Here are a few quotes from the Dalai Lama’s recent book, The Many Ways to Nirvana :

“So we must make clear what the Tibetan Buddhist tradition actually is. It is the pure tradition of Nalanda [the ancient Buddhist university in India] … Unfortunately, Tibetan Buddhism is sometimes presented in its superficial aspects, with masks and countless rituals. In this, I think, there is real danger of misunderstanding Buddha Dharma.”

Q : Westerners don’t progess as quickly on the Vajrayana path [The Diamond Way, based on the Tantra] as the Tibetans do. Would you agree?

“In the Tibetan society as well, even though there are many who practise Tantra, there are very few who have the realization as explained in the Tantric texts.”

Q : How important is the method?

“That is extremely important. Because if you are able to follow a method and select a path which is relevant and suitable to your mental disposition, it will be much more effective.

“So, you see, the Buddhist way of practice begins with study. Study by hearing, by reading, just by absorbing information! Once you gather that information, you have to analyse it yourself. Don’t just rely on Buddha’s quotations. Rely instead on your investigations and experiments.”

It’s clear just from these few extracts, and indeed from the whole book, that the Dalai Lama stands firmly in the tradition of Gautama Buddha. If that sounds an obvious thing to say, it isn’t.

The Buddha believed in free inquiry (The Kalama Sutra). He challenged his hearers to find the truth for themselves, not to take his words as gospel. He discouraged a “cult of personality” forming around him. I’m not a god, was his constant message to those with ears to hear. Empiricism and scepticism, coupled with direct experience, made up his creed. How many of today’s Buddhists are “hearers” of the Buddha’s words?

Judging by the Dalai Lama’s book, he at least can make that claim.

My own book, The Nirvaneans — The Natural History of Nirvana will be published by Humdrumming on June 21 next year.

Nirvanoception is my own word for space consciousness, the underlying awareness that allows us to glimpse the Nirvanic realm beyond ordinary consciousness.

Here’s a short extract from my book, The Nirvaneans:

You are all Buddhas,
but you don’t know it.
Bankei

Nirvanoception is the third, usually latent, mode of knowledge. I say “usually latent” because we’re mostly unaware of it. We freely use body-mind modes of “perception” (senses) and “conception” (mind) to navigate around our world, while remaining completely in the dark about “space consciousness”, which is working in the background.

Normal consciousness is narrowly focused in our heads. Nirvanoception is wide, space consciousness, which takes no heed of trivial daily concerns. It clarifies during nirvanic experiences because perception and conception are “left behind” with the body-mind.

The aim of any spiritual path is to clean up the doors of perception and conception so that Nirvanoception shines brightly in our consciousness. To be precise, it’s how Nirvana experiences itself.

That is the Enlightened state. It’s what Tibetans call the Clear Light. It allows a higher mode of being to possess us, effecting a complete transformation of personality.

As Evelyn Underhill put it: “Mysticism is seen to be a highly specialized form of that search for reality, for heightened and completed life, which we have found to be a constant characteristic of human consciousness. It is largely prosecuted by that ‘spiritual spark’, that transcendental faculty which, though the life of our life, remains below the threshold in ordinary men. Emerging from its hiddenness in the mystic, it gradually becomes the dominant factor in his life…Under [its spur] the whole personality rises in the acts of contemplation … to a level of consciousness at which it becomes aware of a new field of perception.”

So what is the Path of Nirvanoception? How does it differ from other paths?

It is essentially the path of the Jnani (as Vedantists would say); the path of analytical meditation, or the wisdom stream (as the Dalai Lama puts it); the path of Discrimination (Merrell-Wolff); the path of Knowledge (Gnosis), and the path of Direct Seeing. All these “names” could apply equally as well.
Put bluntly, if you want twenty years of psychotherapy, see a Freudian analyst. If you want arthritic knees, try the usual paths of meditation. If you want nice feelings, try charismatic Christianity.

The Path of Nirvanoception is a direct assault on the summit of Nirvana by attempting to break through to a higher mode of being. The aim is to allow the “Suprapersonal” to clean up the conditioned, karmic entity we normally are, thus releasing the clear light of Nirvanoception.

The Nirvaneans by John M Evans will be published in early 2007 by Humdrumming.

The Dalai Lama has a well-documented interest in science and technology. In his early years at the Potala Palace in Lhasa he experimented with old cars, wireless equipment and many aspects of technology. One might even call him, without disrespect, a spiritual geek.

Who better then to give an inaugural address at a conference on Science and Spirituality in Modern India. Here’s an excerpt from that address, culled from Phayul.com:

I believe there is a genuine relation between modern science and internal spirituality. Our bodies are the platform for all pleasure and pain at the sensory level. At the same time, we have a sophisticated mind, which keeps track of things at the psychological level. Between these two, the experience of pain and pleasure on the mental level is superior. One could be physically ill but still be mentally happy and content. In fact, physical pain can be subdued by mental calm.

It is the basic right of all beings to achieve a happy, successful life. Today’s material world is a product of science and technology — both of which bring comfort to humanity. Advancement in science and technology is helping people remedy their problems. Which is why we need to be aware of both. But, can science and technology eliminate pain at the mental level? Unfortunately, modern machines can manufacture everything but a happy mind. And treatment on the physical level can’t change your mental disposition.

I would say, while science gets us physical comforts, spirituality brings us mental calm. With the ever-growing impact of science on our lives, religion and spirituality have a greater role to play in reminding us of our humanity. There is no contradiction between the two. Each gives us valuable insights into the other.

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