The Unsustainable Modern Buddhist Agenda

Here is a recent quote from one of the many “enlightenment” sites I visit from time to time. This site is a very well traveled spiritual website containing all the enlightened lingo and lofty eastern terminology.

"Information is helpful to understand concepts, develop intelligence, and inform my philosophy, but by itself it won’t get me “there.” So what I mean by “there” is none other than the ultimate prize: satori, moksha, arahatship, liberation, awakening, enlightenment.”

Note that the author proclaims his desire for an end to the functions of mind and everything about the “mind” must be subsequently negated and, essentially, denounced as mere "information." Most refuse to call it denunciation, but clearly the concept of "enlightenment" has an origin that, for many, is conceptually denied to the 'mind.'

You are consistently informed that to attain "enlightenment" you must GET OUT OF YOUR MIND.

It’s interesting that the basic Buddhist precepts, or rules, have been distorted over many centuries. Many of these discombobulated rules demand adherents embark on a life-long journey to escape the mind and this is pursued through “practices.” Practices are the rules of the game and note that, as the above quote displays, only by following the rules will one attain the “ultimate prize,” which goes by many names, but all the specialized concepts signify an outcome or the attainment of a reward.

Yet, you can't just declare yourself a winner.

Who will know? You are “you” because of a ‘world.’ More importantly, what gives that ‘world’ substance and meaning for an ego-self is the existence of ‘others.’ To conduct yourself as if “awakening" were nothing more than a solitary process of having heightened experiences, is to deny your experience of others. In your solitary journey, seeking specialized rewards, 'others' are unnecessary.

But a solitary process is impossible, simply because who and what “you” are is entirely contingent on there being ‘others.’ You cannot be a "you" without 'others' equally identifying your 'self.' Even if all 'others' were to disappear tomorrow, your self-construct would still be defined through 'others,' except in this case it would be defined through an absence of 'others' (Heidegger).

It’s very interesting how these “ultimate prize” winners eventually publish books and go on the talk circuit teaching the rules to 'others.' That’s because to be a winner, one or more ‘others’ must attest to your having acquired the prize and this is as applicable in the "enlightenment-awakening" paradigm as in any other world-based paradigm. However, winning can be very subtle, as many winners employ the covert subterfuge of wanting you to be a winner, just like them. Of course, for you to achieve the “ultimate prize” you must play by the same rules they did and then you too can teach 'others.'

Here is another website (different from the one above) with some very serious and detailed rules to help you acquire the “ultimate prize” of "enlightenment." Credibility is crucial because, if ‘others’ doubt your enlightened status, how can it be claimed and who would follow your rules? Notice the authors title and credentials, particularly the last credential of “arahat.”

I don’t doubt that following the rules will get you what you want. But that’s only because you will give it to your ‘self’ by expecting to have it and this includes experiencing the teacher of your choice. Nevertheless, the experiences will conform to what the rules have determined CAN be experienced. Any alteration from the preordained experience can be only slight, since all ego-self interpretations of "enlightenment" will conform directly to the rulebook.

However, these 'slight' alterations have been necessary over many centuries as each ego-self adherent desires to create his or her own unique addition to the rules. This has culminated in the current modern Buddhist agenda which, in some cases, does not even resemble traditional Buddhism. In fact, many modern "masters" will deny that their path is even derived from Buddhism, even though Buddhist rules are often clearly evident in the teaching.

THE PSYCHIC POWERS
You can generate all manner of psychic or magical experiences, or “jhanas,” at numerous levels and degrees of intensity. As I discussed previously, the fact these same experiences can be attained through chemical substance ingestion should provide commentary on the usefulness of psychic experiences. They serve little purpose. However, it seems tht the neo-Buddhists use this as a measuring device in determining psychic evolutionary progress. Here is a quote from the above website:

“These may include all kinds of strange experiences, including full blown and extremely realistic experiences of other realms that can seem quite magical and fall quite in line with what one might think of when one thinks of various 'psychic powers'."

I’m sure we can all relate to altered states when asleep and dreaming. In fact, most meditative states are no different from the psychic experiences you engage with while dreaming and "lucid dreamers" have learned to do this effortlessly. The difference is that your ‘self-construct’ will engage with psychic phenomena through the experience of ‘awake,’ as opposed to ‘sleep,’ (conscious vs. unconscious?) and this merely indicates the ego-self’s ability to manipulate the experience of ‘time,' more than any other "psychic" ability.

Time is nothing more than the ego-self experiencing itself generating ceaseless experiences of itself and these psychic experiences have become a significant part of defining the 'self' as "enlightened."

The author of the website does point out this subtle difference between sleep and awake psychic experiences. However, the trap has been set and who would not want to fly “but just not in this realm!” Why wait, drop some acid and fly.

The author then goes on to say that, “the experiences of the “psychic powers” can be infinitely fascinating, as anything you can imagine experiencing is possible.”

Hmmm…how ‘bout a consistent experience of a ‘world’ in perfect peace?
However, the author states that:

“While this next point might sound a bit radical, there are good reasons to assume that we are all acting at what might be considered a magical level all the time and just doing it with little awareness of that fact.”

I wonder why he would assume this point as “radical”? Just change the rules and any finite game can become infinite and ego-self can marvel at the magic. Point is, you don’t need to drop acid or spend years attaining the esoteric levels of “jhana” to get ‘there.’ Experiential episodes are useless to a suffering world. Maybe the problem is that the content of psychic experiences are exclusive to a separate mind and, as a result, reinforces the ego-self construct of a separate, individual ‘thinker.’

That construct seems no longer sustainable and this would make the individual practices of modern Buddhism, null and void. However, what you value is what you will give credence to as an 'experience' and it makes no difference whether it's 'real' or not.

So choose wisely (or, better yet, don't choose at all)