I recently read a book entitled “Double Take” written by Kevin Michael Connolly. Kevin was born in 1985 in Helena Montana and was a typical young man in every way but one. He was born without legs, a condition called Amelia. In his case there was no known cause. It just happened. He asked himself the obvious question of “why” and quite early in life discovered there was no answer. He didn’t chase the question any further because it didn’t lead anywhere. But the question followed him around the world as he travelled. It was often asked verbally by people he would pass on the street, but more commonly it was their look (their “double take”) that asked the question. He documented these interactions with photographs of people taken from his vantage point close to the ground. They would ask “Why don’t you have legs” with their facial expressions and gestures. He has stopped asking that question long ago.
People often ask themselves existential questions and wrestle with them for years, decades, and even their entire lives. Such questions as; “Who am I?; Where was I before I was born?; Where will I be after I die?; Is the world eternal?; Is the soul the same as the body?; Is it different?; What happens to an enlightened beings such as a Buddhas after they die? These questions were commonly asked the Buddha. After all he was a self awakened being so why not ask him the most profound of questions? He always refused to answer these hypothetical existential questions. Maybe he knew the answers but his reason for not answering was that the answers were not beneficial in leading to peace, joy, dispassion, calm, clarity and letting go- in other words they didn’t help us find the way out of stress.
Other spiritual traditions have dealt with this existential conundrum. In the Christian/ Hebrew tradition there was the biblical story of Job. Job was an upright, honest, respected and faithful servant of God. The Book of Job begins with a description of a heavenly gathering where God has assembled a great multitude of being s for a meeting (sort of a family reunion). He notices Satan among the guests and asks him what he has been doing lately. Satan responds that he has been travelling around the world. God asks him if he has seen Job and whether Satan noticed what a model of virtue Job was. Satan responds that he had indeed seen Job and he was exemplary only because he had great wealth (7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 7 sons and 3 daughters, and so on). He went on to wager God that if Job lost his wealth and possession he would turn against God. God decides to take him up on the wager and the cruel joke on Job was begun. Job lost his children, sheep, camels, houses, servants and his health. Job couldn’t understand “why” this was happening to him. “Why me? I’m a faithful servant, loving father, and honest man. Three of his friends pay a visit and proceed to explain to him that he must have sinned for all this to happen. The more Job denied this, the more his friends accused him of either being naïve, a liar or a whiner. Job wanted his day in court with God to defend himself. Eventually God (who was listening to Job and his friends) had enough and in a great storm and fury accused them all of speaking without knowing. God proceeds to ask them hundreds of questions that they can’t possibly answer; Why does rain fall in the desert? for example. At the end of the interrogatory Job has gained insight and realizes that there are questions that we just can’t answer and that if we beat our heads against these questions all we get in return is a grand headache. We will die before we ever figure out the answers.
The Buddha was asked these metaphysical questions quite often. In one Sutta Vachagotta the Wanderer asks these questions here is an excerpt from the Sutta. Read it and see for yourself.
Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta: To Vacchagotta on Fire translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Note: the word “Tathagata” means one who is fully awakened to the Deathless and is beyond all coming and going in conditioned being.)
I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying in Savatthi, at Jeta’s Grove, Anathapindika’s monastery. Then the wanderer Vacchagotta went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, exchanged courteous greetings with him. After an exchange of friendly greetings & courtesies, he sat to one side. As he was sitting there he asked the Blessed One: “How is it, Master Gotama, does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The cosmos is eternal: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no” said Buddha…
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The cosmos is not eternal: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The cosmos is finite: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The cosmos is infinite: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The soul & the body are the same: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘The soul is one thing and the body another: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘After death a Tathagata exists: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“Then does Master Gotama hold the view: ‘After death a Tathagata does not exist: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless’?” “…no…”
“How is it, Master Gotama, when Master Gotama is asked if he holds the view ‘the cosmos is eternal…’… ‘after death a Tathagata neither exists nor does not exist: only this is true, anything otherwise is worthless,’ he says ‘…no…’ in each case. Seeing what drawback, then, is Master Gotama thus entirely dissociated from each of these ten positions?”
“Vacchagotta, the position that ‘the cosmos is eternal’ is a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. It is accompanied by suffering, distress, despair, & fever, and it does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation; to calm, direct knowledge, full Awakening, Unbinding.
Buddha explained that wrestling with these questions was futile. Or as my father would say. “It’s like wrestling with a pig. You get all muddy and the pig’s havin all the fun”. There may be answers but they can’t be found. And further, even finding them does not lead to disenchantment, dispassion, cessation; to calm, direct knowledge, and letting go; unbinding.
Here is another famous and beautiful Sutta where Buddha is asked once again to answer metaphysical questions.
The Parable of the Poison Arrow (Majjhima-nikaya, Sutta 63)
The Buddha was sitting in the park when his disciple Malunkyaputta approached him. Malunkyaputta had recently retired from the world and he was concerned that so many things remained unexplained by the Buddha. Was the world eternal or not eternal? Was the soul different from the body? Did the enlightened exist after death or not? He thought, ‘If the Buddha does not explain these things to me, I will give up this training and return to worldly life’.
Thus, he approached the Buddha with this question, who replied:
“Suppose, Maunkyaputa, a man were wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with poison, and his friends and companions brought a surgeon to treat him. The man would say: “I will not let the surgeon pull out the arrow until I know the name and clan of the man who wounded me; whether the bow that wounded me was long bow or crossbow; whether the arrow that wounded me was hoof-tipped or curved or barbed.
All this would still not be known to that man and meanwhile he would die. So too, Malunkyaputta, if anyone should say: “I will not lead the noble life under the Buddha until the Buddha declares to me whether the world is eternal or not eternal, finite or infinite; whether the soul is the same as or different from the body; whether an awakened one ceases to exist after death or not,” that would still remain undeclared by the Buddha and meanwhile that person would die.
Whether the view is held that the world is eternal or not, Malunkyaputta, there is still birth, old age, death, grief, suffering, sorrow and despair – and these can be destroyed in this life! I have not explained these other things because they are not useful, they are not conducive to tranquility and Nirvana. What I have explained is suffering, the cause of suffering, the destruction of suffering and the path that leads to the destruction of suffering. This is useful, leading to non-attachment, the absence of passion, perfect knowledge.” Thus spoke the Buddha, and with joy Malunkyaputta applauded his words.
It appears as though Buddha was making this point very clear. Answering the metaphysical questions is not the path to wisdom. We will either be bound in a thicket of views or we will die before we find the answers. Suffering and stress in our lives will remain unless we address the cause. Buddha outlined these in the Four Noble Truths.
• Suffering exists. In other words, life is problematic. “Isn’t this true in your own experience?”
• The Cause of Suffering is Ignorance (not knowing) leading to craving and aversion. The cause of our stress is wanting things other than the way they are and pushing away the unpleasant and pulling closer only what is pleasant. “Isn’t this true in your own experience?”
• There is Cessation (an end) of Stress. There is a way out of the morass of questions, views, wanting, hating, and looking away from truth.
• There is a Path to the end of stress. The stepping stones of this path are ethics, concentration and Wisdom (encompassed in the eightfold path of Right (Wise) View, Intention, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration.
But even though we know this is all true we still struggle with some of these questions don’t we? “Isn’t this true in your own experience?”
Don’t you ask questions like; there still feels like a self who is “me”. We even use language that verifies the illusion of a permanent self when we say “I love, I am angry, I am crazy, and I am hungry”. But we also separate this inside self from our body when we commonly say “I have a body, I have arms and legs.” What is this illusion of self anyway? Is “me” inside this body looking out onto the world through our two peep holes? Are we inside our head manning the controls of the arms and legs? We get entangled in this view of self very easily because of our conditioning (largely cultural).
But why entangle yourself in this thicket? To what end? We can no more think ourselves out of the illusion of self than we can think ourselves into enlightenment! So why not try something different. Let’s just try coming out from the heat and into the shade where it’s a bit cooler. Let’s not take our”self” so seriously! Let’s recognize the self (ego if you prefer) and use it to foster generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. Let’s bring it along the path as our invited guest. But it comes along with one condition; that we not only recognize its presence when we practice virtuous actions but we also recognize its presence when the afflictive emotions of greed, hatred, impatience, jealousy, pride, lust arise.
If we practice this we eventually notice that the presence of a self/ego becomes less and less needed for the virtuous actions. Yes, it may arise simultaneously with compassion, or kindness for example, but what happens over time is that the self/ego arises and falls away but selfless compassion, kindness, etc, remain. With time the ego finds less and less reason to come along for the ride. Our invitation just plain wears out. If it wants to come along fine and if it doesn’t that’s OK too. It just isn’t that important. Our blankie is finally put down and we can rest.
We don’t know what will happen after we die. Perhaps we would relax a bit more if entertain the possibility that we will live forever. Living forever is not what you think, however. Listen to what Mary Oliver has about living forever in her poem “The Messenger”
Messenger by Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world.
Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird —
equal seekers of sweetness.
Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums.
Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn?
Am I no longer young, and still not half-perfect? Let me
keep my mind on what matters,
which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be
astonished.
The phoebe, the delphinium.
The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture.
Which is mostly rejoicing, since all ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart
and these body-clothes,
a mouth with which to give shouts of joy
to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam,
telling them all, over and over, how it is
that we live forever.
May you be well, happy and peaceful.
Floyd
