:: March/April 2006 Volume 5/Number 2

Growing Our Own Practice

By John Casey

Wherever Buddhism has migrated into new cultures, it has done so through a marriage between the “guest” tradition and the mindset and modes of thought of its “host” culture. The current migration of various forms of Buddhism into America is no different. While it may be true that during the initial phase of this process, new Buddhist members of the host culture may be dependent upon foreign-born teachers for instruction and leadership, this dependence gradually becomes reduced. Over time as our homegrown practitioners attain illuminating experiences of their own, they are able to adapt their expression of the dharma in a manner that better communicates to their contemporaries.

It would be surprising if we did not see at least a handful of durable sects of American Buddhism become firmly established here in the foreseeable future. These new sects will retain the best and most essential teachings of their guest traditions, while simultaneously stripping away the non-essential accretions that have naturally attached themselves to these traditions over the centuries.

At the same time, there are new western contemplative schools presently in the process of formation which will spawn a merger of some of the finer insights and practical techniques of Yoga and Buddhism. Most Americans associate the word “yoga” with a collection of physical stretches and poses, combined with a sophisticated set of breathing techniques—all intended to bring about optimal physical health and well-being. However, most Americans do not realize that in the original Indian context, hatha yoga practices were primarily intended to transform the human body into a fit instrument for contemplative practice. The physical discipline was undertaken in the service of a profound spiritual goal—that of achieving a radical spiritual awakening through meditation practice. If one cannot be healthy and comfortable in the physical body, then how can one expect to be able to sit quietly for lengthy periods of time in order for the entire body-mind system to achieve the deeper quiescent states within which profound illuminations are likely to dawn?

The original Ashtanga (eight-limbed) Yoga of the Yoga Sutra traces a brilliant and eminently practical spiritual lifestyle. It begins with ethical purification and cultivation of a spiritually conducive attitude in one’s personal life. It then perfects the body through yogic postures and yogic breathing. Once these are established, it naturally becomes easier to effectively withdraw one’s attention inwards to discover for oneself the ultimate nature of consciousness and Being. The result may be variously labeled as Awakening, Self-Realization or Spiritual Liberation. But whatever terms are used to label or describe it, efforts to bring it into practice can only be enhanced by implementing an intelligent program that employs all aspects of the body-mind complex.

I have long been puzzled that many Buddhist communities appear to place relatively little attention to fine-tuning the physical body. While I appreciate the fact that bodhi or “awakening” is primarily a matter of mind and consciousness, the yogic assertion that this rare cognitive state is more likely to occur within a strong and healthy body simply makes good sense.

My observation these days is that many individuals who are deeply committed to Buddhist meditation practices are also familiar with at least a few physical yoga practices. On the other hand, it seems that many who become more deeply involved with hatha yoga practice eventually become naturally drawn to learn more about the contemplative side of the Yoga tradition. Of these, some eventually find their way to one or more of the Buddhist traditions. Some feel that the Buddhist tradition has gone far in exploring the nature of mind and its dynamic states, while also advancing the diverse contemplative practices that can effectively lead to its fundamental transformation.

I look forward to the day when these two brilliant traditions of Asian spiritual culture are more fully integrated into the emerging new schools of global spirituality which can and will arise in the auspicious conditions we today enjoy here in Amitabha’s western paradise.

John T. Casey, Ph.D., specializes in the meditative traditions of Asia, and helped to form both the Yoga and Buddhism Studies Programs at UC Irvine Extension. Dr. Casey also currently teaches at UCLA Extension and Loyola Marymount University.

 

 

 

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