Spring 2015 Journal of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Vol. 40, No. 1
Life sketch of Jyotipriya by Mandakini Lucien-Brun • The controversial doctrine of the true, eternal Self in the Buddhist scripture: The Māhayāna Māhaparinirvana Sutra by Dr. Tony Page • Land and spirit: An American yoga for the 21st Century, continued by John Robert Cornell • Current affairs • AV almanac • Source material • Poetry • Apropos
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 1 About the cover Front cover: Circle of Love; back cover: Planes of Existence. These are graphic art designs by Margaret Astrid Phanes (phanes@margaret- Table of contents Collaboration, vol. 40, no. 1, Spring 2015 phanes.com). A selection of her graphic art can be found at her website: margaretphanes.com. Margaret is a trainer and digital artist who has taught meditation for 30 years in classes, work- From the office ofCollaboration shops, and conferences. Visual Light-Energy Meditations were first exhibited as framed still Notes on this issue...... Larry Seidlitz 3 images in 1989. Since then, she has produced imaginative presentations of stills and slide ani- Current affairs mations. These works are a dynamic meditation and a concentration of inner forces of Shakti Remembering Ananta ...... Michael Miovic 4 and presence. Activities at the Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham...... Dakshina Vanzetti 5 The authors and poets All USA Meeting 2015...... 5 Alan (alan@auroville.org.in) is a British Aurovil- ian, and a long-time editor of Auroville Today, Au- AV almanac roville’s monthly news magazine. He is also involved with reforestration and organizing workshops on sus- The Auroville Retreat ...... Alan 6 tainability in Auroville. John Robert Cornell ([email protected]) is a writer and workshop leader living in California. He is Chronicles secretary of the Sri Aurobindo Associatiion, the pub- lisher of Collaboration, and is associated with the Sri Life sketch of Jyotipriya (Judith Tyberg) ...... Mandakini Lucien-Brun 10 Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham. Lord Byron (1788-1824) was one of England’s greatest poets and a leading figure of the Romantic Essays movement. The poem included here was published in the The controversial doctrine of the true, eternal Self in the Buddhist...... anthology, Poetry for the Spirit, edited by Alan Jacobs. Mandakini Lucien-Brun (mlucienbrun@wana- scripture: The āM hayāna Māhaparinirvana Sutra...... Tony Page 15 doo.fr), orginally from Brooklyn, NY, now resides in Land and spirit: An American yoga for the 21st Century, continued...... France where she is associated with AVI-France...... John Robert Cornell 22 Maggi Lidchi-Grassi ([email protected]) is a senior Ashram member who founded Quiet, an Auroville community focused on natural healing. She Source material is also an author of numeerous books. Michael Miovic ([email protected]) is a long- On the Buddhist Nirvana...... Sri Aurobindo 31 time student of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. He lives From On the Dhammapada...... The Mother 32 in Edina, MN, and works as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist. He is interested in integral psychology and geo-spiritual studies. The poetry room Dr. Tony Page ([email protected]) is a lec- turer in English Literature in the School of Humanities, The world game...... Sri Aurobindo 34 Bangkok University. He is the author of three books on I should know better...... Maggi Lidchi-Grassi 35 Buddhist philosophy, and two books on the scientific From The dream...... Lord Byron 35 invalidity and immorality of vivisection. He is one of the UK’s leading researchers on the Buddhist scrip- ture, the Mahāyana Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra, of which Apropos ...... 36 scripture he is the English-language editor and upon which he has lectured at the University of London. Dakshina Vanzetti ([email protected]) is a founding member of the Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham, an Ashram in California, and President of Auromere Ayurvedic Imports, the Ashram business.
2 • Collaboration Spring 2015 From the office of Collaboration Artists Karen Cornell has been drawing and paint- e open this issue in Current Affairs with a remembrance of the American ing since childhood. She was a graphic artist disciple, Frederic Bushnell, better known as Ananta, who has passed away at in the software industry for many years. She the age of 88, written by his friend Michael Miovic. We also have updates on specializes in computer graphics, pen and ink, Wactivities at the Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham and the upcoming All USA Meeting to and watercolor. be held at the Menla Center near Matagiri in August. In AV Almanac, we have an article Margaret Phanes, a graphic artist, resides by Alan of Auroville Today on a recent conference that was aimed at breaking through in Lodi, California where she is associated with the roadblocks that have stymied Auroville’s development over the long-term. the Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham, and is Our feature Chronicles article is by Mandikini Lucien-Brun on the life of Judith a member of the Sri Aurobindo Association, Tyberg, whom Sri Aurobindo had named Jyotipriya. Originally written for the Wikipedia which is the publisher of Collaboration. website, this is a well-researched, scholarly review of Jyotipriya's life and accomplish- ments as a Vedic scholar, disciple of Sri Aurobindo and Mother, faculty member of the Publisher: Collaboration (ISSN 0164-1522) American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, and later founder of the East-West is published by the Sri Aurobindo Association (SAA), a California nonprofit religious corpora- Cultural Center in Los Angeles. tion, 2715 W. Kettleman Lane, suite 203-174, Lodi In Essays, our first article is by Buddhist scholar Tony Page who reviews evidence CA 95242 USA; e-mail: [email protected]. from an early Buddhist scripture that the Buddha taught and believed in an eternal Self, Editor: Larry Seidlitz, 39 Vanniar St., Vaithi- essentially the same as that of the Vedantic Atman. While Collaboration usually does not kuppam, Puducherry 605101 India; email: lse- publish articles about other spiritual paths, we have made an exception in this case be- [email protected]. The opinions expressed in Col- laboration are not necessarily those of the editor cause of the importance of this paper in aligning Buddhism more closely with Vedantic or the SAA. thought, and thus to a greater degree with Sri Aurobindo's view. Tony's revelations based Copyrights: Copyright © SAA, 2015. Pho- on his research are put into a broader perspective in our later Source Material section tos of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, passages with selections from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother relevant to this issue. from their works, and excerpts from the books Our second featured Essay is the fourth installment of John Robert Cornell's un- published by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust are © Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust unless otherwise published work, “Land and Spirit: An American Yoga for the 21st Century.” In this noted, and are used here with the kind permission installment, John Robert discusses the work of other authors and poets he was reading of the Ashram. while travelling through Navajo territory in Utah and Arizona, who also have explored Subscriptions: Send requests to: 2715 W. the spiritual dimensions of the American landscape. He discussses the insights and Kettleman Lane, suite 203-174, Lodi CA 95242 perspectives of such writers as poets Robert Bly and Kenneth Rexroth, anthropologist USA, or call Auromere (209-339-3710 ext. 2) with your credit card information; A one-year subscrip- Richard Nelson, cosmologist Thomas Berry, mystery writer Tony Hillerman, naturalist tion (three issues) is $25 ($35 for airmail outside authors Barry Lopez and Ann Zwinger, among others. Samples of their writings give us the USA; a patron subscription is $50 or more). glimpses into the spiritual possibilities of being in close contact with Nature, and reveal to For India residents, send requests along with Rs. us something of the inspiration underlying John Robert's own perceptions and writing. 200 in the name of Larry Seidlitz to: Larry Seidlitz, We close the issue with a selection of spiritual poetry and Apropos quotations. 39 Vanniar St., Vaithikuppam, Puducherry 605101. Submissions: Collaboration welcomes writ- ing, photos, and artwork relevant to the Integral Yoga and spirituality. Submit material by email to: [email protected]; or by post to Collab- Invitation to submit a short essay for publication oration, 2715 W. Kettleman Lane, Suite 203-174, Lodi, CA 95242 USA. Collaboration cannot be With the intention to make Collaboration more interactive and participa- held responsible for loss or damage of unsolicited material. Letters and articles may be edited for tory, we invite you to submit a short essay of about 300-800 words for the style and space considerations. next issue on the general topic, “What inspires me about the Integral Yoga.” About SAA: The Sri Aurobindo Asso- We would like to publish a few of the best submissions in a new section to be ciation distributes information about Sri Auro- bindo, the Mother, and Auroville, and supports called “The Salon.” As with the submission of other articles to Collaboration, projects related to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Au- the editor may require or suggest changes to the essay prior to publishing. roville, and Integral Yoga activities in America. We hope that the relatively short length of these articles may inspire more Current members: Lynda Lester, president; John writers who may be reluctant to write the longer essays which have become Robert Cornell, secretary; Ananda, treasurer; Mar- garet Phanes, director. the norm in Collaboration. Depending on the response, we hope to include Contributions: Donations for the work of the this new section of short articles on a specified theme in each of our future SAA, Auroville, and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram issues. Please email your essay to the editor at: [email protected] may be sent to SAA. Donations are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Rev- before July 15, 2015. enue Code.
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 3 Current Affairs
Remembering Ananta
by Michael Miovic
rederic Folsom Bushnell (1927-2015), called Ananta in the Ashram, left his body peacefully in the early morning hours of April 2, two weeks after his 88th birthday. Raised on Bea- Fcon Hill, he dined with the Cabots, Lodges, Storrows and other leading Boston families. He was educated in the classics, loved drama and the Greek gods, and spoke English with the refined accent and grammar of a Boston Brahmin. Eccentric, intense and Ananta as a young man. (Photo courtesy Sri Aurobindo Ashram) flamboyant, he defied both common sense and conventional mo- rality, and created his own values. He was both the Mother’s most Achilles backed up by large photos of the Mother and Sri Auro- unruly child and one of her most ardent devotees. bindo. He used to get possessed by the force during the pujas, with After a brief stint in the U.S. Navy in WWII, in the late 1940s the nageswaram, drums, fireworks and rockets all going off in cel- Frederic set off for India on a spiritual quest. Following a strict ebration.” Also, the Mother used to visit Ananta personally on the policy of enjoying life’s color, he first wandered through the most island every year for his birthday. She oversaw his Tantric practice, expensive hotels (and parties) in Europe and then Egypt. Due to and on one occasion sent him a drawing of a secret yantra he was Indian visa problems, he eventually ended up in Sri Lanka, where practicing but had not told her about, with the following words: he studied Buddhism and had some initial spiritual experiences. “Ananta’s new protection yantra, with my blessings, the Mother.” Hearing of Panditji, the Tantric guru who lived in Rameswaram, In the interests of sadhana, the Mother advised Ananta not Frederic crossed the channel to India and actually met Panditji to come to Pondicherry except on Darshan days. He took this to on the beach, where he was initiated into Tantric practice. Re- mean he should follow her advice rigorously on Darshan days, markably, Panditji instructed him with Greek rather than Hindu which he did. The rest of the time he had a wide and vibrant deities, because of Frederic’s deep love for ancient Greece. He also social life, including many dear friends in the Ashram, as well as gave him the name of Ananta Chaitanya (infinite consciousness), venues in Pondicherry. He was well known to the Pondy police, the serpent on which Lord Vishnu reclines. who helped him home whenever he offered too many libations When Frederic finally arrived in Pondicherry in the early to Dionysus. In the Ashram, he was beloved for his song and 1950s, he heard amazing stories about the Mother, and demanded dance routines, and his ability to make the Mother laugh. He was to see her immediately. She made him wait—thus heightening the an excellent body builder, dashingly handsome, and conducted dramatic tension of the moment—and when she finally received human relationships according to the laws of quantum entan- him, suggested he go check out a weedy snake-infested island glement and chaos theory. He vacationed in Kodaikanal when she owned south of Pondicherry. He instantly fell in love with Pondy got too hot, and spent time in rest homes being attended the place, and she gave it to him to live on. With the help of his upon when life became too stressful. faithful servant, Shingeni, he cleared the grounds, grew beautiful On the more serious side, Ananta was sitting at the Mother’s gardens and a coconut grove, and built shrines to the Greek gods. feet when she announced the Supramental Manifestation, and the He asked her to name him Zeus, but she concurred that Ananta night before (or was it after?) had an experience of rising into the would be more appropriate, so that became his ashram name. supramental worlds, then falling down into the lap of Zeus. That With Her blessings, he continued to study Tantra under Panditji, places him among only a handful of human beings in the world who initially with Debu and Satprem as well, and remained faithful were aware of the Supramental Manifestation when it happened. to that discipline for the rest of his life. Or at least faithful, if not The 1970s was the beginning of a difficult period for Ananta. disciplined. For true to his name, Ananta was always a protean His sister died, the Mother left her body in 1973, and a few years force in motion, coiling in many directions like evolution itself. later his mother Sylvia passed. He sojourned to Switzerland for In the 1950s and 1960s, Ananta had quite the scene going healing, where he lived with his close friend Carlo Schueller, a out there on his island. He brought his human mother, Sylvia, to devotee of the Mother who hosted many east-west voyagers in stay with him for some time. He hosted dinner parties with Tamil his home. Ananta threw himself into the practice of seizures, a servants dressed in livery, and held extraordinary pujas. As John difficult branch of yoga that he quickly mastered. He astounded Mandeen recalls, “he worshiped the Indian god Virabhadra as doctors at the Carl Jung Clinic with his prodigious mix of elec-
4 • Collaboration Spring 2015 trical and non-electrical events, and astronomical tolerance for psychoactive substances. In the 1980s, Ananta returned to the United States for treat- ment of skin cancer, and his nose was disfigured from surgery. He developed increasing problems with his Indian visa, which eventually barred him forever from his beloved island. However, in 1996 events took a positive turn when he met a naive young psychiatrist named Michael, via the Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles. Ananta convinced the good doctor that his last, dying wish was to visit the ancient Mayan ruins in Palenque, Mexico. Michael dutifully accompanied him there, and was surprised to see Ananta suddenly revive. They went on to survive numerous other fatal illnesses, and took many trips to Palenque to experi- ence the remarkable Tantric manifestation there. Ananta followed Michael to Boston in 1997, and lived with Dakshina leads a chant at a monthly retreat. (Photo courtesy SASP) him (between wanderings) until he finally entered a V.A. nursing struction projects around the Ashram. Currently we are working home. He was a devoted spiritual brother, and taught Michael on building a fire pit with benches and flagstone pathway by the much about yoga, including the importance of the Gods, laughter, yurt. The children’s program has taken on inspiring new life with and going on adventures. He also taught him a lot of psychiatry, the children themselves taking responsibility for organizing the as Ananta qualified for more than half the diagnoses in the DSM, activities—with adults helping the young facilitators. In 2016, and was proud of it. As Ananta’s health declined, the master of (next year) SASP will be hosting the annual AUM conference in disaster still served the Divine by training V.A. staff in how to care Lodi, which will include a full children’s program, and organi- for impossible patients. zational preparations are already underway. Visitors are always In his final year, Ananta experienced the opening of the cel- welcome to come and participate in the karma yoga activities or lular consciousness, thus fulfilling a prophecy that he would at- for a personal retreat in the sacred atmosphere of Mother and Sri tain his spiritual goal at the end of his life. What a great soul. His Aurobindo’s Presence which is cultivated here with love and devo- friends remember him fondly for his humor, affection, joie de tion. Please see website for more info:
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 5 AV almanac
The Auroville Retreat by Alan
Reprinted from Auroville Today, April 2015 issue
he Auroville Retreat, which took place on 12th and 13th March, brought together members of the In- group were shared with all the other area groups. ternational Advisory Council (IAC), the Governing The next step was to translate these insights into goals and BoardT (GB) and around 160 Aurovilians to examine the present ‘milestones’ that are measurable and able to be completed within state of Auroville and to draft an action plan for the near future. a specified timeframe. To achieve this, a further one day session It was the culmination of two months of intense work, involving was organized for each area. The 3–5 major goals, with their as- around 300 Aurovilians and 35 thematic work sessions. The original sociated milestones and timelines, formulated at each of these idea came from members of the International Advisory Council. sessions served as source material for the Retreat. They noted that, over the years, the Governing Board and the Advi- Meanwhile, the bioregion and youth groups had been work- sory Council had received comments from some Aurovilians about ing separately. Two short meetings of the bioregion group led to a what they perceived to be chronic blockages to our development. day-long session during which more than 40 participants drafted The Retreat seemed a good way to test the truth of these perceptions, a dozen insights. The youth held some preparatory meetings to identify where the blockages lie and to plot a new way forward. which led to them putting on a “Festival of Ideas” at the Youth The stated objectives of the Retreat were: to reconnect and Centre, attended by more than 200 people. engage with the Auroville vision and its manifestation; to reflect The insights of these two groups were also fed into the Re- on Mother’s vision for Auroville; to introspect and reflect on the treat process so that their priorities could be included in the spiritual growth of individuals and the collective; to reflect on drafting of the final goals and milestones. the present realities of Auroville; and to envision where Auroville wants to be on its 50th anniversary (in 2018) and in 10 years. The Retreat The original idea was to focus simply upon governance. Dur- ing conversations between members of the Governing Board, The drafting happened during the two day Retreat itself. The the IAC and the Vision Task Force this was expanded to include Retreat began with the chief facilitator, Aromar Revi, Director of five key areas of Auroville’s life: governance, land and planning, the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, laying out the pur- growth, education and the economy. However, when it was no- pose of the Retreat. Then the facilitators of each area presented ticed that youth and the bioregion were under-represented in the to the plenary the conclusions of their group, along with the preparation groups, these two areas were also added. facilitators’ observations about the process. The youth also made a well-received presentation of their own. The process Then participants were divided into small area groups (with participants from the bioregion and youth invited to join one of The preparation of the Retreat can be divided into four main the other area groups, depending upon their interest). They were phases. For the first phase, a resource group was formed in each asked to focus on a few critical milestones and think about how they of five main areas listed above. Over a period of four weeks, each could be implemented. Afterwards, the small groups from the same group met four times for three hour sessions. They formulated area came together and agreed upon their three most important the key values relating to their area, examined the present reality, milestones, or the ones they felt were the most immediately doable. identified the main challenges and then came up with insights that The next day further steps were taken towards the concrete could provide new directions towards manifesting these values. implementation of milestones. Initially, some individuals from To allow the widest participation, virtual support groups were each area group met to identify one milestone from their area set up by the Residents Assembly Service to allow all Auroville to be implemented. They then framed its ‘terms of reference’. residents to comment and provide inputs to the resource groups. This involved examining in detail the change that was sought to After four sessions, each resource group had come up with be made, what was needed to achieve it (including the human around 15 to 20 insights concerning their area. To understand the resources required) and how progress towards achieving this interconnectedness and possible interdependencies, a half-day milestone would be monitored. This simulated the post-Retreat session was organized during which the insights of each resource work that would be necessary to realize each milestone.
6 • Collaboration Spring 2015 Each area group then presented their chosen milestone with sectors of our society are often not heard or are distorted. its terms of reference to the plenary. At this point, Aromar Revi The youth, for example, mentioned that the way they are noted that some of the main challenges to their implementation perceived in the community has to change: “we are not here to were the ‘elephants in the room’ that nobody wanted to talk about. complain but to work with you.” They requested apprenticeship He proceeded to read out, to enthusiastic applause, a list of these and mentoring programmes, as well as affordable housing, to al- elephants along with their possible syntheses that had been pre- low them to fulfil a more active role in the community, and they pared by members of the Retreat Organization Team (see table). plan to set up an Auroville Resource Team as an intermediary After lunch, a few area groups were asked to present their between youth who want to be active and the working groups. milestones and answer testing questions from members of Au- There was also talk of setting up a Youth Council. roville working groups to see how well they could defend their One of the main goals defined by the bioregion group was to plans. Every participant in the Retreat was also invited to indicate include sustainable bioregional perspectives in all our develop- which milestones they would be willing to work upon. ment plans. They pointed out that Auroville and the villages have The day ended with Aromar summarising the proceedings many things we can work on together (solid waste management, and Dr. Karan Singh, the Chairman of the Governing Board, giv- water, organic farming, women’s empowerment, health etc.). ing an uplifting speech. Noting that Auroville is at a crossroads However, Auroville should not enforce its priorities but ask the and needs a major change—“it either breaks through or breaks villagers what they want. In this dialogue, Aurovilians from the down”—he observed that he had never seen Aurovilians in a bet- local bioregion can play a vital role: they can be the ‘bridge’. ter mood and felt there was a new energy to move forward. And However, the bioregion group concluded that Auroville he promised that once the Governing Board received the concrete could only work successfully with the local villages if Auroville proposals drafted in the Retreat, “we will do whatever it takes to was united, if Aurovilians were living examples of the Dream, see that the breakthrough occurs.” The Retreat concluded with the and if the attitude of ‘us’ and ‘them’ was abolished. beautiful haunting tones of Chandra’s flute. There were also important insights from other topic areas. The education group highlighted the need for an organization Post-Retreat to promote further learning in the community, and to provide some form of external recognition for the Auroville education After the Retreat, the organizing group made a presentation that seeks to awaken soul consciousness rather than prepare to the Governing Board. It noted some of the goals and mile- students for examinations. They defined one of the main educa- stones arrived at for each topic area, along with the less tangible tion goals as “a learning society of constant progress guided by benefits of the Retreat, and suggested a way of changing our work the emergence of the psychic towards oneness.” The economy culture and behaviour. group felt we need to develop a culture that supports innovation Subsequently, the organizing group met with the Working and diversity, and that Auroville’s economy can only grow if we Committee. The organizers stated that the group would be dis- focus upon our core strengths—research, education, training solving itself after they had completed their report as their work and environment. The money-driven economy must be replaced was finished. It was discussed that while the Governing Board and by a service-driven economy, and the in-kind component of Vision Task Force would retain an overview function, the Work- our present economy must expand to reduce the circulation of ing Committee would be the holding body and ultimately ac- money in Auroville. “In ten years Auroville should develop a countable for the post-Retreat work, and that task groups would self-supportive economy that is karma yoga driven.” be formed in each topic area to work towards the implementation The governance group stressed the need to “restructure the of the goals and milestones identified in the Retreat. It was also existing working groups through a dynamic Residents Assembly noted that regular evaluations of the progress made in all topic that reflects a more vibrant and functional organization which areas would be necessary. is aiming for change with a sincere commitment to Auroville ideals.” It recommended, among other things, the strengthening Insights of the Residents Assembly Service, an increased involvement of youth in governance through an internship programme, encour- The Retreat was undoubtedly a major event. It involved a large aging the role of intuition in decision-making, and the explora- part of the active community and gained wide general accept- tion of alternatives to our present ways of meeting. ance, a rare occurrence in this community. The many insights and The group focussing on population growth identified the ideas generated during the preparation sessions and during the key as an increase in the “actively-engaged core group” of our Retreat itself were often creative as well as challenging, and they community. To do this, the entry process needs to be simplified can be mined for many years to come (a full report of preparatory and support and opportunities provided for those who really sessions and the Retreat can be accessed at ras.auroville.org.in/ want to work for the Dream, particularly the young. This will retreat2015). It was particularly interesting to hear from groups require a major shift to “a culture of appreciation, collaboration, like the youth and those from the bioregion, for the voices of these abundance mindset and proactive action.”
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 7 The land, town planning and development group concluded Another person who played a key role in the planning of the that land consolidation in the city and protection of the Green Retreat was the chief facilitator, Aromar Revi. Aromar, with his Belt land use must be made a top priority, that sustainability vast experience of high level negotiation at national and interna- must become an integral part of our planning, and that co-de- tional levels as well as his knowledge of Auroville, gave the initial velopment with the bioregion on issues like health, education, structure for the two days of the Retreat and, when changes and work and sports facilities is essential. Tackling the thorny needed to be made, proved extremely creative and flexible. question of whether the building of the city should precede or One of the challenges that the organizers never managed to wait upon upon the developing consciousness of its inhabitants, solve was the relationship between the concentrated work of the it concluded that “The planning and development of Auroville as area core groups and the input from the larger community. The a city and as a society go hand-in-hand.” The group also felt that members of the Residents Assembly Service did a magnificent job work should begin on constructing key elements of the Galaxy in involving the larger community but too often, when the core Plan in the next 5–10 years. group’s work was opened up to a larger community process, the These were only some of the many milestones that emerged result was a dilution of energy, repetition of the work done or the from the Retreat process. During the Retreat itself, many of these ignoring of important insights and proposals. This was not helped insights were translated into measurable milestones with specific by the pervasive misunderstanding of the distinction between in- timelines for manifestation. sights, goals and milestones, which continued into the Retreat itself. The common elements in all these findings included a strong The facilitators also noted that, while there seemed a remark- desire to base all activities upon the fundamental values of Au- able degree of harmony within the groups, this may sometimes roville, and to find effective ways of including and empowering have reflected the fact that nobody wanted to surface the ‘elephants the young and those from the bioregion in our discussions and in the room’, those subterranean blockages which, time and again, our work. The underlying need that emerged was to foster a so- have subverted the community’s attempts to move forward. The ciety of inclusiveness, sharing and trust based upon a common decision to expose some of them on the second day, along with an aspiration to live the ideals of Auroville. attempt to synthesise some of the main polarities, may have been one of the major psychological turning points of the Retreat, for it Reflections offered a possible way out of our dogmatic gridlocks. There were other hopeful signs. The considerable efforts The stated objectives of the Retreat were, of course, ambitious. made to value the contribution of youth—the Retreat began and However, there was a clear attempt to reconnect with the Auroville ended with performances by the youth, and their tables were vision, to reflect on present realities, and to come up with an action deliberately placed at the very centre of the hall—resulted in plan for the near future based upon the vision, clear timelines and a what seemed to be a new sense of self-confidence in them and reiterative learning process. The success of that plan will ultimately appreciation by others of what they have to offer as they sat and rest upon those few individuals willing to drive change in the key conversed on equal terms with older Aurovilians. areas identified in the Retreat, as well as upon the support given In fact, the real value of the Retreat may be an immeasurable them by the larger community. (The youth group that formed dur- one. For, by bringing together individuals who do not normally ing the Retreat is already active and has made a further presenta- work together—young and old Aurovilians, Governing Board, IAC tion of its aspirations and plans to the community.) members and Aurovilians, and Aurovilians who have not been able From an organizational point of view, the whole Retreat to sit together for many years due to personal or ‘political’ reasons— process was a huge challenge. The initial organizers, the Auroville the Retreat provided a space both for healing and for something Campus Initiative group, were asked, on the basis of their experi- new to emerge. This new dynamic and this ‘softening’ of ancient ence of organizing the ‘Joy of Learning’ sessions, to coordinate antagonisms will continue to make its effects felt for many years. the work of drawing up fact-sheets for each area. The assumption What, more than anything else, made this breakthrough was that this information would suffice for participants to come possible was a tremendous collective thirst for change, for a up with goals and guidelines during the Retreat itself. It rapidly movement forward based upon our ideals. The Retreat, for all became evident that this would not work, and a whole series of its shortcomings—like its overlong, dense presentations and preliminary meetings as well as extensive research were necessary over-reliance upon the mind—relit that flame. It also provided during a short time period to generate the necessary founda- structures, vehicles, for its expression in the years to come. And tion for the event. Organization on this scale also necessitated it provided the assurance, once again, that a community that is an expansion of the organizing team to include, among others, united in its desire to live the Dream can accomplish almost any- members of the Residents Assembly Service, a highly-efficient thing. As one of the organizers put it, “The main accomplishment logistics supremo (Margarita) and a skilled group of ‘techies’ to of the Retreat was the rekindling of hope in the community.” run the back-office. Without such a formidable and committed Perhaps it was no coincidence that, during the Retreat, team, the Retreat would not have been a success. And, perhaps, ‘Power of Collective Aspiration’ was happily blooming outside may never have happened. the Unity Pavilion…
8 • Collaboration Spring 2015 The ‘elephants in the room’ Belief / view / stand Counter belief / view / stand Example of Integration that may take us beyond polarities
We are here not to build a city but We are here to build a city, not a We are here to build a city and a society, a society manifested in the form of a city. a society society Auroville must grow organically Auroville needs to be a planned city Auroville will be built with plans that allow for flexibility and organic growth within a planned framework We must build Auroville according The galaxy is outdated and we need a new We build Auroville with the galaxy as an urban design concept while ensuring to the Galaxy Plan plan sustainable development that takes into account the natural resources and environ- ment, contemporary insights in building technologies with low levels of embodied energy and urban plans that create a regenerative town. All lands of Auroville are sacred and We need to urgently consolidate the lands Use land exchange or sales as a means to consolidate city lands and obtain statutory should not be exchanged or sold of Auroville, starting with the city lands land use protection for the greenbelt lands and since we lack funding, some land ex- change cannot be avoided The population of needs to grow There is no need of population growth. Quality and quantity are not mutually exclusive. Quality without a certain quan- faster towards the planned popula- Quality is more important than quantity tity does not fulfill the need of a replicable model. Quantity without quality is not tion of 50,000 sustainable.
In Auroville everything must be We need a centralized strong administra- The Residents Assembly organizes the work and activities of Auroville by setting decided by the Residents Assembly tion. up working groups which are empowered to implement their mandates, roles and responsibilities without Residents Assembly interference at implementation level. Not a single tree must be cut in Au- All trees that have been planted in areas Many trees were planted to arrest top soil erosion with the knowledge that at some roville. that are earmarked for urban develop- point in the future these trees will have to be transplanted or cut. Respect the built- ment need to be cut up / open and green ratio of the city (48% / 52%) and of the green belt (5% / 95%). In Auroville’s education no certifi- Certificates in education are needed for Do not study for certificates but ask for one if needed as a reference for studies cates must be issued. higher studies outside Auroville outside Auroville. In Auroville there should be full In Auroville there should be even more Follow the guidelines of the Mother whereby each individual works for a minimum freedom in terms of work and com- discipline than in the outside world and of 5 hours per day, seven days a week, for the collective. mitments everyone needs to work full time for the collective. The Auroville economy should be We are not ready yet for an in-kind econ- We can have an economy that works with in-kind currencies such as kWh for 100% in kind omy and need to continue with a money- energy, liters for water, acres under cultivation for food etc. based economy for some more years. There should be no grid power in We can have grid power everywhere in The question is not grid connectivity but energy sourcing. If we obtain our energy Auroville and to start with not in Auroville from sustainable sources, the grid functions as a demand-supply balancing system. the greenbelt There should be a centralized water There should be decentralized water sys- There can be interconnected local systems whereby the interconnection network system for the whole of Auroville tems in Auroville balances local demand – supply mismatches. Auroville must be completed with- Auroville must develop at its own pace. Work with plans that include quality, quantity and time parameters and revalidate in a time frame (city and society). Timelines and targets do not work here. these plans periodically. If we do not hurry up the outside world will crush Auroville or re- duce it to a suburb of Pondicherry. We should first reach the level of We have to first build the town and the The building of the town and the growth of consciousness will go together. The consciousness that the Mother town will attract more people who will physical growth of the town will attract people and activities. People and activities wanted in Auroville and only then collectively develop the consciousness will attract physical development. The town with its people is the “laboratory of can we build the town and attract that seeks to manifest in Auroville evolution.” more people. “Mother said…” so we should fol- Mother clarified that the truth is evolu- Clarify when Mother is speaking of fundamental principles and when she is in- low this. tionary' dicating an area where knowledge will develop according to the developing con- sciousness of the Aurovilians Everybody has a right to participate Only those with proven competence Allow opportunity for community input, but empower competent individuals to in decision-making should take decisions. interpret it, provided they keep the community informed of their decisions Governance should be in the hands Wisdom is distributed across the commu- Allow opportunity for community input, but empower competent individuals to of the most enlightened. nity so everybody should be involved. interpret it, provided they keep the community informed of their decisions Empowerment of minorities / dis- Meritocracy As far as possible ensure that all voices are heard and that training in governance advantaged' is provided to all sectors but do not dilute the quality of people in our key groups Centralized decision-making Decentralized decision-making Centralized decisions made on basis of local input. Rules / guidelines Each case is different Provide broad guidelines which allow for individual interpretation. Empower our groups to make exceptions when needed. Auroville should keep experiment- We should rely upon old ways until we Encourage widespread experimentation on alternative methods of governance in ing with new structures / approaches have the consciousness to use new ones small groups. When something seems scalable, try it for a probation period in a larg- er work group with a fallback option to resume ‘normal service’ if it doesn’t work out.
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 9 Chronicles First Sanskrit works Tyberg translated the Hymn to the Origin of the World from the Rig Veda[13] Life sketch of Jyoti- and collated, edited and prefaced Charles Johnston’s 1946 translation of Shanka- priya (Judith Tyberg) racharya’s Crest-Jewel of Wisdom.[14] In 1940, Tyberg published Sanskrit Keys to by Mandakini Lucien-Brun the Wisdom Religion,[15] an exposition of over 500 Sanskrit terms used in reli- This article was written for and reproduced gious, occult and theosophical literature. from Wikipedia This was a groundbreaking work by virtue of its content and its innovative printing udith Tyberg (1902-1980) was an technology, as it was the first time any- American yogi (“Jyotipriya”) and a re- where, including India, that the ancient nowned Sanskrit scholar and oriental- form of Sanskrit was linotyped. Tyberg, Jist. Author ofThe Language of the Gods in collaboration with Geoffrey Baborka, and two other reputed texts on Sanskrit, chief linotype operator at the Theosophi- she was the founder and guiding spirit cal University Press, transformed a mod- of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Mandakini in Auroville. (Photo courtesy Manda- ern Sanskrit keyboard into a keyboard for kini Lucien- Brun) Angeles, California, a major pioneering the ancient form of the Devanagari alpha- door through which now-celebrated In- ish); an M.A. in Religion and Philosophy bet, composed of dozens of matrices.[12] dian yogis and spiritual teachers of many with a specialization in Oriental Thought; Tyberg’s view of Sanskrit’s importance was Eastern and mystical traditions were first and a B.Th and M.Th in Sacred Scriptures quoted by the Los Angeles Times: “Not introduced to America and the West. Ju- and Ancient Civilizations, with a focus on only are the languages used on the Euro- dith Marjorie Tyberg was born on May the Bible and Kabbalah. Tyberg began her pean and American continents deficient 16, 1902 at Point Loma, the “California study of Sanskrit in 1930 with Gottfried in words dealing with spirit, but many of Utopia” which was the new world head- de Purucker and received a Ph.D. in San- the English words that do have spiritual quarters of the Theosophical Society. skritic studies. She became a member of connotations are so weighty with false [1] Katherine Tingley, world president, the American Oriental Society.[6] and dogmatic beliefs that it is difficult to founded “Lomaland” in 1898 and Tyberg’s While still a teenager, Tyberg be- convey an exact meaning to all ... while Danish theosophist parents, Marjorie and gan her teaching career at the Raja Yoga Sanskrit expresses the inner mysteries of Olaf Tyberg, were among the first join- School. She held the post of Assistant the soul and spirit, the many after-death ers.[2] In 1900, Tingley founded the Raja Principal of the Raja Yoga School from states, the origin and destiny of worlds Yoga School.[2] Tyberg recalled how, as 1932 to 1935, became head of its Sanskrit and men and human psychology.”[16] In young children, they were instructed in and Oriental Division in 1940, and served 1941, Tyberg continued using her linotype the works of the world’s great religious as Dean of Studies as well as Trustee of innovation for the publication of the first and spiritual traditions and were inspired the Theosophical University from 1935 edition of her First Lessons in Sanskrit to seek “Truth, Justice, Wisdom ... more to 1945.[7] Starting in the late 1930s, she Grammar.[17]This was a revision of James knowledge, more light.”[1] Early on, Ty- authored numerous articles on spiritual- R. Ballantyne’s 1851 grammar which Ty- berg displayed a serious and philosophical ity and consciousness for the The Theo- berg prepared in conjunction with Law- nature and a vocation for education. Mad- sophical Forum magazine, including The rence A. Ware of Iowa State University. ame Tingley called her “one of my true Sacred Texts of the Gupta-Vidya,[8] Pos- Throughout her life, she reworked this raja yogis.”[3] Tyberg grew up, studied, sibilities of the Kali Yuga,[9] Hinduism text several times, subsequently republish- lived and taught at Point Loma until its & Buddhism,[10] Where are your haunts ing it in 1950, 1961, and 1977.[12] closing in 1942, and it was in this context of Consciousness?[11] In 1934, Tyberg that she knew orientalist Walter Evans- joined the team set up by de Purucker India and meeting with Wentz[4] and Paul Brunton.[5] to create an encyclopedia of spiritual vo- Sri Aurobindo She received all her educational de- cabulary used in theosophy, drawing from grees from the Theosophical University: Greek, Chinese, Kabbalist, Zoroastrian, In 1946, Tyberg attended a lecture a B.A. degree in Higher Mathematics and Hindu, and Buddhist texts. Tyberg’s con- at the University of Southern California Languages (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, tribution was the exposition of over 2,000 given by S. Radhakrishnan, then Vice- Dutch, French, Spanish, Danish and Swed- terms.[12] Chancellor of Benares Hindu University,
10 • Collaboration Spring 2015 following which Tyberg applied for a San- found the object of her lifelong search for berg served as India’s representative to skrit research scholarship at BHU. In her truth. On his advice, she wrote to Sri Au- the 1948 World University Round Table. application letter and scholarship request robindo, asking for permission to come to Tyberg was the first President of the In- she stated: “I have decided to give my life see him.[19] ternational Students Union, founded by to the spreading of the beautiful teach- The invitation that followed led Ty- S. Radhakrishnan, who called her “a real ings and religious philosophy as found in berg to spend two months in the Sri Au- force in international understanding.”[24] Sanskrit scriptures ... and I would have robindo Ashram in Autumn 1947. On No- Professor T.R.V. Murti declared “I am the West illumined by its perfect philoso- vember 24, one of the four days annually convinced that you are destined to play an phy.” Explaining the “small means” earned when Sri Aurobindo broke his seclusion, important role in bringing the West and from her teaching and lecturing, and her Tyberg did her reverence to Sri Aurobin- the East together on a spiritual plane.”[24] “simple way of living,” she also expressed do and to his spiritual collaborator Mirra In Autumn 1949, Tyberg went back her belief that “when one dares and goes Alfassa, a Frenchwoman known as “The to Pondicherry for a six-month stay as ahead with an unselfish heart and is con- Mother.” Tyberg’s diary recorded her ex- a disciple at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. vinced that the work is for the progress of perience: “I just felt God,” “electric forces,” During her two years in India, Tyberg had humanity, help does come.” The response “stretched out to infinity,” and “I really kept up regular correspondence with an was a three-year scholarship at the Orien- knew what was my soul.”[22] In a private extensive network of American seekers. tal Division of Benares Hindu University, audience with The Mother, Judith Tyberg When certain people criticized this as un- and Tyberg was made an honorary mem- asked to receive a spiritual name, which yogic, Tyberg asked The Mother for her ber of the All India Arya Dharma Seva was chosen by Sri Aurobindo himself: “Jy- view. Her reply was “How do you think the Sangha.[12] otipriya, the lover of Light.”[23] Divine works if he doesn’t work through Tyberg arrived at BHU in June 1947. Back in Benares, Tyberg continued people like you?” and she repeated what [12] At her first meeting, Tyberg chose her studies in Sanskrit, Hindi, Pali, the she’d told Tyberg at their very first meet- the Vedic religious hymns for her Master’s Gita, the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, ing: “You have chosen it, to serve, long thesis topic. After a twenty-five-year study theVedantic systems of philosophy and ago.”[27] After a final reverence to Sri Au- of humanity’s sacred scriptures and seven- modern Indian thought, leading to an robindo on February 21, 1950, Tyberg re- teen years of Sanskrit, she was convinced M.A. in Indian Religion and Philosophy. corded her impressions: “Vast deep calm that a deep but undiscovered spiritual se- In March 1949, she wrote to Sri Auro- with a mighty wisdom ... his conscious- cret was encrypted in the Vedas’ archaic, bindo and The Mother: “I received the ness seemed infinite ... such currents!”[27] complex language and that Western expla- news that I had passed First Class in the nations of the texts were “nonsense.”[19] M.A. examinations and had made a re- The American Academy of Asian But, while the Vedas were accepted as the cord for the university.... For the question Studies fount of India’s spiritual culture, the cur- ‘State clearly and briefly the philosophical rent view, including in India, held that and religious views of Sri Aurobindo’, I an- In April 1950, Tyberg took the boat they were an interesting but “obscure, swered fully and enjoyed pouring out my from Calcutta to California, which in- confused and barbarous hymnal.”[20]Ty- soul in it.”[23] cluded a stop in Hawaii. There she met berg’s surprise and disappointment was Many eminent Indians, political lead- her old Benares friend Charles Moore and great when she was thus informed that ers and yoga masters alike, were impressed discussed the results of his 1949 East-West even the scholars at BHU knew of no one with Tyberg’s scholarship and her feel- Convention of Philosophers. From this, who could help her find this secret, if it ing for Indian culture: Mahatma Gandhi, she gathered ideas for an approach to Sri even existed. She was advised to change Maulana Azad, V. K. Gokak, B. L. Atreya, Aurobindo that might readily appeal to her research topic. Anandamayi Ma, Ramana Maharshi, Sri the Western mind.[12] Her arrival in Los Professor Arabinda Basu, then a Ramdas, and Krishna Prem,[24] and at Angeles was met with enthusiasm, and in young lecturer, overheard this exchange. the Sri Aurobindo Ashram: Kapali Shas- just the first two weeks, she gave over ten He followed a crestfallen Tyberg into the tri, Indra Sen, Sisir Mitra, Prithvi Singh, lectures to more than 1,000 attendees. A corridor, quietly told her that there was and former freedom fighters-turned-yo- similarly packed schedule was organized someone who could help her[19] and then gis Nolini Kanta Gupta and A.B. Purani, in San Francisco, where she received an gave her an as-yet unpublished manu- friends she referred to as “the cream of enthusiastic reception at Stanford Univer- script of The Secret of the Veda[21] by Sri Hindu culture.”[25] Tyberg spent a week sity. America was eager for “the uncen- Aurobindo, the revolutionary who, after a with the sage Ramana Maharshi at his sored truth about India” and, in Tyberg’s series of mystical experiences, renounced Arunachala ashram where he told her words, California was “just teeming with politics and founded an ashram in Pondi- “You’re already realized, you just don’t interest in Sri Aurobindo.”[12] Then, in cherry. Tyberg stayed up all night reading, know it.”[26] Another lifelong friend was 1951, Tyberg was invited to join the facul- and the next morning, told Basu that she’d Swami Sivananda alongside whom Ty- ty of the newly founded American Acad-
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 11 emy of Asian Studies in San Francisco. yogic paths. In the isolationist atmosphere les.[36] American hatha yoga exponent [28] The AAAS was the first graduate uni- of the Korean War, where “those interest- Ganga White was one of the young seekers versity devoted to Asian culture, and was ed in spiritual things are very much in the attracted to Tyberg’s center.[34] When, on considered one of the “principal roots” of minority,” her activities were pioneering.[31] February 28, 1968, The Mother inaugurat- the 1960s’ “San Francisco Renaissance”. From 1953 to 1973, Tyberg also op- ed the new international spiritual town- [28] Tyberg held the professorship of San- erated “The East West Cultural Center ship of Auroville, Tyberg was an ardent skrit alongside an international group of School for Creatively Gifted Children,” supporter of this spiritual adventure and colleagues which included Alan Watts, which received full accreditation by the served as an essential informational and Haridas Chaudhuri, and Dilipkumar Roy. Los Angeles and California school boards. connecting link.[37] Chaudhuri and Roy were fellow “ardent The school promised cultivating “aesthet- Tyberg was known for her “high ethi- Aurobindonians” as was Director of Stud- ic and studious habits.” In an echo of her cal and spiritual ideals” and for her upright ies, Frederic Spiegelberg, who held Sri Au- Raja Yoga school training, Tyberg aimed and “high-minded” character.[29] Indian robindo to be “the prophet of our age.”[28] at inspiring children with “the highest ide- gurus sent their disciples to see her to “be Spiegelberg highly regarded Tyberg for her als” by focusing on their “god-like quali- benefited.”[29] However, if there was any teaching approach which took “Sanscrit as ties.”[29] Tyberg singlehandedly taught all insincerity or misrepresentation of India’s a life force underlying Indian thinking, school subjects, as well as music theory spiritual light, Tyberg would be categori- past and present,” and praised her “supe- and piano. Many of her graduates were cal and cut off all aid and connections im- rior teaching abilities ... the way in which accepted by leading colleges as much as mediately. “Never speaking against any- she understood to make every single class two years in advance of public school stu- one, she would simply say ‘I cannot dis- meeting a vitally interesting one.”[29] As dents, and Tyberg’s school is remembered close my reasons, but I assure you they are an instructor in a Summer 1952 seminar by them as “a wonderful and unique op- genuine.’”[38] Part of her challenge and on Modern India at San Francisco State portunity.”[33] pedagogy was to lead seekers to be able to College, Tyberg’s teaching was noted as When the Cold War Fifties gave way distinguish between low-level and often “exceptionally effective:” “It is perfectly to the New Age Sixties, the many years fraudulent “psychic phenomena” and the clear that she commands a tremendous of Tyberg’s avant-garde efforts burst into “true psychic” in Sri Aurobindo’s descrip- range of knowledge and insight into the bloom. With her “My Search for Univer- tion – the conscious evolution godwards of workings of modern Indian society based sality” talks, she was hailed as “one of the the soul.”[38] Anandamayi Ma dictated a on both direct experience and extensive South-land’s great women leaders and 1959 message to Tyberg saying “how very study.”[29] Tyberg also taught as a lecturer lecturers.”[29] The East-West Cultural pleased” she was about Tyberg’s activities. at Stanford University.[30] Center became known as the focal point [29] Swami Sivananda wrote: “I greatly for Southern California’s spiritual activity admire the solid work that you do for the The East-West Cultural Center and its auditorium on Sunday afternoons spiritual good of mankind in a silent man- was the first US launching pad for yogis ner. This is dynamic Yoga. The whole of After two years at the AAAS, Tyberg who went on to have “a huge impact on America will be grateful to you.”[29] returned to Los Angeles, where on May 1, modern Yoga:”[34] Swamis Muktanan- For Tyberg, the high point of the 1953 she founded the East-West Cultural da, Satchidananda, Chidananda, Ramdas week was her Thursday evening spiritual Center.[31] In line with Sri Aurobindo’s and Mother Mirabai,[35] Sikh, Sufi, and satsangs where the focus was the in-depth dictum “The Knowledge that unites is the Buddhist masters from Sri Lanka, Japan, teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, true Knowledge.”[32] Tyberg intended and Cambodia, as well as Indian cultural in her words “the highest path offered.” the EWCC to be a “broad and non-sec- and political leaders. Tyberg invited noted She wrote to The Mother: “You must know tarian”[31] forum for building cultural Western mystics, occultists and astrolo- how happy I am to have something so gen- reciprocity between East and West as well gers such as Dane Rudhyar and Marie uine to offer those seeking truth... I just as presenting a variety of aspects of spir- de Vrahnes from Lourdes as well as early must share my great happiness and bless- itual life. She single-handedly conducted health food proponents such as Bernard ing with others.”[31] When she spoke, she classes in Sanskrit, Hindi, Pali, and Greek, Jensen. Famed dancers Ruth St. Denis and said she felt a force that would come down studies in comparative religion and sacred Indira Devi performed on the EWCC’s in “great swirls” from above her head and scriptures, and the yoga of Sri Aurobindo stage in those early years of America’s get her “centralized to speak.” A long-time and the Mother. Tyberg organized guest spiritual flowering.[29] It was Tyberg who devotee explained that Tyberg “did not in- lectures on Indian art and culture, dra- arranged Swami Vishnudevananda’s Los terpret or ever become vague, or indulge matic readings from Indian literary clas- Angeles program during the time he was in clichés, but seemed to identify so com- sics, concerts and dance performances. also a subject of the early medical research pletely with Sri Aurobindo and The Mother She inaugurated an Oriental Library and on the effects of meditation, conducted at that one felt continually their presence” bookshop with resources on India’s many the University of California, Los Ange- and how during meditations with Tyberg
12 • Collaboration Spring 2015 “the force was so powerful’ that his body words have come to possess because of professorships: at the College of Orien- would bend.[39] religious dogma and a misunderstanding tal Studies (1973),[39] as Emeritus Staff In her private office, Tyberg kept a due to lack of spiritual experience.”[45] Professor of Buddhist Studies at the Bud- framed personal message from the Moth- The book had a double introduction, dha Dharma University (1973),[50] and er: “For you who have realised your soul by both B. L. Atreya and V. K. Gokak. as Professor of Sanskrit and Hinduism for and seek the integral yoga, to help the Atreya praised the unique combination of the Goddard College Graduate Field Fac- others is the best way of helping yourself. Sanskrit and Hinduism,[46] while Gokak ulty (1975).[39] One academic reference Indeed, if you are sincere you will soon lauded Tyberg’s “ceaseless search for attested “Tyberg’s lectures were distin- discover that each of their failures is a Truth” and her “burning desire to com- guished by wide reading and research; and sure sign of a corresponding deficiency municate to other aspirants what vision even more than this, she imparted to her in yourself, the proof that something in of Reality she herself attained through her students and hearers the spiritual aroma you is not perfect enough to be all-pow- study” of the mystical and philosophical and inspiration of the great philosophical erful.”[40] There are strong indications in terms which “help us to map out pre- schools of the East.”[29] Tyberg often said Tyberg’s letter to the Mother of March 8, cisely the realms of the superconscient in that it was in the joy of teaching that she 1956 that she was one of the very few to man.”[47] The work was widely reviewed transcended all pain.[39] have felt The Mother’s February 29 Supra- in India: The Indian Libertarian wrote: In 1978, Tyberg was able to make mental Descent experience.[41] “Dr. Tyberg has woven for us a magnifi- the ultimate mortgage repayment on the cent fabric of primary source materials EWCC building and drew up a “guidance” “The Language of the Gods” and of the highest authority,” and The Indian letter of ideals and principles for EWCC’s the last years Review hailed the “novel approach and new Board of Directors “as the New Age sincerity of scholarship” ending with the unfolds:” “This Center is not a business or One of Tyberg’s last works was The words “Dr. Tyberg has laid all lovers of a sect or a popular or social activity. It is a Drama of Integral Self-Realization, an il- Sanskrit under a debt of gratitude.”[48] In service to the Divine to share and unite the luminating and stirring summary of Sri Mother India, Sanat K. Banerji admired best aspects of the spiritual and religious, Aurobindo’s spiritual epic poem, Savitri, Tyberg’s “boldness and originality” and philosophical and cultural and healing which appeared as a chapter in the 1960 particularly commended three major in- arts of the East and West for uplifting and publication, The Integral Philosophy of novations: “within a reasonable compass, leading to a Divine Life on Earth.... May it Sri Aurobindo: A Commemorative Sym- practically all the important terms that a continue to grow thus spontaneously with posium, edited by Haridas Chaudhari students of (India’s) most valuable works Divine backing with no catering to lower and Frederic Spiegelberg.[42] In 1970, is likely to come across,” the relating of standards for attracting money.”[29] Tyberg published The Language of the “technical terms to the verbal roots from Judith Tyberg expired on October 3, Gods,[42] her culminating opus on San- which they are derived” and the “signal 1980.[41] After a life where she sought skrit’s “wisdom-treasury.” This, along with service” which he felt must be emphasized: “long service ... in search of truth, beauty her accompanying Sanskrit pronuncia- “Vedic interpretation has long suffered at and joy to share with all,” her final aspi- tion tapes,[43] capped 45 years of Sanskrit the hands of scholars wholly ignorant of ration was “the speedy return of my soul teaching and scholarship. Tyberg dedicat- the spiritual endeavours the Vedas were to the Divine ... so I may return again to ed it “In Reverent Memory of Sri Auro- meant to enshrine. The author has a valu- serve the Light.”[51] Her Sanskrit books bindo” and wrote in her preface: “In this able chapter on the Vedas and their spir- continue to be used as basic texts in San- age when men are responding to a spir- itual meaning ... compiled from Sri Auro- skrit classes,[52][53][54] and the The East itual need for unity and brotherhood bindo’s monumental work on the subject.” West Cultural Center, the child of Tyberg’s among all the nations of the world, we The review finished with the words: “Dr. decades of pioneering and dedicated ser- find a spiritual vocabulary being drawn Tyberg has justified the name Jyotipriya vice, continues to exist as the Sri Auro- from the rich treasury of Sanskrit termi- given her by Sri Aurobindo.”[49] bindo Center of Los Angeles.[55] nology because these words are already In 1972, Tyberg’s finances finally per- ripe with truths divine.”[44] In her “Plan mitted a last trip to see The Mother on the References of Study Recommended,” Tyberg speci- occasion of the Sri Aurobindo Centenary fied: “a stress has been given to the verb- celebrations.[39] Despite the constant ar- 1. Mandakini February 1981, p. 92. roots of the words, for they are the essen- thritic pain that afflicted her body, Tyberg 2. Small September 2010, p. 5. tial carriers of the meaning of the words as kept “cheerfully going on” as she often 3. Ashcraft 2002, p. 85. originating in the spiritual element of the said, managing the EWCC’s rich diversity 4. Small October 2010, p. 12. Universe” and in this way the student can of activities while continuing to provide 5. “Paul Brunton and Blavatsky”. Religion “get at the real meaning of the word, free spiritual teaching and personal counsel- and Spirituality Resources. Retrieved No- from the loaded implications that so many ling, always for free.[29] She accepted new vember 22, 2014.
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 13 6. Mandakini February 1981, p. 94. 49. Banerji 1972. Charles Johnston) (1946). The Crest-Jewel 7. Mandakini February 1981, p. 93. 50. “Graduate Alumni”. Buddha Dharma of Wisdom. Point Loma, CA: Theosophical 8. Tyberg January 1938. University. Retrieved November 14, 2014. University Press. 9. Tyberg August 1938. 51. Mandakini April 1981, p. 219. Small, Ken (September 2010). “Raja 10. Tyberg March 1944. 52. “Summer Courses”. Hindu University Yoga Education”. Theosophy World (On- 11. Tyberg May 1943. of America. Retrieved November 14, 2014. line publication). 12. Mandakini 2011. 53. “Sankrit Studies”. Vedanta Press. Re- Small, Ken (October 2010). “Raja 13. Tyberg March 1943. trieved November 14, 2014. Yoga Edcation”. Theosophy World (Online 14. Sankaracharya 1946. 54. “Sanskrit Language”. Study-Theoso- publication). 15. Tyberg 1940. phy.net. Retrieved November 14, 2014. Tyberg, Judith (January 1938). “The 16. San Diego Union 1940. 55. “Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles”. Sacred Texts of the Gupta-Vidya”. The 17. Tyberg 1977. Retrieved November 14, 2014. Theosophical Forum (Pasadena, CA: Theo- 18. Ashcraft 2002, p. 106. sophical University Press). 19. Mandakini March 1981, p. 158. Bibliography Tyberg, Judith (August 1938). “Pos- 20. Kapali Shastry 1989, p. 64. sibilities of the Kali Yuga”. The Theosophi- 21. Sri Aurobindo 1956. Ashcraft, Michael (2002).The Dawn cal Forum (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical 22. Mandakini March 1981, pp. 158-159. of the New Cycle: Point Loma Theosophists University Press). 23. Mandakini March 1981, p. 159. and American Culture. Knoxville, TN: Tyberg, Judith (1940). Sanskrit Keys 24. Mandakini March 1981, p. 160. University of Tennessee Press. to the Wisdom Religion. Point Loma, CA: 25. Mandakini March 1981, p. 161-162. Sri Aurobindo, Sri (1956). The Secret Theosophical University Press. 26. Mandakini March 1981, pp. 161. of the Veda. Pondicherry, India: Sri Au- Tyberg, Judith (November 26, 1940). 27. Mandakini March 1981, p. 162. robindo Ashram Trust. “Only Sanskrit Linotype made by Theoso- 28. “The American Academy of Asian Sri Aurobindo, Sri (1992). The Syn- phists”. San Diego Union (San Diego, CA). Studies”. From the CIIS Archives. Re- thesis of Yoga. Twin Lakes, WI: Lotus Tyberg, Judith (March 1943). “Rig trieved November 14, 2014. Press. Veda X, 129”. The Theosophical Forum 29. “Jyotipriya’s Letters”. Sri Aurobindo Banerji, Sanat K. (February 1972). (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Center of Los Angeles. Retrieved Novem- “Books in the Balance”. Mother India: Press). ber 20, 2014. Monthly Review of Culture (Pondicherry, Tyberg, Judith (May 1943). “Where 30. Mandakini April 1981, p. 211. India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram). are your haunts of Consciousness?”. The 31. Mandakini April 1981, p. 212. Kapali Shastry, T.V. (1989) [1947]. Theosophical Forum (Pasadena, CA: Theo- 32. Sri Aurobindo The Synthesis of Yoga, Lights on the Veda. Pondicherry, India: sophical University Press). p. 341. Dipti Publications, Sri Aurobindo Ash- Tyberg, Judith (March 1944). “Hin- 33. Mandakini April 1981, pp. 213-214. ram. duism & Buddhism”. The Theosophical 34. “Spiritual History of Los Angeles”. Par- Mandakini, (Shaw, Madeleine) (Feb- Forum (Pasadena, CA: Theosophical Uni- am Yoga. Retrieved November 14, 2014. ruary 1981). “Jyotipriya (Dr. Judith M. versity Press). 35. Mandakini April 1981, p. 214. Tyberg), Part 1”. Mother India: Monthly Tyberg, Judith (1960). “The Drama 36. “People are Waiting”. Yoga Life. Re- Review of Culture (Pondicherry, India: Sri of Self-Realization: The Spiritual Message trieved November 14, 2014. Aurobindo Ashram). of Savitri”. In Chaudhari, H.; Spiegelberg, 37. Mandakini April 1981, pp. 214 & 217. Mandakini, (Shaw, Madeleine) F. The Integral Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo: 38. Mandakini April 1981, p. 216. (March 1981). “Jyotipriya (Dr. Judith M. A Commemorative Symposium. London, 39. Mandakini April 1981, p. 217. Tyberg), Part 2”. Mother India: Monthly UK: George Allen & Unwin. 40. Mandakini April 1981, p. 210. Review of Culture (Pondicherry, India: Sri Tyberg, Judith (1970). The Language 41. Mandakini April 1981, p. 218. Aurobindo Ashram). of the Gods. Los Angeles, CA: East-West 42. Tyberg 1960. Mandakini, (Shaw, Madeleine) Cultural Center. 43. “Lessons in Sanskrit pronunciation”. (April 1981). “Jyotipriya (Dr. Judith M. Tyberg, Judith (1977). First Les- East-West Cultural Center. Retrieved No- Tyberg), Part 3”. Mother India: Monthly sons in Sanskrit Grammar and Reading. vember 22, 2014. Review of Culture (Pondicherry, India: Sri Pondicherry, India: Sri Aurobindo Ash- 44. Tyberg 1970, p. iii. Aurobindo Ashram). ram Press. 45. Tyberg 1970, p. xi. Mandakini, (Shaw, Madeleine) 46. Tyberg 1970, p. v. (2011). “Jyotipriya, a Tribute”. Blog (Los 47. Tyberg 1970, p. vii-viii. Angeles, CA: Sri Aurobindo Center of Los 48. “Editorial Reviews”. Amazon.com. Re- Angeles). trieved November 14, 2014. Sankaracharya, (translation by
14 • Collaboration Spring 2015 next in terms of scriptural development is Essays the Tibetan version (c790CE) by Jinami- tra, Jñānagarbha and Devacandra; and the lengthiest version of all is what is known The controversial as the “Northern version” in 40 juan by doctrine of the true, Dharmaksema (422CE). I shall quote from all three versions in this paper, using eternal Self in the both Kosho Yamamoto’s English transla- Buddhist scripture: tion of the Dharmaksema, as well as the as-yet unpublished English translations the Mahāyāna Mahā- by my friend and scholarly colleague, Ste- parinirvāna Sūtra phen Hodge, of the entire Tibetan version —a translation which I myself commis- sioned—and of parts of the Faxian. Ste- by Dr. Tony Page phen Hodge has generously supplied these translations for my specific use in research Abstract articles such as this. Early in the sūtra (Tibetan version), Although not generally well known, there in Chapter Three, ‘Grief’, the Buddha is exists in Buddhism a positive stratum of (Photo courtesy Tony Page) confronted by a number of zealous Bud- affirmative teaching on a True Self (con- representation of what the Buddha actu- dhist monks who are keen practitioners of trary to the usual ‘no Self’ doctrine prom- ally taught? Is it in fact accurate to claim what we might term “absolutist non-Self ulgated by that religion). This cataphatic that Buddhism denies, tout court, an im- Buddhism”—i.e., the frequent meditative teaching of a real, deathless Self can be manent and eternal Self? Is there not at cultivation of the notion that absolutely found in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāna least one major Mahāyāna scripture which everything is transitory, afflicted with suf- Sūtra and in the declarations of some no- speaks affirmatively ofthe reality of the fering and is ‘not Self’ (anātman). To the table Buddhist monks—namely, Dolpopa Self, the ātman? I suggest that there is, monks’ surprise, the Buddha does not laud of Tibet and Maha Boowa of Thailand. and that this scripture is the Mahāyāna them for their zealous following of his The present article seeks to redress the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra. Teachings by the ‘non-Self’ teaching, but rather criticises balance regarding ‘Self’ teachings within Tibetan monk, Dolpopa, and the recently them for their “extremism”. He even dis- Buddhism, and focuses largely upon the deceased Thai forest monk, Maha Boowa, misses as “mistaken and worthless” their Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra. also contain affirmative statements on the proud non-Self meditations and scolds Self. In this study,we shall look briefly at them for failing to realise that meditation 1. Introduction both. upon impermanence, suffering and non- Self is “highly contingent” and needs to be The widespread view in scholarship 2. The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāna kept within certain bounds. and in popular understanding of Buddhist Sūtra According to the Buddha, the monks doctrine is that the Buddha denied the Self have grasped only the outer letters, the ex- or Soul (the ātman) or any underlying, en- The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāna ternalities, of his doctrine, but not its es- during essence (svabhāva) in any and all Sūtra claims to be the final Mahāyāna sential spirit or inner meaning. They have sentient beings. According to this interpre- teachings of the Buddha, delivered on fallen victim to an extreme and inverted tation, he expressed such denial both in the the last day and night of his physical life form of meditative practice in which they Pāli suttas (the earliest-preserved Buddhist upon earth. As such, it constitutes an al- regard what is Eternal as transient, what scriptures) and in the Mahāyāna (allegedly leged final and definitive summation of is really the Self as not—the-Self, what is more advanced) sūtras. For the Buddha— the Buddha’s Dharma from a Mahāyāna wholly blissful as prone to suffering, and according to the orthodox understand- perspective. what is primordially and immaculately ing—a living being is merely composed of The sūtra survives in its Sanskrit form pure as something impure. They have not the five ‘skandhas’ (constituent elements) only in some ten fragmentary pages. For- made the requisite distinction between of body, feeling, cognition, volition, and tunately, the scripture was translated into samsāra (the changeful, reincarnational consciousness. There is nothing perduring Tibetan and Chinese. The shortest and processes of our phenomenal universe) underlying them or beyond them. earliest extant translated version is the and Great Nirvāna (mahā-nirvāna or Is this extreme, nihilistic denial of translation into Chinese by Faxian and mahā-parinirvāna). Samsāra is nonSelf— Selfhood, however, a full and flawless Buddhabhadra in six juan (418CE); the thus far the monks are right. But they have
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 15 fallen into grave metaphysical mispercep- essence) doctrines, and that what he really dha’s physical body will die, that is true; tion, the Buddha indicates, by ascribing wishes to say is that there actually exists but that physically manifested body is in samsaric qualities and characteristics to no Self at all. We shall come back to the any case deceptive and impermanent, the the non-samsaric, to unconditioned Nir- question of whether this text views itself Buddha says. He himself, in contrast, as vana, indeed to the Buddha himself. For as provisional or ultimate in its doctrines the True Self will not decline and reach while everything samsaric is rightly la- a little later, but for now, it needs to be any final cessation of being. belled as “non-Self,” the Buddha reveals emphasised that for the Buddha to assert Closely linked to the concept of in the course of the sūtra that he, as the something to be satya and tattva (both ad- nityatā are the ideas of immovable, un- dharmakāya (unbegottne, deathless body jectives appear alongside one another in shakeable fixedness or firmness (dhruva) of Cosmic Truth), is nothing less than the the Dharmaksema text) is tantamount to and “unchangingness” (aviparināma). The eternal Self (ātman)itself. his insisting that it truly is Real—not just notion of aviparināma is found in both In the “Grief” chapter, the Buddha apparently real or deceptively authentic. Faxian and Dharmaksema in the passage explicates what he means by ‘Self’, eter- The term, tattva, woven into such meta- upon which we are commentating. While nality, happiness, and purity: ‘The Self’ physical verbal fabric as the present con- Faxian uses it in its naked and unmodified signifies the Buddha; ‘eternal’ signifies the text—where rectification of a misappre- form, however, the Dharmaksema text dharmakāya [ultimate Body-and-Mind hended nonSelf doctrine is centre-stage combines it with the term, āśraya (“ba- of the Absolute]; ‘happiness’ signifies of discussion—would seem to suggest sis,” “ground,” “body” or “foundation”), to Nirvana; and ‘pure’ is a synonym for the a genuine, ultimate Reality, rather than create the compound, āśrayaaviparināma. Dharma. (Hodge, 2006, p. 39) The Buddha some provisional, metaphorical notion or Thus the “foundational body” which is the declares that it is in fact wrong to state that accommodating simulacrum of Truth. Self is here asserted to be immutable— all dharmas [phenomena] are non-Self, Let us consider a number of the other the opposite of everything else known to and, in the Dharmaksema translation, he epithets applied to the True Self in the pas- mankind, which is subject to modification declares that “in truth there is Self [ātman] sage just quoted. First is the notion of the and mutation. The ātman never trans- in all dharmas”(Yamamoto/Page, 1999, “eternity” or “permanence” of the Buddha forms. It is present within all dharmas (so Vol. 1, p.46). Offering an exceedingly rare (who is, we must remember, the True Self, the Dharmaksema text tells us)—a base (within Buddhist sutric literature) charac- according to this scripture). The Sanskrit which never transmutes into something terisation of what the nature of this Self in term, nitya, forcefully expresses the idea of else. Self is—we might say—always and fact is, the Buddha states: eternal continuance and perpetual persis- unchangingly itself. It is the irreducible, tence throughout all time and beyond. The untransforming foundation or essence of The Self (ātman) is reality (tattva), Self that is nitya is not just real for a mil- Reality. This is the teaching of the Buddha the Self is permanent (nitya), the Self lion years or even a billion kalpas (aeons). in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra. is virtue (guna), the Self is eternal It is real and lasting always. So central is And it is a teaching that is never revoked. (śāśvatā), the Self is stable (dhruva), this concept of the nityatā or eternity of If the Self does not mutate or trans- the Self is peace (śiva). (Hodge, 2006, the Buddha in the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra form, then it is impossible for it to be Chapter Four, “Grief”, p. 40). that the Buddha at one point refers to this killed, since it cannot undergo the trans- scripture as “the great sūtra of the Bud- formation inevitably brought about by In the Faxian and Dharmaksema ver- dha’s eternity” (nityatā) (Hodge, 2006, death. Accordingly, in the Faxian version sions, another quality is found listed here: p. 141, Chapter 17, “The Bodhisattva”). of the sūtra, we find the expressive epi- that the Self is “sovereign,” “self-govern- Perpetual Buddhic Reality lies at the heart thet “not-rubbed-out” used of the ātman. ing” or “autonomous” (aiśvarya). Further- of the message which this sūtra seeks to The likely Sanskrit term underlying this is more, Faxian includes the adjective“un- deliver, as an antidote to the prevalent aparimardana, which means “not rubbed changing”/“untransforming”/“non-mu- Buddhist notion of universal change, flux out”, not obliterated, not broken up or de- tating” (aviparināma), while Dharmakse- and death. Buddhas, by contrast, know stroyed. We are perhaps reminded here of ma also adds that the Self is “true” (satya). of no cessation: “the Tathāgata [Buddha] the colloquial English expression of “wip- It is sometimes claimed by scholars has no death” (Hodge, 2006, Chapter 16, ing someone out” or “rubbing someone who comment on the doctrine of the Self “The Analogy of the Moon”, p. 131); and out” to convey the idea of killing them. in the Nirvāna Sūtra that when the Bud- “do not harbour the idea that Tathāgata- But unlike what the Buddha calls the “lie” dha speaks of the ātman, he is only do- ArhatSamyak-Sambuddhas [utterly per- of the worldly ego’ reality—an ego made ing so in a concessionary manner, as a fect buddhas] ever reach an end! … You up of the five transforming and transient provisional, tactical manoeuvre for those should understand that the Tathāgata skandhas (mutable components of body students who are not yet ready to face up [i.e. Buddha] is unchanging, stable and and mind), all doomed to dissolution to the frightening enormity of the non- eternal” the Buddha insists (Hodge, 2006, and death,—the true ātman can never be Self and Emptiness (i.e. nothing has an Chapter Five, “Long Life”, p. 48.) The Bud- “rubbed out” or erased. It endures—undi-
16 • Collaboration Spring 2015 minished and unperishing—forever. from Faxian, Hodge, 2005, p.1): kleśas, revealing and elucidating the Finally in this section, let us consider tathāgata-dhātu to them … (Hodge, an adjective found both in Faxian and The True Self is thetathāgata-dhātu 2005, p. 2) Dharmaksema to characterise the Self: [Buddha Principle, Buddha Nature, “sovereign,” “governing” or “autonomous” Buddha Factor]. You should know At this point, the Tibetan version (aiśvarya in Sanskrit). Not only do we en- that all beings do have it, but it is not adds (Hodge, 2006): “The tathāgata- counter the term in the present passage, apparent, since those beings are en- garbha is the intrinsic nature [svabhāva] but we also encounter it scattered across veloped by immeasurable kleśas [de- of beings.” The Faxian text continues: the Dharmaksema text as a whole. For fects of mind, morality and character] example, we read that “… on the morn- .... Thetathāgata-dhātu cannot be killed. ing of Buddhahood, he [the Bodhisattva] Those who die are said to be shortlived, obtains the sovereign Self” (Yamamoto/ The keen young Bodhisattva will have while the tathāgata-dhātu is said to Page, 2000, Vol. 5, “On Pure Actions,” p. none of this, however, and mounts a ve- be true life. It cannot be severed or 60), and on the all-pervasive presence of hement, verbal assault on the Buddha in destroyed right up to the attainment the Buddha, who cannot truly be seen an attempt to shore up the validity of the of Buddhahood. Thetathāgata-dhātu and yet can cause all to see him, the Bud- general non-Self doctrine, attempting to can neither be harmed nor killed, but dha comments that “Such sovereignty argue for the total illogicality and impos- only nurtures / sustains the person is termed ‘the Great Self’ (mahātman)” sibility of a real Self. Does the Buddha at … Furthermore, noble son, it is like (Yamamoto/Page, 2000, Vol. 7, “Bo- this point then make concessions or with- a person who digs the earth search- dhisattva Highly Virtuous King”, p. 29). draw his revelation that the True Self is ing for diamonds. Holding a sharp This word, aiśvarya, is important for two the indwelling Buddha-Principle within pickaxe in his hands, he digs into the reasons: first, it attests the complete self- all beings? No. He strengthens his claim ground and rocks, able to pulverise governance and freedom of the Self—it —by telling the tale of a rather dim-witted them all. Diamonds alone he can- is not subject to the tyranny of undesir- wrestler who falsely believes he has lost a not shatter. Thetathāgata-garbha is able internal or external forces (unlike valuable jewel, which he always wore fas- like this, for it cannot be harmed by the mundane ego comprised of the con- tened to his forehead, when in fact it has the sharp weapons of the devas and ditioned and labile skandhas); the word merely been driven under his flesh by the maras (gods and devils). It only nur- is, in fact, linguistically and connotatively force of his engagement in a bout with a tures the person, and anything that closely linked to the term Iśvara (God), rival wrestler. The Buddha states (Faxian): can be harmed or damaged is not the which should not escape our notice; and tathāgata-dhātu. Hence, you should second, it hints at a controlling, regulating All beings are also like this. Each know that the tathāgata-dhātu cannot (divine) intelligence: a knowing and utter- one of them has the tathāgata-dhātu, be harmed or killed. (Hodge, 2005, ly free mind, the “transcendental aware- but, through having recourse to evil p. 3). ness”—lokkottara-jñāna—which the Bud- acquaintances, they give rise to at- dha elsewhere in the sūtra links to the Self. tachment, hatred and stupidity and Moreover, the application of the So the True Self is revealed by the fall into the three miserable states notion of non-Self and a misplaced at- Buddha in this important excursus on …, adopting various kinds of bodies tachment of the idea of Emptiness to the the authentic ātman to be that totally throughout the twenty-five modes of tathāgata-dhātu is firmly advised against self-governing, sovereign foundation or existence. The precious jewel that is by the Buddha earlier in the sūtra, where ground of Reality which is untrammelled the tathagata-dhātu is buried within he declares in very striking terms (I quote by change and unmarked by mutation and the wound of the kleśas of attach- from the Tibetan text, from Chapter 11, which endures eternally, utterly unassail- ment, hatred and stupidity, so that “The Four Truths”): able by death. The sūtra also (in its some- they are unaware of its presence there. what later chapters) intimately links this Engaging in the notion that there is By having cultivated non-Self with Buddhic Reality to the tathāgata-dhātu, no Self with regard to the mundane reference to the tathāgata-dhātu and buddha-dhātu, or tathāgata-garbha, the self, they do not understand the skil- having continually cultivated Empti- ‘Buddha-Womb’ or ‘Buddha Essence’ as ful words of implicational intent of ness, suffering will not be eradicated, the immanent core or quintessential na- the Tathāgata …They have the notion but one will become like a moth in the ture of Buddhahood. And to this we must that there is no Self and are unable flame of a lamp. (Hodge, 2006, p. 107) now turn. to know the True Self. Regarding In the chapter entitled, “The this, the Tathāgata … utilises skil- Let us extract some key points from Tathāgata-garbha”, the Buddha declares to ful means: he causes them to extin- the foregoing: Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva Kāśyapa (I quote guish the raging fires of the countless 1) As with the earlier situation, in
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 17 which the Buddha had been challenged by constitutive elements of the non-Self), It is evident from this that interde- a group of absolutist non-Self monastics, ‘…you should henceforth bear in mind pendent arising or conditionality is not a he is here being skeptically interrogated that the Tathāgata’s body is indestructible feature of this buddha-dhātu, despite what by a great Bodhisattva on the validity of and solid like a diamond’ (Hodge, 2006, Heng-Ching Shi might claim. Nor can the the Self idea. But the Buddha stands firm: p. 50), and “The buddha-dhātu is the True tathāgata-garbha simply be dismissed as there is a Self, and that Self is the Buddha. Self and, like a diamond, for example, it ‘emptiness’, since the Buddha excoriates 2) There is not a trace of evidence in cannot be destroyed” (Yamamoto/Page, those who view the tathāgata-garbha as these key encounters—nor indeed in the 1999, Vol. 3, p. 3). We might further note emptiness, saying that they are like moths Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra as a whole—that that in the original Sanskrit version of the perishing in the flame of a lamp. He again the Buddha only spoke of a True Self in text (preserved in fragments only), the and again (as we have seen) likens the order to win over those who dearly and adjective acala is applied to the Buddha tathāgata-garbha to an indestructible desperately wanted to believe in an ev- (Habata 2007, p. 87). This word means jewel or diamond within the body of the erlasting ātman—as is claimed by some ‘unmoving’, ‘immovable’, and when used being—scarcely an appropriate image for commentators on this sūtra. Quite the as a noun betokens ‘mountain’. A strong a substanceless vacuity! After narrating opposite. While on one occasion he does indicator, this, of the Buddha’s decidedly the parable of the wrestler who falsely speak of the Self to a group of wandering ontic and unshakeable presence. Heng- believes that he has ‘lost’ a precious dia- non-Buddhist ascetics, he overwhelm- Ching Shih takes a somewhat similar mond, when it is in reality firm, present ingly speaks in this scripture of the True line to King’s and argues: “The 'tatha- and unharmed within his own body, the Self to his own advanced monks and high- gatagarbha' symbolizes the potential for Buddha draws the moral: level bodhisattvas. enlightenment (a principle) rather than 3) It is shown as a deficiency in a material "essence" of ultimate truth” Just as the wrestler had the idea—due comprehension on the part of the Bud- and “the 'tathagatagarbha' is based on the to his impaired thinking—that he had dha’s would-be followers (and by implica- framework of the 'Mahayana' doctrine of lost the diamond, even though it was tion, equally those of today) when they 'sunyata-pratityasamutpada [i.e. empti- lodged in his body, similarly worldly take his non-Self teachings as universal ness and conditionality]'. (Heng-Ching beings do not comprehend the Re- in their sphere of reference; instead, such Shih, 1998, p. 10). The opposite of this is ality of the Self (ātma-tattva); they persons should understand that the non- actually the case. The Buddha repeatedly fall under the sway of unwholesome Self doctrine has certain limits inherently makes it clear that the ātman or tathāgata- friends and do not understand the imposed upon it and contains an implicit garbha is a real, uncreated, uncondi- [Tathāgata’s] utterances with underly- counter-pole (at least within this particu- tioned, sovereign and unfabricated entity ing meaning; they meditatively culti- lar scripture) which the Buddha asserts— (akrta-dhātu, says the Tibetans Nirvāna vate the notion that they lack the Self, namely, that of the True Self. It should be Sūtra in its “Tathāgatagarbha” chapter), even though there is the Self. (Hodge, noted, however, that Sallie B. King (King the svabhāva (essence) of eternal Truth 2006, p. 37). 1997, p. 190) argues that the Buddha Na- within each being, not merely a negatively ture (tathāgatagarbha) is simply and solely construed ‘emptiness’ or a mere poten- Furthermore, the Buddha denounces a ‘skilful means’ to encourage students to tial (although it of course enshrines that as a cognitive distortion any perception of practise more enthusiastically; it is merely power too). The Buddha also on occasion the non-Self as Self and equally the envis- a ‘soteriological device and is ontologi- speaks of his own buddha-dhātu (Yama- aging of the Self as non-Self: ‘….To regard cally neutral’, she contends. Yet this claim moto/Page, 1999, Vol. 6, p. 27) which he the non-Self as the Self and to regard the is not particularly meaningful or accurate. still retains. Obviously this cannot refer to Self as non-Self is perverse Dharma’, he Its first part resolves itself, on further con- any ‘potential’ of his to become a Buddha, forcefully states (Yamamoto/Page, 1999, sideration, into a trite truism, since all of since he already is one! In this passage he Vol. 1, p. 42). It is evident, from the per- the Buddha’s teachings can ultimately be tells of what is not present, not existent, in spective of this scripture, that the non-Self viewed as a methodology for salvation, the Buddha’s Nature: doctrine needs to be understood as bear- as skillfully constructed means towards The buddha-dhātu of the Tathāgata ing the underlying implication that there liberation. Its second contention – that the has two aspects: one is existence and the actually is a real Self (which is what the Buddha Nature has no explicit ontology second non-existence … Regarding non- non-Self by definition is not) and that the or genuine ‘being’ to it—is contradicted existence, this is the causal and resultant various terms used for the Buddha Na- by such statements of the Buddha’s as ‘the aspects of the Tathāgata’s past wholesome, ture do not denote an absence of Self, but tathāgata-garbha is the svabhava [core es- unwholesome and neutral karma, the kle- rather point to the indestructible nature of sence] of beings’ (Hodge, 2006, p. ); “The shas (mental negativities), the five skand- the Self which is to be found deep within buddha-dhātu of beings abides within the has, and the twelvefold interdependent all beings, indeed all Buddhas. five skandhas.” (i.e. is distinct from the arising. 4) This revelation of the Buddha’s on
18 • Collaboration Spring 2015 the reality of a True Self is not presented ply to the major examples at which we have Tibetan form) are significantly entrusted by the Buddha in the form of reasoned looked, but we need to consider how this precisely to Manjuśrī at the very end of debate, syllogisms, analysis, or argumen- sutra views itself and how it wants its audi- the scripture, which can be taken as a sym- tation; rather, it is presented as revelation. tors and readers to see it. Is it provisional bolic sign of the sutra’s high significance. It is given as unvarnished, apodeictic fact in its doctrines and requiring of correc- On the broader question of whether —a fact which all beings (so we later learn tive ‘interpretation’ (as the Gelukpa sect of the sūtra as a whole wishes to be seen as in the sūtra) can only fully discern when Tibet, for example, would claim), or is it to high-level teaching or as a concessionary they themselves become Buddhas. be viewed as a direct, unmediated meta- adaptation of Dharma for those of more 5) Thetathāgata-dhātu is utterly in- physical revelation of eternal Truth? rudimentary spiritual grasp, we should vulnerable to all attack, corruption and On the specific question of the su- note the fact that the opening of the Ti- harm, and cannot be caused to expire. In- pramundane or nirvanic Self, it is appar- betan version tells of how the Buddha will deed, it is the immanent life-principle (the ent that the sūtra does assert an eternally herein give the “final explanation” of his jiva) itself. abiding entity or dharma—what we might Dharma, and will do so in “… words which 6) It is inappropriate to meditate call the “Buddha-Self,” since the Buddha expressed his meaning with exhaustive upon the immanent tathāgata-dhātu as utters the equation ‘Self = Buddha’—as an thoroughness.” (Hodge, 2006, p. 1). The though it were non-Self, just as it is equally ever-enduring reality of the highest or- Buddha himself later tells a female follow- inappropriate repeatedly to meditate upon der. That Buddha Self is one with Nirvāna. er of how on the day of his Parinirvāna, he it as though it were Emptiness—as though In the Dharmaksema Nirvāna Sūtra, the will give the essential meaning of all his it were a vacuous nothingness and did not Buddha is asked by Mañjuśrī, “What is secret Dharma. He says: inherently exist. To regard the garbha in the meaning of this ‘real truth’ that you that fashion would be ... when I am making tantamount to com- Noble son, that which is endowed with the Eternal, preparations to pass mitting painful spiritu- into Parinirvāna, I al suicide (that is what Bliss, the Self and Purity is stated to be the meaning shall then speak of the image of the moth of the ‘real truth’. —the Buddha the Tathāgata’s vari- burning in the flame of ous secret words of the lamp connotes)— implicational mean- and the whole raison-d’etre of Buddhism have mentioned?” The Buddha’s reply is ing in their entirety to the śrāvakas is to eradicate pain, not to arouse it. instructive and unequivocal: [disciples]. On that day, I shall impart 7) Whatever the type of being con- the intended gist to my sons. [Hodge, cerned, the indwelling tathāgata-dhātu re- Noble son, the real truth is the true 2006, Chapter 8, “The Four Methods mains unassailed, unsullied, inviolate and Dharma. Noble son, if the Dharma is of Teaching,” p.60]. deathless. It is utterly immortal—just as not true, then it cannot be called the the Buddha himself, the tathāgata-dhātu ‘real truth’. Noble son, the real truth is That day has, of course, now come. We made manifest, is never actually shown to devoid of distortions …the real truth should note that, contrary to the implica- die in any of the three major versions of is free from falsity. If it were not free tions of some scholars, such as Williams the Nirvāna Sūtra. Outer narrative move- from falsity, it would not be called the (1989, p.100), the Buddha overwhelm- ment thus reflects and enacts inner meta- ‘real truth’… Noble son, that which ingly does not direct these teachings at physical meaning. is endowed with the Eternal, Bliss, those (such as non-Buddhist ascetics) 8) The tathāgata-dhātu is not a de- the Self and Purity is stated to be the who desperately want to believe in a Self structive phenomenon. Rather, it func- meaning of the ‘real truth’. (Yamamo- —but to those who are well-versed in and tions as a nurturing, sustaining force with- to/Page, 2000, Vol. 4, “On Holy Ac- familiar with his non-Self teachings (i.e. in every sentient being and accompanies tions,” p. 48). his monks and great bodhisattvas). Thus him or her up to and into Buddhahood these teachings go beyond “non-Self’ and itself. This definition of genuine Dharmic are transmitted as the Buddha’s final, de- But is all this to be understood as an Truth is not only intrinsically clear and finitive illumination of the entire corpus ultimate teaching? Is all such talk of an eloquent, but is given added weight by the of his doctrines. eternal, immanent yet transcendent Self fact that the answer is addressed to a ques- The colophon of the Tibetan text or tathāgata-dhātu not just a ruse or skil- tion posed by none other than Mañjuśrī, clearly indicates the centrality of these final ful tactic to attract people who might oth- the Bodhisattva of supreme Buddhic in- teachings when it declares that the sūtra erwise be put off by the Buddha’s general sight and understanding. In this connec- constitutes “… the essence of all scriptures teachings on non-Self and Emptiness? We tion, we might also interestingly note that of the authentic Dharma” (Hodge, 2006, p. have noted that this certainly does not ap- the teachings of this entire sūtra (in its 161) and moreover is equal to an uttara-
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 19 tantra—that is to say, to the final empow- While scholars such as Sallie B. King ing, all pervasive thusness [essence of ering information and instructions at the and Heng Ching Shih try, on embarrass- reality], and the enlightenment of the end of a medical treatise, which enable the ingly flimsy evidential grounds, to re- Buddha. (Stearns, 1999, p. 165). doctor to make his mantras and remedies interpret and re-configure the essentialist truly efficacious. teachings of this sūtra into the opposite of Dolpopa frequently uses the term The reference to an uttara-tantra is what they repeatedly state, some notable ‘Self’ or analogous phrases to refer to this not confined to the colophon. The Bud- Buddhist masters have understood such Ultimate Reality abiding in all beings. He dha himself has recourse to this image on doctrines in their simple and straightfor- also quotes numerous sutras and tantras several occasions, not least in intensified ward form and sought to communicate in support of his doctrinal stance. Thus, he form when telling of the supremacy of this that understanding. One such prominent quotes from the Great Seal Drop Tantra on sūtra’s teachings. In Chapter 14, “The Let- individual was the 14th-century Tibetan the genuine reality of the Self or spiritual ters,” he affirms (Tibetan version): Dharma master, Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. essence, when he states: ‘A self pervading all things does indeed exist. If self did not ... the very ultimate (uttarottara) of 3. Dolpopa exist, then all transmigrators would be the meaning of all sūtras is taught by like a tree whose roots are cut.’ (Hopkins, this sūtra. Not one single syllable or The mediaeval Tibetan scholar- 2006, p. 133) Clearly, the Self envisaged tittle has been taught [herein] that has monk, Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, popu- here is the very ‘root’ of all beings—the previously been heard by any śrāvaka larly styled “the Buddha of Dolpo,” insists supplier and sustainer of life itself. and pratyekabuddha. This sūtra is su- that the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra and other Dolpopa further enumerates ‘Self’- premely excellent [varottama]. For tathāgata-garbha (Buddha Nature) texts phrases when he speaks of Ultimate Re- example, just as the people of Uttara- should be taken at their word as definitive ality in the Buddhist scripture, The Ex- kuru in the north are virtuous, like- and cataphatic revelations, not as docu- pression of Manjushri's Ultimate Names wise those who have listened to this ments requiring modifying ‘interpreta- (Mañjuśrī-nāma-sangīti). Here are some great sūtra have become supramun- t i o n’. of the coinages encountered in this con- dane—you should know that they Dolpopa seeks to present what the text, giving expression to a truly real and are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas [great Buddha actually says accurately and lordly ‘Over-Self’ (a term, incidentally, Bodhisattvas]. Therefore, this signi- fairly, and states that according to the later widely used and promulgated by the fies that [this sūtra] is a great uttara- sutras (such as the Mahāparinirvāna English mystic, Paul Brunton): tantra. (Hodge, 2006, p. 124) Sūtra, the Tathāgatagarbha Sūtra, and the Angulimāliya Sūtra,) there truly does ex- Buddha-I or Self; Beginningless self; Finally in this section, we might use- ist a spiritual essence within all persons Non-proliferative self; Self of thusness; fully look at what Chapter 7, “The Name and things—the quintessence of Buddha- Self of primordial purity; Supreme and Virtues of the Sūtra” (Tibetan version) hood—which is unshakeable, timeless and omnipresence; Singular self; Solid says on the relative merit of this scripture deathless. Dolpopa rejects what he sees as and hard self; Diamond self; Lord of when measured against all other enuncia- the pernicious views of those who would space; Supreme self of all creatures; tions of Dharma and the meditations with palm off Buddhahood as a nonexistent, or Holy immovable self; Holy very clear which they are linked. The Buddha states: manufactured, causatively engendered or self, holding the full Buddha enlight- composite phenomenon. Dolpopa in The enment (Hopkins, 2006, pp. 279-294). … for example, the various sciences Fourth Council declares: such as medicine and the three scienc- The reader at this juncture might es are gathered up in their respective I cannot defer to those who accept reasonably ask: ‘Just what is this Buddha- uttara-tantras; similarly, all the vari- that in reality there is no buddha- Self? What is the Buddha’s nature’? Dol- ous secret Dharma-gates, the words hood, who do not accept a noncom- popa repsonds: of implicit intention [sandhā-vacana] posite Buddhahood, and who do uttered by the Tathagatas are gathered not accept a permanent, stable, and Buddha—an essence of immeasur- up in this Mahāparinirvāna[-Sūtra]. eternal Buddhahood, and so I join able, incomprehensible, unfathom- … This Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra is my palms together and offer an ap- able, excellent exalted body, wisdom, stated to be the best, the most excel- peal. Please look at those statements qualities, and activities extremely lent, the foremost of all … samādhis in in the Krtayuga [Dharma] which say wondrous and fantastic—is vast like those sūtras … the Mahāparinirvāna that absolute truth, indivisible space space and the holy source giving rise Sūtra is stated to be the best, the most and intrinsic awareness is the primal to all that is wished by sentient beings excellent, the foremost of all sūtras.” Buddha, the ground buddhahood, like a wish-granting jewel …. (Hop- (Hodge, 2006, p. 57) permanent, stable, eternal, everlast- kins, 2006, p. 424).
20 • Collaboration Spring 2015 We note the reference to ‘body’. The True Self? True nature? This has a being the case, how can the citta’s essential Buddha is not ‘unsubstantial’, not without decidedly essentialist ring to it—anath- knowing nature and the body’s physical a body. He has in fact an ‘excellent exalted ema to most Buddhists. Yet Maha Boowa elements possibly be equated. They are ob- body’. Indeed, in developed Mahāyāna is here standing in a long Buddhist tra- viously separate realities. (Maha Boowa, theory, he possesses three bodies (the dition stretching back to the ‘luminous http://www.forestdhamma.books.com/ trikāya doctrine)! In fact, the whole of the / shining mind’ of the Pali Canon, ex- book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf) Buddhic quest for Nirvana could be con- tending through the Nirvāna Sūtra and Maha Boowa calls this essential, in- strued as a quest for a deathless, eternal the tathāgata-garbha sūtras, through to dwelling and indestructible Awareness Body-and-Soul (known as the dharma- Dolpopa and beyond. This species of Bud- —distinct from our physical being—“the kāya). So any claim that the Buddha (who dhism does not shy away from a recogni- knowing presence.” (Maha Boowa, 2005, represents perfected being) is substance- tion of a deathless, immutable core reality p. 17). This is reminiscent of the Bud- less and a literal ‘non-entity’ needs to be —the Self or Essence—within all beings, dha’s words in the Nirvāna Sūtra, where modified in the light of this teaching. which is one with Dharma—ultimate he states: ‘the constant presence of the When we come to present-day Bud- Truth—and one with the Buddha. Maha Tathāgata [Buddha] is the Self.’ dhist masters, such as the Thai forest Boowa tells of how this citta is ultimately monk, Maha Boowa, we find an even free from the domain of the imperma- 5. Conclusion more streamlined definition of what the nent, the painful, and the non-Self. It is ultimate or core essence of beings is. It utterly indissoluble, independent, free and In the light of the foregoing declara- is inner Dharma—the immortal ‘heart’ Knowing—just as the Buddha declared of tions by the Buddha in the Nirvāna Sūtra, (citta). the Buddha-Self in the Mahā-parinirvāna buttressed, as it were, by statements from Sūtra. Maha Boowa states of the citta: Dolpopa and Maha Boowa, we might 4. Maha Boowa Although all conditioned phenom- sensibly modify our understanding of a ena without exception are governed by certain stream of Buddhist teaching, and Maha Boowa was a famed 20th- the three universal laws of anicca [imper- note that it does allow for the reality of a century Thai Buddhist meditation mas- manence], dukkha [suffering], andanattã true and enduring essence or Self. While ter (physically deceased in 2011) belong- [non-Self], the citta’s true nature is not all that is impermanent, painful and con- ing to the Forest Monk tradition of Thai subject to these laws … the true power of ditioned falls under the rubric of the non- Theravada Buddhism. His teachings are the citta’s own nature is that it knows and Self (the sphere of the worldy skandhas), notable for being more affirmative of a does not die. This deathlessness is a qual- that which lies beyond the skandhas, be- positive, enduring Reality than is often ity that lies beyond disintegration. Being yond suffering and impermanence can found in Theravada Buddhism. He calls beyond disintegration, it also lies beyond (at least within this particular tradition this deathless essence in all people and the range of anicca, dukkha, and anattã of Buddhist discourse) be termed the es- creatures the indwelling Dhamma (Truth) and the universal laws of nature … (Maha sence of the being or the True Self. or citta—the heart or mind. Reminiscent Boowa, http://www.forestdhammabooks. From the perspective of such a of tathāgatagarbha doctrine, Maha Boowa com/book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf) Buddhist vision, universally and abso- tells of how this heart is led astray by kile- Maha Boowa draws a distinction (as lutely to apply the formula of emptiness sas (mental pollutants), and of how we do the tathāgata-garbha sutras) between and non-Self—even to the sphere of the thus fail to be what we in fact are—our the physical body and its attendant ele- tathāgatagarbha—may be deemed dan- ‘true self’. Maha Boowa comments: ments and the citta or manodhãtu (the gerously misguided. As the Buddha in mental sphere). The body knows noth- the Nirvāna Sūtra warns: ‘By having cul- Our real problem, our one funda- ing, but the citta Knows. Interestingly, the tivated the absence of self (anātman) in mental problem—which is also the Mahāyāna Angulimaliya Sutra declares connection with the tathāgata-garbha and citta’s fundamental problem—is that that the pure manas (mind) is the tathaga- having continually cultivated Emptiness, we lack the power needed to be our ta-garbha. Maha Boowa clearly brings out suffering will not be eradicated—but one own true self. Instead, we have always the difference between transitory body will become like a moth in the flame of a taken counterfeit things to be the es- and knowing, deathless Mind when he lamp.’ (Hodge 2006, p. 107). sence of who we really are, so that the comments: It must remain for us a highly disqui- citta’s behavior is never in harmony The body is physical matter—how eting thought that many Buddhists today, with its true nature. (Maha Boowa, can it be likened to the citta? The citta who are taught to regard even the Buddha 2005 http://www.forestdhamma- is a mental phenomenon, an awareness and Nirvana, as well as the Buddha Es- books.com/ book/3/Arahattamagga. that knows…. earth, water, wind and fire sence, as empty of any immutable, eter- pdf) elements know nothing; only the mental nal Reality, may be courting such spiritual element—the manodhãtu—knows. This disaster as the Buddha here warns against.
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 21 In view of these dangers, promulgating the Land and spirit: spiritually positive and affirmative teach- ings of the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra and An American yoga the dharmic vision of Dolpopa and Maha for the 21st Century Boowa becomes for the Mahayana Bud- dhist not just a duty, but an urgent need. by John Robert Cornell References Continued from the last issue... Boowa, M. (2005). Arahattamagga, Arahattaphala: the Path to Arahantship – 4. New Voices of the Land A Compilation of Venerable Acariya Maha Boowa’s Dhamma Talks about His Path of Practice, translated by Bhikkhu Silaratano, While I stood there I saw more than I http://www.forestdhammabooks.com/ could tell, book/3/Arahattamagga.pdf), retrieved 12 and I understand more than I saw; April 2009. for I was seeing in a sacred manner Habata, H. (2007), Die Zentrala- the shapes of all things in the spirit, siatischen SanskritFragmente des Ma- Photo courtesy John Robert Cornell. haparinirvana-Mahasutra, Marburg: In- and the shape of all shapes as they 1 dica et Tibetica Verlag. must live together like one being. We picked some works of three au- Hodge, S. (2005). The Tathāgata- thors in a bookstore near Zion—Tony garbha Chapter in Faxian’s Nirvāna Sutra. An Ongoing Conversation Hillerman, Barry Lopez, and Ann Zwing- London: unpublished MS. er. These very different writers are among Hodge, S. (2006). The Tibetan The land is talking to us with new the land’s new voices. Mahāparinirvāna Sutra: An English Trans- voices. As we prowled the badlands and hid- lation. London: unpublished MS. Each place that we visited on our trip den canyons of southern Utah and north- Hopkins, J. (2006). Mountain Doc- has a bookstore nearby different from any- eastern Arizona, Hillerman’s taut, sus- trine: Tibet’s Fundamental Treatise on Oth- thing I have seen in the city. They display penseful mystery novels served as a bridge er-Emptiness and the Buddha Matrix. New these new voices of the land in a clarity from Anglo to Navajo sight. Open one of York: Snow Lion Publications. of word and a majesty of image rare in a these books and you slip behind the eyes of King, S. B. (1997) ‘Buddha Nature is world of commercial and technological modern Navajos balancing between witch- Impeccably Buddhist’, in Pruning the Bo- focus. The tabloids are gone or hidden in craft and forensic science, ballistic missiles dhi Tree: The Storm over Critical Buddhism, a corner. No soaps, no Cosmopolitan, no and ceremonial sings, pickup trucks and ed. by Jamie Hubbard and Paul L. Swan- New York Times best sellers. Although they talking animals. Besides telling an absorb- son, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. have souvenirs and light entertainment, ing story, Hillerman takes you to the brink Stearns, C. (1999) The Buddha from these bookstores don’t try to spin up our of the old ways without enforcing a world Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of emotions or distract us. Their focus has view. He leaves the mystery in things even the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyalt- shifted 90 degrees. They are looking out after his tribal police heroes solve the mys- sen, Albany: State University of New York of the corner of our collective national tery of the novel. His characters maintain Press. eye. There they have seen something and their cultural viewpoints and so we get Shih, Heng-Ching (1998), ‘The Sig- have calmed down. The new voices on to see how “the facts” magically change, nificance of Tathagatagarbha: A Positive their shelves reflect the clarity of the air viewed from radically different angles. Expression of Sunyata’, http://www.viet. and a quiet appreciation of the non-human Reading his books on the Navajo net/~anson/ebud/ebdha 191.htm re- world outside their windows. We saw it reservation, we noticed habits and expec- trieved 12 April 2009. over and over—a seriousness, beauty, and tations. Pointing at someone with your Williams, P. (1989). Mahāyāna Bud- deep but unpretentious reflection in the art finger can be insulting here. Interrupting dhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Lon- and in the titles and covers of their books another person before he finishes speak- don: Routledge. Internet. and magazines: Landscapes of the Sacred, ing is a far worse breach of manners to the Yamamoto, K. (tr), Page, Dr. Tony The Greening of Faith, Pieces of White Shell, Navajo than to us. The traditional stories (ed) (1999-2000). The Mahayana Ma- Cathedrals of the Spirit, Dialogs with the and practices that carry the meanings of haparinirvana Sutra, London: Nirvana Living Earth, Practice of the Wild, News of Diné culture encourage harmony with all Publications. the Universe, John of the Mountains. things instead of competition. They dis-
22 • Collaboration Spring 2015 count the importance of accumulating pulse with life. They intrigued my daugh- wealth. Hillerman often highlights clashes ter when she, eight years old, sat on my lap between these values and those of mod- and we eavesdropped on a conversation ern Western culture in the solution to his stretching across centuries and oceans. mysteries. And here is the interesting thing: In this By contrast, Ann Zwinger writes clas- conversation one hears not only the voices sic natural history. From her home on of humans, but also of the stone and the the eastern edge of the Rockies she finds river and the wild black night “awake to herself drawn back to this southwestern the anthems of the stars.” 3 desert and canyon country over and over. I read Wind in the Rock2 as we meandered Stone through the canyonlands of southeastern Utah. Her clear, active prose turned the Go inside a stone. tadpoles and lonely cliffs and goldenweed That would be my way. of that area into nature’s arms and legs and Let somebody else become a dove thoughts—alive, intricate, worthy of study Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth. in themselves. A love of the land flows I am happy to be a stone. like a vein of gold through her meticu- From the outside the stone is a riddle: lous research into the history, archeology, No one knows how to answer it. botany, and geology of the area. Our hikes said Lopez, must cultivate a sense of him- Yet within, it must be cool and quiet through canyon country took on an edu- self or herself as one who does not know. Even though a cow steps on it full cated depth because of her efforts. With Out of that humility and attentive listen- weight, her we could time-travel back 300 years ing, he meant, the writer would discover Even though a child throws it in a on a five mile trail. The inscrutable hiero- what story was asking to be told. Many river; glyphics of the Coconino sandstone grew of the new voices of the land instinctively The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed more legible. Flat facts of canyon walls and follow Lopez’s advice. Only after listening To the river bottom cliff ruins became doorways to early Mor- intently to the land does one become its Where the fishes come to knock on it mon scouts and earlier Anasazi farmers. authentic emissary. And listen. We felt less like aliens in this strange land Instructed by these and other voices, of bare sand and slickrock. gradually I came to appreciate how much I have seen sparks fly out our trip through the Southwest was When two stones are rubbed, part of an adventure larger than So perhaps it is not dark inside after our personal lives or aspirations. all; That this was not so much a two- Perhaps there is a moon shining month search as a small syllable in From somewhere, as though behind an ongoing conversation between a hill— the human species and the rest of Just enough light to make out nature. People have been thinking The strange writings, the star-charts about and acting out the kinship On the inner walls.4 between ourselves and the land for a long time, with compelling con- There is a crossing in these poems. sequences; and a body of distinc- They take us from where we start, encased tive writings on this subject has in the human cocoon and blind to the deer been growing in the West for gen- trail out back, oblivious to the Milky Way erations. overhead. The words gather the wander- Illustrations by Karen Cornell Poet Robert Bly gathered ing threads of our attention into a beam threads of this discussion in a collec- and the pace picks up. Suddenly we are As for the third writer, I didn’t sense tion of poetry and stitched them together thrown through a veil and find ourselves the depth of Barry Lopez’s attention to the with his commentary in News of the Uni- looking at the strange star-charts on an- land till we got back home and found his verse, from Sierra Club Books. My copy other side of reality. book, Arctic Dreams, on our living room is worn and warped. Its cover still clings Here is another example, this time bookshelf. But I did find a saying in the with scotch tape. Its wrinkled pages have from Kenneth Rexroth. Taos library that predicted it. A writer, survived floods and moves, yet they still
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 23 The Heart of Herakles Spiritual Autism
Lying under the stars, Bly traced this sickness back to In the summer night, Descartes’ axiom, the bedrock of mod- Late, while the autumn ern civilization: Cogito ergo sum. I think. Constellations climb the sky, Therefore I am. This famous phrase, coined As the Cluster of Hercules on November 10, 1619, echoed forward Falls down the west into the 18th and 19th centuries, foreshad- I put the telescope by owing the triumphal march of Reason, its And watch Deneb coronation in the Age of Enlightenment, Move towards the zenith. and its application to daily life in the In- My body is asleep. Only dustrial Revolution. Today it lives on in This is how far this view has come: My eyes and brain are awake. the reign of science and technology. The When an Indian leader asks on a Public The stars stand around me thinking creature surges to the front of Radio talk show who will represent the Like gold eyes. I can no longer existence. More than that, to exclusive ex- eagles at the United Nations, the program’s Tell where I begin and leave off. istence, to exclusive significance. experts chuckle. The question has to be The faint breeze in the dark pines, I think. a joke. We don’t understand what else it And the invisible grass, That leaves out Thunderbird Butte and could mean. It has no home in our mean- The tipping earth, the swarming stars the frogs at North Creek and the northern ing world, no place in our institutions. It is Have an eye that sees itself.5 spotted owl. It leaves out the bald eagle, so alien to our way of life that it does not the blue whale, the giant redwood, and merit a reply. the red lichen on the boulder. It excludes all of non-human Bly noted that this impoverishment nature. All sacred places. All of the world of significance, this betrayal beings, visible or invisible, that of nature, this collapse of consciousness do not possess human reason down to the single note of human reason, or are not accessible to it. exiled more than non-human nature. The Reason then awards to it- champion of this single, solar conscious- self the role of supreme arbiter ness was European and male. of reality: Therefore I am. So out with the deep dark forest went In a stunning reversal, the “savage” non-European peoples of the existence has become depend- earth. English poet Alexander Pope cap- ent on reason! And therefore tured the sentiment of the time when he everything that does not think ridiculed the unenlightened beliefs of the Riding on the poet’s words we again is not. Nature, and the power that the an- old ways. slip magically to the other side. Bounda- cients recognized in its sacred groves and ries fall away. The invisible grass and the springs, its kinship with humanity in the Lo, the poor Indian whose untutor’d dark pines are awake and aware. Every- beginning times, its innate intelligence mind thing is conscious and we are an intimate and order, become peripheral, expenda- Sees God in clouds, or hears him in part of that everything. ble. In fact, they become simply commod- the wind...8 But we don’t manage to stay there. ity, humbled subjects of almighty reason.7 Soon, almost instantly, we boomerang In fact, they go underground, out of Out also went the emotional, non- back into the purely human world, unable sight, invisible. A forest becomes nothing rational, lunar, non-male half of what re- to see or hear anything else. in itself, voiceless, without rights or pow- mained. In “Paradise Lost,” John Milton Cosmologist Thomas Berry calls this er. It becomes “resources,” a bureaucratic voiced a common attitude toward women. loss of contact spiritual autism: “People word, a subordinating word. A forest is, He chided God, who had wisely “peopled being so locked up in themselves that no only, in the eyes of the (human) beholder: highest Heaven with Spirits masculine,” one and nothing else can get in.... That is an obstacle to be cleared by the farmer or for foolishly providing “this fair defect of what has happened to the human commu- developer, a crop for the lumber mill, a Nature” to generate mankind. Much more nity in our times. We are talking only to composition for the painter, an obstruc- sensible would He have been to fill “the ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, tion for the road builder, a resource to be World at once with men as Angels, with- we are not listening to the wind and stars. managed for human recreation and pro- out feminine.” 9 We have broken the great conversation.”6 ductivity by the national forest supervisor. Finally, out went what was hidden with-
24 • Collaboration Spring 2015 in and beyond nature. “When Have you been to the we deny there is conscious- Mountain? Its stairs in ness in nature,” observed Bly, cloud. “we also deny consciousness Hoofs of a mule pick their to the worlds we find by go- way through the fog. ing through nature; and we Unconscious dragons end with only one world, the breathe inside tunnels. world of MacDonalds’s, and Granite splits, masses of that one is exploitable.”10 water pour down. The way was open, Have you been there? That both practically and theo- is where retically, for the European the path we take goes! Oh powers to carve up the rest my Father, it is time to go!14 of the world into colonial enclaves. It was open for These poets, said Bly, the Salem witch trials, for announced the return of the slaughter of the buffalo the nighttime, magical, on the American plains, for mysterious consciousness the wide scale slavery of the imaged so well by the an- African blacks and the South American Now I a fourfold vision see, cient world,15 a re-peopling of the land- Indians. And a fourfold vision is given to me; scape, a new respect for the world of ani- It was also open for the invention ‘Tis fourfold in my supreme delight mals and plants, a new journey into the of the electric light bulb and the internal And threefold in soft Beulah’s night underworld of reason, the unconscious. combustion engine, the mechanization of And twofold always. May God us keep We can see the results as this revolt agriculture, the development of modern From Single vision and Newton’s sleep!11 gradually picked up steam. Many nations medicine and sanitation, the evolution of of the world threw off their colonial mas- secular democratic government and pub- Nérval and Hölderlin blasted the ar- ters in the twentieth century. Psychology lic education, the launch of the Hubble rogance and hypocrisy of the rationalists. came into being as a science to study realms Space Telescope and the Internet. One can of the psyche beyond reason. Women won hardly imagine the modern world without Free thinker! Do you think you are the the vote and battled for equal treatment in Cogito, ergo sum. only thinker business and politics and education. The The unprecedented and unrestricted on this earth in which life blazes civil rights movement gained momentum application of reason to the natural world inside all things? and legal underpinnings. Some people in via science supplied the means. The phi- Your liberty does what it wishes with the sixties and seventies discovered the losophy of the enlightenment supplied the the powers it controls, presence living in the stone and the in- justification. but when you gather to plan, the telligence in the tree under the influence This shift in Western consciousness universe is not there.12 of psychedelic drugs. The environmental has become our common assumption and movement became a national force in the has spread rapidly around the world. There I’m sick of you hypocrites babbling early 1970s. Indian children are no longer is hardly any place on the planet today un- about gods! forcibly removed from their families and touched by it. Rationality is what you have, you forbidden to speak their native language don’t believe in boarding schools. Even so, it does not rule unchallenged. In Helios, nor the sea being, nor the Nonetheless, science and technol- Bly tells of the first voices to revolt against thunder being; ogy—which is to say, (human) reason— the new King. He traced the beginnings And the earth is a corpse, so why are still the gods of our faith. They set the of the movement to a few poets in the thank her? 13 boundaries of our politics. They rule at nineteenth century: Englishman William the university, despite its name. We turn Blake, Germans Goethe and Hölderlin, We are not surprised to find out that to them in time of danger. Our doctors and Gérard de Nérval of France. Blake, for Goethe was an accomplished naturalist. believe almost exclusively in their bless- example, in defiance of this new monism He found inspiration in mountain, cloud, ings. Our armies rely on them for war. Our of consciousness, demanded multiple “vi- and tree for his forays into the mysterious recreation and our agriculture are laced sion” and warned against the “sleep” of Sir world these rebels were trying to reopen with them. Our cars and phones and bank Isaac Newton’s scientific reason. to the European mind. accounts and houses all stand on their
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 25 foundation. The eagles have yet no repre- Let’s listen for a while to these voices. tion across the divide between the mortal sentation at the United Nations. world of clay and the Creator. A break- And the sacred dimension, left be- Poet Gary Snyder tells about a tra- ing through to the other side, the tyranny hind in the old beliefs, remains homeless, ditional south Indian dance he attended of single vision overthrown. Without that mystic a synonym for lunatic, the sacred in the city of Jaipur. The dancer, Padma breakthrough, “all I see is dirt, and the a concept to pay lip service to but not the Bhushan Shrimati Balasaraswati, was por- dance fails.” ruling or inspirational impulse of life. traying a familiar scene as the foster moth- But I must start with dirt. The method Barry Lopez sharpens the contrast er of the baby Krishna, a beloved Indian to reach the breakthrough is that simply between the two sets of beliefs. deity known for his mischievous ways. In stated, though it may require the whole- the story, the mother notices a bit of dirt hearted, full time dedication of an artist The conventional wisdom of our time that the divine child is teething on. When or a dancer. is that European man has advanced by she looks into his mouth to remove it, she Or a writer, for the new voices of the enormous strides since the age of ca- is stunned to find herself staring into the land tell us the same thing. They start thedrals. He has landed on the moon. starry expanse of the whole universe. The with dirt. They start with the particular, He has cured smallpox. He has har- infant has surprised her with a revela- nessed the power in the atom. Another tion of his larger identity. argument, however, might be made in Snyder’s hair stood on end when the opposite direction, that all Europe- Bala danced this scene. His body told an man has accomplished in 900 years him something momentous had hap- is a more complicated manipulation of pened. He was intrigued. He speculated materials, a more astounding display about it but could not put his finger on of his grasp of the physical principles it. A few days later he had a chance to of matter. That ours is not an age of ask her about it after a private perfor- mystics but of singular adepts, of per- mance. formers. That the erection of the cathe- drals was the last wild stride European “When you move in your dance to man made before falling back into the the point where you look into Krish- confines of his intellect.16 na’s mouth, are you already visual- izing stars?” She laughed sardonically the mundane—the dandelion, the spar- It is from this “other argument,” this and said: “Of course not. I must start row, the pebble in the driveway. And for gathering minority view that the new with dirt. It must become stars. Some- it to become stars requires a severe disci- voices of the land come, many of them, times all I see is dirt, and the dance pline—their full attention. however, armed with the tools of science fails. That night it was stars.”18 This is an uncommon effort, a medi- itself and of the intellect. tative practice. Naturalist Joseph Wood Snyder’s question captures the ration- Krutch remarked on its difficulty: What the New Voices Say alism of modern culture: Are you visual- izing stars before you get to this crucial It is not easy to live in that continu- scene? To paraphrase, how are you mak- ous awareness of things which alone is In this country we can trace their intel- ing this up? true living... the faculty of wonder tires lectual and literary ancestry back to Henry In two sentences—nine words—Bala easily.... Really to see something once David Thoreau, to Emerson and Whit- slices through the single vision to a new or twice a week is almost inevitably to man, to John Muir and Mary Austin, to world and identifies the method. have to try... to make oneself a poet.19 Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson. Many of It must become stars—a revelation, a them are poets—Mary Oliver, Denise Lev- new becoming, a direct participation in And what of the rest of us, those not ertov, Wendell Berry, Gary Snyder, Wil- another dimension. The speck of dirt it- inclined to make the effort of continuous liam Everson. Many of them come out of self must reveal the starry universe. Only awareness or bear the burden of the poet? the natural sciences: Richard Nelson, Terry then does the hair stand on end, the body Gary Snyder has this answer: Tempest Williams, Loren Eisley. Some of viscerally recognize the presence of the sa- them are primarily writers and artists, but cred. We can see, switching for a moment There are tens of millions of people in their art draws upon the land and into the to a different medium, a kinship to an- North America who were physically land: Frank Waters, Ann Zwinger, Ansel other icon of sacred vision, Michelangelo’s born here but who are not actually liv- Adams, Barry Lopez, Annie Dillard, John painting of creation on the ceiling of the ing here intellectually, imaginatively, 17 McPhee, Peter Matthiessen. Sistine Chapel in Rome. Electric connec- or morally.20
26 • Collaboration Spring 2015 Not living here? Many of the new voices of the land My first experience of this kind of Then where are we living? Maybe no- turn to these peoples for instruction in aboriginal teaching came from Stan Pa- where. In our ideas and plans and habits, this intimate attunement to the natu- dilla at the beginning of a sweat that he in the (human-only) news, in the invis- ral world. Barry Lopez, for example, has led for a small group of men more than a ible waves of our feelings, in our family spent time traveling and hunting with the decade ago. Stan is an artist and a teacher. dramas, in the fairyland of television and Inuit people of the Far North. Contrast He is also Yaqui, a Native American tribe radio. In our human cocoon. Everywhere what he has learned about hunting with from northwestern Mexico. Many Native but here, on this land, in the American a guns-and-beer weekend in the woods American cultures of the West practice a dirt. Some of our children think that can- with your neighbor during deer season. variation of the sweat lodge, a purification taloupe come from supermarkets. We ceremony in a confined space heated have lost the great conversation. We with hot rocks and steam. We were live off the land but not on it. awaiting the start of the sweat in a small As a result it is nearly impossible foothill valley with a spring-fed pond. for us to grok how different our experi- Talking in a quiet, conversational ence of the hillside or the poppy is from tone, Stan drew our attention to the that of a people radically tuned to their pine trees on the hillside by the pond, physical environment. Luther Standing the flicker that had stopped hammer- Bear tells us how the Lakota people were ing on them when we arrived, the little drawn to the sheer touch of the earth, an rise topped with small granite boulders attraction that grew stronger with old behind the pond, the alders along the age. creek below the dam. We gradually became more aware of the native in- The old people came literally to love habitants of the valley, more present. the soil and they sat or reclined on Stan then mentioned casually that they the ground with a feeling of being were also paying attention to us. He re- close to a mothering power. It was minded us that we were visitors—stran- good for the skin to touch the earth gers really—in their home and that and the old people like to remove they were quite aware of our arrival. He their moccasins and walk with bare talked softly, slowly, with many pauses. feet on the sacred earth.21 After a little while a bullfrog spoke up, and then a raven croaked in the oak on Philosopher David Abram studies our side of the pond. A small breeze the difference between a Westerner’s rustled the grass near the water’s edge. perception of the land and that of people The timing of each of these sounds and whose immediate survival depends on movements eerily and appropriately it, peoples like the Aborigines of Aus- punctuated what Stan was saying. He tralia, the Inuit of the far North, and the incorporated them into his words as natu- Amahuaca Indians of the Amazon jungle. Hunting in my experience—and by rally as if human members of the group The Amahuaca do not need to be hunting I simply mean being out on the had offered their comments. It seemed as if poets to pay attention. They are a hunter- land—is a state of mind. All of one’s fac- they were having a conversation with him gatherer people. Their next meal, their ulties are brought to bear in an effort to that we were listening in on. protection from the afternoon storm, their become fully incorporated into the land- Soon I noticed my awareness escaping health, their personal belongings, their scape.... To hunt means to have the land its habitual confinement in my thought- children’s safety all depend on moment- around you like clothing. To engage in a world. It came out of my body into the by-moment awareness of their physical wordless dialogue with it, one so absorb- surrounding air and onto the grass. It surroundings. Aboriginal peoples like the ing that you cease to talk with your human spread or deepened. Some invisible con- Amahuaca, while spread throughout the companions.23 fining barrier dissolved, so that the pool world and culturally diverse, consistently of awareness contained more than before. affirm an insight baffling to the Western To have the land around you like It grew to include the pond. Then the hill- mind: that the nonhuman inhabitants of clothing is starting with the dirt. To bring side was inside it, and the tops of the trees their territory are not only aware and in- all one’s faculties to the effort to become from which the flicker was watching. I telligent, but that “nature itself is articu- fully incorporated into the landscape— seemed to feel the frog and raven and pine late; it speaks.”22 there is the discipline. aware of us, interacting with us, equal but
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 27 different members of the same seeing. ments and turning points of their life and on a crimson smear, foaming with But the “I” was fading as the barriers be- even to a mystical loss of boundaries and bloody suds. Over the din of roaring tween us dissolved. The awareness some- a merging in a larger grandeur. engines, the Pomarine’s captain bel- how ceased to be my awareness. It was an Both these responses—call them the lows, “Is that all the goddamn faster awareness, impersonal, distributed, inclu- prophetic response and the mystical re- that pump can go?” 26 sive, awake, self-knowing. We all shared sponse—are characteristic of humanity’s in its seeing. It was no longer locked in great spiritual teachers. Contrast that with the approach of Nel- the human subject or in the boundaries of The warnings may be more familiar to son’s Indian teachers to the same harvest. reason’s judgments. Stan’s words were no us because of sensationalizing coverage by longer strange and interesting ideas, but the popular media; but the new prophetic I think of the Koyukon people, drawing simple statement of experience. voices of the land offer a more sober, in each salmon from the net, cutting it on We had started with the dirt. A sus- depth, long range view of our predicament a rough-hewn table beside the river, tained, guided attention to it relocated us than the media usually present. They ex- drying or cooking it for themselves or into that larger seeing. Only then were we pose the hidden costs and consequences their dogs, teaching their children to ready to enter the sweat lodge and begin of business as usual. They bring to the speak respectfully of fish and to meas- the purification. forefront worries that niggle at us around ure their take according to need, en- Anthropologist Richard Nelson spent the edges. They challenge our assumptions gaging themselves in a process that years with the Koyukon people of Alaska. about the good life: that our version of the recognizes the physical and spiritual He described a similar inclusive seeing af- American dream can continue indefinitely fusion of lives.27 ter watching a young bald eagle perched on its present course; that technology will on a limb on a wild Pacific northwest is- always provide a solution to our inconven- What are we doing? the Richard Nel- land. He climbed the tree, approaching the ience; that what we consider the good life sons ask us. They try to shake us out of bird. They stared at each other. may result in an impoverishment or de- our mindless rush. They urge us to think, struction of the rain forests of Brazil, the to investigate the more-than-personal There is the eagle’s world, and there is desert pupfish, or the coral reefs near Key consequences of our choices. Then they mine, sealed beyond reach within our West, but not really of us. They promote a detail the consequences step by step, the selves. But despite these insuperable widened vision of who is us. intricate, hidden trail from the Levi’s we differences, we are also one, caught in Anthropologist Richard Nelson are wearing to the hopeless crowding and the same fixed gaze that contains us.24 grieved for whole islands, clearcut in or- poisoned water just across the Mexican der to extract their natural resources. border.28 From the timbers in our attic to The new voices of the land report two the clearcut hillsides and silted streams of different types of response, opposite sides of There is great risk in loving a wild place, the Tongass National Forest. From the in- the same coin, to this close attention to the knowing it can so easily be swept away. expensive horseradish sauce in our refrig- particular. First, they describe a devastating It seems little different from loving a erator door to the six-fold decline in the sense of loss and grief at the destruction of person—the profound and tender pleas- number of waterfowl migrating through so much of the natural world by industrial ures, mingled with a fear of loss. Not far the Klamath basin wetlands over the last civilization and its consequences. Out of from here I’ve seen entire islands subju- 40 years. this experience some of them, like modern gated and hollowed out, left with shat- The destruction of habitat; the rupture day Jeremiahs, level a fierce and compre- tered remnants of the life they once held. of the protective ozone layer; desertifica- hensive critique at our way of life. The cri- There is such sadness in these places, tion from global warming; the pollution tique is comprehensive because it addresses even for one who never saw them whole. of rivers and ground water; the explosion abuses of not only the human poor and dis- The silence of their ruined landscapes is of asthma related to air pollution; the loss advantaged but the whole natural world. like the weeping of the dead.25 of cropland to urban sprawl; the whole- They warn that our path of spiritual autism sale, unprotected hand use of DDT in and exploitation of nature is unsustainable He watched the salmon boats take southeast Asia even today; the lost of half and contains the seeds of its own ruin. thousands of pounds of “product” with of the topsoil of the Great Plains because Many of the same voices also describe mechanized efficiency on a bay near his of mechanized agriculture; the collapse a second response: a powerful and healing home. of cod and marine turtle populations; the joy from this direct, prolonged meeting bleached coral reefs; the destruction of with the land. It is a source of beauty, of Each time the pump is switched on, forests on every continent; the creation of refreshment, an antidote for the fragmen- a solid mass of fish runs through the Love Canals and Chernobyls by heavy in- tation and alienation of modern life. This screened conduit, and scarlet water dustry; the disappearance of many species response sometimes leads to peak mo- spews out onto the bay. The boat rides of amphibians.
28 • Collaboration Spring 2015 The list goes on. It rings like a sistent honesty and attention to detail catalog of biblical plagues, but now on make her steps beyond the rational- a global scale. ist’s walls more believable. And the voices also have a pro- Like many of these writers, she phetic ring. Recall that the original observes that beauty triggers the first meaning of the word prophet was infatuation with nature for many not one who foretells the future but people, “that day before spring when one who speaks on behalf of spiritual the first fruit tree blossom bursts out, truth. And in these voices one senses the breathtaking flash of sunlight af- the suspicion that the greatest de- ter a rain, mountains lined up along struction, the loss that enables all of the horizon, aspen trees golden in the other losses, is the loss of union, the fall sunshine, raindrops dancing the divorce from that other, larger on a lake.”35 But she does not paint consciousness, that “same fixed gaze nature as always golden or dancing. that contains us” all. And the suspi- She observes that a healing blend of cion that the fragmentation and au- acceptance, heightened awareness, tism of modern life are less the cause and peace can come from sustained, of all these natural plagues than the intense contact with a nature that is consequence along with them of that neither benevolent nor subservient: one primal loss of union. “One comes to the peculiar, peaceful You may not be as aware of kind of acceptance one achieves living the mystical note among these new out-of-doors, a recognition that you voices of the land. Lopez remarks are not master of your fate by virtue how carefully naturalists try to keep of roofs and brick walls, but are as their spirituality “free of religious subject to the elements as a scorpion commentary.”29 They might casu- or a raccoon or a cactus pad. One be- ally mention the words “spiritual” or comes increasingly attuned, watchful “mystical,” but thereafter you are on and aware....” 36 your own. You have to look for the ers “were continually feeling along the evidence because they don’t advertise it. surface of a great rock face, in search of Then come the surprised moments Perhaps they don’t have a language for it, the slightest fissure, a discontinuity that when the watchfulness finds the fissure even though much nature writing today might afford entry beyond the rock to a and breaks through the separation of culminates in a breakout. “In the warm af- numinal reality which both underlay and self. She shifts into a new gear beyond ternoon stillness I have a sense of coming transcended the stone facade.”32 all scientific propriety. Here she is study- through, of seeing beyond,”30 writes Ann ing a desert lily before sketching it in her Zwinger. One gets the sense that this see- Zwinger’s work provides a good dem- trail journal. Notice how the locus of “I” ing beyond, this coming through is what onstration of this mystical underpinning changes during the description: these writers are seeking. Lopez reverses in the new voices of the land. She speaks of the metaphor without changing the fun- herself as a practical, down-to-earth per- The appearance of the lily on the page damental meaning: “‘Looking for a way son,33 not a closet nature mystic. She is an- was the future, but I’d already seen that back in’ [to nature] is a striking charac- chored here in this reality. You can see that lily in my mind’s eye, turned it in my teristic of the modern naturalist’s frame in her willingness to “start with the dirt” hand, seen all lilies in this lily, known of mind.” “Pay[ing] attention to the mys- in her writings. She engages her reader’s dryness in my roots, spreading in my t e r y,” 31 he adds, is what being a naturalist curiosity with striking attention to the par- leaves, sunshine polishing my stalk. Be- has come to mean to him. ticulars and then satisfies it with a cascade cause of that lily, which I’d never seen Here we have the essentials, “paying of historical detail, personal experience, until a few days ago, I knew all about attention” to the dirt for the purpose of and scientific insight. She puts her body on waiting for enough warmth, also about finding “a way back in.” A breaking out or the line without disguising her fears about cool dawns and wilting noons, how a breaking back in—in either metaphor crawling across a narrow ledge above a de- aroma communicates and stamens there is a release from separation, a re- sert canyon or camping with spiders and speak. Because of that lily I knew about connection with what was lost, a reunion crabs for company in Robinson Crusoe’s desert heat and winter sleep and what with “the mystery.” It is as if these writ- cave on a lonely Pacific island. 34 This con- the desert demands.37
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 29 Again, watching a pair of mallards ar- for love of the natural world.... I am... in 14. Ibid., p. 69. rive at and then lift off the pond near her love with what grows and stalks, slithers 15. Ibid., p. 80. house, she lifts off with them. and trills, whiffles and sneezes.”39 16. B. H. Lopez, Arctic Dreams, p. 250. She calls the discipline of the natural- 17. This list is, of course, by no means The wind cut sharp, shirred the sur- ist an excuse for wandering, which, she exhaustive. face, and the ducks lifted off. I watched concludes, “is an inexpensive ticket to 18. G. Snyder, The Practice of the them until they disappeared against another level of being.”40 That may be the Wild, p. 51-52. a lowering sky, inordinately pleased key. Without a new level of being, with- 19. J. W. Krutch, The Desert Year, pp. and reassured, knowing they would out a sustainable uplifting of the (human) 37-38. return. Only minutes had passed, yet forces now changing the earth, Zwinger 20. G. Snyder, The Practice of the I glimpsed unknown distant waters, and Lopez may be voices crying in the wil- Wild, p. 40. skimmed over cattails, stirred up duck- derness, but not in the hearts of men and 21. Quoted in B. C. Lane, Landscapes weeds. ...I knew, for a moment, the women nor in the cities nor in the future. of the Sacred, p. 64. buoyancy of water. Wind flowed un- 22. D. Abram, The Spell of the Sensu- der my wing feathers, and the treetops ous, p. 117. spun away beneath me even as my feet 23. B. H. Lopez, Arctic Dreams, p. 199. remained on the wooden-plank deck.38 24. R. Nelson, The Island Within, p. 38. For the moment the boundaries are 25. Ibid., p. 208. gone. There is no separation. Lily, mal- 26. Ibid., pp. 78-79. lard, writer, and reader are all the same 27. Ibid. breathing music. The disastrous divorce 28. Complements of the way “free is no more. The way back in is open. The References trade” agreements like NAFTA are imple- mystery is no longer an abstraction but mented. an earth-bound flight, a lived experience. 1. J. G. Neihardt, Black Elk Speaks, p. 29. B. H. Lopez, “The Naturalist,”Ori - Harmony is the living single gaze that con- 43. on Magazine, Autumn 2001, p. 40. tains us all. 2. A. Zwinger, Wind in the Rock : The 30. A. Zwinger, The Nearsighted Natu- Then it passes. The door snaps shut. Canyonlands of Southeastern Utah. ralist, p. 84. We face one another separate beings 3. Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, p. 55. 31. B. H. Lopez, “The Naturalist,”Ori - again. I am not you nor am I duck or lily. 4. Simic, in R. Bly, News of the Uni- on Magazine, p. 43. But if it could be sustained... Or even verse, p. 248. 32. B. C. Lane, Landscapes of the Sa- if the breakthrough were valued... and 5. K. Rexroth, in R. Bly, News of the cred, p. 16. sought... That is what these new voices of Universe, p. 136. 33. A. Zwinger, The Nearsighted Natu- the land inspire. And what they foretell. 6. Quoted in R. Heffern “Thomas ralist, p. 289. They tell us that there are conse- Berry,” National Catholic Reporter, Vol. 34. The cave is on Más a Tierra, a vol- quences to this discipline of attention to 37, 8/10/01, p. 5. canic island off the coast of Chile, where the dirt, practiced formally by the natural- 7. This reading uses the phrase as a Alexander Selkerk, model for Defoe’s ist, but also by many an amateur natural- convenient shorthand for the direction Crusoe character, lived for four years. See ist, hiker, gardener, outdoorsman, sunrise of Western thought, not the only possi- A. Zwinger, The Nearsighted Naturalist, p. gazer, ocean watcher, painter, tree hug- ble outcome of the words. Bly notes that 181. ger, dancer, rock climber, photographer, Descartes thought he was saying some- 35. Ibid., p. 8. kayaker, fly fisherman—just as there are thing liberating with the words, but the 36. Ibid., p. 135. consequences to cogito ergo sum. “I hap- position they expressed was not new. He 37. Ibid., p. 263. pen to believe,” Zwinger’s words swing says that the French philosopher added an 38. Ibid., p. 276. between lighthearted and searching, “that “internal combustion engine” to a view- 39. Ibid., pp. 267, 289. being a naturalist relieves insomnia, stops point likely present to some degree from 40. Ibid., p. 269. headaches and heals sundry discom- the beginning of human thought. forts, solves all problems and soothes all 8. R. Bly, News of the Universe, p. 22. All Nature is simply ... the Seer-Will, pain, cures boredom and hangnails, and 9. Ibid., p. 25. the Knowledge-Force of the Conscious offers an open-ended, continually expand- 10. Ibid., p. 9.. Being at work to evolve in force and ing, fascinating exploration into distant 11. Ibid., p. 29. form all the inevitable truth of the Idea deserts of the mind and hillsides of the 12. Ibid., p. 38. into which it has originally thrown it- heart... As a natural history writer, I write 13. Ibid., p. 39. self. —Sri Aurobindo
30 • Collaboration Spring 2015 Source Material
On the Buddhist Nirvana
by Sri Aurobindo
uddhist teaching does not recognise any inner self or soul— there is only a stream of consciousness from moment to moment—the consciousness itself is only a bundle of asso- Bciations—it is kept moving by the wheel of Karma. If the associa- tions are untied and thrown away (they are called sanskaras), then it dissolves; the idea of self or a persistent person ceases; the stream flows no longer, the wheel stops. There is left, according to some, Sunya, a mysterious Nothing from which all comes; according to about the Reality; he must have thought them unnecessary and others a mysterious Permanent in which there is no individual irrelevant, and any indulgence in them likely to divert from the existence. This is Nirvana. Buddha himself always refused to say true object. His explanation of things was psychological and not what there was beyond cosmic existence; he spoke neither of God metaphysical and his methods were all psychological, the break- nor Self nor Brahman. He said there was no utility in discussing ing up of the false associations of consciousness which cause the that—all that was necessary was to know the causes of this un- continuance of desire and suffering, so getting rid of the stream happy temporal existence and the way to dissolve it. of birth and death in a purely phenomenal (not unreal) world; *** the method of life by which this liberation could be effected Buddha, it must be remembered, refused always to discuss was also a psychological method, the eightfold path developing what was beyond the world. But from the little he said it would right understanding and right action. His object was pragmatic appear that he was aware of a Permanent beyond equivalent to and severely practical and so were his methods; metaphysical the Vedantic Para-Brahman, but which he was quite unwilling to speculations would only draw the mind away from the one thing describe. The denial of anything beyond the world except a nega- needful. tive state of Nirvana was a later teaching, not Buddha's. As to Buddha’s attitude towards life, I do not quite see how *** “service to mankind” or any ideal of improvement of the world- If Buddha really combated and denied all Vedantic concep- existence can have been part of his aim, since to pass out of life tions of the Self, then it can be no longer true that Buddha re- into a transcendence was his object. His eightfold path was the frained from all metaphysical speculations or distinct pronounce- means towards that end and not an aim in itself or indeed in any ments as to the nature of the ultimate Reality. The view you take of way an aim. Obviously, if right understanding and right action his conception of Nirvana seems to concur with the Mahayanist become the common rule of life, there would be a great improve- interpretation and its conception of the Permanent, dhruvam, ment in the world, but for Buddha’s purpose that could be an which could be objected to as a later development like the op- incidental result and not at all part of his central object. You say, posite Nihilistic conception of the Shunyam. What Buddha very “Buddha himself urged the necessity to serve mankind; his ideal certainly taught was that the world is not-Self and that the indi- was to achieve a consciousness of inner eternity and then be a vidual has no true existence since what does exist in the world is a source of radiant influence and action.” But where and when stream of impermanent consciousness from moment to moment did Buddha say these things, use these terms or express these and the individual person is fictitiously constituted by a bundle ideas? “The service of mankind” sounds like a very modern and of samskaras and can be dissolved by dissolving the bundle. This European conception; it reminds me of some European inter- is in conformity with the Vedantic Monistic view that there is no pretations of the Gita as merely teaching the disinterested per- true separate individual. As to the other Vedantic view of the one formance of duty or the pronouncement that the whole idea of Self, impersonal and universal and transcendent, it does not seem the Gita is service. The exclusive stress or over-stress on mankind that Buddha made any distinct and unmistakable pronounce- or humanity is also European. Mahayanist Buddhism laid stress ment on abstract and metaphysical questions; but if the world on compassion, fellow-feeling with all, vasudhaiva kutumbakam, or all in the world is not-Self, anātman, there can be no more just as the Gita speaks of the feeling of oneness with all beings room for a universal Self, only at most for a transcendent Real and preoccupation with the good of all beings, sarvabhūtahite Being. His conception of Nirvana was of something transcend- ratāh, but this does not mean humanity only, but all beings and ent of the universe, but he did not define what it was because he vasudhā means all earth-life. Are there any sayings of Buddha was not concerned with any abstract metaphysical speculations which would justify the statement that the object or one object
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 31 in attaining to Nirvana was to become a source of radiant influ- From On the Dhammapada ence and action? The consciousness of inner eternity may have that result, but can we really say that that was Buddha’s ideal, the object which he held in view or for which he came? by the Mother *** The Buddhist Nirvana and the Adwaitin’s Moksha are the Those who take error for truth, and the truth for error, will never same thing. It corresponds to a realisation in which one does attain the supreme goal, for they are led astray by vain desires and not feel oneself any longer as an individual with such a name or false views. such a form, but an infinite eternal Self spaceless (even when in space), timeless (even when in time). Note that one can perfectly A comment could be added; for, if one were satisfied with well do actions in that condition and it is not to be gained only taking error for truth and truth for error, it should be logically by Samadhi. very easy to make one’s choice as soon as one found for some *** reason or other or with some help, what is truly the truth and It [the Nirvana of the Buddha] is the same [as the Nirvana of what is truly the error; one adopts the truth and rejects the error. the Gita]. Only the Gita describes it as Nirvana in the Brahman But unfortunately one loves one’s error, somewhere in the being while the Buddha preferred not to give any name or say anything there is an unwillingness to recognise what is true. about that into which the nirvana took place. Some later schools My experience is like this: whenever you sincerely want to of Buddhists described it as Sunya, the equivalent of the Chinese know the truth, you do know it. There is always something to Tao, described as the Nothing which is everything. point out the error to you, to make you recognise the truth. And *** if you observe yourself attentively you find out that it is because The feeling of the Self as a vast peaceful Void, a liberation from you prefer error that you do not find the truth. existence as we know it, is one that one can always have, Buddhist Even in small details, the very smallest—not to speak of the or no Buddhist. It is the negative aspect of Nirvana—it is quite big things of life, the big decisions that one has to take—even in natural for the mind, if it follows the negative movement of with- the smallest things, whenever the aspiration for the truth and the drawal, to get that first, and if you lay hold on that and refuse to will to be true are wholly sincere, the indication always comes. go farther, being satisfied with this liberated Non-Existence, then And precisely, with the method of the Buddhist discipline, if you you will naturally philosophise like the Buddhists that Shunya is follow up within yourself the causes of your way of being, you the eternal truth. Lao Tse is more perspicacious when he spoke always find out that persistence in error comes from desire. It is of it as the Nothing that is All. Many of course have the positive because you have the preference, the desire to feel, to act, to think experience of the Atman first, not as a void but as pure unrelated in a particular way, that you make the mistake. It is not simply Existence like the Adwaitins (Shankara) or as the one Existent. because you do not know what is true. You do not know it pre- *** cisely because you say in a vague, general, imprecise way, “Oh, I The impressions in the approach to Infinity or the entry into want the truth.” In fact, if you take a detail, each detail, and put it are not always quite the same; much depends on the way in your finger on it, you discover that you are playing the ostrich which the mind approaches it. It is felt first by some as an infin- in order not to see. You put up something uncertain, something ity above, by others as an infinity around into which the mind vague, a veil, in order not to see behind it. disappears (as an energy) by losing its limits. Some feel not the Wherever there is sincerity in the aspiration for progress, absorption of the mind-energy into the infinite, but a falling en- in the will for truth, in the need to be truly pure—pure as it is tirely inactive; others feel it as a lapse or disappearance of energy understood in the spiritual life—it is this sincerity which is the into pure Existence. Some first feel the infinity as a vast existence key to all progress. With it you know—and you can. into which all sinks or disappears, others, as you describe it, as an There is always, somewhere in the being, something which infinite ocean of Light above, others as an infinite ocean of Power prefers to deceive itself, otherwise the light is there, always ready above. If certain schools of Buddhists felt it in their experience as to guide, but you shut your eyes in order not to see it. a limitless Shunya, the Vedantists, on the contrary, see it as a posi- tive Self-Existence featureless and absolute. No doubt, the various Those who know the true to be true and the false to be false, they experiences were erected into various philosophies, each putting attain the supreme goal, for they pursue right desires and correct its conception as definitive; but behind each conception there was views. such an experience. What you describe as a completely emptied We saw last time that it is not sufficient to be able to distin- mind-substance devoid of energy or light, completely inert, is the guish what is right from what is wrong. At first sight this seems to condition of neutral peace and empty stillness which is or can be the most difficult point. It is quite obvious that if everyone had be a stage of the liberation. But it can afterwards feel itself filled to find it out for himself, it would be very long work; you can pass with infinite existence, consciousness (carrying energy in it) and your whole life going through innumerable experiences which finally Ananda. CWSA( , Vol. 29, Letters on Yoga II, pp. 428-435) little by little will enlighten you as to what is right and what is not.
32 • Collaboration Spring 2015 not to escape from a life that would be the expression of the truth but from the illusory life as it is ordinarily lived in the world. Sri Aurobindo tells us that in order to reach the Truth and to have the power of realising this Truth you must join the spiritual consciousness to a progressive mental consciousness. And these few words certainly prove that such was the origi- nal conception of the Buddhist teaching. (Collected Works of the Mother, Vol. 3, Questions and Answers 1929-1931, pp. 191-194.
Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality (or Nirvana). Negli- gence is the way that leads to death. Those who are vigilant do not die. Those who are negligent are dead already.
In these texts the word Nirvana is not used in the sense of Therefore it is easier to rely on someone who has done the annihilation, as you see, but in the sense of an eternal existence work before you and whom you have simply to ask, “Is this true? in opposition to life and death, as we know them in the present Is that false?” Evidently, that offers a great advantage, but unfor- earthly existence, which are contrary to each other: life contrary tunately it is not always sufficient; for if you have the desire that to death, death contrary to life. It is not that life which is spoken things should be in a certain way and that what you prefer should of, but the eternal existence which is beyond life and death--the be right, then you are not always ready to listen to good advice. true existence. The last sentence, “for they pursue right desires,” which Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one’s guard, to be seems to be commonplace, is perhaps the most difficult part of sincere—never to be taken by surprise. When you want to do the probem. sadhana, at each moment of your life, there is a choice between In this book, in this teaching, there are short sentences that taking a step that leads to the goal and falling asleep or some- appear so simple. If you read without sufficient reflection, you tell times even going backwards, telling yourself, “Oh, later on, not yourself, “But it is self-evident, you recognise as true what is true immediately”—sitting down on the way. and as false what is false, what does that mean then?” But first of To be vigilant is not merely to resist what pulls you down- all it is not so easy to distinguish what is true from what is not, ward, but above all to be alert in order not to lose any oppor- then to recognise, that is to say, to admit that a certain thing is tunity to progress, any opportunity to overcome a weakness, true; and above all it is more difficult still perhaps to recognise to resist a temptation, any opportunity to learn something, to that a certain thing is false. correct something, to master something. If you are vigilant, you In reality, in order to discern exactly what is false requires can do in a few days what would otherwise take years. If you are such sincerity in the aspiration, such resolution in the will to be vigilant, you change each circumstance of your life, each action, true that even this little phrase “to know the true to be true and each movement into an occasion for coming nearer the goal. the false to be false” means a very considerable realisation. And There are two kinds of vigilance, active and passive. There the conclusion, “they attain the supreme goal” is a great promise. is a vigilance that gives you a warning if you are about to make There are teachings which say that one must have no desire a mistake, if you are making a wrong choice, if you are being at all; they are the ones that aim at a complete withdrawal from weak or allowing yourself to be tempted, and there is the active life in order to enter into the immobility of the Spirit, the absence vigilance which seeks an opportunity to progress, seeks to utilise of all activity, all movement, all form, all external reality. To attain every circumstance to advance more quickly. that one must have no desire at all, that is to say, one must com- And both are absolutely necessary. pletely leave behind all will for progress; progress itself becomes He who is not vigilant is already dead. He has lost contact something unreal and external. But if in your conception of Yoga with the true purpose of existence and of life. you keep the idea of progress, and if you admit that the whole So the hours, circumstances, life pass in vain, bringing noth- universe follows a progression, then what you have to do is to shift ing, and you awake from your somnolence in a hole from which the objective of desire; instead of turning it towards things that it is very difficult to escape.Collected ( Works of the Mother, Vol. are external, artificial, superficial and egoistical, you must join 3, Questions and Answers 1929-1931, pp. 202-203). it as a force of realisation to the aspiration directed to the truth. Negligence truly means the relaxation of the will which These few words, “they pursue right desires,” are a proof that makes one forget his goal and pass his time in doing all kinds the teaching of the Buddha, in its essence, did not turn away from of things which, far from contributing towards the goal to be the realisation upon earth, but only from what is false in the con- attained, stop you on the path and often turn you away from ception of the world and in activities as they are carried on in the it. Therefore the flame of aspiration makes the Bhikkhu shun world. Thus when he teaches that one must escape from life, it is negligence. —The Mother from On the Dhammapada
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 33 Poetry room
The world game
In god-years yet unmeasured by a man’s thought or by the earth’s dance or the moon’s spin I have guarded the law of the Invisible for the sake of thy smile, O sweet; While lives followed innumerable winged lives, as if birds crossing a wide sea, I have watched on the path of the centuries for the light of thy running feet.
The earth’s dancing with the sun in his fire-robes, was it not thou circling my flame-soul, The gazings of the moon in its nectar-joy were my look questing for thee through Space? The world’s haste and the racing of the tense mind and the long gallop of fleet years Were my speed to arrive through the flux of things and to neighbour at last thy face.
The earth’s seeking is mine and the immense scope of the slow aeons my heart’s way; For I follow a secret and sublime Will and the steps of thy Mother-might. In the dim brute and the peering of man’s brain and the calm sight in a god’s eyes It is I questing in Life’s broken ways for thy laughter and love and light.
When Time moved not nor yet Space was unrolled wide, for thy game of the worlds I gave Myself to thy delightful hands of power to govern me and move and drive; To earth’s dumbness I fell for thy desire’s sport weaving my spirit stuff In a million pattern-shapes of souls made with me alive.
The worlds are only a playfield of Thou-I and a hued masque of the Two-One, I am in thee as thou art in me, O Love; we are closer than heart and breast; From thee I leaped forth struck to a spirit spark, I mount back in the soul’s fire; To our motion the stars whirl in the swing of Time, our oneness is Nature’s rest.
When Light first from the unconscious Immense burst to create nebula and sun ‘Twas the meeting of our hands through the empty Night that enkindled the fearful blaze; The huge systems abandoned their inert trance and this green crater of life rose That we might look on each other form and form from the depths of a living gaze.
The mind travelled in its ranges tier on tier with its wide-eyed or its rapt thought, My thought toiling laboured to know all myself in thee to our atoms and widths and deeps, My all yearns to thy all to be held close, to the heart heart and to self self, As a sea with a sea joins or limbs with limbs, and as waking’s delight with sleep’s.
When mind pinnacled is lost in thy Light-Vasts and the man drowns in the wide god, Thy Truth shall ungirdle its golden flames and thy diamond whiteness blaze; My souls lumined shall discover their joy-self, they shall clasp all in the near One, And the sorrow of the heart shall turn to bliss and thy sweetness possess earth’s days.
Then shall life be thy arms drawing thy own clasped to thy breast’s rapture or calm peace, With thy joy for the spirit’s immortal flame and thy peace for its deathless base. Our eyes meeting the long love shut in deep eyes and our beings held fast and one, I shall know that the game was well worth the toil whose end is thy divine embrace.
—Sri Aurobindo
34 • Collaboration Spring 2015 I should know better They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts, They take a weight from off our waking toils, I should know better than to grumble, Mother, They do divide our being; they become And indeed I do, A portion of ourselves as of our time, But why is it that after we have drunk the nectar, And look like heralds of eternity: From the bottom of the cup we have to drain the bitter lees? They pass like spirits of the past,--they speak Is it the last drop before we reach heaven, Like sybils of the future; they have power— Or is there no end to these fathomless seas? The tyranny of pleasure and of pain; Do we all, like Shiva, They make us what we were not—what they will, Have to drink the entire portion of pollution And shake us with the vision that’s gone by, That lies at the bottom of our own bottomless ocean The dread of vanish’d shadows—Are they so? And will the churning never end? Is not the past all shadow? What are they? Creations of the mind? —The mind can make Sometimes it all seems over, we’re sure it’s over, Substance, and people planets of its own Our river flowing clear and bright, With beings brighter than have been, and give But then we only have to round a bend A breath to forms which can outlive all flesh. To find it dark and murky, an endless night I would recall a vision which I dream’d That leaves us wondering if all the work was not in vain. Perchance in sleep—or in itself a thought, You tell us not to complain: A slumbering thought, is capable of years, One there was who taught us And curdles a long life into one hour. That all that's found must again be sought, That each enemy slain revives. I saw two beings in the hues of youth There are myths and fables that tell us the same: Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill Each battle is fought and refought. Green and of mild declivity, the last But He also assures us that As’t were the cape of a long ridge of such, The gulf is bridged twixt the depths and the heights. Save that there was no sea to lave its base, So it only seems in vain. Don't you believe us? But a most living landscape, and the wave Of woods and cornfields, and the abodes of men No, Mother no. I believe. Scatter’d at intervals, and wreathing smoke Arising from such rustic roofs; —the hill So be of good cheer my Heart Was crown’d a peculiar diadem Be of good cheer, Of trees, in circular array, so fix’d, We have work still here Not by the sport of nature, but of man; Today our river flows bright and clear. These two, a maiden and a youth, were there Gazing—the one on all there was beneath One day we will have come to the end of our nights Fair as herself—but the boy gazed on her; And we too will see the golden waters that pour And both were young—yet not alike in youth. Down the sapphire mountain rainbow-ridged, As the sweet moon on the horizon’s verge, And glimmer from shore to shore. The maid was on the eve of womanhood; Strong currents will rush down to the hidden deeps The boy had fewer summers, but his heart And the poison will rise to where Heaven keeps Had far outgrown his years, and to his eye The nectar that sets it free There was but one beloved face on earth, To merge in the world's wide heart of pure felicity. And that was shining on him: he had look’d Upon it till it could not pass away; —Maggi Lidchi-Grassi (from her book, Seeds) He had no breath, no being, but in hers; She was his voice: he did not speak to her, From The Dream But trembled on her words she was his sight, For his eye follow’d hers, and saw with hers, Our life is twofold: Sleep hath its own world, Which colour’d all his objects: —he had ceased A boundary between the things misnamed To live within himself; she was his life, Death and existence: Sleep has its own world, The ocean to the river of his thoughts, And a wide realm of wild reality, Which terminated all. And dreams in their development have breath, And tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy; —Lord Byron
Spring 2015 Collaboration • 35 Every moment of your life is infinitely cre- Don’t be afraid of the space between your Apropos ative, and the universe is endlessly bounti- dreams and reality. If you can dream it, ful. Just put forth a clear enough request, you can make it so. —Belva Davis It is by the thought that we dissipate our- and everything your heart desires must selves in the phenomenal; it is by the gath- come to you. —Shakti Gawain Live out of your imagination, not your his- ering back of the thought into itself that tory. —Stephen Covey we must draw ourselves back into the real. Within you now and always is the unborn —Sri Aurobindo possibility of a limitless experience of in- When there is no love, pour in love and you ner stability and outer treasure, and yours shall draw out love. —St. John of the Cross People tell you, “I can’t do otherwise”—it is is the privilege of giving birth to it, and you because in the depths of their heart they do will, if you can believe. —Eric Butterworth We are all affecting our world every mo- not want to do otherwise; they have accept- ment, whether we mean to or not. Our ed to be the slaves of their vice. There is a It doesn’t matter whether your thoughts actions and states of mind matter because moment when one accepts. —The Mother and feelings are good or bad, you are giv- we’re so deeply interconnected with one ing them out, and they will return to you another. —Ram Dass You are today where your thoughts have as automatically and precisely as an echo brought you. You will be tomorrow where returns the same words you send out. The things you say about others also say a your thoughts take you. —James Allen —Rhonda Byrne lot about you. —Mark Amend
First say to yourself what you would be and The life of your dreams, everything you Your Soul Signature is your spiritual DNA then do what you have to do. —Epictetus would love to be, do or have, has always —who you are at your core, the most au- been closer to you than you knew... be- thentic part of you. When we begin to tap We are what we repeatedly do. Excel- cause the power to everything you want is into our inherent power, step out of the lence then, is not an action, but a habit. inside you. —Rhonda Byrne shadows of fear and self-doubt, and be- —Aristotle gin living and speaking our truth, we’re Doing what you love is the cornerstone of healthier, happier and in harmony with The universe is always sending you inspi- having abundance in your life. —Wayne ourselves. —Panache Desai ration, you just have to listen and allow. Dyer —Linda Armstrong If you want to be happy, set A man who uses his hands is a labourer. a goal that commands your One who uses his hands and mind is a thoughts, liberates your energy, craftsman. But he who uses his hands, his and inspires your hope. —An- mind and his heart is an artist. —St. Fran- drew Carnegie cis of Assisi It’s our duty as men and wom- Don’t only practice your art, but force en to proceed as though the your way into its secrets, for it and limits to our abilities do not knowledge can raise men to the Divine. exist. We are collaborators in —Ludwig Van Beethoven creation... the future of the earth is in our hands. —Pierre Remember, it is not where you come from, Teilhard de Chardin or not even where you are, it is where you are going that matters most. —Bo Bennett One of the unique things about the human brain is that If you would learn the secret of right rela- it can do only what it thinks tions, look only for the divine in people it can do. The minute you say and things, and leave all the rest to God. ‘my memory isn’t what it used —J. Allen Boone to be’ or ‘I can’t remember a thing today.’ You are actually Happiness does not depend on what you training your brain to live up have or who you are... It solely relies on to your diminished expecta- what you think. —The Buddha tions. —Deepak Chopra
36 • Collaboration Spring 2015