Are Mahayanist Really Naive ?

Abstract: In many occasions we see that, Mahayanists are liberal towards other faiths, spiritual traditions and religious beliefs. This may be seen as a "weakness" by some other Buddhist traditions and extreme views. Had it not been for Mahayana philosophy, Buddhism would not have really flourished in the West. The reasons for the survival of Buddhism include its philosophical depth, creativity, compassion, wisdom and the life long dedication of old masters. Where do these qualities such as liberty, innocence and creativity come from ? 

Fig. 1: HH Dalai Lama enjoying the visit at St Stephen’s Cathedral 

Many westerners who practice Buddhism, especially the Tibetan version, may try to cultivate the qualities of impartiality just because HH Dalai Lama demonstrates it. Or because their root guru or lineage masters recommend it. Is this mere a display of act to win favor of people and politicians ? Should we do the same following their footsteps ? Or is there a particular reason for going beyond the religious boundaries ? Sometimes we see they bow down to everyone calling them "Buddhas". 

We already visited the concept of “great empty” nature of the mind on a couple of occasions. Here, we have spoken about the meditative absorptions that take the adept through several no-mind states. Even though the initial states stopped at the basic moon, sun-like nature, there are more states that take the adept through several non-dualistic levels of the mind (not illustrated in the previous posts). For instance, when mind goes through the child/mother and father clear light stages, we learnt that the dependent nature of the mind-made concepts slowly dissolves. We become more and more non-dual, even free from our religious identifications and concepts.

Fig. 2: Higher no-mind states (note that the great darkness here is an indication, not an absorption).

We come to know that there is no "individual personality" in the static and dynamic nature of the mind. In the static nature, during the closed-eye meditation, we disappear into no-mind state. In the dynamic nature, the I-ness of our thought process is constantly witnessed by maintaining a certain distance. In this way, we understand some basic teachings of Buddhism, the lack of "Self Nature" in both static and dynamic nature of the mind. For instance, from the Theravada tradition, the Maha Shunyata Sutra in Pali Cannon clearly explains how the adept goes deeper and deeper in meditation, eradicating certain non-dualistic views and realizing internal emptiness "of the practitioner". However, the basic knowledge and the prerequisites required for this practice is also a barrier to progress further.  

The explanation in this Pali Canon sutra is very abstract, and in my opinion, it lacks the most important aspect of the emptiness and non-dualistic teaching, which is compassion and transcendental wisdom that arise from the "great empty nature" of the mind. Mahayana teachings which trains adepts to become bodhisattvas fills this gap. The real understanding of the world and its existence only comes when we complete all three layers of the mind. The bottom most layer of the mind has the most significant contribution to this understanding. As mentioned earlier, the third mind layer of the bodhisattva when it is unweakened, is referred to as the great darkness. This accounts for both of his personal and collective karmas. During the cleansing process of this layer, he is being tested by the universe in many ways. Is he really compassionate or is he acting only compassionate ?

a.) When the great empty nature is witnessed through meditation, the bodhisattva gains the ability to go beyond all boundaries, realizing the common mind-body nature of all beings. Moreover the bodhisattva may have the ability to know the spiritual potential of others because of this reason. His heart yearns and burns to reach out to those people, with his juicy eyes of compassion ! (For Buddhas, Silent Buddhas and Arahants this may not be the case. Their burning is already gone). A buddha has a fixed quota of beings to liberate, while a bodhisattva strives for numerous beings.   

i.e. Bodhisattva sensed the great spiritual potential of a person who has no interest in spirituality, except occasionally visiting a temple, church or mosque. This person is working at a retail store. Bodhisattva can go to any shop to buy what he needs, but intentionally he visits this store and tries to get that person into a random talk having the good intention of liberating him. 

i.e. Bodhisattva uses his non-verbal communication with others, in market places, play grounds and at public venues.

     

Fig. 3: Bodhisattva Avalokitheshvara and the Weeping St. Thalelaeus who were liberating numerous sentient beings (Note their crying). 

 

 

Fig. 4: Zen Master Hotei uses his witt and spiritual energies to awaken kids (When these kids come of their right age, the spiritual energy they absorbed is helpful for them to walk on a path). 

b.) Can you go beyond boundaries and be able to help others without transcendental wisdom ? Bodhisattva knows that all phenomena in this world have no fixed forms and therefore devoid of inherent qualities as revealed by the great empty nature. Even what he practiced, the Dharma he followed are empty of their very existence and the truth is always non-verbal. He knows that everything in this world is nothing but conceptual and therefore entirely mind made. So that he utilizes the same knowledge (even the false views) to guide others. 

i.e. A bodhisattva in West may promote psychedelics to attract the addicted people into it and later transform them into great meditators.    

i.e. A Zen master (a butcher) may deliver his teachings at his meat shop by cutting meat without mixing it with bones (What does this mean ?). In this way he offers "the best meat" in town !

Major and Minor Universal Tests (Not Pre-planned) :

1. Bringing the bodhisattva to the darkest pit of his life. Does he keep his word ?

2. Financially bringing him down to zero, is he still donating when it is needed ? i.e. Does the bodhisattva give all his money who is in need of medical equipment and compromise his comfort  ?

3. Is he impartial towards others, sharing his wisdom and energy ? It should be for westerners, easterners, whites, blacks, Caucasians, Indians, gay and lesbians, drug addicts, beggars, depressed, non-physical beings !

4. Does the bodhisattva know that money is not strictly necessary for merits ? He is guided to give helping hand in community work, religious work, funerals, carrying bricks and sand bags for building monuments, cleaning drainage lines.

5. Is he impartial towards other religious beliefs ? He should have the understanding that all religious views and teachings emanate from the same source, and therefore all Dharmas are empty ! 

6. Spiritual ethics: Does he use his psychic powers to condemn and channel others ? In spirituality, we only have the right of using our psychic abilities on our direct disciples, students of our own lineage. We cannot even forcefully impose our ideas on others without their will. We have no authority to get into someone's energy field without their permission. Every decision should be out of the person's free will. 

Where do these ethics come from ? From some books or from religious studies ? All these qualities are the natural attributes of the fundamental energy and therefore the bodhisattva should inherit these natural qualities in order to progress. After this person reaches a certain stage, no one can define his trajectory. He has to co-create his path with the universe.