Summary of Talk “Inner Guru” continued from Guru You I
Freud
In Freudian psychology the pleasure seeking principle is the basic nature of animals, and is called the id. Soon after birth, the human develops a sense of self identity, and the rational faculties, which is called ego. This is not the same as ego in the common English meaning which refers to a sense of self-aggrandizement. Ego in the Freudian sense, is something that needs to be developed. It is home to the rational faculties, and is the place where your work of healing the psyche is done. In Buddhism too, the character, the sense of presence and awareness, the rational faculties – all should be developed. Don’t confuse the teaching of non-self here. You do have a character, and a responsibility to it. The personality is not an Atman – which is what the Buddha was saying: In the eye there is no atman, in sights there is no atman, in the ear….
Just because your ‘self’ is not a permanent abiding Atman (Soul, Self) does not mean that you have to try and stomp it out of existence.
Longer term than the ego is the super-ego. This is a later development which is less conscious than the ego, and is responsible for longer term ideals and deeply rooted learned feelings. Guilt, conscience, willingness to give your life for your country (like fighting in Iraq) or for democracy etc.. all comes from your super-ego. In general, the super-ego is a source of problems, not of personal solutions. In Freudian psychology you never try to work on the super-ego directly, but focus your work on the rational mind, which will then hopefully train the super-ego respectively.
This is relevant how? Because often people try to generate changes in their character and personality through superimposing a long term goal or ideal upon their lives, in the hope that everything that happens will be passed through the ever present filter of the idealistic super-ego and transformed. There is a battle to be fought, and that does involve long term development of certain qualities, but you cannot superimpose a long term view on your being, and transform yourself through your own power.
Grace
There is work to be done, that is for sure. But generating a new self by the power of desire, and stretching it out over the long term by superimposing it on your life will not work. You need to know what it is you can do, and what it is you cannot do. Christians have a good term for this – grace. You cannot come to God, or unity with God through your own power, all the Christian mystics were sure about this. Only grace can do that for you. In Christianity grace comes from God. In Buddhism, we could do with a similar concept, but one that looks directly to the workings of the mind without calling on a supernatural being.
The great Zen luminary DT Suzuki in the last century pointed out that in Zen meditation, you eventually have to get your ‘self’ out of the way, and let Satori, enlightenment, happen by itself. He later studied Pure Land Buddhism, which begins with devotion and an acknowledgement that only the power of Amidha Buddha can take you to enlightenment. He said with Pure Land you are getting your ‘self’ out of the way as the first step of the practice, rather than it being a later step.
Theravada Approach
Finding your Inner Guru, or fulfilling the aim of developing spiritual qualities, lies not in creating a long term view and fitting it over your life by means of the super-ego, but in concentrating the intention down into a shorter and shorter time span. The mind becomes quicker even than the pleasure seeking id. Mindfulness arises and steps back from the environment in which it finds itself, embedding itself in the present moment only. There is no need to worry about the future, or your character. As the attention sharpens, even momentary things like a breath, seem to cover a longer span of time. The mind stops more and more still, and starts to see that the silence is more beautiful that the noise. This is the insight into Dukkha – all states of mind are truely suffering. The sense of self will increase. The sense of presence and awareness, of being conscious, will increase – and don’t worry about the teaching on non-self at this point. The identification of self with being young or old, beautiful, sick, lazy, parent, artist or any other label that you can apply to yourself, will dissolve as the mind becomes unified. Being unified the experience is one of being your self; of being conscious here and now, but without all the restrictive labels and identifications. The memory – the page, glue and spine of who you are, fades.
And he remains thus mindful, ardent and resolute, and any memories and resolves related to the household life are abandoned, and with their abandoning his mind gathers and settles inwardly, grows unified and centred. Kayagata sutta
This is the work that needs to be done. The rest of the qualities will stem from this work of going and worshipping your inner guru. By worship is meant to ‘go and sit with’. From here the insights will come, the experience of letting everything go. The sense of refuge will grow and from the point of stillness, that is awake and bright, the character that causes you so many problems seems less and less your own. It seems to rattle along behind the silence, like tin cans behind a newly-wed’s car.
Mindfulness
The combination of mindfulness and concentration takes some practice.
Quivering, wavering
Hard to guard,
To hold in check
The mind
The Sage makes it straight –
Like a fletcher,
The shaft of an arrow.
Like a fish
Pulled from its watery home
And thrown on dry land
This mind flips and flaps about
Holding the mind in check, it develops insight into its own nature, and from this insight comes disenchantment (nibbida). Disenchantment from all the enchanting things the mind loves. Dispassion in Buddhism is a beautiful thing, as the mind comes together. Spots of peace appear, and although they are something everyone has experienced, now you are trained in keeping the mind still, one can settle into them, and not immediately try to fill the emptiness up with some clever activity or thinking. No new states are being generated, but letting go of the self you let grace do its work. To use an image from Ramana Maharshi, the mind is like a caterpillar on a leaf – it will not let go of the leaf it is standing on until it has caught hold of something else. Seeing, touching and feeling the silent mind, one can let go of the character, and watch it cease entirely before your eyes. This the Buddha called ‘seeing the cessation of the world’. Yes it will arise again, but now with the deeply rooted knowledge that it is not the self, the whole self and nothing but the self.
It is not only possible but inevitable, but one can be forgiven for having doubts.
S I 68 (trans) 47 (pali)
Thus have I heard, when the Blessed One was staying in Anāthapindika’s Grove near Sāvatthī Kāmada, son of the Deva, when the night was far spent, shedding radiance with his effulgent beauty over the entire Jeta Grove, came into the presence of the Exalted One and stood at one side. So standing he said,
‘Tis hard to do Exalted One! ‘Tis very hard to do.
And yet the “hard to do” is done by them,
O Kāmada!
Who in the moral precepts stand firm.
For he who ventures into the homeless life,
Serene content arises, bringing joy.
‘Tis hard to win, Exalted One, this serene content
And yet that which is hard to win is won by them
O Kāmada
Who love to achieve the mastery of the heart
The mind of whom, through night and day
Does love to work to make that peace arise
Hard it is to compose Exalted One, the heart
Yet that which is hard to compose even they compose
O Kāmada
Who love to pacify the fret and fever of their parts
and powers
cutting in Twain the net that Death lays out
they walk large as Ariyans
The way is hard to go Exalted One, and rough the Path
And yet along that Path that you call rough
The Ariyans hold their course O Kāmada
In that ‘rough path’ the non-Ariyans headlong fall
But to the Ariyans the way is even.
They walk in the uneven with an even stride.
LittleBang 