All the World is a Burning House

Sorry there are no photos as of yet in this post (update 10/25: photos now at the end of this post), but I forgot to bring my camera on a trip last weekend.  Danny will have some on his blog soon, and he said I could borrow some from there.

As I'm sure you know, several areas around L.A. and San Diego are on fire now.  We drove through the fires near Santa Clarita on our way back from San Francisco this past Sunday (more on that trip later).  We saw what looked like a mushroom cloud at first in the distance over the mountains, and then I noticed some odd looking clouds to the right of us as well.  As we approached, it appeared to be smoke, and we were right.  We actually saw some flames from the highway and for a while the smoke was so thick that the sun was just a dull red globe in the sky at 3:00 in the afternoon. 

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the fires, roads have been closed, and there aren't enough fire fighters to take care of it all.  Please send your prayers for those who have lost everything.  Unfortunately, the last I heard, one person has died so far.  What's really frightening is that most of these fires, if not all of them, were deliberately set.

This afternoon I could smell the smoke from one of the fires not far from here.  I could swear I also saw some ash floating in the air, but I'm not sure.  The sky has been blotted out by smoke for a couple of days and it doesn't appear to be getting any better.

One of the Korean monks here told me that last year (?) someone hiking in the mountains in South Korea threw a cigarette away and started a brush fire that ultimately consumed a 1,400 year old temple.  There were witnesses, but they never found the person who did it.  The monk who told me this didn't mention any loss of human life, but I'm sure countless living beings were killed through that stupidity.

These fires remind me of the line from the Lotus Sutra, "All the world is a burning house.  Why would you want to stay in it?"  Large events like the current forest fires here stand out, but we are all burning slowly in the fire of delusion and its resulting suffering.  Each attempt to grasp at or deny composite phenomena (our bodies, our things) and our ideas about what will make us happy or keep us from pain actually leads us to more suffering.  This is what the metaphor of the burning house refers to.

However, in the Mahayana, getting out of the burning house isn't mere escapism.  By liberating our minds from ignorance we are able to skillfully help other sentient beings achieve the same liberation from the cycle of birth, old age, sickness, and death.  This is the bodhisattva path.

In other news, I went to the Bay area this past weekend for a conference on Buddhist chaplaincy.  We left Friday and returned Sunday.  We stayed at a Thai temple in Fremont.  It was nice having a Thai monk, Venerable Aroon, in our group as he was able to guide us through things a bit.  Some of us also joined in the morning chanting and meditation.  I don't know Pali, the language that is used in Buddhist chanting and texts in South and Southeast Asia, but it was meditative just listening to it.  The monks voices were deep and slow. 

The conference itself was quite interesting.  I'm sure Danny will have more information on the details of the conference on his blog soon (he has some updates on Myanmar/Burma there now), so I'll focus on some interesting people I met.  In the interest of maintaining privacy, I won't use any names. 

At the start of one of the sessions, we did a short exercise where someone said, for example, "If you're a military chaplain, please stand up."  Then if we were part of that group, we'd stand up and everyone could see.  Well, she asked who was a Vajrayana Buddhist.  I didn't stand up. Then she asked who was a Tibetan Buddhist.  I didn't stand up.  As I was wearing red (Tibetan) robes, everyone noticed.  After that, we all took the microphone for a couple of minutes and introduced ourselves.  I said my name and that I'm from UWest, and that I don't really identify with the Tibetan tradition anymore.  I mentioned that I am planning to go to South Korea to pursue the monastic life there for several years, but when I return I might be interested in a chaplaincy program.  I'm not interested in working in a hospital or in the military so much as I'm interested in the pastoral care side of things. 

So, when lunch began the monastics (there were three of us, all from UWest) were asked to be seated first and to do a blessing of the food.  One Pali blessing, one Tibetan blessing and one Korean blessing.  Then, two individuals immediately sat down by me, without getting their food first. One of them directs a school of some sort for children and teaches insight meditation, though she also practices in the Nyingma and Karma Kagyu lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.  She is also a former Kagyu nun.  She intended to stay in India in retreat and had sponsorship for that, but a few years ago someone gambled away the funds in the stock market and left her with 46 cents.  She tried to find a way to make it in the States as a nun, but found that to be unworkable, so she ultimately returned her robes and has been in training to become a Buddhist chaplain.

After I explained that I was going to Korea for the same reason - for training and a proper education that is not available here - she said she understood my decision to leave Tibetan Buddhism behind. 

The other individual, an older gentleman who graduated from Naropa University some years ago and who works as a chaplain...in a hospital or prison...I forget...seemed a little uncomfortable with my leaving Vajrayana behind.  One thing I said was I never bought the idea that Vajrayana is a better way to enlightenment.  I've always felt that the quickest way to enlightenment is the way to which you are best suited.  He said that he had never heard a lama say that Vajrayana was "better," and I said that I'd heard that kind of talk from Western Buddhists.  However, I've been reflecting on that since then. I have heard numerous lamas say that general Mahayana will get you to enlightenment in countless kalpas, but Vajrayana will get you there in just a few lifetimes.  I think the subtext there is that Vajrayana is better--it's clearly a value statement.   But given that they also say Vajrayana can be the quick way to hell, I'm not so sure anyone should jump into it as lightly as we seem to do in the west.

My original interest in Tibetan Buddhism revolved around being a monk, not the Vajrayana aspect at all.  I think the meditation techniques of Tibetan Buddhism can be wonderful, if you can get proper instruction in how to do them and have the freedom (i.e. time away from work and the money) to do retreat and really dive into them.  However, beyond generating some merit, I wonder how useful a practice it is for busy Westerners.  The technical knowledge required really dive into these practices is staggering and takes years of full-time practice to master.  I just don't want to be a dabbler anymore.

The whole world is a burning house.  I want out.

Here are some photos courtesy of Danny's blog:

This is the temple sign.

This is the main hall of the temple. The property has several small houses on it used for the monks residences and community space as well.  The interior is incredible.

This is a naga, a kind of mythical serpent.  One member of our group, Ven. Aroon (a Thai monk) told us a story of a disciple of the Buddha complaining that a naga was bothering him while he tried to meditate, so the Buddha told him ot ask the naga for the jewel it kept in its throat.  Apparently, nagas release the jewel at night to attract animals to eat, so if it gives away the jewel it will die.  The disciple asked for the jewel the next time the naga showed up, and it went away never to bother him again.

This is the main Buddha statue in the hall.  It is flanked by two disciples with palms together slightly bowing to the Buddha.  We meditated and chanted in here both mornings we were there.  It was quite peaceful, despite the occasional trains running by behind the temple.

Here we are in the shivering cold before breakfast.  Daphna is the one with all the hair.  I asked her if I could borrow some.  I should have brought a hat.  We did, however, share a bottle of hot water to hold under our outer robes.  That was a good idea.  I didn't think it would be so cold in the Bay area yet.

Comments

[Rigpai Dorje]

Hello. Very sorry to hear that you were not able to get support while practicing in the Tibetan tradition. I think our karma plays a lot to do with it. Seems your karma is guiding you to Korea. I pray it may be very auspicious for you. I feel very lucky to live within a few moments from the lama I study with. I can't imagine being a monk and not being near a teacher to train with.

I think some westerners do get on an ego trip with Vajrayana. However, I've also met practitioners from Mahayana and Theravadan traditions who also believe that their tradition is better than others. I don't think the clinging to tradition is anything particular to any one tradition. Clinging is unfortunately just part of human experience.

Regarding your quote from the Lotus Sutra, could you tell me the chapter it is found in? I remember it, but can't locate it in the text now.

All the best to you,
Rigpai Dorje

[Kalsang Dorje]

Kudos on finding where you feel the most comfortable and making the right action based on that. I think the value judgement on Vajrayana is something that drew me into the path, but it's not something that keeps me there. From what I've read being secular is really just another delusion and I agree. There's not much difference between any spiritual tradition. The broad brushes are the same, the short ones are the difference. Good luck and take whatever blessings I can confer.

[Albert]

Heya - I just wanted to say - wow I'm glad I found this blog. Please keep up the good work!