An interesting point was brought up by His Eminence Tsem Tsulku Rinpoche, a Lama who spreads Dharma teachings. I have never been to any of his talks at Kechara House, but have seen him in person when he came to bless Camp5 on their first anniversary. I recently chanced upon his website and managed to listen to snippets of his many talks.
One thing UTube is great for is not only spreading the pubescent legs of pornography but also the word of religion - though technically Buddhism in all its forms, including Dharma, is not a religion (as there is no God as such) but rather a matter of your mind and soul attaining enlightenment.
I am always rather sceptical about religion or any teachings. Whether copied off the pages a school book or rolled off the tongue of a theologian, I can't help but to question its authenticity and validity, even if it comes from the mouth of a man dressed in an orange robe. Whilst my mind, soul and spirit are collectively trying to wrap themselves around the religions of the world, I do neverthelesss believe that religious teachings do purport many truths that we would all be better off knowing.
Tsem Tulku Rinpoche is not your regular lama in an orange robe. Have a look at some of his downloadable talks and you will see that in a parallel life, he would also do well as a stand up comedian. He is funny and had me laughing out loud doing one of his many impressions, but he is also serious about getting his point across. I mean no disrespect in what he is saying. I take it and I look at it in my life, and I look at it in the lives around me. My spiritual awakening comes late and my outlook is naive.
One of the many things he said stuck in my mind and shot off questions marks in my head like a universe alight with comets.
I hope I am not quoting out of context as some of the talks are viewable from start to finish so I may have missed a big qualifier somewhere. He said that we ought not to spend our time acquiring material skills in this lifetime, because when we die, so too do those skills. Like being able to knit or couturing (is there such a word), or painting or sculpting or whatever. They die with us and when we are reborn we begin clueless and have to start all over again.
He said that we ought to invest out time and efforts in is acquiring skills of expanding the subtle mind - as opposed to the gross mind. In developing our subtle mind - the one that we carry with us from body to body, from life to lfe, we build a layering of knowledge (I am using my own words here) and when we are born in to our next lives, we already have those skills inherent in us - a mind more open to developing the conscious - and I suppose with each life, we also build on that consciousness and eventually we find ourselves, or rather our subtle minds, etching our way to nirvana.
He added that we are closing our minds by investing in material things of pleasure - like gambling, sex, money, fun - in a way, running away from the unhappiness in our lives and filling it with external stimulators. I thought he had a point.
I pondered if I had done so with my life. I am certainly guilty of getting mindlessly drunk after the breakup to run away from the impending doom I felt my life was descending into. Who hasn't is lying. I wondered if I use climbing as a diversion. Well, I had always maintained that climbing is a mode of escapism for me. No doubt. During a trying time, it brought me sanity, calm as well as a lot of pleasurable physical pain!
But there is doubt in my mind. And all through rock climbing yesterday, I pondered further.
There, I top roped a killer red route on the overhang lead wall. I did not get to the anchor and I stopped about fifty times on the way up, but I did feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction. After that, I did something I have not done in an age - I mamaked till midnight and smoked three Dunhill Lights!
And under the neon glow of Ming Tien, I concluded my response to Tsem Tulku Rinpoche's proposition. Yes, perhaps he is right that we delve into pleasure to escape the unhappiness that lurks within. If I may elaborate further, perhaps it is also true that the feats that we achieve in these pleasures - the things that make us feel good - ie. downing the fifth beer, reaching the anchor of a multi pitch, making a cheongsam from scratch or sleeping with a supermodel - may give us a sense of achievemet, that feel-good is also temporary and does nothing for us when we are departed and our soul emptied of memory.
All true. Or maybe not? Wait a minute. What of people who can only express themselves through skill. Say art? Take Jean-Baptiste Grenouille of Patrick Suskind's Perfume for example, I know he is fictional but what if he was deprived of his only form of expression? Could a being with so much passion and love for beauty and perfection not leave this life and enter another with no imprint on his soul? Or Degas, Bach and Shakespeare perhaps reborn as rugby players remain just that or will their pursuit of beauty not have had any impact on their subtle minds? Will there be no lessons imparted nor imprinted, not in their brains but in their soul? And if not, who says?
Well, actually a lama reborn several times, may be the best person to know....
That I wonder. And I continue to wonder...this dialogue does not end here.
No comments:
Post a Comment