solitude

in continuing with my supposition that an important, perhaps the most important, aspect of culture is religion, i wish to begin to look at, for ease's sake, some differ- ences between christianity and buddhism. it's clear that i'm not a scholar on this subject, and i know that some of you are, so please add your knowledge, and please don't judge me too harshly for my inevitable errors.

while both religious traditions have some form of simplicity at heart, both have their garish elements as well. but this will not be a discussion of externals, but rather a discussion of how both deal with the internal reaches of the spirit.

let us look first at solitude, at our percep- tions, and at "realities." when a solitary figure is featured, what is your reaction, and what does that depend on? are different internal processes inferred for a woman than for a man?

i find one of my own internal prejudices in noting that she looks dejected while he looks creative. is the difference in the images or in myself?

while both of these images are by west- erners, one is of a monk in japan by an artist (orlik) who spent much time there. by my perception, i see him as walking in contemplation, while in the other i imagine someone returning home with the groceries, hurrying because of the cold.

why the differences? again, are they inherent in the images or in me?

(though this next might seem like a change of subject, i think this will all tie together in the end.)

so then let us look at the simi- larities in the origins of the two religions. i find it striking how similar these sound.

At the beginning of his public ministry Jesus of Nazareth subjected himself for forty days to physical and spiritual testing in the desert; and the Gospels record other times in which he retired for periods of solitary prayer. In the early church, individuals would live ascetic lives, though usually on the outskirts of civilization. 1

jesus said, "Don't go into fear; don't get overly stuck in the judgmental functioning of the mind; consider the lilies; learn to love your neighbor with the same love as you give yourself; love one another as I have loved you; know the truth, and the truth will set you free; be perfect, just as God is perfect... be still ... and know ...." 2

Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.” 3

the buddha as well fasted in the desert "at the beginning of his public ministry." the buddhist temples were, and continue to be, on the edges of town.

the buddha said, "Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind." 4

"Consider others as yourself." 5

"Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without." 6

in fact, perhaps the only disagreement in the origins of the beginnings was that in buddhism we are taught to look inward, and in christianity we are taught to look outward, to god. the irony is that both are talking about the same thing.

another difference, in practice, is the reason for that practice. christians' goal is the sweet hereafter. buddhists are more interested in the sweet now.

fascinatingly, there are websites and books galore on all of the parallels between the two men, the two traditions. thai buddhist monk and teacher thich nhat hanh has written and edited several himself. just google jesus and buddha and you will have days of reading at your fingertips.

so it seems that the differences began to occur as christianity began to change in the centuries after christ's death. (i know -- this isn't news -- but it seemed important to mention at this point of the explor- ation.) eventually, churches were moved to the center of town. eventually, wars were fought in christ's name. eventually, people were scorned or banished for any number of "sins" that had developed in those centuries.

these changes never developed in buddhism.

so what of solitude? while buddhism continued its embrace of the practice, christianity became more "community oriented." the practices following the buddha's teachings remained pretty much the same, but the concept of finding god, and truth, and be set free by it has turned, all too often, into an iron-clad institution: find our god, our truth, or we will see to it that you have no freedom.

the externalizing of god, in the west, led to a certainty that god was "out there," which was never what jesus really taught. yes, things are changing. meditation has become in important part of the religious traditions of the west. and there wouldn't be a market for all those books if people were not now recognizing their needs in a new way. but how did the divergence happen, the one that i'm positing is the reason for the divergence in the arts. i'll try to take that on next.

play as haiku

liza's wonderful post about jello inspired my thinking, once again, about how artists, in the early part of the 20th century, brought illumination to the mundane -- the blurring of the line between fine and commercial art, as we have seen before as influenced by the japanese.

somehow i suddenly thought of the end of a play by thornton wilder:

From Our Town: Emily, a young mother who has died, has come back to earth for one day to spend time with her friends and family, who don't know she's there.

Emily: I can't. I can't go on. It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed. Take me back -- up the hill -- to my grave. But first, wait! One more look. Good-by; good-by, world; good-by, Grovers Corners. . . Mama and papa.

Good-by to clocks ticking. . . and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths. . . and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. (She looks toward the stage manager and asks abruptly through her tears) Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? -- every, every minute?

Stage Manager: No. (Pause) The saints and poets, maybe -- they do some.

Emily: I'm ready to go back.

it suddenly occurred to me that this was about consciousness, living in the moment -- in short, the teachings of buddhism.

"Opening in the first years of a new century, Our Town still speaks to us about the beauty and transience of life," says one critic. hmmm -- isn't that the essence of buddhist thought? the description of a haiku?

"Thornton Wilder, in his play, The Skin of Our Teeth, written in 1942, had one of his characters say this: 'My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate -- that's my philosophy.'" and thich nhat hanh says, "Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around you." he might as well just have come out and said ice cream.

wilder spent much of his childhood in china, and felt that japanese drama was a strong influence on his own, both in thought and in the minimalism of staging. he, along with the new poster artists, did one thing clearly: ennoble the everyday.