Zen and spiritual health
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In some faith traditions, spiritual health means a relationship with a deity or liberation from sin or suffering. The point of religious practice isn’t the same for all traditions. Even so, it's possible to agree on what spiritual health is and still recognize that the particular practices and manifestations will look different in each tradition. How can we think about the relationship between our own Zen practice and spiritual health? What does our practice contribute to our overall wellness? Does what the Buddha taught 2500 years ago still stack up today? (For a comprehensive summary of the main points of Buddhism and Soto Zen, please see our page on Buddhist Essentials.)
In general, spiritual health includes these elements:
A balance/integration between individual and universe or self and whole We talk about this in a lot of ways: form and emptiness, non-separation between self and other, small self and Universal Self. This is the teaching that things are distinct but not separate. We need to be able to make distinctions between things and people in order to live our lives and do our bodhisattva work, but this isn’t the whole story. There is also no real separation between phenomena because they are all part of this one unified reality. Some of the big questions that lead us to spiritual practice are: What’s my place in the universe? Is there something bigger than me? Am I really alone here? Is this all there is? In some traditions, there is a deity which may be kindly or wrathful and interested in us. For us, among other things there is Indra’s net. We are reflected by everything and we reflect everything, and an impact somewhere in the net effects the whole. A feeling of hope or optimism that one is capable of getting through tough times and an understanding of where to turn for help This is what the four noble truths are all about. We see what the tough times are about, how our suffering arises, and how we can understand and practice with that. Buddha realized that life is characterized by suffering, suffering is caused by desire, we can loosen the grip of that desire, and the eightfold path is the means to do so. The encouragement here is that yes, there is suffering, but we can be liberated from that suffering, not by making the tough times go away, which is impossible, but by encountering them skillfully and with wisdom and compassion An underlying sense of peace and wellbeing The original nature of everything is tranquility, before we add our attachments and expectations and disappointments. It doesn’t matter how we feel about this or that object; that doesn’t change its original tranquil nature. The object is just as it is, and is not in itself is not our response to it. We can like or dislike it, think it’s funny or sad or beautiful or whatever, but that doesn’t change the original tranquility of the object. Underlying the ups and downs of our human condition, there is peace and wellbeing. These two things coexist in the same space. Peace and wellbeing are there if we can see through our own stuff and be in touch with them. We don’t need to wait for circumstances to change in order to be peaceful and well; we may be waiting a long time. Our practice is to stay in touch with the equanimity that’s always there. Taking refuge in the three treasures is another element of peace and wellbeing, whether or not we do that formally. Knowing that awakening is already here and not something we need to go out and acquire means we can rely on it. The universe is going on doing its thing according to its laws and conditions and we can continue to function within that. The sangha is going to be here providing a safe place to do zazen and investigate our big questions with others who are on the same path. A sense of purpose in life and that life has meaning It’s tough to get up in the morning if we think there’s no point and that we have no work to do or nothing to contribute to the world. As bodhisattvas we’ll never have this problem. We have the four vows, and our purpose in life is to liberate all beings from suffering, including ourselves. There's not enough time in our limited human lives to completely accomplish our purpose, so best get to it! We never know what karmic consequences are unfolding based on even the smallest action we take, which is why paying attention and being skillful in each moment are essential. Something good can happen for ourselves and others that we never even anticipated if we follow the precepts and act with as much wisdom and compassion as possible. To do that, we have to get on the cushion in a regular basis and learn how to get out of the way. A clear understanding of one’s inner truths and on what these are based Our practice calls us to look carefully at assumptions and beliefs and see where they come from. Are they based on our delusions, cravings, aversions, ideas about self and others, or based on clearly seeing reality in front of us? We will always have delusions and we will always make mistakes. This is a lifelong practice because our practice will always be incomplete. We need to ask: on what are we basing decisions? What do we believe to be true? What’s the basis for our moment to moment actions? Are we just being pulled around by our habituated thinking and our assumptions about reality without looking carefully at these things to see whether they’re true? If not, we’re pretty likely to be responding to something that’s not actually there. Working with these five elements of spiritual health doesn’t have to be complicated. The discussion above outlines basic teachings of the Buddha and Soto Zen, and they’re a place to start in working with some big questions: Who am I? What is my life about? What’s my place in the universe? How do I make decisions? What’s my relationship to other beings? These are not questions we can fully answer in our lifetimes, and the answers may change and develop as we practice. That’s our moment by moment practice of zazen, work, study and ritual. If we have the wisdom, ethics and concentration of the eightfold path, we have a way to start working with the questions. When we start working with suffering, impermanence and no-self, the 3 marks of existence, we have a way in. The first time we get onto the cushion and open up that spirit of inquiry, we’re on the way to spiritual health. We don’t need to have all the answers about form and emptiness or know what awakening is all about in order to be spiritually healthy, but these teachings do give us a structure for working with the questions. From here, we can dig more deeply into what the Buddha and our ancestors and teachers discovered about this one unified reality. Spiritual health is not about how many texts we’ve memorized or how many quotes we can spout. It’s not an intellectual exercise. It’s also not solely about whether we’re personally happy and comfortable in any given moment. It’s about how we’re living in the world, how we’re carrying the dharma, how we’re responding to those around us and our own experiences. Also, even though what spiritual health looks like in a Zen context is different than what it looks like for Christians, Jews, Bah’ais or any other faith tradition, having some common elements gives us a ground for interfaith discussion and understanding. We’re all interested in the balance between ourselves and the universe -- what does that look like in your tradition? We all want to believe in something -- what does truth look like in your tradition? How do you get there? We do have to be a bit careful about setting up results or outcomes for our practice. Zazen is good for nothing, after all. However, understanding the elements of spiritual health can help us see why the Buddha put certain things together into a system. If we’re doing some parts of the practice because we like them and ignoring others because we don’t, we just need to look honestly at whether we’re taking care of our spiritual health in a complete way, not just so we can feel good about ourselves, but so that we can fulfill our purpose as bodhisattvas. |
