Is the truth the Buddha discovered about himself the same as the truth you’d discover about yourself, if you “woke up” and saw your mind clearly, as it actually is? I’m talking about the truth of our reality—what’s real—beyond the surface of our opinions, assumptions, and even our everyday perceptions. That truth is changeless.
What’s real and true remains so; it’s not different from century to century. It’s not like fashion, something that changes every season, so you have to keep up with it. We can have spiritual fads, too, and be a follower or setter of trends. We might like ‘mindfulness’ right now, and next season be a fan of yoga. You sweat, you feel good, and yoga studios can be very chic. You can buy cool stuff to wear, to drink from, or to jump on. We can go on and on trying out and casting off the latest approaches to truth, without ever seeing the real truth they can lead us to. If we’re still not happy and looking for a new truth—a new explanation of reality—with every change in the weather or in our circumstances, then we won’t be able to find the deeper truth that goes beyond time, fashion, and self-interest.
If you’ve found what seems to be the truth and it keeps changing, then you haven’t found the truth yet. If you think today, “this is the truth,” and tomorrow it seems fishy, then that’s a clear sign it’s not the truth. If what the Buddha found 2600 years ago is false in today’s world, then it wasn’t the truth to begin with. Truth doesn’t change with the passing of time. It doesn’t change color with the color of people’s skins. It doesn’t wear sandals in one culture and Nikes in another. No matter how we label or conceptualize it, truth doesn’t change its essence. Truth is the basic reality of what it is.
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For an unenlightened being like myself, i set the “Truth” as my “object of destination” (notice that it’s in quotes). I have not experienced it yet, but every twist and turn i take on my way to get “there” is a clue on what the real truth is. I tell myself that it’s ok to unintentionally take wrong turns once in while,as long as i know where i’m going. “Truth” doesn’t change, but the clues do change, depending on where we’re at.
Doesn’t matter how many turns a river makes, it will go the ocean; unless it dries up before reaching the ocean– this is when one is afraid of taking risks & making mistakes, and stops searching for the truth altogether. I think 🙂
I just have to come back and post another comment. Reading all the other comments by wonderful, intelligent people on this site is such a learning experience for me. And the fact that i also do have the guts to post my comment with my real name is also another personal breakthrough.
One personal note i want to express, i don’t really care what people think of Rinpoche, whether He’s a rebel or not, He can rebel or not, He’s selling the book or not, or what have you, because to me He is just someone who has been dedicating His life for the benefit of so many beings, seen or unseen.
At the end of the day, He is just a Ponlop Rinpoche who came to this world 45 years ago.
He is just a simple Tibetan Lama, folks! What can be more simple and beautiful than that?
I am doing research for my university thesis, thanks for your excellent points, now I am acting on a sudden impulse.
– Laura
The questioning of rebel buddha mind, especially sincere questioning that can tolerate doubt, surprises and stops-and-starts, can look in new places in the mind/heart, and can wonder in the company of others–this is truth. Inquiry is truer than anything you can hold as a belief.
Yep.