July 2020

This painting of Shakyamuni Buddha hangs in the meditation hall at North Cascades Buddhist Priory. It was painted by Isan Brant in the style of the Nepalese iconographic tradition.

This is the second in a series of articles; the first can be found in the May issue.

The previous article in this series discussed the use of the clear circle as a traditional image depicting the Eternal. The first image after the Eternal in the icon is that of Shakyamuni Buddha. He is considered the Buddha of the present age. It is his enlightenment—his direct experience of the Eternal—that laid the foundation for the religion that became known as Buddhism.

When I reflect on what Shakyamuni means to me I think primarily of two things: his teaching and his example. His teaching is beyond the scope of this article and can be found in many sources. A cogent explanation of the teachings that particularly inform the Zen tradition can be found in Chapter 2, “Basic Original Doctrines Essential to Zen,” in Rev. Master Jiyu-Kennett’s Zen is Eternal Life. In this article I wish to offer some reflections on what Shakyamuni’s life and example mean to me as a Buddhist trainee.

One event that stands out for me in the stories of the Buddha’s life is what is known as the Four Sights. It relates that the prince Siddhartha lived a completely sheltered life in the palace until he was 29 years old. He was surrounded by all the luxuries, pleasures, distractions and diversions of his day and was oblivious to the realities of life and its suffering. Still, something niggled at him, a feeling that something was missing in the way he was living. Eventually, he felt compelled to venture beyond the palace walls into the city outside. There, he was shocked to his core by coming face-to-face with an old man, a sick man, and a dead man. These experiences were countered by meeting a wandering ascetic—a seeker of spiritual truth whose countenance radiated peace and equanimity. Dogen echoes these events in his Rules for Meditation,where he reminds us:

Of what use it to merely enjoy this fleeting world? This body is as transient as dew on the grass, life passes as swiftly as a flash of lightning, quickly the body passes away, in a moment life is gone [old age and death]…. Look inwards and advanced directly along the road that leads to the Mind [the ascetic]….

The experiences had a profound effect on him, causing him to question the meaning and purpose of life. They turned his life in a whole new direction.

Each one of us, too, experiences major events in our lives that shake the foundations and assumptions of our expectations and self-image. It could be the loss of a close relative or friend, the death of a beloved pet, the loss of a job we expected to provide security, the end of a relationship we took refuge in. Usually, the experience passes, we adapt to circumstances, and fall back into our habitual patterns conditioned by our society and our own karmic proclivities sourced in greed, anger, and ignorance. Occasionally, however, as it did for Siddhartha, an experience can inspire a complete reorienting and re-prioritizing of one’s life and send it in a different direction. Hopefully, as it did for Siddhartha, it is in a direction that transforms our life in a positive way.

Evidently, the ascetic spoke not a word, yet there was something in his very presence that Siddhartha responded to. Note that the ascetic was obviously not a “Buddhist,” since Buddhism did not yet exist. But he was a spiritual seeker, someone looking inward, someone searching for that dimension of Reality and Truth that transcends, and yet includes, this world and our suffering and mortality. He presented an alternative to simply maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. It takes courage to respond to the spiritual call because it means venturing out beyond the psychically protective walls of our familiar comfort zone, and who knows what life-changing sights might confront us there? Rev. Master Jiyu once described the spiritual journey as being “perilous and magnificent.” The peril is to our ego and self-image; the magnificence is what is revealed in their stead.

Siddhartha’s embracing the life of a spiritual seeker also meant a leave-taking. He left behind the role of king he was expected by his family and society to assume, and he left behind his wife and son. He knew they would be well cared for, living as they did in luxury in the palace. But this is not to say that the parting was easy for him, because accounts of his life indicate that he loved his wife very much in every sense. And, it was love itself that inspired his going forth: he was in pursuit of the cause of life’s suffering and its cure for all of humanity, not just for himself and his tribe. There is a saying in Zen that reflects this aspiration: “We train for self and other.” Our personal suffering may initially impel us on the spiritual path, but as our training re-opens our hearts to the oneness of all things, then Bodhisattvic compassion for all things arises. The Four Wisdoms—charity, tenderness, benevolence, sympathy—that flower from training grow in relation to others and thereby help us transform and transcend our own ego-suffering. The Four Wisdoms cannot manifest in the vacuum of self.

As it did for Siddhartha, setting out on our own spiritual journey—whether in the cloister or in the world—means letting go of aspects of our lives that have defined who we are. And, we have to start from where we are, accepting our personal circumstances and responsibilities. But however externally busy or constrained our life might be, there is always something we can do, some effort we can make, some amount of time we can set aside to devote to being still in meditation, participating in a temple or meditation group, engaging in spiritual reading, listening to Dharma talks. Making the effort to overcome obstacles and to re-prioritize our life in a spiritual direction is a critical aspect of the spiritual journey; one could almost say it is the spiritual journey. And the adventure never ends: the Buddha himself told his disciple Anuruddha, “I, too, am continually seeking the Dharma. There is no end to seeking the Dharma, even for a Buddha.”