Build, Use and Leave the Raft Behind

It is said, once a young man came to see Sakyamuni Buddha. The man was sceptical about Buddha’s teachings and asked him, “Blessed One, are your teachings completely new and original, or do they have any connection with spiritual teachings and path that existed before you?”

The Buddha responded by telling the young man a parable:

“Imagine a person who is on one side of a great river, and that person wishes to reach the other side. On the side where they stand, there are dangers, obstacles and difficulties. The other side is safe and free from danger, obstacles and difficulties. The person wishes to leave this shore and reach the other side. So, the person builds a raft to cross the river and reach the other shore.

Now, even if the raft helped the person cross the river, the person does not carry the raft on their head wherever they go. They do not burden their head with the raft because it has served its purpose and is no longer necessary. They leave the raft behind on the shore and continue their journey without it.”

This parable of the raft illustrates the purpose and the nature of the Buddha’s teachings. This is something we could use as a measure to see if the teachings of Buddha resonate with us or not. Do they take us closer to ourselves, away from suffering towards more understanding and wisdom? Do they connect us all, removing the layers of separation we have between us and other sentient beings?

In this edition of the newsletter, we will take a look at Chapter 1 of the audiobook, “Coming Closer to Ourselves: Making Everything the Path of Awakening” by Ani Pema Chodron. In this chapter, Pema presents us with the 3 Yanas. The word “Yana” means vehicle, and in the Buddhist tradition, a yana refers to the vehicles or paths that one could take towards awakening or enlightenment. The Yanas contain different approaches and practices that can lead a practitioner towards awakening.

I was first introduced to mindfulness by my therapist to work with my chronic depression. She gave me a sheet of standalone exercises to practice. I wasn’t aware of their context, background or purpose apart from being told that they would help me to work. I tried a couple of them and could not stick with them.

When I learnt meditation formally, through my first 10-day Vipassana (Goenka style) retreat, I was introduced to Buddha’s teachings and how Vipassana as a practice was a direct application of his teachings. As  my exploration of meditation progressed, I learned various standalone practices from different books, courses, teachers and contexts.  However, I was not able to string together the practices or coherently understand the context, nature and purpose of each practice. This became even more important as I wanted to go deeper in my practice supported by study and contemplation, as I was getting stuck with various challenges in my practice and did not know how to work with them.   

This understanding provides me with the opportunity to be more aware of my own needs, and temperament and work accordingly. Ideally, I would have loved a personal teacher on this path to help me figure out what works for me and what doesn’t, which is how traditionally these things are learnt.  But in my context and situation, I have access to various resources, teachers and practices thanks to the internet and, the grace and kindness of people who help me walk this path.

In this edition of the newsletter, we will explore

• Explanation, Origin, Emphasis, Objective and Fruition of each Yanas

• The Turning of the Wheel of Dharma

• Moving from one Yana to the other

• The Parable - A Strawberry on the Vine

1. Hinayana or Sravakayana or The Lesser Vehicle:

These are the original, foundational and the first teachings by Buddha after his enlightenment. This is most familiar to most of us as Theravada or Shamata-Vipassana teachings and practices. The term Hinayana is pejorative and is used by Mahayana Practitioners to describe the earlier Buddhist Schools, and is something Pema (and I am glad she did that) refers to them in this audiobook as the Foundational Yana or Teachings.

It is a bit of an irony that teachers of Dharma like to classify and separate the teachings of Buddha in some order of superiority thereby solidifying their sense of self and perception.

What is the emphasis?

The emphasis in Foundational Yana is on individual liberation from suffering. The practices are aimed at developing maitri - unconditional friendship and acceptance with oneself, for if one cannot see and understand the nature of suffering in one’s own experience, it is challenging to go out in the world and be there for others.

What is the fruition?

The fruition of matiri is the flexibility and comfort we develop with ourselves and others.

2. Mahayana or The Greater Vehicle

This tradition is well known to us as Zen Buddhism but it also encompasses a variety of schools and practices such as Tibetan Buddhism, Pure Land and Zen. This tradition also encompasses a wider range of commentaries, teachings and scriptures than the Foundational Yana.

What is the emphasis?

This tradition emphasizes the idea of “Bodhisattva” where the motivation for enlightenment is not only for themselves but also for the benefit of all sentient beings. The emphasis in this path of practice is compassion and experiencing emptiness or shunyata.

What is the fruition?

From developing Maitri we move to experiencing shunyata (emptiness) in this path. When we train to stay with ourselves and others repeatedly in the present moment, two things happen.

• We look at the “transparency” and “emptiness” of the present moment

• Compassion for others is awakened

3. Vajrayana or The Diamond Vehicle

This tradition evolved in India and established itself in Tibet and other regions. This is also called Tantric Buddhism. This path considers itself to be a “fast track path” to enlightenment. Vajrayana places a strong emphasis on visualisations, tantra and esoteric practices. It has many complex, intricate and symbolic practices that are considered to take one to enlightenment. This is prevalant in Tibetan Buddhism and the role of the teacher is heavily emphasised in this path.

What is the emphasis?

The emphasis in this path is to stay, stay and stay. So what are we staying with?

We are training to stay with the energy of the moment. The energy in the present moment when our neurosis is heightened, and when we learn to stay with the neurosis it leads to our enlightenment.

What is the fruition?

The fruition of this path is to re-discover “Buddhahood” or experience luminosity or the fullness of nature. The fruition is the path. In this tradition, it is considered that we are all fully enlightened beings, and we do not realise it as our mind is covered with obscurations that prevent us from realising it. So we use everything in our path, to discover or rather re-discover our true nature - Buddhahood.

The Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma

As we explore the yanas it is useful to understand the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma and their close relationship with the yanas.

After Siddharta Gautama’s (known to us as the Buddha or the Awakened One) enlightenment under a Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya, India, he hadn’t initially considered teaching. He meditated for a few days and then travelled from Bodh Gaya to Sarnath, near Varanasi. There he met five ascetics who were his companions during his years of asceticism.

When the ascetics met him, they were full of scorn for Siddharata and remarked, “You lacked the courage to go through with the rigorous practices of austerity and mortification and you ran away.”

To this, the Buddha did not respond and smiled beatifically.

The ascetics were puzzled and noticed the radiance surrounding the Awakened One and asked him, “There is something different about you, Siddhartha. You are glowing and radiant. We thought you gave up the path, but you seem to be awake. What did you find out?”

Thus, Buddha gave his first teachings by presenting the Four Noble Truths and the 8 Fold Noble Path and expanding on each aspect of his teachings. Upon thus listening to the Buddha, it is said that one of the ascetics attained instant enlightenment.  This first set of teachings at Deer Park, Sarnath marks the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma.

The Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma encompasses the teachings on the nature of reality, emptiness, and the concept of the Middle Way. These are primarily associated with the Mahayana Tradition and the emphasis is on Bodhisattva path. The most famous text in this turning of the Wheel is “The Heart Sutra”, which was a transmission by Buddha to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara.

The Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma is a further expansion and clarification of Buddha’s teachings and is primarily associated with Vajrayana and Tantric practices.

Moving from One Yana to Another

I am inclined to think of these stages as concentric circles. We work with ourselves, stay present with others and then are faced with a challenging situation when things fall completely apart. Then in increasing the radius of a circle, we discover and learn about staying present with ourselves all over again. We cultivate compassion for others through this intimate knowing of ourselves, and then we are hit with a challenging circumstance in our lives. Maybe when we finish going through all the concentric circles, we attain enlightenment :-)

Whether I attain enlightenment or not, I would happily settle for a life that is far less tormented by inner conflicts. I would like to be able to cultivate acceptance of the natural processes of life - ageing, death, sickness and unexpected ups and downs in life.

P.S. Thank you for subscribing and sticking with me. I’d love to know what parts of this article resonated with you and what did not. I’d love to hear from you what you think.

As a parting thought, I will finish this edition with a parable.

Strawberry in the Vine

Once, Buddha shared a parable in a sutra.

A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, and the tiger pursued him. As he ran, he came to the edge of a cliff and he grabbed the root of a wild vine and swung himself over the edge suspending himself over the precipice. If he fell, he wouldn’t survive the steep drop into the chasm. Only the vine kept him from his death.

Then the man saw two mice who were gnawing away at the vine, little by little. On the vine was a luscious strawberry. Grasping the vine with one hand, he reached over and plucked the strawberry. How sweet it tasted!