Peter Coyote - Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet Buddha: Masks, Meditation, and Improvised Play to Induce Liberated States

For Dick Grace, the Marine of compassion, always storming the next hill.

Semper Fi.

Not negotiable. Not Relative.

Absolute!

and

Keith Johnstone, the quietest, shyest genius I have ever known.

THE LONE RANGER AND TONTOMEET BUDDHA

Remembering that a neutral mask class in college was one of the few acting exercises I found really useful, I was curious to see how an accomplished actor like Peter Coyote would tie mask work to the tenets of Buddhist philosophy. Through the lens of the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Coyote cleverly conveys the message of finding oneself by losing oneself. I highly recommend this book to every actorveteran or fledglingindeed to every human who has ever felt constrained by the voices of self-criticism in their head.

JEAN SMART, EMMY AWARDWINNING ACTOR

This pithy book is flat-out brilliant. It weaves together deep Buddhist teaching, the magic of improv and mask work, and a compelling dialogue between three iconic characters, each of whom represent an aspect of the spiritual path. Only Peter Coyote in all his facets and talents could have written this book. Im glad he did.

LEWIS RICHMOND, AUTHOR OFAGING AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

In a world full of ideas about getting the advantage, gaining the edge or greater power, and improving your position or standing, it is so utterly refreshing to have a master speak of liberation from our long-standing ego conundrums to acknowledge and invite energy from the beyond to flow through, shape, and inform our thoughts, action, and speech. Story, masks, meditationby all meansyou are you before you have a thought, and you have the freedom to manifest the person, to wear the mask, of your choosing. Go ahead! Drop the striving and have some fun with this play of language brought forth by the wily Coyote.

EDWARD ESPE BROWN, ZEN PRIEST AND AUTHOR OF THE TASSAJARA BREAD BOOK

In The Lone Ranger and Tonto Meet Buddha, I spent time not just with masks but with the craft of masking as a method of becoming more awake. I entered mask classes and met not only the teacher and the teaching but the students and what they were getting out of it. In this book are solid Buddhist commentary, intriguing story, and from that mix, I sense an emerging American discipline that unites theater and dharmathe Way of the Mask.

DAVID CHADWICK, AUTHOR OFCROOKED CUCUMBER: THE LIFE AND ZEN TEACHING OF SHUNRYU SUZUKI

I expect original words from you. But we have to be careful at this point. This word must be expressed by a person who comes to the same mind as Shakyamuni Buddha.... Then the original American way can be naturally realized.

YAMADA MUMON-ROSHI, LECTURE, IN WIND BELL (1976)

We only have two alternatives; we either take everything for sure and real, or we dont. If we follow the first, we end up bored to death with ourselves and with the world. If we follow the second and erase personal history, we create a fog around us, a very exciting and mysterious state in which nobody knows where the rabbit will pop out, not even ourselves.

DON JUAN MATUS, IN CARLOS CASTANEDA, A SEPARATE REALITY

We can achieve enlightenment only through the practice of meditation; without it there is no way we can transform our minds.

DALAI LAMA, AWAKENING THE MIND, LIGHTENING THE HEART

Acknowledgments

Both of my previous books were first read and critiqued by the two Terrysauthor Terry Bisson and filmmaker Terry Strauss. This one was no exception. Bissons eye for form, clarity, and superfluous verbiage is acute, and he has never failed to demonstrate the possibility of a thinner manuscript than the one I delivered to him nor failed to catch any deviations from my stated intentions for the book. Strauss asks the deep questions about content and intuits every point where I left no marker and the reader might be led astray or misunderstand.

The magician who appeared in the last moments of the third act as I was about to self-publish this book is now my agent, Joe Kulin, a gift from another friend, Brenton MacKinnon, who made the match. It was Kulin who unerringly connected me with the wonderful folks at Inner Traditions, and my gratitude to all of the above is unbounded.

Id also like to acknowledge a debt to Sherman Alexie and his book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. We probably perceived different Lone Ranger and Tonto, but he was the first to rescue the two of them from the archtype dustheap. Id also urge readers to look at his film Smoke Signals. Id like to express my deep gratitude in particular to my dharma brother Tony Head, whose meticulous reading of the text and thoughtful notes were invaluable. And lastly to my longtime dharma brother David Chadwick whose labors to keep Suzuki-roshis lectures in print and available on Cuke.com have been a wellspring of nourishment to me. Many thanks for his close reading of the text and his catching numerous errors of fact. A deep bow of gratitude.

PETER COYOTE, SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA

Contents

AUTHORS PREFACE

A True Holiday from Self-Consciousness

T he organizing principle of my work as a Buddhist teacher and an instructor in these mask workshops is personal transformation. While I cherish the utility and transcendental power of mask work, its important to reiterate that, compared with consistent meditation practice and the implications of Buddhas understanding, mask experiences resemble the temporary gas flares of psychedelics more than the geologic vistas of enduring terrain. Taking psychedelics or wearing masks definitely alters perspectives, temporarily suppresses the ego, and engenders the liberation accompanying that suppression. They offer the novel shock of perceiving anew a world one had previously considered known and fixed. But such experiences also have a shadow.

Compared with the obdurate weight of our habits, one nights expanded mind experience will eventually be reburied beneath the repetitive weight of our normal attachments and habits. If you make your own way to the Grand Canyonthe transcendental experienceby meditating, strengthening the body, and analyzing habits of daily thoughts and impulses, you will be able to return on your own steam by following clues and route markers assembled during the journey. Failing that, you remain dependent on the transport that carried you, such as the drug or the maska reliance outside ones control.

While Ive attempted to minimize Buddhist philosophy in these pages, its nearly impossible to remake the way we perceive the world and fix these positive changes without understanding insights the Buddha stressed in his teachings. For those interested in deep transformation and repeat excursions to freedom, such changes require challenging habitual (usually unconscious) premises and assumptions. Both meditation practice and Buddhist thought are tools precisely calibrated to aid serious students in mastering those challenges.