Ethics
in Relation
to
the Depth of Awakening
Q:
That's exactly what I mean. In the original Buddhist training there's
a notion of morality, but the approach is ridiculosly primitive
compared to the advances that humanity has made regarding human
development, specially in the modern west. So, the possibility of
putting together the super sophisticated training of Buddhism (WAKING
UP) with the super sophisticated training of western psychology (and
other approaches) that's available today (GROWING UP) is an
unprecedented opportunity for humanity.
If
you look at it this way, then all this debate about Awakening vs
Morality gets pretty clear, then we can transcend the apparent
confusion, and understand why so many "awakened" beings
screw up so much.
Kim:
I have no problem with combining dharma practice and psychology but I
think that most "masters" of any branch of buddhism are
actually more or less far from being fully enlightened, even if they
were masters of their particular training systems/meditation
techniques. The percentage of buddhists who attain any type of
buddhahood per generation is ridiculously low. Hence, all the
problems and confusions, f. ex. about attainments and morality.
I
personally do not think buddhist dharma lacks anything else except a
new understanding and methods in how to effect deeper waking up.
Folks just aren't waking up quickly and deeply enough. The rest;
growing up, cleaning up and showing up, that Wilber discusses,
follows from there.
Q:
Awakening is one dimension and maturity (ethics and morality) is
another. People can be developed and/or not developed on either
spectrum. They are not necessarily related.
Kim:
Ethics in dharma are not merely preliminaries or something on the
side. For a confused mind, they are pointers and direct means to
access and recognise the enlightened mind. From enlightened mind
itself, ethical actions come into being. They are one and the same
thing, not separate things. This is exactly what I mean with
shallowness of awakening.
Q:
Kim, how do you explain unawakened people who are ethically and
morally advanced? I know some. They are beyond reproach. True, highly
evolved human adults. How do they get there without being
enlightened?
Kim:
They haven't had emptiness insight and aren't enlightened as defined
in dharma but nevertheless they are better aligned with their nature
of mind than people with poor morals. There is no chance for success
in practice if one's inner values aren't made of uncorrupt steel. You
can see from the faces of all those bad boys and girls that there is
some dirt, dirtyness, in their eyes and general demeanor.
I've
met a bunch of people who are as you describe "beyond reproach".
Some of them who are not practitioners, don't quite understand the
point of practice because by having clear values they don't have as
much need for it, as they already rest in true being a lot but they
live in a dualistic state nonetheless. I've also guided a people like
this to the first shift and even when they experience a shift that
changes the way their mind works and increases clarity, it isn't as
much of a surprise as it can be for others.
