Chapter six

The universal truth

Having found Suan Mokkh and the late Ven. Buddhadasa was like finding a pot of wisdom, which allowed me to understand life inwardly in a way that I had never experienced before. There was indeed a seedling of thought that the late teacher had planted in my heart. He said that Nirvana, Tao and the tree of life were in fact the same thing. I must admit that I very much doubted what he said. I could not see how Buddhism and Christianity could possibly have anything in common. I was not convinced at all. I am sure a great number of Buddhists in Thailand were not convinced either. I kept my doubt for many years.

My intuitive wisdom grew and flourished as time went by. Having lived in England for 18 years and worked as a Tai chi teacher in a university are also the main factors which allow that little seedling to grow in my heart. Now, I no longer doubt the religious concept left behind by the late teacher. I am totally convinced that the goal of Buddhism and Christianity indeed the same. My confidence comes with the experience of seeing the ultimate truth in front of me. Consequently, I have earned enough courage to express my view which may benefit the public despite the difficulties. Having lived in the Christian society has made me realise that the late teacher’s concept is really a bit much for a Christian to take in and that this concept is virtually unknown in the western society dominated by Christian tradition. Having seen how troubled the world has become and how unstable people’s minds are, I think that maybe people can gain some benefit if this thought is brought up once again with a new approach.

I cannot express anything newer than what the two teachers have said. If there was an ultimate truth at all, there must be only one truth, not two or three. We cannot say that the Buddhist truth is different from the Christian truth or any other truth claimed by other religious believers. Whenever there is a reference to ultimate truth, it has to be that one universal truth. Those who witness ‘that one truth’ will definitely express the same thing. The taste of ultimate truth is one taste just like the taste of oceans. As a matter of fact, our saints have talked about the same thing all along but we cannot understand their language. Our minds are too limited and therefore we twisted and interpreted their language wrongly. As far as I am concerned, the Buddha, the author of the book of Genesis, Christ and Lao Tzu shared the same experience. No matter if it is called Nirvana, the tree of life, the kingdom of God or Tao, all these different names refer to the same universal truth. That’s why all these saints can claim that their arrivals are to set humanity free from the bondage of spiritual ignorance. What I can add is to point out the different means used by the different saints to reach the truth.

Knowing how to get to the destination is as important as knowing the destination itself. If we know the destination but have no idea of how to get there, it is still useless. Likewise, knowing ultimate truth as the goal of life but not knowing how to get there, means that we have not yet moved out of our ignorant shelter. In my previous chapter, I introduced a triangle representing the structure of life. Whilst the top of the triangle is the ultimate purpose of life, the foundation is the means to the goal. We can see that such a structure of life is not reserved only to the Buddhists but is for all sentient beings in samsara (the circle of re-incarnation). This structure of life can however determine the ability of the different great teachers in the past. The witness of the truth always points out wisdom first (the middle arrow) by telling people about that universal entity in nature. The very first sentence in the Tao Te Ching says Tao has no name that which has a name is not Tao. Such a unique sentence depicts a clear witness to ultimate truth. This ultimate wisdom is mentioned throughout both the Old and the New Testaments. The almighty God warned people from day one to eat plenty of fruit from the tree of life (Tao) and not to go near the tree of knowledge (not Tao). In the book of Psalms 46:10 it says Be still and know that I am God. Christ came along to confirm the existence of the only God by telling people to love God more than anything else. He even took a step further by telling people that he was the Son of God. If anyone wants to know God, they have to go through him. All those unique words and the overwhelming courage can exist only in those who truly witness the truth. Lao Tzu made it very clear that ultimate truth cannot be penetrated by language and therefore can remain universal. So, it is not strange for different people who were born in different periods of time and in different cultures to see the same universal truth. Although the real truth has no language, for the reason of communication, a name has to be used to let people know about the existence of that ultimate entity in nature. Once a name is used even for the most crucial reason, it has become a double-edge blade ever since. People grab the words and interpret from the words without witnessing the real truth. As far as knowing the ultimate truth is concerned, this is the mind’s journey which adds further difficulties in trying to tell people.

Telling the way to the ultimate destination is the exact issue, which makes the Buddha distinctively stand out. Although the Tao Te Ching emphasises wisdom to begin with, the

Morality Wisdom Meditation

contents does not give people clear guidelines of how to penetrate wisdom more than telling people to harmonize with nature. Indeed, to live in harmony with Tao or nature is the exact practice but this can easily be cheated too if people do not know exactly how to do so. So, looking from the triangle representing the structure of life, the Tao Te Ching stresses only one arrow in the middle but still lacks of the two arrows of both sides.

As for Christianity, the emphasis covers two arrows, wisdom and morality, which causes the triangle to topple to the left-hand side. All the concepts about loving enemies and neighbours just like we love ourselves, turning the other cheek, run after people and give them the shirt too and so on are part of the very unusual moral principles which prepare people for the gateway of Heaven. Those who succeed in following such high moral principles must have a unique quality and a very high potential in them. A great number of Christians have failed to follow such practice because of one reason. It is too difficult. It is difficult because there is too much resistance in people’s minds. To get rid of the resistance is the direct answer to why we need to do meditation. Meditation is the practice that is still very much lacking in mainstream Christianity. The Buddha’s way is rather wholesome because it consists of wisdom, morality and meditation and forms the perfect triangle. Meditation as in vipassana-bhavana is the actual practice of how to live in harmony with Tao and how to vomit the already eaten fruits from the tree of knowledge and to enter the kingdom of God. This practice obviously is not recorded clearly in either the Tao Te Ching or the Bible. Ultimate truth cannot be reached by thinking but by witnessing only. When the life map is not clear, people can easily get lost in their spiritual jungle. In my opinion, this is the main reason which weakens Christianity and there is too much evidence to prove this point nowadays. The success of science cannot tune in with the supreme concept of the almighty God. While the devout believers in God try to hang on to their God, science tries to prove the non-existence of God. As a matter of fact, it is words and their definitions that they do not agree on and not the actual ultimate entity itself. The different cult movements are also the obvious result of being lost in a spiritual jungle.

If we want to go to an island in the Pacific, without a good map, we will definitely get lost. The ultimate entity of nature is right in front of us. We can get there through mind journey only. If the map is not detailed enough, we can never get there although it is right here. The Buddha is the only world teacher who gives us the most detailed map to get to that destination. The four foundations of awareness are the exact mind journey, which are the complete cycle in themselves. Practitioners who follow the four foundations of awareness will be placed right in front of the gateway of wisdom without having to go far away from their own homes. When the gate of wisdom is opened, one no longer needs to rely on the holy book anymore and that is the true spiritual freedom. All holy books are only maps; once we reach the destination, we do not need the map anymore.

Looking back at my own experience, I can only say that there is no way I could have made this life journey without the Buddha’s map of the four foundations of awareness.