Words and concepts

Posted on March 22, 2010 by bodhimitta

I have come to think that one problem I have in understanding the wise – gurus, realized or enlightened individuals – is that they take words that have definite meaning to me, change their definition, and then try to bend my mind to this new meaning.  My mind resists perhaps not because it has difficulty with the new concept but because it must first invalidate a concept the mind knows to be true in a specific context.  For example, let us consider what is real.  Thus far in life I have worked with the understanding that what I can see, touch, hear, perceive or scientifically detect, if not presented by some trickery of illusion, is real.  But, a guru will tell me all this is not real; rather it is all illusion or delusion.  Such a guru will say that if we remove all that the mind can detect, perceive, conjure or imagine, then what is left is real.  To accept this notion, I must first accept that the world, the universe, indeed all of us and everything are not real.  I want to suggest instead that all I have until now considered real continues to be real, but only in a temporal, changing, impermanent and insubstantial reality; that due to its inherent inadequacy, this existential reality is fraught with suffering and happiness is fleeting and fragile.  From this perspective, I am now able to more easily consider that there is another reality that is unchanging, beyond mind, self and consciousness, free from sense and sense object, from comparison, judgment and emotion.  Thus, it’s not necessary for me to tear apart and invalidate the reality I know to be true in this world, but merely to tame this reality, to moderate its significance and open to the concept of what is unchangeably real; to a profound reality where truth is exactly one.  An ineffable non-state beyond the supramundane, where the only reality is truth and the only truth is what is real.  We agree that words are inadequate for such discussions, so let us not make the discussion conceptually impossible.  We could use different words.  We could differentiate the absolute from the existential and absolutely real from existentially real.

About bodhimitta

Professionally, I have had several primary careers in life, starting with a dozen years in the U.S. Army in the Military Intelligence field, then some years as an electronics technician in both the civilian and defense industries, and finally computer software, where I have been engaged for about 25 years. My first serious attempt to adopt a spiritual path was in 1987 as a result of life gone awry and an attempt to get myself back on track. This took me to forms of Christianity, with which I did not connect well, and after a few years I left this path. By 2001 I was bitter, demoralized, at odds with the world and everybody in it, including myself. Reaching a breaking point, I again threw myself into an effort to change my life. Being willing to try anything, I investigated several religions, studying their scripture and practicing their ways to one extent or another. Eventually this led to Hinduism and meditation, and seeking meditation training led me to Buddhism where I finally found my spiritual home. My path is born out of suffering and the Buddha speaks to me. I have been committed to a Buddhist path for 10 years, studied the Pali canon for several years under the guidance of a Buddhist teacher, and sat a number of formal Vipassana and concentration meditation retreats and private retreats, the longest being 5 weeks in private retreat. I've made pilgrimage and spent months experiencing the history and culture of Buddhism in several Asian countries. I believe strongly in practice as a part of life and meet several times a week with people who have an ongoing, engaged practice. My experience is that teachers are found in centers, sangha is found in living rooms, and the dhamma is found in life.
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