&quote;Dharma Transmission&quote; (eBook)

Chapter Two

Authenticity

by Dharmasenna

As we live this one life we know we have, ideally we are conducting our very own greatest show on earth. But are we on a Dharma growth journey, or merely role-playing, feigning it? Could we be just like Hugh Jackman, playing the part of the greatest showman on earth? “It’s everything you ever want. It’s everything you ever need. And it’s right in front of you. This is where you wanna be,” he sings. Are all our human endeavors undertaken authentically? Are we living an authentic life? If we were to cast around looking to answer these important questions, where would we start? We may have benefited from earlier Dharma talks asking how much baggage we carry? Even been teased towards questions like, is it truly our baggage, and why do we carry it?

In choosing to profile two very authentic, willing, fellow beings they will be center to letting us gently constructively mirror, maybe even shadow our own lives against theirs. They are positive, enlivened, healthy, happy, strong orthodox Hari Krishna. I’m sure here in the west there is a lot of misinformation, mystery, and even distrust of their organization. Most often we used to come across them in busy city squares, similarly dressed, bright flowing clothing styles, and catchy chants. To the uninitiated, they could be unfairly lumped in with hippie style, guru following, unemployed anti-establishment brain-washed miss fits. Was George Harrison, former Hari Krishna Beatle any of that? Look again, they are wholesome, law-abiding citizens, joyously giving their time to overtly express a huge appreciation and reverence to their God Krishna. And yes undoubtedly they hold beliefs, in a world brimming with unquestioned belief. But let’s have some admiration if we can engage with it, for their passion, commitment, and abilities in actualizing peacefulness in the present moment.

Hopefully, we may, within our newly found secular western approach to Buddhism, just for even a moment quietly forget our conditioned upbringing. Engaging, even dwelling in authentic equanimity, we don’t notice, or care if they are believers in creator beings or not. So are we ready to ask some questions of ourselves? Do we, like them, give up our weekends to promote and progress our Dharma journey? And when we do anything to progress our journey, is it as public, with such vigor, attracting so many onlookers, or bystanders who are seemingly really happy to approach sincere faces, bright colors, and uplifting vibrant chants?

So imagine we live just a little as if we were these Krishna-conscious friends. We’d be working long hours in a caring, giving profession. We’d be spending long hours every weekend at our temple. We’d be watching a series of live broadcasts on the philosophical direction for our lives, keeping us up from 11 pm till 1 am most nights. We’d have highly accessible stand-out shrines in our homes or places of employment and we’d keep worship alive throughout our day. We’d prepare fresh offerings daily. We’d have chants playing softly in the background every minute of every day. Much of our earthly earnings would go to extend God’s glory, which we understand helps all beings. We’d rarely engage in evangelism. We’d share temple foods with strangers. We’d be strictly vegetarian, believing in the sanctity of all life. We’d shelter and care for unwanted animals. We’d believe in the cleanliness of body and mind. We don’t gamble. We are happy in sharing God’s abundance.

It seems to me that they dwell in an aware state, living right now or in the awareness of now-ness. That’s enough to look at, think about, and without judgment or beating ourselves up, ask ourselves these personal prompts. But only in the most helpful, non-judgmental, comparative manner, answer how we think our attempts stack up on all of these counts: generosity, passion, humility, ethical undertakings, commitment, twelve hours of our weekend given to our version of temple, compassion for all living beings, the strength of motivation to progress our Dharma journey.

I find particularly helpful the following understanding of authenticity to share with you. This definition of authenticity will be found in the book ‘The Power of Vulnerability by - Professor Brene Brown.

“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we are supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable. Authenticity means expressing compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made from strength and struggle, and nurturing the sense of connection and belonging that can only happen when we believe we are enough. Authenticity demands wholehearted living and loving even when it’s hard, even when we are wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when joy is so intense that we are afraid to let ourselves feel it. Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.”

Maybe we are discovering that authenticity like generosity is a daily lived practice. I would suggest that outside the entertainment profession, it would be rare to find someone being deliberately inauthentic. All people have stuff going on in their lives, and it would be helpful if we tried to shine a light on our own habitual conditioned behavioral patterns. To be your natural and even eccentric self is to be prepared to be vulnerable and authentically you. So let’s place all of our endeavors to live and practice applied Dharma in a bright prism of illumination and systematically look at every aspect, helpful, unhelpful, functional, and nonfunctional.

Psychology has long ago identified firstly a branched aspect they call positive and negative, and we call helpful or unhelpful. Then a linked continuum of glad, sad, mad, bad emotional experiences of worry, may be included. Other academic sources place fifteen or more states somewhere in the mix, each has its dualistic counterpart. So as we shine the inner searchlight, finding all those lost, denied, suppressed, helpful, and even dominant or unhelpfully defining shadows, we might apply to our various learned tags, we will find that each state has its helpful and unhelpful counterparts like fear and comfort, anger, and calm, jealousy and acceptance, greed and generosity, hatred and love, sorrow and joy, cruelty and kindness, confidence and shame and so on.

If we deal authentically with whatever we discover within, and much of it can be evaluated with wisdom and guidance of the Buddha’s middle way between too much and too little we will find this helpful. For example, we all experience grief at some stage in life. It needn’t be hidden away, nor worn as an identifier or crown forever-more. It’s helpful to understand, that if we are forging an authentic Dharma journey then it will be unhelpful to grasp for an ideal or conversely push away or deny who we are. Authenticity will be realized somewhere near the middle.

And so on we go, progressively illuminating everything that either causes us to function well or hinders us. Now so far that only covers emotional states, our task is huge and for example, even includes our treatment of this precious planet. Is it our authentic self, ever busy, wasting, over-consuming, not recycling, damaging, destroying, killing, or failing to preserve for following generations? Conversely, are we being authentic if we deny our right to true sustainably, and in awareness, enjoy the huge abundance at our disposal?

Are all our human endeavors undertaken authentically? Are we living an authentic life? Are we following an authentic Dharma practice? It’s vitally important that the instructive basis of our Dharma study and the tuition we currently receive is authentic. Understanding our obligation to test, try challenge everything, bringing forth superior guidelines for an even more helpful life’s journey if we are able. Authentic Buddhism is not determined by a historical lineage or authorizing body of elders, but by an individual’s progress. I would suggest that the only true Buddhist temple is the individual who sees, hears, and practices the Dharma. So then, let us look at Buddhism, and how every school and off-shoot believes they alone have interpreted and promoted the Buddha’s Dharma helpfully, or authentically.

I would think that comedian Billy Connolly would laugh at Buddhism’s 2600 year history, its multitude of off-shoots, schools, traditions, and thousands of different published guidelines, and say something like ‘aye laddie, there was only one Buddha, but he seems to have told everyone different stories’ Well, in fact, he didn’t. Over time fresh schools of Buddhism have emerged and flourished in their own right, each contributing and helping form yet another square in the giant patchwork quilt of humanity striving for a more helpful life. Secular western Buddhism has undoubtedly moved deliberately forward, breaking both friendships, bondage, blind faith-based dogma, and the superstitions proudly owned by much of traditional cultural Buddhism. The 2600 years of preservation behind us, proves an enduring source is available to be taken forward. There must come future reformation, as there have been many, many shifts in the past.

The challenge is available every moment of every lived individual’s life, to practice and apply authentic, helpful Dharma like an elixir medicine, or...