Being a loser!

When he was returning from China, some monks from Tendai school asked Dogen: "Dogen, what did you bring from China? What kind of teachings do you have?" He, then, replied: "Eyes are horizontal. Nose, vertical."

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I was not there, but I am pretty much sure the monks looked at him with a puzzled face. "This guy is insane," they probably thought. In one of my first times practicing at Busshinji, a couple of years ago, the leading monk - Jisho-sensei -, told the attendees of that Saturday night zazen: "If you have come here today expecting to gain something, you lost your journey. Here, you won't gain anything; you'll just lose." That very moment, I laughed and thought: "Yeah, this is the place!"

Here in Japan I have been blessed by meeting a lot of different people, from a lot of different places and faiths. And I have learnt a lot from everyone of them. It is interesting to notice how many pre-concepts we bring with ourselves when we meet someone, and how we are so often wrong about them. I had ideas and concepts about Muslims and Arabs, and they were all broken down; all my thoughts on Thai, Malay, Indonesians and Vietnamese were proven wrong. And also was I wrong about most of the things in Japan too.

Having pre-concepts about something is not something bad or strange: it is only natural. We are all acquiring information on everything by all possible means and origins. We have a thinking mind, and we are instructed to use it as a previewing tool since our child days: we don't need to stuck our fingers in the wall socket to know the result is not gonna be pleasant. Having pre-concepts is something useful, sometimes. But not always. Sometimes we create so many pre-concepts in our minds that we start judging people, things or events in such a negative way that it prevents us from having unique experiences and learning. Being aware of which pre-concepts are useful and which are not is essential.

Buddha taught a group of monks from Kalama to never trust, practice or believe in something without a very careful inspection of the information you have, and if that action/practice/belief will lead to good fruits. This is a very good way of analyzing our own thoughts and pre-concepts. This is a very good way of analyzing our own behavior towards the world, and towards ourselves. Buddha's directions are given in Anguttara Nikaya 3.65:

• Ma anussavena:
 Do not believe something just because it has been passed along and retold for many generations. [Simpler: Do not be led by what you are told.]

• Ma paramparaya:
 Do not believe something merely because it has become a traditional practice. [Do not be led by whatever has been handed down from past generations.]

• Ma itikiraya: 
Do not believe something simply because it is well-known everywhere. [Do not be led by hearsay or common opinion.]

• Ma Pitakasampadanena:
 Do not believe something just because it is cited in a text. [Do not be led by what the scriptures say]

• Ma takkahetu:
 Do not believe something solely on the grounds of logical reasoning. [Do not be led by mere logic.]

• Ma nayahetu:
 Do not believe something merely because it accords with your philosophy. [Do not be led by mere deduction or inference.]

• Ma akaraparivitakkena:
 Do not believe something because it appeals to "common sense". [Do not be led by considering only outward appearance.]

• Ma ditthinijjhanakkhantiya:
 Do not believe something just because you like the idea. [Do not be led by preconceived notions (and the theory reflected as an approval)]

• Ma bhabbarupataya:
 Do not believe something because the speaker seems trustworthy. [Do not be led by what seems acceptable; do not be led by what some seeming believable one says.]

• Ma samano no garu ti:
 Do not believe something thinking, "This is what our teacher says".

Probably noticing the "Erm.. okay... then what would be the appropriate way of judging stuff?" look at the monks's faces, he goes further and says:

Kalamas, when you yourselves directly know, "These things are wholesome, blameless, praised by the wise; when adopted and carried out they lead to well-being, prosperity and happiness," then you should accept and practice them."

It is quite a nice and practical instruction meaning simply: "hey, you bastard! Think on what you're doing. Is it really worthy doing it?" The same way we deal with our philosophy, religion or whatever, we must deal with thoughts and habits. Are they really worth keeping?

After a wise and careful analysis, maybe we get to realize that, instead of things to gain, we have a bunch  more of stuff to lose. :)

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Related readings:

The Kalama Sutta @ The Gold Scales website. This is where I found the version I pasted here. I liked it! They have a nice discussion on it also.

Kalama Sutta @ Access to Insight. This is Thanissaro Bikkhu's version of the sutta. They have another version on the Access to Insight also, and some links to other relevant suttas on this subject. Very interesting!