Dear Fellow Bodies and Brains Practicing Buddhism,
In the near future, various technologies, including pharmaceuticals and devices, may supplement and complement important aspects of Buddhist Practice ... but will never ** fully replace them.
** (In the much more distant future, well, that is another story ... but I will leave that for a later chapter ... ) ...
My book says:
The enlightenment of the Zen Master will soon be brought to everyone, to the masses, to any seeker or paying customer at any time. The early technologies exist even now. There shall be illumination at the flip of a switch, or with a swallowed capsule, permitting individuals to lose their separate selfness, rediscovering wholeness, the insight of a Buddha sweeping in all the divisions and frictions of the universe.
Or, perhaps I should say that one key aspect of a Zen Master’s enlightenment will be easily accessible, what we call the “True Face” or “Original Face” or “Faceless Face.” This is the face within which all individual things, people and moments, this and that, past, present and future, you and me, are swept up in singularity, each and all seen as flowing in and out of each other, as fully encompassing each other, such that everything is a face of every other thing. One can experience that my face is your face over here, and your face is my face over there, as is the flower and star … the star just the flower shining in the sky, the flower but the star blossoming from the ground. Our divided encounter with the world of this that is not that, me who is not you, yesterday which is not today or tomorrow, beautiful which is different from ugly, is only a partial way to know things. A replacing of individuality with interflowing wholeness will be available at the push of a button or popping of a pill.
... However, such experiences of transcendence of the separate self and of time, and tastes of the unity of all things, are only part of the story. “Enlightenment” takes more than a sudden turning on of the lights, for the eyes must grow acclimated to the brightness and new ways of seeing. We must learn to walk and live in the new environment to which we are not accustomed, like someone emerging from years trapped in Plato's dark cave ... Afterwards, resuming life in this world of passing time after a taste of the timeless, we yet need to learn to incorporate its many meanings into our deepest psyche. The brain stimulator is turned off, or we come down from the mind-expanding trip, but what then? We may have experienced some peace, harmony and “oneness,” but still must master the art of embodying the same while also living this ordinary and sometimes troubled life, up to our necks in all the frictions, divided fractions, fractures and fighting factions of the world.
Continuous training will be required to incorporate insight, and the machine or medicine can’t do all the work. Sadly, as with psychoactive drugs today which provide easy kicks and thrills, I fear that tomorrow’s mind-altering techniques will be equally abused by people merely wanting a wild ride. Ideally, I would like their use only within the confines of formal spiritual training, such as Zen practice, or under the care of licensed clinicians. Unfortunately, many or most may not bother with that, and will use them without proper guidance. The experience of radical wholeness, sometimes called Kensho, or ‘seeing the nature’ in Zen, will be as easily had as any ticket to a show. By itself, it may become no more meaningful than a carnival ride, if not grossly misunderstood or a true horror show.
Some traditionalists will reject any “artificial” means, of course, but I know that other serious seekers will be open to all approaches, blending old with new. I can foresee many Zen groups, perhaps 20 years from now or sooner, greeting each other with a bow, sitting Zazen without purpose or goal or chewing on a Koan in our customary ways, eating silently and chanting, hearing talks about Teachings just as has been done since centuries long ago … and yet, somewhere during the practice day, for some moments, participants shall be connected to a device, or will swallow a liquid, to aid in dropping the sense of “self,” or in enhancing equanimity and compassion, as a complement to all the rest.
Of course, far future technologies may even allow aspects of “training” to be implanted directly into us, such that the learning, experiences and body memories of years residing in a Buddhist monastery, for example, might be uploaded to our brains in an instant. The skills and recollections of a Japanese monk or Tibetan lama may be recorded to our neurons as easily as we now install new apps on our phones. Perhaps a combination of all these means will assist us in our mastery: Illumination with a swallow, Satori simulators, and motor cortical monk-memory modules, together with old fashioned effort and putting it all into practice in ordinary life. However, that is not likely to happen for a long time, even at best. We are not going to be spared, anytime in the foreseeable future, the need to do the heavy lifting and hard work ourselves.
If I may compare enlightenment to one’s learning to sail a boat: An oceanic experience is vital, and it does not matter so much whether such experiences come from hundreds of hours sitting meditation or implantation or magnetic stimulation or simulation or medication. However, we must still actually get out on the open sea to hone our skills and learn to sail with our own two hands. It is not enough that we’ve experienced some oceanic taste that “we are all the sea, the sea is us, boat and sailor and wind and waters are one.” We must then put our discovery into daily practice, knowing a slip knot from a cleat knot, and how to keep our boat afloat in stormy waters. We may have truly pierced the fact that “we are to the sea like the waves of the sea, water of these waters,” and that there is ultimately nowhere to drown because our death (in one way of seeing) is just sea poured back into the sea. Nonetheless, that won’t get the ropes tied nor keep us from capsizing and drowning in the ordinary sense!
[Thus] it is vital to emphasize that, in traditional Zen training, the mere experience of Kensho, understanding and immersion in wholeness, has only ever been interpreted as the first step on a very long path. It is not even an experience considered vital by all meditators, some of whom can benefit just as greatly from a more gradual, gentle softening of the “self/other” divide, and other benefits of practice. In any case, regardless of the depth of the experience, we must gradually learn, in our life, to apply the insights gained, much as we still must learn to swim masterfully after first figuring out the basic art of diving into water and staying afloat. A variety of values and skills are yet to be learned such as the means to live more gently, more simply, with reduced greed, less anger, more generosity, more diligence, and many other good ways. Softening or experiencing our fully dropping the selfish demands of the judgmental and self-centered “self” certainly goes a long way in helping us do so, even if only part of the learning process.
Gassho, J
stlah
In the near future, various technologies, including pharmaceuticals and devices, may supplement and complement important aspects of Buddhist Practice ... but will never ** fully replace them.
** (In the much more distant future, well, that is another story ... but I will leave that for a later chapter ... ) ...
My book says:
~ ~ ~
The enlightenment of the Zen Master will soon be brought to everyone, to the masses, to any seeker or paying customer at any time. The early technologies exist even now. There shall be illumination at the flip of a switch, or with a swallowed capsule, permitting individuals to lose their separate selfness, rediscovering wholeness, the insight of a Buddha sweeping in all the divisions and frictions of the universe.
Or, perhaps I should say that one key aspect of a Zen Master’s enlightenment will be easily accessible, what we call the “True Face” or “Original Face” or “Faceless Face.” This is the face within which all individual things, people and moments, this and that, past, present and future, you and me, are swept up in singularity, each and all seen as flowing in and out of each other, as fully encompassing each other, such that everything is a face of every other thing. One can experience that my face is your face over here, and your face is my face over there, as is the flower and star … the star just the flower shining in the sky, the flower but the star blossoming from the ground. Our divided encounter with the world of this that is not that, me who is not you, yesterday which is not today or tomorrow, beautiful which is different from ugly, is only a partial way to know things. A replacing of individuality with interflowing wholeness will be available at the push of a button or popping of a pill.
... However, such experiences of transcendence of the separate self and of time, and tastes of the unity of all things, are only part of the story. “Enlightenment” takes more than a sudden turning on of the lights, for the eyes must grow acclimated to the brightness and new ways of seeing. We must learn to walk and live in the new environment to which we are not accustomed, like someone emerging from years trapped in Plato's dark cave ... Afterwards, resuming life in this world of passing time after a taste of the timeless, we yet need to learn to incorporate its many meanings into our deepest psyche. The brain stimulator is turned off, or we come down from the mind-expanding trip, but what then? We may have experienced some peace, harmony and “oneness,” but still must master the art of embodying the same while also living this ordinary and sometimes troubled life, up to our necks in all the frictions, divided fractions, fractures and fighting factions of the world.
Continuous training will be required to incorporate insight, and the machine or medicine can’t do all the work. Sadly, as with psychoactive drugs today which provide easy kicks and thrills, I fear that tomorrow’s mind-altering techniques will be equally abused by people merely wanting a wild ride. Ideally, I would like their use only within the confines of formal spiritual training, such as Zen practice, or under the care of licensed clinicians. Unfortunately, many or most may not bother with that, and will use them without proper guidance. The experience of radical wholeness, sometimes called Kensho, or ‘seeing the nature’ in Zen, will be as easily had as any ticket to a show. By itself, it may become no more meaningful than a carnival ride, if not grossly misunderstood or a true horror show.
Some traditionalists will reject any “artificial” means, of course, but I know that other serious seekers will be open to all approaches, blending old with new. I can foresee many Zen groups, perhaps 20 years from now or sooner, greeting each other with a bow, sitting Zazen without purpose or goal or chewing on a Koan in our customary ways, eating silently and chanting, hearing talks about Teachings just as has been done since centuries long ago … and yet, somewhere during the practice day, for some moments, participants shall be connected to a device, or will swallow a liquid, to aid in dropping the sense of “self,” or in enhancing equanimity and compassion, as a complement to all the rest.
Of course, far future technologies may even allow aspects of “training” to be implanted directly into us, such that the learning, experiences and body memories of years residing in a Buddhist monastery, for example, might be uploaded to our brains in an instant. The skills and recollections of a Japanese monk or Tibetan lama may be recorded to our neurons as easily as we now install new apps on our phones. Perhaps a combination of all these means will assist us in our mastery: Illumination with a swallow, Satori simulators, and motor cortical monk-memory modules, together with old fashioned effort and putting it all into practice in ordinary life. However, that is not likely to happen for a long time, even at best. We are not going to be spared, anytime in the foreseeable future, the need to do the heavy lifting and hard work ourselves.
If I may compare enlightenment to one’s learning to sail a boat: An oceanic experience is vital, and it does not matter so much whether such experiences come from hundreds of hours sitting meditation or implantation or magnetic stimulation or simulation or medication. However, we must still actually get out on the open sea to hone our skills and learn to sail with our own two hands. It is not enough that we’ve experienced some oceanic taste that “we are all the sea, the sea is us, boat and sailor and wind and waters are one.” We must then put our discovery into daily practice, knowing a slip knot from a cleat knot, and how to keep our boat afloat in stormy waters. We may have truly pierced the fact that “we are to the sea like the waves of the sea, water of these waters,” and that there is ultimately nowhere to drown because our death (in one way of seeing) is just sea poured back into the sea. Nonetheless, that won’t get the ropes tied nor keep us from capsizing and drowning in the ordinary sense!
[Thus] it is vital to emphasize that, in traditional Zen training, the mere experience of Kensho, understanding and immersion in wholeness, has only ever been interpreted as the first step on a very long path. It is not even an experience considered vital by all meditators, some of whom can benefit just as greatly from a more gradual, gentle softening of the “self/other” divide, and other benefits of practice. In any case, regardless of the depth of the experience, we must gradually learn, in our life, to apply the insights gained, much as we still must learn to swim masterfully after first figuring out the basic art of diving into water and staying afloat. A variety of values and skills are yet to be learned such as the means to live more gently, more simply, with reduced greed, less anger, more generosity, more diligence, and many other good ways. Softening or experiencing our fully dropping the selfish demands of the judgmental and self-centered “self” certainly goes a long way in helping us do so, even if only part of the learning process.
Gassho, J
stlah
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