Norman will be teaching from Thich Nhat Hanh’s Old Path White Clouds. I got to page 256
and I put it down, probably forever. We
know that mythological stories are important for their archetypal themes and as
an expression of populist religious ideas.
That Buddha-to-be left his wife and child is well known, and it seems
that in general we Buddhists – or at least the ones of know – accept the story,
even if we do not totally agree that this was an ethical thing to do.
So at some level I accepted his leaving as an important
story, the path to Buddha’s enlightenment.
And since we tell this story every year around December 8th,
the mythological date of the Buddha’s enlightenment, it no longer disturbs me
as much as it did. But in the narrative by Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddha returns
to visit his wife and very young child Rahula for a short time. It is said that
Rahula is allowed to visit the Buddha in his forest monastery, and then he is
ordained, breaking the heart of his mother and grandparents. Meanwhile we are
told that the Buddha is walking gracefully and mindfully in the forest, (while
his loved ones suffer.)
The message is clear: the Way is for male mendicants, and
that it is all right to leave your wife and home in order to follow the Way. Not
only is it all right, it is desirable!
As we know, religions mutate slowly in a new culture. So in
American Buddhism, we now ordain women (thank goodness!) and we no longer
believe that one must be celibate and live in a monastery in order to follow
the Way.
But as I have considered this,
I wonder about the deep story here. The goal of renunciation is to focus one’s
entire life on spiritual practice. We
say that we can attain the way “in the world,” but are we really practicing
with the commitment and one-pointedness of the Buddha and his disciples in this
story? Or even with the commitment of our friends who live a monastic life? What
does it mean to practice with commitment anyway? Is reading a book or two and sitting once a
day (a great discipline, actually) enough? I wonder if it isn’t very possible
to become complacent. And what does
“enough” mean anyway? We no longer talk about a specific goal like
enlightenment, but what are we doing? Are we following the precepts and living
ethically (a wonderful achievement)! Is that enough?
What does it mean to be a priest in our secular world, living
at home, doing the shopping, etc? As I
age and see death always on the horizon, I am called to commit, but to what and
for what end?
Pretty slippery stuff, but we must, I think, continue to
investigate and look deeper.
