Thinley Norbu - Welcoming Flowers from across the Cleansed Threshold of Hope: An Answer to Pope John Paul II’s Criticism of Buddhism

THINLEY NORBU

WELCOMING FLOWERS

from across the Cleansed Threshold of Hope

AN ANSWER TO
THE POPES CRITICISM
OF BUDDHISM

SHAMBHALA

Boston & London

2012

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Horticultural Hall

300 Massachusetts Avenue

Boston, Massachusetts 02115

www.shambhala.com

Copyright 1997 Thinley Norbu

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

eISBN 978-0-8348-2784-4

When demons jealously shot harsh, barbed arrows at you,

You responded with soft, delicate flower petals.

When demons brutally fired a thunderous cannon at you,

You abided in the peaceful silence of wisdom samadhi.

You could not even wish to stare at your own jealous enemy who hated you.

Protecting beings from horrible samsaric phenomena,

How can we not praise and worship you, the omniscient Prince Siddhartha, Buddha Shakyamuni.

from a Snowland Scholar

R ECENTLY , the Pope wrote a book called Crossing the Threshold of Hope which has a chapter on Buddhism. I did not know about this book until I received several letters from Poland, from individuals and from a publishing house, asking me to comment on it. When I read the book in order to be able to answer their request, I found that it had serious, gratuitous misrepresentations of Buddhist doctrine which seemed to be based on misunderstandings, though perhaps my own understanding of the chapter is different from the meaning intended by the Pope. So, I thought it was necessary to identify and correct these mistakes with clarifications of the Buddhist point of view in order to dispel misconceptions. I have not tried to consider what is generally thought in either traditional or modern Christianity or Catholicism, but only to discuss the Popes actual words about Buddhism and his comparisons of Christianity to Buddhism.

Of course, the Pope is known as the spiritual leader of millions of Roman Catholics, and his views and opinions are heard around the world. The misinterpretations of Buddhism in his book may have come from listening to advisors who were unfamiliar with Buddhism, from simply glancing at books written at the Hinayana level, or from being shown books by misinformed authors. Perhaps he only looked at negative conceptions about Buddhism written by followers of other doctrines who had malicious intentions, or by idiots who wrote books for money without caring that they were full of mistakes. In any case, the Pope definitely heard about Buddhism from sources that did not know anything about it.

Buddhist teachings are infinite, since the revelations of the omniscient Buddha are infinite, reflecting the countless different faculties of beings through countless ways of connecting to them with skillful means and wisdom. These teachings can be categorized within the three levels of the vehicles But according to what the Pope has written, it seems that he has had just a little bit of exposure to only the Hinayana vehicle, as though he has scooped a few drops of water from an immeasurable ocean with a piece of grass and even misunderstood these few drops.

Without studying and understanding other doctrines deeply, to say many things about them is not wise. In particular, it is not enough just to say a few negative words, since it can create the tracks of hatred between religions, which is harmful to everyone. Whatever is said regarding the religious beliefs of millions of people should be considered in a vast way, said carefully, and proven in detail. One should make ones position clear, without distorting or adding ones own interpolations to the position of others. Instead, the Pope has first misrepresented Buddhist beliefs and then criticized them illogically.

EXPERIENCE AND ENLIGHTENMENT

The Pope writes:

The enlightenment experienced by Buddha comes down to the conviction that the world is bad, that it is the source of evil and of suffering for man. (p. 85)

According to the Buddhist point of view, the enlightenment of Buddha cannot be described since it is beyond the understanding of ordinary mind. Although enlightenment is actually inexpressible in words or thoughts, it can be said for the benefit of sentient beings as an indication of its immeasurable qualities that it is always positive, inconceivable, nondual wisdom. It is especially peculiar to hear it described by the Pope as a conviction about evil, suffering, and the badness of the world.

Also, it is not said in Buddhism that Buddha experienced enlightenment. Enlightenment is beyond experience. Experience occurs between the duality of subject and object, and there is no existence of subject or object in enlightenment. Experience comes from feeling, and feeling belongs to sentient beings, not to fully enlightened Buddhas. Enlightenment is completely beyond either feeling or numbness.

From the point of view of the causal vehicle, Bodhisattvas are fully enlightened manifestations of Buddhas effortlessly emanating for the benefit of beings and so they are also beyond experience, indivisible from the wisdom mind of Buddhas.

According to the Buddhist point of view, experience is always connected with dualistic mind. Dualistic mind depends on the ordinary inner elements such as the conditions of the substantial world, which always rely on each other and always change. The experience of sentient beings is to continually react to the circle of manipulation between subject and object, inner and outer elements, and root and contributing circumstances, which all continuously change because they are occupied by the habit of duality. The object is unreliable because the subject is unreliable, like a mental patient who depends on a schizophrenic psychiatrist. Sometimes he may feel worse and sometimes better, but he cannot transcend his situation, because of endlessly circling between the subjective problems of the self and the objective problems of the other.

In duality, there is unceasing, meaningless movement back and forth between negative and positive feeling and experience. If negative circumstances arise, one says, I feel unhappy, and if positive circumstances arise, one says, I feel happy, just as the reflection of a body moves when a mirror moves, and the reflection in a mirror moves when the body moves. Instead of being locked in duality by constantly re-creating it, Buddhist practitioners try to transform negative feeling and experience into positive feeling and experience through practice. This development of positive experience, which belongs to the path of enlightenment, is different from ordinary experience because experience is being transformed by the expansiveness of wisdom until the sublime state of Buddhahood is attained, which is beyond experience and feeling.

According to the Hinayana, all worldly experience, including positive experience, is only momentary and will change, and therefore causes suffering. Because they recognize this, the followers of the Hinayana develop detachment from external phenomena through prayer and meditation in order to attain nirvana. Through their practice, they can find the ultimate cessation of the unreliable and senseless feeling and experience of suffering which comes from going back and forth between unhappiness and happiness.

According to the Mahayana, the followers of the Bodhisattva path practice to experience all phenomena as magic. Phenomena exist, but by seeing that their essence is empty, they do not cling to phenomena as real. At the same time, because the appearance of phenomena is unobstructed, there is not only inert nothingness, and phenomena can be used to accumulate virtue both substantially and nonsubstantially, with faith and love. Unhappiness and happiness are experienced as the same, equally substanceless magic, and all reality habit is understood to be a hallucination fabricated by dualistic mind which is purified in nondual wisdom. Through immense love and faith, all experience on the path to enlightenment becomes positive. With effortless, undeliberated compassion and love for all sentient beings, including those who are less fortunate, followers can help sentient beings directly and indirectly. With immeasurable faith in flawless, fully enlightened Buddhas and sublime beings, they can see them and receive the experience of their blessings. In this way, Mahayana practitioners pray and pray, worship and worship, accumulate merit, and meditate until attaining full enlightenment, the same as Buddhas, beyond ordinary reality experience or unreal magic experience.