Abridgement: The Three Traditions

Last time, I wrote about my reaction to Jack Kornfield’s discussion of the four noble truths, in his audio book, Beginner’s Guide to Buddhism, and how this still did not seem to supply a method to help me get through the day without screaming due to the ongoing suffering caused by my Fibromyaligia. Parts of the theory sounded good, though; so, I kept listening.

At the end of his description, he summarized the major Buddhist traditions, which he divided into Theravada, Mahayana (e.g., Zen and Ch’an), and Vajrayana or Tibetan. Theravada seemed to have a moralistic slant, emphasizing “strict monastic discipline, [and] purification,” but this was not what I was seeking. Here, once again too, was the identification of the causes of suffering as “grasping” and “clinging,” which puzzled me.

The point of the prescribed practices was to achieve release from “clingings,” and thereby “come to Nirvana.” If so, this was not for me. Nor was Tibetan Buddhism, “the path of devotion and prayer.” I’d already tried plenty of that; I’d prayed my butt off, in fact, to no avail. Guru worship sounded downright dangerous, and the psychic transmission of ancient wisdom simply ridiculous, nor was I ready to embrace the idea of reincarnation of accomplished masters, or anyone else for that matter!

In fact, of these three, right away I was attracted to Zen, though I had not found anything helpful on it elsewhere. For, as I noted in an earlier post, the Zen of Thich Nhat Hanh as I found it in his audio book, The Heart of Understanding (Berkeley, USA: Parallax Press, 1987), neither made sense to me, nor appealed to me. Nevertheless, the simplicity of letting go of all desires (how ever one does that!) sounded good. The complexity and ritualistic nature of the other traditions, as described by Kornfield, put me off, and I certainly wasn’t in any condition to go off and seek ordination!

Now, at last, he moved on to talking about meditation, but the first meditation was similar to what I had tried before when I had read the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn. I didn’t really feel I could benefit from it. No way could I be “with the pains” of the body or “open” to them. That was not happening!!! I could barely stand being in the same room with me, let alone opening to the intense forest fire raging constantly and deeply through my body. (Nevertheless, I’d recommend Kornfield’s guided meditation for those interested in this practice, as he does it superbly!)

What was the answer, then? I still did not know. But then he introduced something I had not heard of before, and next time I will write about where this led me.