The Dharma of Compassion

Zen master, Hsing Yin writes in Describing the Indescribable, “Generosity begins with our recognition of our debt to others.”

The winter holidays of the world’s spiritual traditions always seem to be a particularly good time to remind ourselves of this truth, and to inspire us to take action on that debt.

I’d like to thank each of you for the many rich and meaningful gifts you are to me, and for the immeasurable indebtedness I bear in gratitude for your kindness and love. You are my friends, my family, my teachers, and I thank you!

For those inclined toward the lovely act of sending out holiday cards, I would ask that in lieu of sending me cards, you would consider sending a dollar or two to your local homeless shelter, to ensure that someone hungry will be fed on whatever holiday night(s) your tradition observes. We will be doing the same thing in honour of each of you.

May your Winter Holiday season be filled with every good thing, much love and peace… and may those who are lonely, hungry, homeless or financially hurting, as well as those who are afflicted with depression, illness, and mental problems find consolation in the arms of a compassionate caregiver.

Namasté

dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda

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“Chenrezig, Treasure of Objectless Compassion;
Manjushri, Lord of Stainless Wisdom;
Vajrapani, Destroyer of all adversarial forces;
O Je Tsong Khapa – Losang Drakpa —
Crown Jewel of the Sages of the Land of Snows,
Humbly at Your Lotus Feet I ask your blessing.”

_____________________________________________

Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.

Five generations of their family have called the old historic log cabin “home”.  Built before the American Revolutionary War, with its original hand-crafted stone hearth, the home of Otto and Sharon Daube has surely seen better days.

During the Depression era, Sharon’s father added onto the home, digging out a basement, and as was the custom at that time, did all of the work with what pieces of scrap lumber, cement, and architectural elements he could find. The timbers of the second floor addition, for example, came from the original Queen Anne-style governor’s mansion, which was torn down in 1960, after 96 years of use.

Last year, when his brother Alfred died suddenly, Otto Daube and his brother Fritz immediately went to a then-trusted funeral home, to spare their aging, grief-stricken mother the burden of having to bury another son (she had already lost several of her sons over the years). Alfred’s son, philanthropist, Michael Daube (founder of the Citta Foundation, an organisation dedicated to boost the education, health care and economic prospects of people in India and Nepal), and his daughter Karen were unable to get to the funeral home, still in transit from their homes out-of-state,  so Alfred’s brothers did what anyone would do in such cases, and proceeded with the arrangements, assuming that once Alfred’s children arrived, they would be able to take over from there.

The funeral director appears now to have had questionable motives and business practices, because despite his claim that the military would be paying a large portion of Alfred’s funeral and burial expenses, and his other claims about keeping costs down for the family, he also asked Alfred’s brothers to sign the paperwork “just until Michael and Karen could get there”.

Both Otto and Sharon Daube are elderly, permanently and totally disabled, and living on a very fixed, limited income. At the time of Alfred’s death, they were having difficulty keeping up with their mortgage and utility bills, and had serious concerns about urgent repairs that were long needed on their home.

The wiring is outdated and could represent hazards, and the structure itself needs reinforcements, renovations and updates, totaling more than $55,000. And now, in the midst of the biggest winter snowstorm in decades, the family’s furnace blew.

To make matters worse, when Alfred’s children refused to assume the financial responsibility for their father’s funeral and burial costs, the funeral home went after Otto and Sharon. They now face a Sherriff’s Sale, and will lose their home, unless we find a way to save the home.

Before all of this happened, Otto and Sharon were talking to the Contemplative Monks of the Eightfold Path about converting their property into a residence for the disabled, living on a fixed income. In addition to themselves, they identified four other permanently disabled individuals, living below the federal poverty level guidelines, who would be permitted to live in what would become “Karuna House”. Karuna is the Sanskrit word for compassion, and Karuna House would be a home where compassionate care for the elderly, the disabled and the poor was lived out in a community setting.

The total cost of renovations, additions and completely buying out the property would cost just $206,000.00 And the home could become a model for other communities across the country. But now, because of the circumstances of Otto and his brother being unfairly saddled with the funeral and burial expenses of their brother, Karuna House may never come to be.

My hope is that we will be able to spark renewed interest and awareness in the community, and find a way to raise the $17,000 needed to pay-off the funeral home and catch the family up on their mortgage, saving their home, as well as replacing the furnace, before it’s too late.

We would not only be helping to preserve an historic landmark in Dauphin County, which we could then work diligently to raise funds to acquire, renovate and allow these two kind souls to live with four other disabled persons as a “community of compassion”, but would also  be saving Otto and Sharon Daube, from being homeless in the middle of winter.

I’m asking everyone to consider passing this along to those you know. If you have friends, business associates or know of any compassionate and responsive philanthropists, perhaps they will find it in their hearts to make donations or even underwrite the project altogether.

To see their son and daughter (both of whom are likewise disabled and living on lower than poverty-level incomes), crying because they fear that their parents will lose their home in a few weeks, is something I hope none of you ever has to experience. It’s heartbreaking, and it’s simply unimaginable that we would sit by and do nothing to ensure that these two elderly folks, who’ve given so much to their families, as well as their local communities, can save their family home, and live in safe, affordable and warm conditions.

A corporate sponsorship could make this entire problem go away, while gaining for the sponsor a chance to “set the example” for Karuna House, and other projects like it.

As a Buddhist, it is my spiritual practice which drives the work that I do. In Buddhism, one learns to observe through one’s personal experience, penetrating the phenomenal world, and realising the True Nature that exists in everything… the true nature that allows us… no, compels us to recognise our essential unity with all others. By owning that existence, and recognising that everything that plays out in our experience is a reflection of our interior minds and hearts, we realise the need to do all we can, in every moment, to alleviate suffering wherever we find it.

This is one place, I am deeply and profoundly compelled to reach out and ask you to find it in your hearts to help us help Otto and Sharon Daube.

For more information, please get in touch with me or my staff immediately, at 717.517.9141, or email me at: Lojong Ladrang.

May your holiday season be warm, filled with compassion and awareness, and may every step be illuminated along the path of right action.

Namasté

dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda
DharmadudeUnplugged.com 

_____________________________________________

Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.

For the members of the Contemplative Order of Compassion, there are two primary paths available, from which one can develop the qualities necessary to realise Enlightenment. These two paths are the Path of Transformation (Tantra) and the Path of the Great Perfection(Dzogchen). Most contemplatives will choose one or the other path, and while a select few may actually master both paths, more often than not, they will choose one of the two paths as their principal practice.

The Path of Transformation

The Path of Transformation recognises that if we become skilful, rather than rejecting the afflictive emotions that obscure our innate Enlightened Nature, we can use them as fuel, and in so doing, achieve transformation of mind.

For the practitioner of this Tantric Path, there are what we call the “Lower” and “Higher” Tantras. One receives the empowerments (initiation instructions) to practice these Tantras from a qualified Tantric Master or Guru.

The focus of the Lower Tantras includes the process of visualising oneself as merging with the various yidam deities, until one transforms oneself into that yidam deity. This realisation of the One Buddha Nature transforms everything we experience – every sound, every smell, every taste, touch and sight – so that it is recognised as perfect and pure: as seen through the eyes of Clear Wisdom and Light.

This path involves what we call the “Three Beings”: the symbolic being, the knowledge being and the action being.

The symbolic being is mastered by bringing all phenomena into our awareness through the use of a Mandala or mantra, or imagery of the yidam deity.

The knowledge being encompasses all of the pure and positive qualities of the yidam deity or Buddha, which we recognise as our own inherent qualities and nature.

When we actualise the merging of the symbolic and knowledge being, so that we become the embodiment of those qualities, we become the action being. We then realise the embodiment of Great Bodhicitta, and the Immeasurables, for these are indeed our inherent Nature.

Within the Higher Tantra, the essence of the practice focuses on the unification of Emptiness and bliss (sunyatananda). This Higher Tantra is viewed in two stages: the Generation Stage and the Completion Stage.

In the Generation Stage, we build up the visualisations, learning to apply skilful means to transform bliss without attachment and to merge that with the ultimate reality of Emptiness.

In this part of the practice, we learn the skills to perceive feeling of any kind, blissful or chaotic, without allowing it to mix with desire, grasping or attachment. When we practice, our feeling or perception must be free from afflicted thoughts. This can only be accomplished by allowing our feelings to be mixed with the realisation of Emptiness, so that it becomes transformed into a skilful means of overcoming suffering and attachment.

When we actualise this, we manifest the Completion Stage of Higher Tantra. Emptiness becomes the object of our meditation, while bliss becomes the subject who is meditating. We lose the sense of “me”, and are thus freed of the root causes and conditions of suffering.

Without proper formation and training, the Tantric Path should not be undertaken, since it possesses inherent dangers of attachment, and addiction for those who attempt is without the support, skill and protection of a Vajra master.

Dzogchen

In this world, with our perceptions clouded by the field of illusions and forgetfulness, we tend to obscure our awareness that every being has the inherent potential to be a Buddha/Christ. Because we are no longer aware of this potential, we fail to manifest it in our lives.

Dzogchen is a path which turns us back toward the ultimate truth, by practicing to face each moment with mindful awareness, and without fear or judgment. We do this by awakening compassion, loving-kindness, wisdom and altruistic joy within us.

Dzogchen is the Path of Open Presence. Openness reveals the true nature of Emptiness, and the interdependent nature of all beings and phenomena. Presence reveals the true nature of awareness. The practice of Dzogchen becomes more than a simple ideology or philosophy by our actualisation of the concepts, and integration of it’s foundational ideas with our experience of the world outside and inside of us. When we do this, we become a Dzogpachenpo.

When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest this unified nature of Emptiness and awareness within the continuum of each moment. Emptiness and awareness are not separate, but one. Only our discussion of them imposes the illusory labels that might seem separate. When we practice Dzogchen, we manifest its essence by living in the present moment.

The Dzogpachenpo recognises that when we lose contact with our innate wisdom and our capacity to be non-judgmental, we lose contact with our innate qualities of acceptance, forgiveness, love, and compassion.

The Dzogchen practitioner realises that we must not become attached to the idea of the relative world or absolute world – for again, they are not two, but one. The practice of Dzogchen helps us not to fall into the extremes of both the relative world and the absolute world, of both heaven and earth. Dzogchen practice is to realise the absolute nature within the relative.

Due to our conditioning we tend to interrupt everything before it can manifest its true Nature. It is that very interruption that obscures our wisdom and our compassionate heart from reaching out to others. The practice of Dzogchen empowers us to leave the things as they are. When we leave things as they are, we are providing a space for them to manifest their true Nature.

For the Dzogpachenpo, our wisdom manifests in the form of clarity, allowing us to be aware of any situation without distraction. Our compassion keeps us stable, and allows us to reach out with equanimity so that we are at ease, no matter how things manifest.

When we feel clear and secure, our energy becomes calm. Our ability to leave things as they are reduces our subconscious attachment to the conditioning that judges or manipulates our emotions. Everything falls into the field of awareness, and this protects us from further unskillful reactions.

By noticing the situation with the quality of Open Presence and perfect awareness, we can face the situation more skilfully. By learning to harness the healing wisdom, which is our primordial potential to heal ourselves, to free ourselves from suffering, we are empowered to reduce the suffering of all beings, and redouble our commitment to return through countless lifetimes as a Bodhisattva, until suffering exists no more.

This is Dzogchen, the Great Perfection.

Namasté

dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda

_____________________________________________

“Chenrezig, Treasure of Objectless Compassion;
Manjushri, Lord of Stainless Wisdom;
Vajrapani, Destroyer of all adversarial forces;
O Je Tsong Khapa – Losang Drakpa —
Crown Jewel of the Sages of the Land of Snows,
Humbly at Your Lotus Feet I ask your blessing.”

_____________________________________________

Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.

We have a tendency to compartmentalise concepts and ideas in our lives. It’s part of how the subjective mind operates. We tend toward this dualistic perception, because we actually believe that life is comprised of all of these “dual-pair” relationships: good/bad, dark/light, positive/negative, short/tall, rich/poor, etc. rather than seeing the continuum… the degrees of variance in between, and then looking more deeply to see these “concepts” as simply being variant expressions of the same universal “stuff” (matter).

We’ve become so accustomed to this dualistic (delusional) perception because we have an interior notion that is divided. We are taught that God(dess), Spirit or whatever we might call it is outside of us, and inside is this helpless, poor “soul” in need of “salvation. This ideology is steeped in so many unhealthy, unnatural and notions that are completely incompatible with truth, logic and reality, that we become fragmented and emotionally imbalanced.

What ends up happening when such an unhealthy and fragmented worldview exists is that we spend our lives working to create harmony and order in one area of our lives, while creating imbalance and disorder in another. That becomes the foundation for dis-ease, anxiety, fears and a host of other problems.

In the musical RENT, Jonathan Larson includes a song with the following brilliant words:

There is no future…
there is no past…
I live this moment as my last.

There’s only us, there’s only this…
Forget regret or life is yours to miss.
No other road,
no other way,
no day  but today.

When we truly begin to realise that we are the life we experience – that what is happening “outside” of us is a reflection of what is happening inside of us, then we begin to realise that all of these “dual-pairs” are different sides of the same coin.

We may speak of Buddha or of the Christ, but the truth of the matter is there is no real distinction. We may discuss samsara and enlightenment as if they are separate, yet the reality is that they are simply a matter of viewing the same “ocean” from different shores. And the ocean is all that ultimately matters…

When we awaken spiritually, regardless of the tradition that we followed to get there, all of the impermanent phenomena cease to control us. We recognise those things, those ideas, those perceptions as illusions… we let go of our prejudices, and our ignorance is replaced with clear sight.

There is an intuition within each of us that already knows this. We may refer to it as the Buddha Mind or the Christ Consciousness, as Spirit or Divine Intelligence… but simply put, it is the Awakened Nature of All. I like to illustrate this in the following way, using a scientific reference, since religion, faith and superstition fail to provide anything useful for this purpose:

We refer to the “stuff” of which all things exist as matter. We may consider a chair for example. What we perceive as a chair is really wood, glue, nails, and finishing. But if we then look more closely, the wood is really water and a tree… comprised of cells, which are comprised of atoms, etc.

Now if we go infinitesimally to the smallest possible known particle, and look at the “empty space” between those two particles, it is that “emptiness” that ultimate is the only permanent reality, because if it were possible to destroy that infinitely small particle, all that is left would be emptiness.

Therefore, you and I, all of “creation” and all that has ever existed is part of the same “stuff”… we are truly ONE. And spiritual awakening is simply uncovering this innate awareness that we already possess.

We cease looking outside ourselves and stop searching for life beyond the “known”, because we realise that we are the creators of our experiences. In a sense, it is our own creation of a “seeker” that keeps us blinded to the truth, because in our minds, we perceive the truth as something “unknown” that we must seek out. The truth is that we are the truth… we are the light… we are the gods and goddesses we created to answer our questions.

We’ve all heard the expression that someone “made a mistake”, but never do we say someone “created a truth” or “made a truth”. Why? Because the truth has always existed, otherwise it would be impermanent and therefore not eternally true.

When we stop looking for external salvation, and imagining that we have some sort of cosmic safety net to “catch us”, we can learn the freedom of groundlessness. There is no harm in free-falling through groundlessness, because we’re never going to hit the ground… thus we never need fear “harm”.

We are not unlike water (of which we are more than 98%). Water may be in its aquaeous form, or frozen into ice… but it’s still water. It may evapourate into steam/vapour, but it’s still water, and if given a surface on which to condensate, will return to the aquaeous form again. It’s all a matter of perception. We may “call” it rain, or snow, steam or sleet… but it’s water, just the same.

If we mindfully try to let go of the need to obsessively label everything, we can begin to shift our perceptions. Labels can be fine for communication purposes, but our attachment to the label is where we get tripped up. Let the labels you use be a little more fluid.

It’s not easy… I know. It’s probably the toughest part of my daily practice, even after doing it for 29 years. But it’s the “ground zero” of our spiritual practice, so we have to do it.

A scientist doesn’t make up his or her mind what he wants to see, but rather learns to observe with an open-mind. We must learn to do this for ourselves as well. Eventually, the perception of the gross mind (ego) is replaced with a subtle-mind, whose perception is clearer, until at last we realise our truly Awakened Nature.

Again, quoting from RENT:

There’s only “yes”… only tonight.
We must let go, to know what’s right.
No other course, no other way,
No day but today….

There’s only now,
there’s only here.
Give in to love, or live in fear.
No other path, no other Way,
No day but today!

Namasté

dharmacharya gurudas sunyatananda
The Contemplative Order of Compassion 

_____________________________________________

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.

Some time back, one of my favourite singer-songwriters, Tim McGraw, released a song entitled, Live Like You Were Dying. It’s inspiration, no doubt, came from the writings of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, the extraordinary philosopher, poet and composer, who wrote:

“Live as you will wish to have lived when you are dying.”

It seems to me that of all the paths one may take, at any given moment, there exists one path that suits them best… and that is the purpose of life itself… to discover that path, and pursue it with everything you’ve got.

This particularly struck me as relevant to our reflections on World AIDS Day – at least for me personally, because twenty-six years ago, I was faced with a choice to consume this dis-ease or let it consume me. I could choose to be victimised by AIDS, and spend my life wallowing in pity, until I perished; or I could transcend the appearances of dis-ease and marginalisation and live… really live… the life I was meant to live.

For me, the phrase “live like you were dying” is something that resonates deeply with my approach to life, love, spirituality and awakening. AIDS was my great teacher in the 80’s, and by dismantling the power I had given dis-ease over my life, I have transcended the experience, and used it as fuel for the journey, “grist for the mill”.

Of course there have been days when the progression of the dis-ease has temporarily slowed me down, broken my stride for a couple days, and even convinced many around me that this was “it” for me. But when we learn to use those experiences as opportunities to refine our minds, to clear away the accumulation of negativity that impacts our present experiences, and allow ourselves to become more present to this moment… more aware of the mandate for compassion… we become more alive than ever before.

This is what allows me to transcend the disappointments of having only two people donate to the hermitage acquisition fund, and to the heartbreak of seeing only one person respond to our pleas for help with the Karuna House project (which would provide five or more permanently disabled adults with a safe, affordable home, while giving shelter to fourteen animals that would otherwise be euthanised, by renovating an old historic home in South Central Pennsylvania).

It’s what allows me to look beyond the apparent obstacles to providing services to the homeless, the dying, the marginalised and the hungry… and to remain focused on growing an international grassroots effort to bridge the differences between spiritual traditions, and establish a meaningful, intentional community, which celebrates Love as its God, Compassion as its “religion” and Service as its “tradition”.

Namasté

gurudas sunyatananda
The Contemplative Order of Compassion 

__________________________________________

Drawing on the essential teachings of the great spiritual teachers, philosophers and freethinkers throughout time, Dharmacharya Gurudas Śunyatananda (retired Archbishop Francis-Maria Salvato, O.C.) has been regarded as a provocative, revolutionary “voice of reason” within the field of religion and spirituality, since 1983. Having the distinction of being one of the few openly non-theistic, openly-gay and post-denominational thinkers ever to serve as Bishop-Exarch and spiritual leader of the autocephalic Eastern Catholic Franciscans in North America, Gurudas is the author of more than 600 articles, eight books and currently serves as the spiritual advisor for a non-theistic, intentional spiritual community, The Spiritus Project. He can be reached at: http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

Copyright ©2008, His Eminence Dharmacharya Gurudas Sunyatananda (The Most Reverend Dr. F. Francis-Maria G. Salvato, M.Sc., O.C.). All rights reserved. This material may be reproduced, blogged, quoted or distributed, provided the entire copyright including contact information remain intact. It may NOT be altered in any way, without express written permission.