Prajna, Sila & Samadhi (and a Bit of Context)
Who brought Buddhism to North America? We might think of Robert Aitken or Philip Kapleau the early Zen pioneers of the 1960’s. Or Shunryu Suzuki or Trungpa Rinpoche. Or Sharon Salzburg and Joseph Goldstein, fresh back from South Asia in 1975. Well... noteworthy as these folks, and others, are and were, Buddhism was first carried to these shores by Asian immigrants, long before. They worked on railroads, in laundries, in mines; they were physicians and accountants... And as they formed new communities on this side of the ocean, they built temples and practiced their religions much as they did in their countries of origin—for the most part quite separately from peoples of European descent. The Europeans had come with their own traditions and religious affiliations that, for the most part, seemed to serve them just fine.
Fast forward then to the 1960’s. Multiple shocks to the dominant social paradigm: Vietnam; civil rights movements; psychedelics; women’s rights; contraception and sexual liberation; environmental realities; political corruption unmasked; assassinations... Loss of faith in establishment institutions, including religions ensued. All this change, uncertainty, and confusion gave rise to bold experiments with alternatives to the dominant social order. Many books written about that, and some of us here are old enough to have lived those experiments! Behold, into the void of consensus of meaning enters Convert Buddhism, in many different forms, attracting thousands of sincere seekers.
Convert Buddhism catered to particular yearnings of the American disaffected, perhaps not deliberately, but understandably. Here is Norman Fischer, a long-standing teacher from San Francisco Zen Center: “When the drugs turned out to be an unstable answer, and the anti-war politics an exhausting dead end, many of us turned to Eastern religions, which seemed similar [to drugs], but more solid. They included mind-bending meditation techniques that had the advantage of not being illegal or dangerous, and profound ancient teachings that provided a sanctioned way of looking at life that was radically different from the American consumerist culture we were so fed up with. In short, we craved transcendence. The last thing on our minds was morality, which we considered part and parcel of the false and uptight America that was ruining our lives.”
There were plenty of guru-types in the 60’s and 70’s (probably now too) assuring us that our meditation practice, in-and-of-itself, would transform us into saints who could only do good. Good riddance to the moralizing of church and state. Now we see that turning entirely away from codes of morality hasn’t worked out so well. And some of those perfect Roshis, Rinpoches, and Rishis turned out to be all too fallible in their excesses and exploitations. Okay, as converts we are only 60 years into this encounter with Buddhism. Patience! We can catch our breath and take stock. Turns out, Buddhists from ages ago knew better than to put all the eggs on the meditation cushion. For over 2,500 years Buddhism has taught meditation in the context of a broad program of practice. Right from the start, meditation was only one spoke of the Noble Eightfold Path. There is wisdom in this. And we are learning. Nowadays, the most reputable teachers in convert Buddhist sanghas are engaging their students with some form of the traditional Three-fold Path of Prajna, Sila, and Samadhi—Wisdom, Morality, and Meditation.
The Three-fold Path is a pocket-sized encapsulation of the Eight-fold Path. Right View and Right Intention are represented by Prajna; Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood are represented in Sila; Right Effort, Right Concentration and right Mindfulness are represented in Samadhi. This is the stable three-legged stool of Buddhist practice. All three are essential. Meditation is not true meditation unless situated in contexts of ethical and wisdom perspectives. Morality is not moral when not grounded in meditation and transcendent wisdom. And wisdom is not wise when disconnected from morality and the intimacy of meditative unity.
There are worlds of learning, discovery and embodiment in each of the Three Trainings. Here I want to say a little about Sila--Buddhist morality and ethics. In traditional Buddhism, ethical action cannot be separated from meditation and compassionate wisdom. Meditation brings us into direct contact with our lived experience as-it-is—less influenced by what we think it is or should be. Buddhist wisdom is less about how to make sense of our experience, and more about verifying what is true to the depths of our being. This why Buddhist precepts are different from rules or commandments. Not killing; not lying; not stealing; not misusing sex; and not giving or taking intoxicants; not finding fault with others; not praising myself while abusing others; not being stingy; not harboring ill will; and not slandering guidance for the Way—These 10 precepts are not rules so much as they are descriptive of behaviors that arise in accordance with our true nature as revealed in meditation and understood with wisdom. When taken up in concert with compassionate wisdom and meditation, the Buddhist precepts are loving reminders, particularly when the limited sensory apparatus of our human species makes it a little too easy to conceptualize a separate self (a core delusion). A double-check is of great value. From there, the precepts serve more as inspiration, and as social vision: we wake up to a community not bound by rules, but fully, freely expressing our innate goodness. This is revolutionary.
How different than moralizing. Moralists live by rules. Goodness is gauged by adherence to the rules. Contextual behavioral science describes “rule-governed behavior”: once the rules are learned through social reinforcement, they take on a life of their own as rule-governed behavior is subsequently reinforced by the intrinsic satisfaction of obeying the rules. Then, it matters less what the observable external consequences of the behavior are. This is how morality gets disconnected from reality. This is how babies are separated from their mothers at borders (an arbitrary line superimposed onto a landscape by rules). “Just followin' the rules, mam.”
As Zen Buddhists we have the option of taking up the precepts as a core practice, on equal footing with meditation. The Jukai ceremony formalizes the commitment, but is not a requirement. As with meditation, we can try living with the precepts as an experiment. See if living the precepts intentionally makes life better for ourselves and others. See if it inches toward that impossible vow of saving all beings. Also see how it enhances meditation practice, settling into our true nature. See how wisdom might emerge.
I chose the name Forest Flower Zen Sangha for this practice center with the trillium flower in mind. Three petals: Prajna, Sila, Samadhi. Three leaves: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha—in harmony with all beings. Great gratitude to the lines of transmission of the Dharma, through the ages, through the dedicated efforts of those willing to meet the converts across oceans and cultures. We see those efforts blooming, evolving, and maturing. (Bow)
See Norman Fischer’s article: https://www.lionsroar.com/ethics-meditation-and-wisdom/
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