Some of the most relevant and lively messages these days I observe on T-Shirts and bumper stickers. In a catalogue recently, there was a T-shirt featuring a traditional picture of the Buddha with the simple inscription: “Inquire within.” Perhaps that says it all when it comes to Buddhist philosophy, but it is a large order in this society that is so lacking in introspection—inner work. When it comes to looking within ourselves, we need all the help we can get. We are in need of support in terms of stories, Buddhist scriptures, meditation techniques, and yes, words of wisdom that might be fitting for a T-shirt.

On the bulletin board above my desk I once had a poster for a play that was on at the Los Angeles Theater Center a few years ago called, “I am on a Mission from Buddha.” I left it there to remind me that is my mission, to remember the Buddhist Fourfold Path and Eight Noble Truths as I go through my days. In case I forget, I also have those Buddhist symbols we see everywhere. In fact, I put the Buddhist-fish symbol on the bumper of my car. A couple of my Christian friends observed it on the way into an interfaith meeting and, to my surprise, complimented me on it. To me, the juxtaposition of the fish outline with the word Buddha means the convergence of Christian/Buddhist ethics and one more expression of my happily cobbled together religious faith.

Although I have never specialized in teachings of the Dharma, since I am not worthy, not yet, I weave them into my thoughts and practices as I go about my days. I am aware that to be a true Buddhist requires a lifetime of learning and discipline: I am not a card-carrying member of any Buddhist persuasion, only a humble student, far from enlightened, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping in mind and heart the precepts of Right Action, Speech, Effort and Livelihood to mention only four on the Eightfold Noble Path.

Diving deeply into the history or sacred scriptures of Buddhism requires university courses. The first time I took one, I found it all quite dull, overly technical and foreign to my Western mind. Especially since our professor made us memorize a long list of Sanskrit phrases that I have had little opportunity to work into a conversation or even a talk ever since. What I want to delve into although briefly is how Buddhist thought and practices can affect us Westerners, us freethinkers on a quest, those of us on the path to enlightenment.

There must be a lot of money to be made in enlightenment, because someone is prospering from the long shelves of books I own on all aspects of the Buddhist philosophy---some I have read over and over and some just sitting there lonely while I buy more and more. If I have a version of Buddhist “sin” it is attachment--to the written word--while I could be actually doing my practice. What I want to address is Buddhism as the religion of being awake. The Buddha was once asked “Are you a god?

“No,” he answered.

“Then are you an angel?” Again, he answered, no.

“Are you a saint?” They asked. Siddhartha said, no.

“Then what are you? “ He answered, “I am . . . awake.”

Perhaps that accounts for my fascination with the faith because I so often lack concentration. “Pay Attention!” I hear the Buddha whisper loudly in my ears. If Buddhism had to be reduced to three words, it would be these three words—attend, attend, attend.

You see the Sanskrit word for “awake” is Budh. The same word also means “to know.” Since Siddhartha Guatama was considered to be truly awake, he was given that title Buddha, which means, “the awakened one”—or as it’s often translated into English, “the enlightened one.” To be enlightened means to have looked within, to know, to truly know what it means to be awake.

After Gautama the Buddha had “inquired within” for a long time, he woke up, he taught thousands of others how to wake up too. One reason I continue on my inward and outward mission from Buddha is that I am deeply impressed and very influenced by this man and his followers. They who spoke to the world at the same time as Zoroaster and the Greek Philosophers and Hebrew prophets and Confucius and Lao Tsu—the founder of Taoism—about 500 B.C.E. He called people away from gods and cruel social castes, and superstitions; he was a mortal being who denied the idea of a supernatural being, and yet was later made into a god by many of his followers.

One gentle but powerful speaker for Buddhism is from that beleaguered but beautiful country that is once more in the news, Vietnam. His name you may have heard or read about many times, Thich Nhat Hanh. Very much influenced by the sorrow and suffering in that country and buoyed by his religious faith, his mission from Buddha is to emphasize for all of us the importance of living mindfully. He gives us simple exercises to lead us into awareness of our breathing, of gratitude, of smiling. Simple exercises like:

Body, speech and mind in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of the bell.

May the hearer awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow. (bell) Listen, listen, this wonderful sound brings me back to my true self.

Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist master, draws our attention to the reality of it all--Buddhism is never an escape from reality. This is why it meshes so well with the searching and skeptical mindset. He says that meditation is not to get out of society, not to escape from the real world, but to prepare for a re-entry into society. We call this “engaged Buddhism.”

When we go to a meditation center, we may have the impression that we leave everything behind—family, society, and all the complications involved in them—and come as an individual in order to practice and to search for peace. Not so. Not so. This is already an illusion, and the Buddhists are very conscious of the fact that most perceptions are illusions, not reality. In Buddhism, there is no such thing as an individual apart from the society in which one lives, we are all interdependent no matter where we live or what we are doing.

Even if you ever have the privilege of spending hours on your cushion inquiring within, you cannot make the world go away. One reason for the concept of “Engaged Buddhism” is that a way of being for those of the Buddhist persuasion is the path of compassion. We know we are not separate beings. Separation is an illusion. As one of my favorite songs goes, “Somos el Barco, I sail in you, you sail in me. I live in you, you live in me.” The Buddhists, being mindful of this connection, inner and outward, are devoted to the possibility of relieving suffering. They say that suffering is a given in our lives but their mission is to improve the environment between people and all sentient beings. Large order, right? We each can do it in our own way, starting with ourselves, if possible.

Every relationship is a vehicle for compassion—for love. Every experience is a vehicle for awakening. For being here in the present, in this present moment. Every moment is a time to pay attention to what is happening in your mind and your heart. How calm is your mind? How open is your heart?

My mentor Ram Dass works closely with a partner named Steven Levine in their work with the sick and dying. They argued one day about something; the next day his friend called him on the telephone and asked simply—“How is your heart?” Not as an M.D. heart specialist would ask but as a friend, in sacred partnership, doing the vital work of the world. Sometimes even friends need to ask each other such a question as a way of reminding each other what it’s all about. How is your heart? Is it forgiving? is it beating with love and compassion? Our heart’s blood keeps us alive so we can be a vehicle for relieving suffering. And yes, for bringing joy into our lives by eliminating unnecessary separation and attachment.

Or perhaps your heart is breaking, and in need of healing. Years ago I heard this in an Encounter Group—“People can make each other sick. And people can make each other well.”

Every moment is a vehicle that can take us into a sleep that creates more stuckness, more separation, or it can be a moment for waking up. Did the moment liberate us or dig a hole of separation even deeper? Did the moment add to life’s melodramas, or did in create an environment that helps each other to awaken, to reach for a higher way of being.

When speaking on the subject of compassion—I can’t help but think about the subject that is taking up so much media space right now. I have never written or spoken on the death penalty per se because I felt it too complex and controversial to address in any clear or decisive way. But it certainly fits in with subject for engaged Buddhism. Where does our compassion begin and end in cases of a capital crime?

With the victim? With the victim’s family and friends? With the murderer’s family and friends? Is it ever possible to have compassion for the perpetrator of the crime. Probably not. That is too hard a test for most of us. I doubt if many people would feel any sympathy for Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma bomber, the ultimate and unrepentant criminal who was executed at the hands of federal officials. How many more, now that we are dealing also with death dealing terrorists, will meet the same fate?

Perhaps that is only what they deserve, revenge is a basic human emotion and sometimes cathartic, but think on this a moment please--what about compassion for our society? A legal system that is condoning us citizens to be murderers, to kill others also in a premeditated and cold blooded way. And sometimes as DNA tests are proving, they are not even guilty or their defense attorney fell asleep during the trial. I for one do not want to be part of a society that allows and encourages such a practice. Thou shalt not kill means thou shalt not kill. In my discussions with other aware people, most of us have begun to question, where is the justice and positive purpose in that kind of punishment? If your mind is not made up see the film, Dead Man Walking, a true story of compassion that is lifted up in the face of the ultimate punishment by the Roman Catholic Sister Jean.

Some day I hope, our American society will be lifted to a new level of consciousness, starting with Buddhist-like principles of reverence for life. Starting with us right now and right here.

Meanwhile, I get help working in a liberal religious context (where we are asked to question so-called authority) from the record of the Buddha’s sermons called suttas. They were first written down about 500 years after the death of Buddha, the monks with extraordinarily well-trained memories recited them for centuries before they finally were written down. I think this one, the Kalama Sutta speaks especially to us questers:

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

To help us to become more aware of the Buddha nature we all have within, I invite you to join me in this visualization.

Please sit with a straight back, freeing your hands, relaxing your neck and arms. I invite you to close your eyes and take some deep breaths.

Become aware of your heart center, and breathe deeply in and out of it for a few minutes. Visualize a tiny Buddha seated there, radiant, perfect. This being embodies all virtues, all strengths. This Buddha figure radiates equanimity, compassion, all-embracing love. With each breath, the tiny Buddha glows brighter and begins to expand. Follow this expansion into the rest of your body with your breath and flow of attention until it fills your entire heart center. Keep breathing life into this Buddha-self until it overflows your heart center and slowly fills every part of your being, every cell of your body, until you and the Buddha are one. As the Buddha, there is no more striving or guilt. You are there.

As the Buddha, now begin to breath into your Buddha-heart, drawing in light with each breath, changing it into love in your heart, and sending it out from your center to the world. With each breath your heart glows brighter. Feel the love stream out of Buddha’s center. Keep breathing in light and sending out love like a continuous river that flows out to cover the whole universe. Let all other thoughts go as you become the mighty channel for this blessing. There is no you or me—only a vast Buddha heart and a spiritual center.

Now, slowly slowly, start to draw into your heart center, once more as the luminous figure fills it. As the Buddha-body becomes smaller, it becomes even more brilliant, leaving you with a light-filled radiance in your

Heart for the rest of the day. In your dealings with the world this day, this week, remember that part of you is still the Buddha.

In the silence,

Blessed be. Shalom

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