Continuous Growth

While reading the excellent book, River of Fire, River of Water by Dr Taitetsu Unno last week, there was a nice chapter about Buddhism being about not one, but series of small awakenings.

Many people experience this type of [radical, spiritual] awakening, but normally it touches only one aspect of life and rarely involves the total person. Furthermore, a single experience may not effect any real transformation. The awakening must be repeated and deepened for as long as we are living and breathing.

page 65

Here, Dr Unno was talking about it in the context of the experience of Shinjin (信心, the sincere entrusting of Amida Buddha that Shinran taught), but he cites a few sources, including the Rinzai Zen master Hakuin (白隠 1686 – 1769), who evidentially taught that there was the initial awakening (in a Zen context), and then subsequent awakenings.

The book What Is Zen? 禅ってなんだろう describes something similar:

True kenshō [見性, “seeing your nature”] is a very difficult practice. That being the case, only a select few individuals who are gifted with special religious capabilities will ever achieve kenshō.

One shouldn’t give up on attaining kenshō, but there is another state prior to it called sei [省]. Of course Zen disdains practice for the sake of personal attainments, but when one sits in zazen and properly regulates one’s posture and breathing, the mind gradually grows calm. In that state, the honshō [本性, “one’s original nature?”] and original self become active, if not completely.

pages 39-41

Here, the author is describing the process of reaching final enlightenment, using the alternative Zen-specific term kensho.¹ But, in keeping with mainstream Buddhism, this state of mind is pretty difficult to attain, and yet one has any number of smaller awakenings (sei) along the way. One may not necessarily fully become awakened, but even those brief glimpses can be transformative. The point is of course that it’s a journey, not just an abstract goal.

In Star Trek terms (because I am a giant nerd), think of the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Spock talks to his protegé, Valeris, about the importance of logic, even for a Vulcan:

VALERIS: But is this logical? Surely we must…
SPOCK: Logic? …Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.

source: http://www.chakoteya.net/movies/movie6.html

I think Buddhism is less about “what have I accomplished” and more about “what can I do next” or “where do I go from here?”.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. Next week I am changing up the schedule a bit. I hope you enjoy.

¹ The generic Japanese-Buddhist term is satori (悟り), and they mean more or less the same thing. As someone who accomplished neither, I can’t really speak to either one. 😅