Dharma Stuff
By Michael Erlewine
This is an adjunct post to yesterday’s discussion of unpacking Tibetan dharma, but this is about Tibetan stuff, all things Tibetan.
We start out trying to learn Tibetan dharma, imitating Tibetan culture, mannerisms, and even language. I did all my dharma practice in Tibetan for many decades, to make sure that whatever history is bonded into the Tibetan language from that history are not lost. Gradually, more and more sadhanas come with both Tibetan and English subtitles. I saw to the publishing of a dozen at least, including the complete Ngondro and Nyungné. And of course, for many years I collected everything Tibetan, statues, rupas, mandala plates, offering bowls, Tibetan rugs, jewelry, and on and on.
No matter how much ‘Tibetan’ we attempt to become, nothing rubs off. We are Americans living in America and not Tibet. Tibetan dharma at best is a seed that can never sprout. What is wanted, which we best get around to, is the American dharma that has to arise here in America and grow on its own.
Yes, there is bound to be a Tibetan flavor to it all, but even that will be shuffled off as the actual dharma in Tibetan dharma takes hold and becomes American dharma or just dharma. And all the Tibetan support devices, like the baby and the bathwater, will be sorted and no longer clung to or mean anything other than the dharma itself.
It’s because the dharma is the way it is and nothing else or other, so sooner or later we will recognize the natural dharma right here in America, meaning within ourselves, and no longer require a Tibetan patina or veneer as a sign of authenticity. That veneer is just another distraction in our world of distractions.
For me dharma first came wrapped in a Tibetan or Chinese or Japanese Zen clothing, then mostly Tibetan, and I clung to and collected everything Tibetan. As mentioned, I tried to get as close as possible to everything Tibetan in the hope that something there would rub off on me. And I remain very reverent in this way even today. I love all my Tibetan gear, but as a memorial. I need it less and less but will never get rid of that part of me. However, at the same time I now realize my attachment to everything Tibetan is just another attachment rather than indicative of anything in itself. LOL.
Much more difficult is my growing awareness that the only dharma that counts is that which I realize from actual practice until it is no longer practice but has become meditation itself. And meditation or rather ‘non-meditation’, is neither Tibetan nor American but, again, just what it naturally is, dharma. However, it will appear in American clothing.
As mentioned, there is no need to discard all that is Tibetan or acquire any further artifacts or signs, and of course we need to savor and cherish the essence that is dharma, yet we will only find that dharma within ourselves where it has always been.
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Little kids like to dress up as cowboys and Indians, and all kinds of things. Adults are not that different. Those new to Tibetan dharma like to draw around themselves everything ‘Tibetan’ trying to get close to something they don’t realize that they already have, the ‘dharma’ that is in Tibetan dharma.
And so, that which is Tibetan and our love and attachment to it, is understandable, and not something we have to discard. Yet it would help if we understood it for what it is, yet another attachment. And we are trying to let go of attachments.
What does come out of this habit is how difficult for us it is to get inside Tibetan dharma, for it to rub off, rather than face the fact that any dharma we find discover will always be within our own nature and mind, and at best all our getting close to Tibet and what is Tibetan is a support.
We have to enlighten ourselves. No amount of things Tibetan or even Tibetan dharma teachers, can do more that point out to us the obvious, that we have to, as mentioned, enlighten ourselves, day by day, and moment by moment. This can be very difficult for us to do because only we can do it and by definition it has to be all on our own.
Yes, dharma folks and dharma teachers can’t help but point the way, but that is all they can do, be a support. In all and everything, it comes back to our doing everything ourselves. Dharma is a do-it-yourself project. Anything other than that is just an introduction, the opening of a door through which we have to walk, but not closing or completing anything. Only we can do that.
This can be a bit of a conundrum, as I see it.
[Midjourney graphic prompted by me.]
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As Bodhicitta is so precious,
May those without it now create it,
May those who have it not destroy it,
And may it ever grow and flourish.
