Buddhism now

I’m no theorist of Buddhism (I have translated some books, perhaps without understanding them) but in some schools there is the view that there is a sort of cosmic flow, a cosmic current in the whole universe, and that by living in accordance with calmness and serenity, disciplined activity, reduction of desire and prejudice and by meditating, we can come into that flow. That flow will in the end be realized to be the self, the self will be the flow. Now, there is a view that we have on ideal role which we can play in life and if we play it we shall have inner serenity. Even in very difficult circumstances there will be an inner serenity and there will be an inner peace. This awareness of the cosmic flow may not be continuous for some time, but it will be there and it will return. And we don’t know what the results will be of the inspirations which come to us from this flow; we can’t see the grand pattern, as it were. However, one view is that it is possible, in meditation or naturally, for the great pattern also to begin to unfold. The comparison is made with a game called ‘living chess’, and this is played on a huge lawn. It is sometimes played on university campuses. They mark out these enormous squares, the blacks and whites, and then the students dress up as knights and so on. The black queen is a tall girl with magnificent black hair going right down her back, and the white queen is the same with blonde hair and a white dress, and it all looks very realistic. They glare at each other when they’re opposing, or nod to each other when on the same side, and so on. Two experts sit at each end, but the board is too big for them to be able to play with those pieces, so each has a little board in his hand. He works out his move on that, and then he says it, and the crier calls, ‘Knight to king’s knight fifth’. The knight then goes up to king’s knight fifth. If there’s another piece there he hits him with his chopper. The other fellow is most unhappy about this and he’s carried off by the stretcher-bearers. This is magnificent. Some of the students, of course, have a long time to wait before they move, and some of them never move at all throughout the whole game. Anyway, they all enter into the spirit of it and you notice that some of them have a little board of their own. They are intensely interested and can see not only their surroundings, but the whole board, in miniature. So they understand the role of their moves in the strategy. The teacher says, and I’m quoting, ‘It transforms the interest of life, when you begin to see there’s a grand flow of life which is available and possible to see in meditation.’ (more…)

Filed under: Art, Buddhism, Ch'an / Seon / Zen, Trevor Leggett | Tagged: inner serenity, living chess | 1 Comment »