Remembering Rama - Dr Frederick Lenz

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Another Monk's Response to The Test
by UT

[The Test referred to in the title above was part of a test for certification as Buddhist Monks which Rama's students filled out in the early 90's.

"TEST FOR CERTIFICATION AS BUDDHIST MONKS

The following test will serve as a legal document (microfilmed and stored). The test is 'open book', but you cannot directly quote Rama or paraphrase a book for your answers. The answers should be in your own words. The recommended length of the answers should be 10 to 20 pages in total for all questions. The paper should be typed, double spaced, with either a header or a footer for each page showing your name and a page number. Do not staple or paper clip the pages. Insert the loose pages into a 2 pocket folder and bring it to the December ASI Seminars. If you are unable to attend the December Seminars please pass it through someone else or mail it to the World Trade Center Address.

Begin the test by stating the following 5 facts at the top of the page:

1. Your name.

2. How long have you studied with Rama?

3. How many hours have you meditated in this lifetime?

4. How many classes in meditation have you attended? (do not include the dinners we have had with him recently. All intensive seminars and Lakshmi seminars, etc. should be included.)

5. If you have any other spiritual training or meditation training such as TM, Zen, etc. please list the number of years and training or certification you may have received.

_________

7 test questions:

1. What are the 'Four Noble Truths?' Explain them.

2. What is meditation and how is it achieved? (different meditation techniques can be described to explain this if desired.)

3. What is Tantric Buddhism and how is it practiced?

4. Describe the relationship between the teacher of Enlightenment and the student.

5. What is the Holy Dharma? (the esoteric and exoteric definitions)

6A. Describe the cosmology of the rebirth process and karma, what is evolution, how the soul works.

6B. How does it apply to the practioner of Buddhism?

7. How should a Buddhist monk conduct themselves? (or said differently: What is the code of conduct and ethics for a Buddhist Monk? What is the integrity of a Buddhist Monk?)"]

Another Monk's Response to The Test
by U.T.

I was so inspired that I had to go back and re-read mine. Suffice it to say I was a heretical bozo even then, but I still like parts of it. Rather than write as if I was talking to Rama, I wrote it as if I were talking to a potential student.

The Test
New York, December 1991

1. What are the Four Noble Truths?

Arising from under a tree near Uruvela, the young Buddha probably looked around and asked himself, "What now?" Well, whatever answer he found for himself inwardly, history tells us that his first act was to find his way back to the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Benares. There, he gathered his five former disciples and whoever else would listen and gave his first sermon as an Enlightened One.

The Benares sermon presented for the first time the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which would form the central core of the Buddha's teaching for the next forty-five years:

1. Life sucks.

2, It sucks because it sticks to you.

3. Stickiness can be washed away.

4. Here's how:
It's All In How You Look At It
Aim Your Beak To The Skies
Talk The Talk
Walk The Walk
Get The Job
Do The Job
Stay Frosty
Focus

To be honest, these are probably not the Buddha's exact words.

The first Noble Truth states that life is pain. On the surface, you could see this as a reminder that the joys of this world, no matter how fulfilling, are transitory. At best, we will know love, laughter, and the joy of giving before our bodies fall prey to sickness, decay, and death. At worst we will become intimate with suffering in many forms.

But I see the first Noble Truth as more than a pragmatic reminder that Death Awaits. I think the Buddha is saying that life is pain not because it's over so soon, but because it isn't over when it's over. There is another factor in the equation, one that binds the dedicated monk to the wheel of birth and death as surely as it does the profligate or thief.

That factor is desire. The Buddha's second Noble Truth pinpoints desire (and its counterpart, aversion) as the real cause of pain. Desire causes pain not because it's bad, but because it's sticky. You desire an ice cream cone...you get it...it tastes good...you're fulfilled...you want another one...this time you don't get it...you're unhappy...you desire an ice cream cone. No matter whether you snag the double-scoop Cherry Garcia cone with the chocolate sprinkles or not, the outcome is still the same. Attainment of the desire simply plants the seed for another desire.

*This* is why life is pain. You spend your whole life trying to get this desire-monkey off your back, unsuccessfully, and when you die, those very desires draw you inexorably back to the same plane, where you spend *that* life trying to get the desire-monkey off your back. Ad infinitum.

Or almost. Buddha's third Noble Truth states that there is a way beyond desire. Or more accurately, there is a way beyond the "stickiness" of desire. The problem is not in the action (the desire itself) or in the outcome of the action (attainment or non-attainment of the goal) but in the actor's *attachment* to the outcome.

The Buddha's way lies not in inaction, but in non-attachment to the fruits of action. This is important because, although the Buddha was originally speaking to monks, his message that there's a way beyond desire -- and therefore a way beyond pain -- is equally meaningful to those of us who live out here in the world.

So how do you act without attachment? The fourth Noble Truth tells how, without actually telling how. Instead of presenting a simplistic, step-by-step set of instructions for how to perform an action in a state of non-attachment, the Buddha presents a simple, step-by-step set of instructions for how to live your life in such a way that non-attachment becomes your natural state.

He calls it the Eightfold Path -- right seeing, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right conduct, right mindfulness, right concentration. This paper is supposed to be 10-20 pages long. It would take that many pages to do justice to *any* of these eight subjects. So, other than the cute versions of each one I listed at the start of this question, I'll have to save my attempts for a later paper.

2. What is meditation and how is it achieved?

Meditation is magic. It is the apprehension of self, first as many, then as One, and finally as Oneness.

In the practice of meditation, we initially focus our attention on one thing (a meditation object, a sound, a chakra) so intently that other things (thoughts, sensations) fall away, leaving only the one thing in our attention. Oddly enough, through this practice of intense focus, we eventually reach a state of no thought in which the one thing is transcended, leaving only attention, aware of itself: pure, unfocused, One. Finally -- and this is where the magic comes in -- even the awareness of self falls away, leaving only Oneness.

On the spiritual circuit, almost everyone agrees on the goal of meditation: the slowing down and stopping of thought. Almost no one agrees on how to achieve it. Although there are probably an infinite number of ways to meditate, I will limit my discussion to those methods I have actually practiced.

One approach, which I followed when I was studying TM, says that meditation requires no effort. It holds that quieter levels of thought, being closer to our essential nature as pure silence, are inherently more powerful. Naturally, these more subtle, more powerful thoughts must be more attractive to the mind than grosser, less powerful ones, so if we just start the process of meditation properly, start quieting the mind, its own nature will draw us to more and more silent levels of thought and finally draw us to transcend thought altogether.

While I had some remarkable experiences meditating this way, and even found that thought occasionally stopped, I suspect now that it had more to do with the fact that I was meditating 20 years ago than with the efficiency of the technique itself. At that time, there were several billion fewer people on the planet, and thus less mental static to push through. Meditating for long periods of time in the high mountains of Lake Tahoe and Switzerland, one was bound to have some pleasant experiences simply due to the abundance of prana (the refined, subtle aspect of air that nourishes and vitalizes higher consciousness).

These days, I no longer believe that such techniques are as effective. Our minds are more cluttered, mostly with other people's thoughts. (To be sensitive enough to even *consider* meditating in this world is to be sensitive enough to perceive the thoughts of those around us, whether we want to or not.) We need a more forceful technique, one that can push through thoughts to the silence that underlies them.

The technique I currently practice involves focusing my attention, with eyes open, on a yantra or other appropriate meditation object. Or, with eyes closed, I focus mentally on one of the chakras (an area of the body that corresponds to a nexus of subtle spiritual energy, or kundalini, and that can be used to access that energy). Then I try to stop my thoughts.

Sounds simple, but thoughts have a tendency to not want to be stopped. They can, in fact, put up a helluva fight. Thoughts keep trying to barge in, and you keep trying to keep them out and maintain your focus. The best analogy I know for meditation is that of a swimmer caught in heavy surf. It's a classic struggle -- you're trying to make your way back to shore; the waves are trying their best to prevent that, to carry you out to sea or drown your ass, whichever comes first.

So what do you do? Pick a point on shore, focus on it, and swim like mad. When a wave dunks you, just shake it off, find your point of reference again, and resume swimming. If you lose sight of it in the trough of a wave, don't despair -- it will still be there when the wave subsides. If you focus on the waves, the waves will win and you will drown; if you focus on the shore, you'll eventually make it back home.

In basic meditation, you focus your attention, and thus your energy, on the object of meditation. When thoughts intrude, just shake them off and return to your point of reference. Keep this up, and thoughts will slow down and eventually stop, and you will find your self in the state of no thought.

This state of no thought -- samadhi -- is from one point of view the end point of meditation. From another, however, it is really the starting point, because from the platform of no-thought you can begin to experience advanced meditation.

In advanced meditation, we explore the formless, non-dimensional realms of higher consciousness that border on and eventually lead to enlightenment. The techniques of advanced meditation cannot be expressed in words; they can only be passed to a student by direct transmission from an enlightened teacher. If you work really hard at your basic meditation, try to live according to the Eightfold Path, and are lucky -- very lucky -- maybe you'll run into one.

3. What is Tantric Buddhism and how is it practised?

Tantric Buddhism is the science of controlled folly. It is practiced carefully, but with abandon.

It's a system that assumes that the student has been around the spiritual block a few times, and has been involved, in one lifetime or another, with the formal practice of self-discovery. Most formal systems are themselves very formal; they're a lot like high school or undergraduate college. They have rules that must be followed and dogma that must be accepted as truth.

These things are good. The rules help students develop a positive lifestyle, conducive to the practice of higher learning. And the dogma, if sufficiently profound, can help them explore and expand the limits of their minds. Most important, when pursued diligently, these practices develop in the student a very strong state of attention.

Tantric Buddhism is more like graduate school. It has rules, but they can be broken if there is a good reason and you have sufficient personal power to pull it off. And it has dogma, but not only are you free to challenge its assertions, you are encouraged to do so.

Tantric Buddhism is a state of mind. In Tantra, what you do is far less important than your state of attention while doing it. For example, actions that are discouraged by traditional schools of self-discovery, such as eating meat or having sex, can be for the student of Tantra a vehicle for advancement. It's not that Tantra encourages carnivorous diets or sex (much less carnivorous sex), but it doesn't discourage them because it recognizes that the potential down side of both activities lies not in the activity itself, but in the mental state the student brings to the experience. If you approach these activities with a tight, focused state of attention, they become simply another form of meditation.

Tantric Buddhism is a way of living with a basic respect for the world around you. It is based on the perception that the infinite is inherent in every finite thing, that Light exists everywhere, even in the greatest darkness. As a philosophy, it has its roots in humility -- "Who am I to deny the existence of eternality in even the most ephemeral experience? Who am I to say that one experience is better than another?"

As a practice, it is about living in the world. Living well.

It's a serious practice, one of the aspects of which is to not take life too seriously. Don Juan calls it controlled folly. Practitioners of Tantric Buddhism don't necessarily opt for the monastic life. They know that there is just as much infinity in snorfing down a Big Mac or closing a million-dollar deal on Wall Street as there is in chanting the 9 Billion Names of God.

One of the keys to the practice is finding an enlightened teacher, one who can point out to you which of the rules are really worth breaking, and which would in fact simply waste your time. And who, primarily by setting an example with their own lifestyle, can show you what Tantra is by showing you how Tantra lives.

The other key is meditation -- if you sit each morning and bring the mind to a profound level of stillness, then you can take that stillness to work with you on the subway. A good state of attention can transform your workplace into an ashram, change your drab cubicle into a meditation hall, your computer screen into a yantra. It can also turn your life into a work of art.

Because for me, the real essence of Tantric Buddhism is style. We're not really supposed to quote Rama directly in this paper, but in this case I must: "Style is how you live your life when no one else is watching."

Tantric Buddhism is living each day as if you were creating a work of art that will never be seen by anyone, but which you would be willing to sign and show to God.

4. Define the relationship between the teacher of enlightenment and the student.

Ideally, the relationship should be based on mutual respect and total commitment to the path of Light. In practice, it is more likely that these qualities will be found in the teacher than in the student.

When teachers of enlightenment accept someone as a student, they do so with a degree of commitment not normally seen on this planet. Their relationship with the student is based on one thing and one thing only -- what will accomplish the maximum benefit for the student, in the least possible time.

With that in mind, the teacher may treat the student lovingly one moment and yell at them the next. They are models of honesty and impeccability, but they may lie their heads off if non-truth will create faster growth in the student than would truth. They will do anything -- anything -- to bring the student to enlightenment. And one of the most important things that they can do is to think of the students always with respect, as the highest beings they are capable of becoming.

The student should have a similar degree of respect for the teacher and commitment to the goal. Most say they have, but there is a simple test to determine whether this is true -- do they do what the teacher recommends? If not, they are bullshitting only themselves, because the teacher knows the difference.

But that also defines the relationship, because the teacher understands, and continues to teach anyway.

5. What is the Holy Dharma?

I really don't know. The term dharma has been interpreted in so many ways and used to mean so many things in so many books that I haven't a clue. Here's what it means to me:

*** Dharma is that force in the universe that provides experiential evidence that God is not Other. ***

*** Dharma is Truth. Not relative truth, Truth. Its essential nature is joy and its purpose is expansion. In every era, in every culture, it reveals itself to a few social misfits who, drunk with joy and bursting with expansiveness, try to tell others. These others, typically, try to kill the misfits. But dharma and social misfits share another common trait -- a stubborn refusal to go away. ***

*** Dharma is that moment of eternality that you become aware of when there is a sudden noise and the woods fall silent around you. It was there all along, but you never noticed. ***

*** Dharma is that thing that happens when someone asks me a question about self discovery and I realize that I don't know the answer, but suddenly one pops out of my mouth, and it's a *good* answer! Somehow, instead of just sitting passively and taking it all in, the flow of knowledge reverses, and starts coming out. I can always tell when it's happening, when the conversation turns from mundane to magical, because the room turns golden and I can feel a big smile starting to build. ***

6. Describe the cosmology of the rebirth process and karma. How does it apply to the practitioner of Buddhism?

The Judeo-Christian view of life is fairly simple -- you're born, you live, and then you die. Period. God goes to all the trouble of creating a soul, only to dump it on earth without an instruction manual, and with only one measly lifetime in which to work things out. At the end of this lifetime, God judges you by rules you never got to read and consigns you to heaven or hell for eternity. (If you're Catholic, you can also hang out in purgatory for a while.) As a cosmology, it's not very ecologically sound. Think of the space problems alone, having to store all those used-up souls.

The Buddhist cosmology is far more politically correct. A soul is essentially eternal. Where and when it was originally created is a question beyond the scope of this paper, but suffice it to say that if your soul is onstage at this point, you can count on a fairly long run before the show closes. You're born...you live...you die...you're reborn...you live...you die...you're reborn...and so on. Forever.

With one possible exception, which we will deal with later.

Just as it does in the Judeo-Christian tradition, Buddhist life comes with no documentation, so you have to look around in each incarnation and try to figure things out for yourself. Because there *are* rules, and at the end of each lifetime, there *is* a judgment of sorts, to determine how well you lived this life, and what you deserve in the next. But in Buddhist cosmology, this process is not personified -- no great, hoary deity checks you out and passes judgment on you. It's all accomplished via a marvelous piece of software called karma.

I like to think of karma as having two aspects: physical and and mental. Chances are, this is a gross oversimplification of a far more complex operating system, but it works for me.

On a simple physical level, karma can be thought of as synonymous with the third law of thermodynamics -- every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Everything we do has a physical aspect that impacts the world around us. Like a stone striking the surface of a still pond, our actions create waves that emanate in all directions through time and space. Sooner or later, whether these waves reach some surface and bounce back or just come full circle in a boundless universe, they come back to us, where they now impact us with the same energy with which the original action impacted its environment. In a very real sense, the philosophy of karma says that we must live with the repercussions of our actions.

Therefore, in the short term, living a good life makes sense, because you're generating positive, life-supporting energy, which will return to you and predominate in your life. In the long term, it still makes sense, because the universe is a sizable piece of real estate, and it may take some time for all the waves of our actions to return. By that time, we may have died and been reborn many times, but the software is not fooled -- the karma was created by us and will return to us, no matter who we are or what we look like this time around.

In this way, physical karma generated in one lifetime does have an impact on future lives. Not in a simplistic way -- if you're crossing the street and look up to see a bus barreling down on you, it does not necessarily follow that in a previous incarnation you inflicted grievous bodily harm on that bus. It could simply be that your carelessness in the past caused numerous accidents and, as a result, you now have a predilection, a samskara, in Buddhist terms, to be involved in accidents. But again, karma is not simplistic -- the bus is coming, but it does not *have* to hit you. If you're more careful in this life, you may be able to react quickly and avoid becoming a grease spot on the highway. Thus for the serious seeker of enlightenment, physical karma is not a big problem. We can handle it.

But karma has a mental quality that impacts us more quickly, and more powerfully, by affecting our state of attention. Do something positive, and your state of attention rises. Do something negative, and it drops. Immediately. And because your state of attention determines how you view the world, it determines whether you see this life as a heaven or a hell.

Even more important, it affects where and how you'll spend the next one. Because the wheel of birth and death and rebirth isn't merely spinning on its axis, tracing an endless circle in space -- it's also moving upward, creating a kind of evolutionary spiral in time. When you die, you can go up or down on the spiral; you can evolve or devolve.

And according to Buddhist cosmology, the most important factors that determine whether your next life is on a higher, more happening plane of awareness or on a lower, far less pleasant one are 1) what you thought about most during your life, and 2) your state of attention at the moment of your death.

Thus karma becomes all-important for practitioners of Buddhism, whose abstract purpose is to evolve to higher and higher mindstates. Knowing that at the time of death we will be drawn to the worlds and mindstates most similar to those we frequented in this life, seekers of enlightenment have a vested interest in accumulating positive karma.

Buddhist teaching says that simply by meditating regularly and living according to the Eightfold Path, we will evolve. We will be born in higher and higher worlds, live in higher and higher states of awareness, and eventually we will become enlightened. Eventually. Say in a couple of hundred thousand incarnations or so. This could be why Tantric Buddhists refer to this process as the Long Path.

But the path can be shortened. The joker in this deck is the enlightened teacher. I don't claim to fully understand how, but some enlightened teachers can do things to drastically shorten the path for their students. They can "pull strings" and enable a student to resolve karmas that might otherwise have taken hundreds of lifetimes to work off on their own. If they really like you, or are just in an odd mood that day, they can meet you in the Bardo between death and rebirth and guide you to a far higher world than you would normally be able to attain, given your present state of evolution.

How? Perhaps from their vantage point outside the wheel of life, death, and rebirth, they can look back and see shortcuts that we can't, and then point them out to us. Or maybe, as a reward for having attained enlightenment, they are allowed to work with the source code for karma, and can recompile a special version for each student. Who knows?

But however the enlightened do these things, the important point is that they *can* do them. So if, during any lifetime, you actually run into one, consider yourself very fortunate. And when you die and are floundering around the Bardo, if one of them drives up beside you in a gold Porsche Turbo and offers you a lift, get in.

7. How should a Buddhist monk conduct themselves?

We should spend
as much of our time
and as many of our selves
as possible
adding
to the sum of light

We should live in a manner that reflects well upon our teacher, and upon the teaching itself. And the only activity I can conceive of that does justice to my teacher is to help with and continue his work -- the spreading of Light.

For monks who undertake this noblest of activities, and have been around long enough to know what they're getting into, there can be no real definition of ethics or integrity. There is no list of do's and don'ts, right actions and wrong actions. They can recognize the difference by simply monitoring their own states of attention.

And whereas as students they may have strayed from the Eightfold Path on occasion, as teachers they cannot. Our lives must be impeccable, because the teaching must be impeccable.