My introduction to Buddhism.

Traveling and studying in Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal- 2017.

The opportunity to study in Bhutan opened me up to a world of new thinking- mostly because the Bhutanese culture is deeply rooted in Buddhism. In Bhutan, for example, the mountain peaks are off-limits for climbers because it is believed that that is where deities live. It is also believed that Guru Padmasambhava flew into Tibet/Bhutan on the back of a tiger to dispel the evil forces dominating the valley. In Buddhism, there is a conviction that one lifetime is only a peg in a wheel of endless lifetimes- this is called the wheel of samsara. During the cycle of lifetimes, a soul can take the form of various types of beings. There are animals, humans, hungry ghosts, Gods, and more, that we can be reborn as. This is why, if you ever visit Bhutan, there are wild dogs everywhere- because it is believed that dogs are the closest step to humans in the wheel of samsara. It is also why the Buddhist people choose to withhold harm from all living creatures- because of the idea that in previous or future lives, they might be reborn as that very same being’s mother or as that being itself. The body that a soul is born into and the surrounding life circumstances are decided by the good or bad nature of the actions taken in previous lifetimes. This emphasizes behaving with good intentions in this lifetime and also creates a sense of awareness as to why we are experiencing what we are experiencing now. The results from previous actions, known as karma, have an impact on everything from our thoughts and emotions to our bodies and environment! It also creates a sense of urgency because not every form of life can monitor their behavior like humans do. In one sutra, emphasizing the importance of increasing your awareness while you are in a human form, it read, “Club the pig right on the snout” and “Clean the lamp while it is still warm.” Yet another sutra, highlighting the rareness and specialness of taking human birth, shares the story of an ancient sea turtle that surfaces from the ocean once every 500 years. In the particular moment that the turtle surfaces, a drift log happens to be floating by, such that the head of the turtle enters into it. This is the rareness of taking a human birth.

In Buddhism, there are prescribed methodologies to exit the wheel of samsara and attain what the Buddhists call enlightenment, nirvana, or liberation. The Buddha, who started his spiritual seeking as a young prince named Siddhartha, instructed his followers to abstain from desires as well as attachment. The Buddha saw that everything in life is constantly changing- so to grasp onto any particular situation or possession is ultimately not only fruitless but also the source of all suffering. By bringing awareness to our speech, thoughts, actions, intentions, and others, we can come to a moment where we stop the creation of karma, as well as finish out any karma that has caused us to be reborn in this lifetime. The central reason that we are born is to wrap up what we created or left incomplete in a previous lifetime. This creates an importance of being swift and attentive in our actions to fulfill previous karma, as well as to prevent the creation of future karma. One sutra must have written, “When we stop, everything stops.” It, of course, takes lifetimes of practice to see through the intense delusion of what is called “Maya.” So when the Buddha attained enlightenment, it was the result of thousands of lifetimes struggling in much the same way that other sentient beings struggle- getting what they want, not getting what they want, getting what they don't want, and more. Effectively, in the delusional world known as Maya, there is no such thing as everlasting peace and happiness due to the nature of change. True happiness comes from knowing the nature of the true self, the one that persists after death and maintains its sinlessness throughout all of the workings and experiences of the world. True happiness, according to the Buddha, is knowing oneself to be completely free from the delusions of the world. If we maintain our identity in that which appears to be real but is only constant change, we place our wages on a faulty bet.

The absence of understanding of how Maya tricks the true self into identifying with the world is known as ignorance, and it is ultimately ignorance that causes the proliferation of past and future karma. Karma is the fuel that feeds the wheel of samsara, and, eventually, after enough times, the soul will opt to bring awareness to their state of delusion and, instead of seeking the pleasures, possessions, and achievements of the world, will choose instead to search for their true self, as the Buddha did. In a lecture, spiritual teacher Ram Dass shared that the amount of lifetimes that we have already lived is similar to a mountain that is 6 miles high, 6 miles wide, and 6 miles long. Once every 500 years, a bird carries a cloth in its mouth and grazes the surface of the mountain. The amount of time that it would take for the mountain to be withered away by the cloth is the amount of time that we have been participating in the wheel of samsara. Indian mystic OSHO points out that the concept of reincarnation may have been created to instill a sense of urgency in the followers of Buddhism- because anything that is not wrapped up in this lifetime will cause the soul to take another birth. It can also be said that a religion such as Christianity, in which many subscribers deny the existence of reincarnation, has also set up its followers for success because they have had the urgency turned up further by the ideas of hell and the idea that there is only one lifetime to figure it out. In an entirely different approach, one might look at the wheel of samsara, not as a literal description of alternative lifetimes that a person can live based on their actions but rather as the psychological results that we experience depending on our actions, thoughts, and speech in one moment to the next. I have thought of hell in this way as well.

The introduction to Buddhism while visiting Bhutan for the first time inspired me to reimagine my relationships, as well as my life pursuits and life narrative. What do these ideas inspire in you?