Buddhism, Zen, Religion, Faith, Christianity, Heavens and Hells
This is rather a presumptuous title and perhaps stepping into the quicksand of religion, but please take it as a Zen koan and perhaps as a stab at humor. And one more thing, Buddhists are not a homogenous bunch and this article is not meant in any way to suggest what any one particular Buddhist person or Buddhist school thinks or believes. What we know is that the physical Buddha, Shakyamuni, lived about 500 BCE, after which time at least three major schools of Buddhism arose. This happened after Shakymuni, near his death, is reportedly to have asked that no leader be chosen to lead anything like a school. Ah, humans — but it was a good thing! A nice and not too long short history of Buddhist schools, from the World History Encyclopedia is available here. I am writing this piece after having studied the Lotus Sutra and various other Mahayana Buddhist Wisdom Sutras. These are some seminal scriptures within the Mahayana tradition, where the physical Buddha is clearly portrayed also as a cosmic Buddha, beyond space and time and an omniscience, all-knowing, presence with all beings as his “children” — which sounds to me a lot like God. Thus the discussion, which has to circle around belief, religion and faith.
One might argue that the fundamental issue that drives one to grapple with the concept of God is simply the desire to know who and what one is. The inexplicable nature of existence naturally pushes one for an explanation, a higher power, being, or as sometimes called in Zen, the Truth. Now, there are different approaches that one may incorporates into one’s life to assuage this “not knowing.” The most common one, and really nothing to do with religion is that we all have a world view which we use to navigate life and in essence always search for meaning and purpose. This world view does not spring from a vacuum but rather is developed by the individual as he/she matures from an infant to an adult . As there are a myriad permutations and environmental factors, it is safe to say that world views differ a lot from individual to individual and culture to culture — shaped by everything ranging from family influence to education and accepted societal norms or for that matter extremes. After all, “no man [being] is an island.”
Beliefs seem to steer us in this life, whether they be like the individual world view or a set of religious beliefs, which of course comingle with our worldview. Matter of fact, without beliefs, which hopefully stem from curiosity, we can wither, become fearful and draw into ourselves.
For most cultures and societies there is the availability of what I will call here “organized religion.” My late brother, after a rather raucous youth and a drug-filled first part of life became an evangelical Christian. He told me point blank that his faith was wrapped up in the Bible. He said he had to take the Bible literally, otherwise there would always be questions, and no firm foundation for faith. This seems to shed light on the difference between a belief and faith, as beliefs can change, but faith is, or should be, steadfast. For a good segment of U.S. society (currently about half of the U.S. population per the latest Gallup poll) choosing a house of worship, be it a Church, Synagogue or Mosque, is the preferred route. This involves faith in the teaching and faith in a God — a higher power and supreme being/creator that one may petition through prayer. In turn, the overall concept is that if one follows God’s teachings and is “good” than one will be rewarded here on earth, and if not here on earth then certainly in heaven. It seems that the threat of a hell is there, at least for Christians and perhaps in a more complicated way form Muslims and Jews.
Two fundamental aspects of organized religion appear to be a belief/faith, or simple acceptance, of scripture that must be obeyed for best utility and a belief/faith in a creator that need not be questioned as to authenticity. Before circling back to Buddhism here is one comment stemming from the above, based on Thomas Merton’s book, Mystics and Zen Masters. Merton was a Trappist monk and has been called one of the great spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century. Merton encouraged openly questioning Existence and God’s creation. He pointed out that Zen has the same questioning and openness to finding Truth that mystical Christianity (mostly lost in contemporary Christianity) has. The role of Christian contemplation is fleshed out and it seems similar to meditation. Similarly, in his hybrid “religion” the Indian Guru Yogananda often talked of prayer and meditation as the two ends of the telephone, namely talking to God and listening to God. There is a lot to this listening, in my opinion.
The point of this writing is not to criticize what I call organized religion. Believe me, I have tried to accept Jesus and it has not happen. So many of my fellow Buddhist practitioners at the Zen center have followed a similar path and ended up being Buddhists. Now, the irony is that Buddhism is very much an organized religion. At the Soto Zen Center, if one walks in for the first time, not knowing anything about what’s going on, it looks a lot like church with religious, ritual, practices. Zen as a tradition with monks and lay people following forms and rituals goes back to about the sixth center C.E. with Chinese Ch’an or Zen, and later Soto Zen, an evolved form of Ch’an, founded in Japan in the 13th century. In a formal Soto Zen temple, there is meditation, formal opportunity to talk with a priest about spiritual matters (closest analogy is Catholic confession) bowing, chanting, recitation of the names of the ancestors, special ceremonies like Buddha’s Birthday, or Segaki ( an opportunity to examine and hopefully say goodbye to our hungry ghosts) and of course talks (a bit like sermons). The priests wear robes and many lay practitioners wear robes. Now, at least in the U.S. there are more “secular, ” experimental Zen centers that do not carry as many forms and rituals and some people are more comfortable with that. With regard to forms and rituals, the biggest reason for having them is to teach mindfulness, awareness as being non-dual, and to form a cohesive non-selfish and compassionate community of practice that can enter the temple and find a supportive and familiar container for spiritual work. One thing about bowing — it is meant to teach humility, get us out of our egos and edge toward non-duality, as explained by Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki. With that said, forms and rituals can set many would-be meditators and spiritual inquirers on edge.
So do Buddhists believe in God? They certainly don’t do not believe in God and I suspect there are few true atheists among the group. The historical Shakyamuni Buddha was silent on metaphysical issues and focused on the practical aspects of relieving people’s suffering. He would use the analogy of a person shot with an arrow asking questions about the shooter and type of arrow, rather than getting medical attention. An excellent piece on Buddhism and Metaphysics from learnreligions.com explains how Buddhism aims to allow the individual to examine reality for oneself and ultimately, through releasing ones suffering, directly experiencing it. Here it states [the Buddha] “discouraged people from speculating, forming opinions, or accepting doctrines based on blind faith. Rather, through practice of the Path, through concentration and ethical conduct, one directly perceives the nature of reality.” Reality is also called direct experience and some Buddhist literature calls it the Truth and even some call it God. I think what separates Buddhism from directly theistic religions is that Buddhism relies on the individual, the practitioner, to do the “heavy lifting” as aided by cohorts, teachers, and scripture.
Buddhists have heavens and hells and they have gods, but not one ultimate Creator. A lot of the Buddhist mythology was carried forward from Vedantic and Hindu influences. Chinese and Japanese additions came later. What probably steers Buddhists away from having the necessity of an ultimate deity are found in two fundamental Buddhist teachings, namely dependent co-arising and emptiness. The link to dependent co-arising, here is quite extensive, but the basic idea is that (quote by Thich Nhat Hahn) “…everything arises in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions; nothing exists as a singular, independent entity.” Emptiness, in my view is kind of the flip side of dependent co-arising in that all things are empty, namely they are empty of a separate sole existence or self, in other words they depend on everything else in the universe. Emptiness is Form Manifested (see the article on the mother of all wisdom, here) and for that matter form is emptiness manifested. Together these concepts paint existence within form as a constant state of flux.
But then again, in the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha calls all sentient beings as his children, and there are some Buddhists that literally worship the Lotus Sutra. Buddhists are people and this seems like a people thing. Mahayana Buddhists chant the names of the Buddhas and bow to the Bodhisattvas that protect their places of worship. In the Lotus Sutra it says, essentially, that we are all Buddhas or have the potential to become a Buddha — a fully enlightened being. So, paradoxically, knowing the self, which is but “flux,” is knowing and being a Buddha who is all knowing and very much god-like, beyond form and duality, much like the Hindu god Brahma.
The third definition of the term, “belief,” by Merriam Webster is my preferred one:
3 : conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence; belief in the validity of scientific statements
So, science notes that at the quantum level all matter has characteristics of a wave and at the same time of a particle. How can that be? Sounds a lot like dependent co-arising and emptiness. The interchangeability of form and emptiness and matter being both a wave and a particle are certainly both paradoxical. We are form and we are energy, and much more. And there appears to be a strange link between the-human mind and quantum physics phenomena.
The evidence of a higher Truth comes with our own transformation into a kinder, loving, compassionate, joyful and equanimous person that is more apt to extend a positive vibe to others and the world. Love, compassion, and joy (and the ability to see the beautiful and positive side of beings and existence) do not seem to have a basis in objective science based physical reality, yet they are the one ingredient that seems essential for making life worth living. In meditation, I can at times perceive the fog of self attachment and past karma lift, and what is left is a wholesome loving feeling, a positive energy field (and this is just scenery along the way, so I’m told.) Without getting further into whether God is a bearded old man, soul or no soul, heavens and hells, etc. this edging toward an ineffable Wisdom seems like the real deal. Buddhists would not be practicing if they didn’t have a belief in something that fits a slot called God.
Little Known Mystic 