Hiya Sangha! Just thought I'd pop in and share something I might submit to The Elephant Journal.
The counterculture used to say that, "Everybody's got a bag." We all have views. From views like, "It's such a nice day!" "This soup tastes like phlegm," "The sky is blue," to, "All matter came from the stars," or, "The earth is only 6,000 years old." It's very easy to get attached to our views. Certainty makes us feel safe, it makes us feel like there's some solid ground to stand on.
Right View is one of the stepless steps on the Noble Eightfold Path. According to Zen Master Bon Soeng,
Sometimes you hear that Right View means having no views at all, no opinions or preconceived notions about anything. Sometimes you hear that it merely means not being attached to our views or averse to other views. Both seem very relevant to Shikantaza, the latter seems relevant to day-to-day life.
From what I've experienced, having a "this and that" perspective helps. It's a nice compromise when pondering a, "neither this nor that perspective." Artichokes are neither good nor bad. I don't like the taste of them, but that doesn't mean that everyone should dislike them. I think they're terrible and some people think they're awesome.
It's especially easy to get attached to views when we're in a group that endorses a certain mindset. When we're only around people who agree with us, we can forget that not everyone agrees. That's the nature of Group Think (Myers, 2010). Sometimes arguing our views can also increase our attachment to them.
It's important to remember that all views express an aspect of duality. Tasting that can soften attachment and aversion. Let's say we find a stick that we really like, but we only want the left side of it. We break off the right and toss it on the ground. We smile and then look at the stick again, but realize that there's still a right side. So we snap it in half again, and again, and again until there's only a small nub left that we can't snap. Even that little nub has a right side and a left side. If there's this, there's also that. If there isn't this, there isn't that. In the meantime, while we were snapping away, we lost sight of the Whole stick. We overlooked it's nature and got caught up in concepts. Forgot the, "This and that," and, "neither this nor that," nature of the stick.
This is how all views are. If someone says, "He's lazy, I'm not going to help him. I worked hard for what I have," they're overlooking the fact that because there is poverty, there is wealth. Because there are slackers, there are hard workers. Let's say we wiped out poverty right now. No one needed state assistance or affordable housing. Well, then we'd just find a new definition for wealth and poverty. We might say someone is poor if they can't afford a Rolls Royce. If everyone put 100% into their work, we'd find a new term for hard workers and slackers. Slackers might be anyone who doesn't work 12 hours a day, five days a week.
The point here is compassion for those who have different views than us, and remembering that we're all just trying to let go of dissatisfaction. The only way to do that, is to let go of our views. To see through this or that thinking and not this or that thinking. Let go of duality and non-duality. Then, views aren't dangerous to us anymore. Buddha probably didn't do too much teaching until after he sat beneath the Bodhi tree. After that, attachment and aversion to views didn't tempt him anymore. He could teach without getting attached to what he was teaching. Maybe most of all, we should remember not to take ourselves too seriously.
Gassho, John
Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Soeng, B. (2014). Right view is no view. Empty Gate Zen Center. Retrieved from Empty Gate Zen Center
The counterculture used to say that, "Everybody's got a bag." We all have views. From views like, "It's such a nice day!" "This soup tastes like phlegm," "The sky is blue," to, "All matter came from the stars," or, "The earth is only 6,000 years old." It's very easy to get attached to our views. Certainty makes us feel safe, it makes us feel like there's some solid ground to stand on.
Right View is one of the stepless steps on the Noble Eightfold Path. According to Zen Master Bon Soeng,
"Right view means clarity. Right view means letting go of 'my' view to be able to perceive the moment... To see clearly, we have to let go of our own perspective, our own opinion of right and wrong, what I should do and what you should do. If we can let go of that, then it’s possible to have what the Buddha called Right View" (Empty Gate Zen Center, 2014).
From what I've experienced, having a "this and that" perspective helps. It's a nice compromise when pondering a, "neither this nor that perspective." Artichokes are neither good nor bad. I don't like the taste of them, but that doesn't mean that everyone should dislike them. I think they're terrible and some people think they're awesome.
It's especially easy to get attached to views when we're in a group that endorses a certain mindset. When we're only around people who agree with us, we can forget that not everyone agrees. That's the nature of Group Think (Myers, 2010). Sometimes arguing our views can also increase our attachment to them.
It's important to remember that all views express an aspect of duality. Tasting that can soften attachment and aversion. Let's say we find a stick that we really like, but we only want the left side of it. We break off the right and toss it on the ground. We smile and then look at the stick again, but realize that there's still a right side. So we snap it in half again, and again, and again until there's only a small nub left that we can't snap. Even that little nub has a right side and a left side. If there's this, there's also that. If there isn't this, there isn't that. In the meantime, while we were snapping away, we lost sight of the Whole stick. We overlooked it's nature and got caught up in concepts. Forgot the, "This and that," and, "neither this nor that," nature of the stick.
This is how all views are. If someone says, "He's lazy, I'm not going to help him. I worked hard for what I have," they're overlooking the fact that because there is poverty, there is wealth. Because there are slackers, there are hard workers. Let's say we wiped out poverty right now. No one needed state assistance or affordable housing. Well, then we'd just find a new definition for wealth and poverty. We might say someone is poor if they can't afford a Rolls Royce. If everyone put 100% into their work, we'd find a new term for hard workers and slackers. Slackers might be anyone who doesn't work 12 hours a day, five days a week.
The point here is compassion for those who have different views than us, and remembering that we're all just trying to let go of dissatisfaction. The only way to do that, is to let go of our views. To see through this or that thinking and not this or that thinking. Let go of duality and non-duality. Then, views aren't dangerous to us anymore. Buddha probably didn't do too much teaching until after he sat beneath the Bodhi tree. After that, attachment and aversion to views didn't tempt him anymore. He could teach without getting attached to what he was teaching. Maybe most of all, we should remember not to take ourselves too seriously.
Gassho, John
Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Soeng, B. (2014). Right view is no view. Empty Gate Zen Center. Retrieved from Empty Gate Zen Center
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