A Place for Doubt

Guest article

By Robert Buswell  
Distinguish Professor of Buddhist Studies, UCLA

The 9/11 terrorist attacks were fostered in no small measure by the certitude of a handful of religious zealots that their religious beliefs alone were right and all others wrong.  In early Buddhist texts like the Atthakavagga (The Octets), the Buddha bemoaned the pernicious hold that extremist views, and especially religious blind faith, have on people.  By presuming that only my beliefs, practices, and perceptions are correct and unassailable implies that all others ipso facto are incorrect and controvertible.  

As the tenth anniversary of this heinous act of religious terror approaches, it is perhaps refreshing that an eminent figure in a tradition that places doubt at the very core of religious teaching and practice will be visiting New York City.  He is Ven. Jinje Seonsa, the leading Korean Zen (Seon) master of his generation.  

In Buddhism, by abandoning the personal point of view that is the self (atman), the Buddhist experiences a state that transcends dichotomies such as enemy and friend, orthodox and heretical, and thus clings to nothing from this conditioned world.  Even attachment to "Buddhism" itself, the Buddha says, must ultimately be abandoned to truly understand Buddhism.  Attachment to views is considered to be the root source of the disputes that separate one group from another and lead to conflict, a position certainly taken to the extreme by the 9/11 attackers.  

But it doesn't take a terrorist to operate from viewpoints of prejudice, hate, or misunderstanding.  We are all impeded by thoughts and emotions that affect our understanding and actions.  But if we are willing to cut through those value judgments by deploying the tool of doubt, we can experience that fundamental nature that transcends all dichotomies and inequalities.  

The Korean Seon tradition places pride of place in doubt rather than faith and the teachings of Seon Master Jinje epitomize the sense of questioning that, he insists, is at the core of authentic religious practice.  

Remember those colorful if not blasphemous sayings of the Zen masters?  

"'What is the Buddha?' 'A dried sh** stick.'" (Yunmen) 
"If you meet the Buddha, kill him!" (Linji). 

"'Why did Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen, come from the West?' 'A cypress tree is in the courtyard.'"  (Zhaozhou)  

These kinds of enigmatic statements of the masters of old are specifically intended to help overcome the attachment to views, even the view of what constitutes "Buddhism" or the "Buddha" himself.  The Korean Seon tradition uses these kinds of statements as "topics of inquiry" (hwadu) in order to raise that sense of questioning, which the Koreans call technically "the sensation of doubt" (uijeong).  

This Korean technique is akin to the Japanese Rinzai Zen training in koans (Zen "cases"), which is better known in the West, but Korean Ganhwa Seon developed prior to, and completely independently from, the Japanese Zen traditions.  In Seon Master Jinje's presentation of Ganhwa Seon, this questioning component is paramount and is what distinguishes this Korean style of meditation from other forms of Buddhist meditation such as vipassana (insight meditation).  

Such hwadu challenge one's most deeply held beliefs, including those about religion, by engendering questioning.  This sensation of doubt eventually becomes so intense that the mind becomes utterly absorbed in the topic of inquiry.  The meditator becomes oblivious to everything in one's life except this questioning, which becomes so second-nature that it flows effortlessly and continuously in one's mind, like water running downstream.  

Seon Master Jinje commonly teaches neophytes to Ganhwa Seon practice to contemplate the hwadu "What is your original face before your parents gave birth to you?"  By asking this fundamental existential question about what "we" were before we were even conceived, this question opens up a whole series of further questions about what constitutes ourselves if "we" are not our physical bodies, thoughts, emotions, and experiences.  The intensity of this questioning eventually creates such pressure in the mind that the doubt shatters, removing the limiting point of view that is the self and leaving the mind receptive to the influence of the unconditioned and open to the boundless perspective that is enlightenment.  

On the heels of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I think it is fitting that we all open our minds to the value of doubt.  By challenging our own fundamental beliefs, challenging our own understanding of self and other, right and wrong, orthodoxy and heterodoxy, and enemy and friend, Korean questioning meditation thus opens the possibility of a entirely new way of perceiving the things of this world, a new way of thinking in which clinging to our own views alone does not hold sway.  

According to Korean Seon teachings, this is the ultimate paradox of religion: to truly have certitude one must first have doubt.  

This article originally appeared here


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Tantra, Buddhism, and the Embrace of Science

Tantra developed out of human beings’ innate desire to unravel the mystery of this manifest universe, searching for the secret causes underlying both the dreadful and the beautiful aspects of nature. People looked around them at the rivers and streams, the far-flung mountain ranges, the flashes of lightning; they heard the thunder; they listened to the roaring of ferocious animals – and they began to plumb the depths of these mysteries. These endeavors to get at the hidden truth of everything are what has been known, for several thousand years, as Tantra. Since these endeavors were carried on at different times, in different places, and by different groups of individuals, we find some differences in methodology among the various schools of Tantra, the most subtle being the science of the cosmos.

Practitioners of the more-developed Tantra would look upon things from a broad perspective, renouncing all narrow thinking. They would always strive hard to advance the welfare of the masses. Through such selfless service, they would overcome the fetters of the mind, such as hatred and shame. The practitioners of the less-developed Tantra would behave in just the opposite way. They would indulge in sectism; in expressions of untouchability; and in expressions of hatred and envy in relation to other groups.

The overcoming of material bondages signifies the greatest human progress. The word tantra signifies that one “frees oneself from the bondages of crudity”, Sadáshiva being the earliest propounder of such Tantra. He developed specific practices, and thereby ensured all-round progress in the different aspects of human life, including, though not limited to physical health and fitness, psychic health, psycho-transpersonal development, medicine, material science and music practice, with today's seven notes and eight octaves originating from his development. He brought about an optimal system, reviewing and coordinating all branches of Tantra.

There is no such thing as “supernatural” in this world. All sorts of powers lie dormant in human beings. Sometimes we get glimpses of these latent powers. In a more-developed terminology, these glimpses will be called “intellect” or “intuition”. Human beings can develop that which they have glimpsed, eventually attaining extraordinary powers. In the eyes of ordinary people, these powers appear to be supernatural, but actually they are natural. It is a fact that ordinary persons cannot do these extraordinary things, and that is why they look upon these powers as supernatural. The magic of today, made more ubiquitous in society, becomes the science of tomorrow.

By developing both the internal and external subtleties of human life in an ethical manner, greater creativity and beneficience will ensue for society and in persnonal life, with capabilities long dormant in human life unfurled respelendently in human life and society at large.

Guest article

How Buddhism Embraced Science

Blogger Fuketsu at Taste of Chicago Buddhism writes that last month was the 120th anniversary of the World's Parliament of Religions. The parliament, held in Chicago in 1893, was intended to create a worldwide dialogue among religious traditions. And to a large extent, it succeeded.

The parliament also was a significant event in western Buddhism. Two Buddhists addressed the assembly in person, and another -- a Pure Land scholar -- sent a paper read in his absence. This was, arguably, the first substantive introduction of Buddhism to cultural westerners, and it created impressions that persist in the West to this day. This includes the perception that Buddhism is a science-friendly spiritual tradition, an appropriate topic given our recent look at the Higgs Bosun and Field.  

Among the attendees was Soyen Shaku, a Japanese Rinzai Zen abbot who was the first Zen master to teach in the United States. His book Zen for Americans, first published in 1906, is still in print.

Soyen Shaku's translator was a young student named D.T. Suzuki, whose books and translations would someday pique the interest of Alan Watts (who wrote many popular books about Zen) andJack Kerouac, among others. Thus Zen came to the West.  

Another significant Buddhist at the parliament was Anagarika Dharmapala. Dharmapala was a Theravadin layperson and scholar who, for a time, was an associate of Henry Steel Olcott. Dharmapala also played an important role in the 19th century revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. And he remains hugely influential in how Buddhism is perceived in the West, even to those who never heard of him.  

At the time of the parliament, Dharmapala was 29 years old. Press reports described his all-white robes, his black curly hair, and his gentle, refined face. His pleasant appearance and excellent English gained him considerable attention in U.S. newspapers.  

Dharmapala made more than one speech at the parliament, and in his talks he stressed the harmony between Buddhism and science. Christianity at the time was reeling from the challenge of Darwin's Origin of Species, and psychology was just emerging as a new branch of science. Dharmapala discussed both, skillfully arguing that the Buddha had taught things science was just beginning to discover.  

Although the Buddhism and science connection is not at all unreasonable, Dharmapala appears to have been one of the first to make it.  This theme resonated well with progressive Westerners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, earning respect in the West for Buddhism as a tradition worthy of study and practice.

This article originally appeared HERE  

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Evidence Supports Health Benefits of 'Mindfulness-Based Practices'

Mind, Brain, Neurology

Specific types of "mindfulness practices" including Zen meditation have demonstrated benefits for patients with certain physical and mental health problems, according to a report in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice.  

"An extensive review of therapies that include meditation as a key component -- referred to as mindfulness-based practices -- shows convincing evidence that such interventions are effective in the treatment of psychiatric symptoms and pain, when used in combination with more conventional therapies," according to Dr William R.  Marchand of the George E. Wahlen Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.  

Mindfulness Techniques Show Health Benefits 

Dr Marchand reviewed published studies evaluating the health benefits of mindfulness-based practices.  Mindfulness has been described as "the practice of learning to focus attention on moment-by-moment experience with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance."   Put another way, "Practicing mindfulness is simply experiencing the present moment, without trying to change anything."  

The review focused on three techniques:  

Mindfulness Meditation Training Changes Brain Structure in Eight Weeks

Mind, Brain, Neurology

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.  In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.  

"Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day," says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study's senior author.  "This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing."  

Previous studies from Lazar's group and others found structural differences between the brains of experienced mediation practitioners and individuals with no history of meditation, observing thickening of the cerebral cortex in areas associated with attention and emotional integration.  But those investigations could not document that those differences were actually produced by meditation.  

Allopaths Getting Around To Acknowledging: Evidence Builds That Meditation Strengthens the Brain

Mind, Brain, Neurology

ScienceDaily (Mar. 14, 2012) — Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit.

Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes.

The article appears in the online edition of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

The cerebral cortex is the outermost layer of neural tissue. Among other functions, it plays a key role in memory, attention, thought and consciousness. Gyrification or cortical folding is the process by which the surface of the brain undergoes changes to create narrow furrows and folds called sulci and gyri. Their formation may promote and enhance neural processing. Presumably then, the more folding that occurs, the better the brain is at processing information, making decisions, forming memories and so forth.

"Rather than just comparing meditators and non-meditators, we wanted to see if there is a link between the amount of meditation practice and the extent of brain alteration," said Luders. "That is, correlating the number of years of meditation with the degree of folding."