Middle Paths

At the Buddhist class today, Venerable GuoSheng talked about the Twelve Links of Conditioned Arising as well as the Middle Path, particularly toward the afternoon session. Venerable GuoSheng is a wonderful speaker, and extremely funny, charming and engaging to listen to. And she organized the class in a way that balanced stories with concepts so nicely.

It is still difficult to wrap my head around the twelve links, and it will take me some time to integrate that teaching into my daily life. However, as I mentioned during the sharing, I developed a deep respect for the role of causality, particularly how the mental and physical realms interconnect. Just as space and time interconnect in some rather complex ways, so consciousness and material worlds also connect in similar ways.

I liked how the Venerable described how a person’s thoughts and intentions have a great part to play in creating positive relationships with others. Even when other people might not consciously know or understand it, there is a feeling that people get around others, particularly when a relationship is strained. To harbor negative thoughts toward someone else only perpetuates the vicious cycle, and it becomes illusory. Why? Well, I think it’s because whatever I am thinking now about someone is already gone. People are always changing, views are changing, and the conditions that make people think and say things are changing as well. So if I keep clinging to one image that I have of someone, I am only making my relationship to that person more strained than it needs to be. And sometimes even if the thoughts are positive about the person, I remind myself that they too relate to something that is past. And I should not rely on thoughts of the past situation to assess what is happening now.

The Venerable reminded me that the most constructive approach in relationships is to dedicate what we are practicing to the well-being of others, even those we might not agree with or get along with. It is wonderful how she reminded the class that even monastic teachers are human beings, and they too have emotions! I think the difference is attitude as well. To really know that the emotion is there in mind, but is not identical to the nature of mind, is so helpful. It provides a needed inner space to behold an emotion without endorsing it or suppressing it.

In the afternoon, the Middle Path became a topic for discussion. I used to think of the Middle Path as something similar to Aristotle’s adage, ‘everything in moderation.’ But after listening to the afternoon talk, I was forced to take a more nuanced approach to this concept in Buddhism. Middle, if I understand correctly, means not attaching to one extreme or another. The way I understand this is that every situation could be viewed either positively or negatively, or a mixture of both. The Venerable used the example of how DDM Toronto’s property was established. While some rejoice in its size and convenience, others wish for a space for overnight retreats. In this way, the situation of having a property is neither absolutely good nor absolutely bad. It is depending on the cause and conditions of the ‘knower’ who is making the assessment. If I contemplate the relativity of views both from the perspective of position (space) and duration (time), then there is no bedrock, fundamental view on the value of this property. The only fundamental aspect is change itself, which is always happening in our relationship to the new property. In this sense, I neither need rejoice nor bemoan the conditions. I just see them as they are unfolding, and I never conclude an absolute success or failure, given that conditions constantly change.

The views of conditioned arising and the Middle Path are not meant to be these doctrines that I map onto the world. Similar to the Four Noble Truths, I see these doctrines as ways of adjusting one’s attitude in practice. For example, contemplating the twelve links of conditioned arising is a way for me to see that my situation now is constructed out of a complex interplay of forces, which begins with ignorance of our condition and ends with lamenting the loss of the body (death). If I slow down my awareness, I see where I attach significance to my likes and dislikes. I also see how this attachment in turn arises from my belief that I have a body which is a distinct “I”. If there is no such thing as an I interfacing with the world, is there any need for craving and hatred to arise? In this way, I am less eager to conclude that the world is a fixed and solid place for my likes and dislikes. The world becomes a much more fluid and less solid place, where more possibilities can arise and disappear.

Last, the Venerable gave us a homework which asked us to reflect on the difference between a picture from when we were a baby to a picture of us now. I would like to conclude with a short paragraph about this exercise:

His eyes are barely opened as his tiny hand strokes his right ear. And he sits comfortably in a yellow blanket, maybe unsure about his fate or when he will be fed. Does he know, in this comfortable frame, where he will be and what life will be like? What will he think 40 years from now?

….He sports a tie and glasses, with a grey shirt. He smiles awkwardly into the camera, his neck off a little to one side. His face and demeanor speak of times of learning, times of tears, times of ignorance, times of renewal. He gives his best, he gets a few wounds, he survives. He works even if work means a lot of failure and embarrassment. He goes out even if it means risk of rejection or disappointment. He laughs, even if the body ends, who knows when…