this weekend in Weekly Buddhism #8)

Right Effort is, in essence, mental energy directed toward something which can be either good or bad. The four steps above explain the most productive way to focus those mental energies. I have seen it explained that the best way to test yourself as to whether or not you have been applying right effort is to simply ask yourself, “Have I really tried today? Have I pushed myself to my limit, or did I take it easy today?”

The Dog Story

Yesterday, I mentioned just how ingrained some of the ideas of Buddhism are in the East. Here is a little story that I think exemplifies the differences and just how deep they go.

One day in Japan, I had the afternoon off and was watching TV. My Japanese was limited, so TV was always a challenge, but once in a while I found a story I could follow. That afternoon, I tuned in to a children’s movie about a dog. I turned it on in the middle, and I assume the dog had gone on various adventures that I missed.

At the point in the story where I started watching, he was going to one of those schools that teach dogs how to assist blind people. Upon the dog’s graduation, he was assigned to a nice old man who was mostly blind. The dog and the old man lived together several years, and they loved each other very much (cue the ‚Äúhappy master and dog montage‚Äù). Then the old man suddenly died. The dog missed his master, and went to live with a younger couple who took care of the now-old dog. The dog too, grew sicker, finally having an accident that left him on his deathbed.

The old dog lay there on his bed, surrounded by his new family, all in tears. The camera looked down on the scene from above. The dog’s breathing grew shallower and shallower, the camera started to go dark. The dog’s eye’s closed and the camera faded to black. The heroic star of the movie, the dog, was dead. Yes, I was sniffling too by that time, but that’s not the point!

OK. So far, there’s nothing there that we all haven’t seen before in a tear-jerker dog movie, right? What do you suppose came next? I absolutely expected to see the camera fade back to a new scene with the dog, now in a cloudy realm. The dog would look over and see his old master, no longer blind, and probably a lot younger too. after a joyous reunion, the the two would walk off into the mist together, a happy ending after all. Does that seem like a normal story to you? Here in the West, that’s how it would have ended. Not this time.

Instead, the camera faded in to a blurry scene with lots of fuzzy action. The image clears, and we see a batch of newborn puppies, minutes old, drinking milk from their mother. The camera zooms in on one of the puppies, who we now realize is the reincarnation of our former hero-dog, ready to start some new adventures. The End.

That just blew me away at the time. For Japanese, reincarnation is every bit as accepted and ‚Äúnatural‚Äù as someone in the West going to Heaven. I[‚Äòm not saying they all believe it, any more than all Westerners believe in Heaven, but they all accept it as part of their culture to the extent that it’s in a children’s dog-movie and doesn’t require any explanation. Reincarnation is possibly the toughest part of Buddhism for Westerners to really accept, and here it is just an accepted part of children’s television.

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Question:

One thing that I find both off putting and frustrating about what I see as Buddhism in America is that is seems almost elitist. People go on and on about the importance of retreat. While I have no doubt about the importance of a retreat to truly give the mind some space to develop, it cannot be feasible for all people. Even in the places where Buddhism is the norm, not everyone is a monk. My question is this: How do the lay people in places where people are primarily Buddhist practice Buddhism in their lives in a practical way? What do you think Buddhism can be in a western society for everyday people? This is something that has been bothering me for some time. I appreciate anything you have to say about the matter.

Answer:

Specifically addressing retreats: Keep in mind that many of the people advocating retreats are the people taking money to lead retreats. Buddhism has become like everything else in the West, highly commercialized. Even the monks and teachers need to make money, and hosting a retreat is where many of the ‚Äúbig names‚Äù make their living. There’s nothing inherently wrong about that, but always look into a teacher’s motives when they recommend something. That being said, ‚Äúreal‚Äù Eastern monks do in fact go on retreats themselves occasionally. Master Sheng Yen, in ‚ÄúFootprints in the Snow‚Äù went on a ‚Äúsolitary retreat‚Äù for nine months once. One long retreat during his lifetime, not for a week every six months.

As far as the rest of your question is concerned, I think the primary difference is that in the West, we see Buddhism as a religion. It’s something that you choose to DO, and it’s an important, life-changing choice. In the East, however, they don’t really think about it, it’s just THERE. While I was in Japan, once in a while someone would ask about my religion, and when I answered that I was a Buddhist, and the answer was invariably, “What is that?” When I explained about following the teachings of Buddha, the answer was just about always an unexcited, “Oh that. Yes, me too.” It’s just part of their lives, something ingrained in them, it’s not a choice, it’s not an activity; they don’t DO Buddhism, they just live it. I’ve got a story about a dog that I think I’ll tell tomorrow that shows just how ingrained these ideas are.

I think it’s a lot like Christians in this country that don’t read the Bible much and don’t go to church. Christianity is there, they believe in it and they know all about it, it’s part of their identity, yet it’s not actively important to their day to day lives. It’s not hypocrisy, it’s more part of their background.

I don’t think Buddhism is going to have that kind of ‚Äúbackground power‚Äù in the West, at least not for several more generations. In the meantime, Buddhism will gain new converts who are excited about this ‚Äúexotic new thing,‚Äù and they will eagerly go off to retreats, buy Buddhist books, rent Buddhist videos, and so forth. It is new, and it all has to be learned, unlike those in the East who just sort of became Buddhists naturally, never having read a book on Buddhism in their lives. Hopefully, those excited new Western converts will stick around and learn to live by the precepts, follow the Path, and reduce suffering where they see it instead of just going off to a retreat every six months.

If this sounds negative, I don’t mean it that way. It’s just a case of new converts discovering a new way of looking at the universe as opposed to lifelong Buddhists who say, ‚ÄúOh that. Yes, me too.‚Äù

Announcements 8/25/08

1. For those of you who are enjoying the taooftheday.com podcasts, I have a special new audiobook offer. The website and podcast are currently at around chapter fifty. For those of you who are impatient to finish, you’ll like this:

“The Tao- Remastered” This is a three CD set featuring the entire Tao Te Ching, read by me. This is the same translation we are currently working through on the site, but all the audio has been completely re-recorded in far higher quality than the original podcast recordings.

You get two audio CDs that will play in a regular CD player with all 81 chapters ready to go. There is also a third CD with all the files in MP3 format ready to load into your iPod or other audio player. The third CD also has the entire text of the Tao in PDF eBook format, ready to read online or print out.

The Tao Remastered:
http://www.taooftheday.com/tao-remastered

2. My latest audio show, Arcane Tales, is now online and active. This one is primarily a podcast or audio show devoted to classic tales of horror, science-fiction, and fantasy, read by‚Ķ me of course! At some point in the future, I’ll even be slipping in some of my own fiction stories. The website is at http://www.arcanetales.com or you can subscribe to the audio feed directly at http://feeds.feedburner.com/ArcaneTales As usual with a new podcast, it’s not available on iTunes just yet, but will be soon. I’ll be sure to mention it again when it becomes available that way. There’s also a sign-up form for announcements and notifications that you can join if you are interested.

3. If you enjoy the show or the newsletters, please donate something. I’m not getting paid anything for the work I do here, and sites do cost money. Everything and anything you send in will help cover the costs of improving the site. There are donation buttons right on the website, so it’s easy to find and donate. And yes, there ARE reasons I’m bringing this up more often than I have in the past.

4. Although I will still be answering emails, I am going to be taking next week off from all my newsletters. I have several special projects that will be taking most of the week. Stay tuned!

Mandalas

One of my favorite items in Buddhist art is the mandala. You’ve almost certainly seen them before. They’re multicolored designs that are generally circular in shape on the outside and squared in the interior, having many other geometrical patterns within (see pictures at www.dailybuddhism.com ). According to Buddhists, a mandala represents the universe, and is a sort of symbolic map. As a person starts at the outside and works his way to the center of the mandala/universe, he symbolically finds the ‚Äúessence of reality.‚Äù

Although there are many types and forms of mandalas, probably the most distinctive are the ones made from sand. Monks build these images one grain of sand at a time. Usually four monks work together on a mandala after a long period of meditation and contemplation. Although sometimes a mandala is saved as a work of art, it is customary to mix up the sand, destroying the mandala after its completion; this symbolizes the impermanence of everything, including the universe itself.

So You Want To Be a Buddhist?

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A Reader recently wrote:
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I have recently begun listening to your pod-cast, after starting to bring enlightenment to my life, but wanted to ask a question, that has been troubling me for a while.

I only really came across these teachings after I began learning meditation from a local Buddhist monk, as a way of combating frequent migraines. The more I learned about the meditation, the more I picked up on the Buddhism aspect and this has brought me to learn about the whole thing and bring some positive order to my life. However I have never lived like a saint, and have lived a life that frequently went against everything that I am now learning and wish to follow (although nothing illegal). I don’t want to wash away what I have done in my past, as they are all actions that at the time I chose to participate in, and I believe that my past actions define who I am.

I accept that starting to learn and follow the Buddhist path will help to reverse the negative karma that I have accrued, but is there a way to properly draw a line under things (much in the same way a Christian is Christened?), and begin on a healthier path?

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And my response:
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I’m guessing you are looking for the Buddhist equivalent of “Being Saved” or even something like a Baptism from Christianity. There really isn’t anything like that. If you want to become a monk and actually live in a monastery, there are many vows and rituals to take, but I am assuming that’s not what you want. You’re a regular lay-person and looking for a way to “start over” as a Buddhist.

I found an answer to this question at http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080520062700AA5dngY there are also several good responses to the answer there. Basically, their answer is:

How does one formally convert to Buddhism?

The historical Buddha referred to his teachings as a “system of training,” not as a religion, philosophy, or lifestyle. As a result, the concept of “conversion” doesn’t really exist in Buddhism.

Buddhism is a practice tradition, not a faith tradition. Buddhist practice, or training, cultivates the qualities of compassion, wisdom, generosity, and creativity.

This means that Buddhists don’t have to adopt any doctrine, creed, or belief system. Even the concepts of refuge and precepts are completely dependent on each person’s interest and experience.

All that’s required is practice. If there’s a Buddhist center near your home, you can visit and get instruction from them. If there’s no center, nearby, there are many books that can teach you how to practice.

Basically, my advice is to sit down and meditate for a while, and try to act in a mindfully Buddhist manner from now on. That’s all there is to it. If you want to BE a Buddhist, then just start “acting” like one. Once the ‚Äúact‚Äù becomes a normal way of doing things, you’ll be there. That’s all there is to it!