Over the weekend of 23th – 25th
February, Annie welcomed a dozen or so of us into her cosy front room to hear
Tsering Paldron give a teaching on Patrul Rinpoche’s text entitled ‘The Nine
Considerations and Criteria for Helping Sentient Beings’, referring also
extensively to Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s teaching commentary on the text, given at
the Purelands Retreat Centre at Samye Ling in 2007.
Tsering’s style was open and inviting, and our
little group responded readily to her invitation to interrupt, ask questions,
make comments, and there was an easy to and fro among participants.
The text is aimed at bodhisattvas, but Tsering
assured us that we were all
potentially bodhisattvas, whatever we thought of our attainment level! The text
is directed therefore towards us.
As is suggested in its title, the ‘Nine
Considerations…’ are rooted in action, and the choices we have to make in order
to be most effective in the samsaric realm in which we operate.
The first of the ‘Considerations’ therefore
directs us to examine ourselves. We must accept that we are ‘trainee
bodhisattvas’, not even yet at the stage of the ‘First Bhumi’, and protect
ourselves as one might protect a tender plant, from over-ambitious notions of
‘helping others’. Thus, if an action might be good for others but not good for
ourselves, we should refrain, as in our frail state we might well not be able
to withstand the consequences.
The second Consideration concerns the status of
beings. The implications of this were a surprise to many of us, imbued as we
are with notions of the absolute equality of all beings. But no, in the
traditional view of these teachings, we are told to privilege ‘higher beings’,
so that if an action would harm these but benefit lower ones (their life-span
also comes into play here) we should not act. Humans versus mosquitoes and bed-bugs.
Several of the Considerations presented a real
conundrum to a Western way of thinking. How do we know that an action will
benefit (or not) ourselves or others in the next life? The ‘Consideration of
vows and non-virtue’ sets us out on the lonely road of deciding for ourselves
whether a certain negative action (stealing, killing, sexual misconduct, uttering
falsehoods, for example) can be justified in the name of the higher interest of
benefiting other beings. The scope for simply feeding the ego and self-deception
is obviously very great.
Likewise, generosity is not as simple as giving
away what one has. We should always be asking ourselves how, or even if, this
is going to benefit other beings. A further complication is the question of
long- or short-term. If we give to a drug-fuelled beggar in the street, might
we not simply be putting off the day when the addiction will be squarely faced?
And so on and so forth. It soon became obvious
in the course of the weekend that this apparently simple text was strewn with
pitfalls and that, most especially, what it was doing was confronting us with
our responsibilities in the sphere of action. Buddha never told us what we
should do in such-and-such a situation; he knew in his infinite wisdom that the
cultivation of a pure and compassionate heart was the key to right action.
There are no ‘Commandments’ in Buddhism, no ‘Thou shalt’, ‘Thou shalt not’.
Every act is unique, and draws on reserves of discrimination and ethical
thinking cultivated over numerous lifetimes. It is for us to use these reserves,
even though we are not at the level of seeing that is informed by Emptiness. At
the same time, every being is unique, and each must learn to know him- or
herself before ethical conduct is possible.
Tsering negotiated this forest of sometimes
apparently impenetrable complications with skill, knowledge and unfailing good
humour. We thank her warmly for sparing the time in her busy schedule to come
and give us this profound yet eminently practical and rooted teaching, while regretting
for her sake the snow episode that closed down Dublin Airport and prevented her
from returning for her next engagement! We thank also, and equally warmly,
Annie, for her hospitality and indeed for making the visit happen.
Pat
Little
Arklow,
02/03/2018
