Earthquakes and Milarepa’s Towers

Dec
9

2010

Earthquakes and Milarepa’s Towers

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By Ven. Chönyi Taylor

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis. There seem to have been a lot of them lately. Our earth is shrugging off some of its pressure and reshaping its surface in the process. What we thought was solid, immovable and permanent, is in fact not. Impermanence is at work. Impermanence has also made itself felt at Sandy Point, but fortunately not as an earthquake. The balmy spring days have disappeared with a blast of icy wind and rain from the Antarctic. It was a perfect place to be reborn yesterday, but not today.

My self-cherishing ego (sche) has very clear ideas about a perfect human rebirth. Sche sees balmy days, plenty of food and drink, no illness, not getting old, as the qualities of this perfect birth. Sche would like to be in a place where there would be no need for education because sche would just absorb knowledge without effort. There would be no computers stalling with the latest virus. The house would remain perfectly clean and tidy without effort on sche’s part. Her back would never be painful. There would be no disagreements because everyone would agree with sche. In fact, no impermanence once that state of perfection has been achieved.

This so called prefect human rebirth of sche sounds suspiciously like the god realms. In fact, sche thinks the god realms are pretty good. Unfortunately, there is still impermanence and sche would still have to die. Anyway, sche is not worried about that. It’s too far in the future and perhaps death could be postponed.

My sche has no interest in the dharma, except when it can feel comfortable. Being blissed out in meditation is OK. Having attention from the guru is great, provided the guru does not challenge sche in any way. Sche only wants to be important, not exposed. Sche is thoroughly dismayed when it does not come top in a Basic Program test, or is required to help clean the gompa. Some voluntary work is OK, provided it brings praise and respect. My sche is thoroughly immersed in the eight worldly dharmas.¹

Of course, that is not what the perfect human rebirth is about. It means a rebirth with uninhibited access to the Dharma, the teachers and the teachings. Unfortunately for my sche, this means being exposed as a fraud, a figment of my imagination, however painful to acknowledge it, however dearly I try to hang onto it. Sche claims to be the source of my happiness and that Dharma progress is measured by comfort. These are things that I very much want.

To get to the real happiness, the lasting happiness, I need an inner earthquake, a major realignment of my mind. Sche has to be challenged and demoted. If I challenge my sche, then I might experience shame, depression, anger and resentment towards the Dharma as I recognize the effects of my sche. Which, then, do I reject? The Dharma or my sche? Sche has always claimed to be my closest and best friend. Dharma makes the same claim. I can’t have both. If I choose Dharma, I can expect earthquakes.

Emptiness poems: 3.

Four times Milarepa²

built a tower, block by block,

hauling each huge stone.

And three times Marpa

made him pull it down.

So I wonder

what Milarepa thought

amongst his drops of sweat,

aching legs and shoulders,

bruises and stinging cuts?

I feel for him, although

my tower building is in my mind

and overheated brain, each

being crudely dismantled

by earthquakes as deeper

strata are realigned –

logic sparking ancient patterns

for a subterranean settling.

¹ Eight worldly dharmas are: 1. being happy when getting material things and 2. unhappy when not; 3. being happy when experiencing pleasure and 4. unhappy when not; 5. being happy with fame and a good reputation and 6. unhappy with notoriety and a bad reputation; 7. being happy when praised and 8. unhappy when criticized.

²Milarepa is a famous Tibetan yogi, noted for his spiritual poetry, his extensive meditation practice and unorthodox methods. He sought a teacher after realizing that killing people who annoyed him was not a good way to live. He requested Marpa to be his teacher, but Marpa apparently ignored him, not allowing Milarepa to attend teachings and giving him jobs such as building towers that Marpa subsequently knocked down.

Tagged: earthquakes, mandala
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Earthquakes and Milarepa’s Towers

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