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Holistic Living
What Is Extreme Buddhism?
One early morning, many ages ago, in a small, humble village in the Far East, hundreds of men, women and children gathered expectantly along the sides of a narrow dirt road leading through their town. They clutched flowers, ripe fruits, baskets of rice and other offerings, and faced the rising sun in the East, straining to hear the sounds of foreign feet approaching. As everyone knew, the Enlightened One was coming this very morning.
As the sun lifted into the cloudless sky, the great wandering monk appeared on the horizon, and the village erupted into sound: drums banging, horns blowing, children screaming and parents weeping loudly with joy.
Amidst this ecstatic frenzy, a young man wandered through the crowd. He was not particularly spiritual or religious and considered this fanfare welcome for a wandering ascetic silly and a bit comical. Unable to press through the throngs, he watched the man approach, squinting into the blinding light, as the sun traced a path into the heavens. The simple monk’s robes and worn sandals were nearly obscured by the rain of flower petals and rice being tossed skyward in front of his path.
Suddenly, a very strange feeling came over the young man. What was this unexpected emotion? He noticed a little girl near him holding a small bouquet of wildflowers. He dug all of his coins from his pocket and offered them to her in exchange for her bouquet. She looked at him oddly, but smiled, handed them over, and ran giggling back to her parents without taking his money. The young man, overcome with a feeling that he could not reconcile, ran into the road directly in front of the Enlightened Traveler and threw the bouquet at his feet. Miraculously, the flowers never landed. They hovered, seemingly in their own ecstasy, in front of the monk. The ascetic looked up, as if from a trance, and gazed directly into the eyes of the young man.
It is said that this is the moment when Shakyamuni Buddha first stepped onto the spiritual path, for it was this moment, in a lifetime long, long ago, when he first recognized Enlightenment, felt a desire to know more, and received the blessing from an enlightened being that began his own evolution to Buddhahood.
For all spiritual seekers, there comes a lifetime when we decide we want enlightenment. And then, perhaps millennia—even eons—later, there comes that one lifetime when we will attain it.
We then want to know how you can go from being that young man spontaneously tossing a bouquet of flowers at the feet of an Enlightened Teacher, to becoming that Teacher, before whom those flowers never touch the ground. What is necessary in this precious incarnation to cause us to finally suppress our attachments, control the ego and enter into the Light? How can you know whether this is the lifetime when you will walk through the doorway of Nirvana into liberation? The answer is, you don’t know, as much as you decide.
Once you have decided—This Will Be The Lifetime I Become Free—now you need to find a Way, and follow that Way with every particle of your mind, body and soul until you become free or die trying.
The problem most seekers have is that by the time they decide in a given incarnation to do whatever is necessary to attain liberation, they don’t have enough years left alive to build up enough power or learn to meditate well enough to actually do it. Most young people are just too entertained by worldly pursuits and pleasures to get interested until they are older. By then they are so set in their ways, the transformations required for spiritual evolution become too difficult to achieve by ordinary means.
What is a spiritual seeker to do? Look to The Buddha himself for the answer.
2500 years ago, spiritual teaching was dominated as much by politics in some ways as it can be in religious organizations today. It was also believed that only the educated, higher classes should have instruction in spirituality. The lower classes and illiterate masses were unworthy of hearing the High Dharma. Shakyamuni, on the other hand, believed that everyone should hear the Truth that he had been so privileged to discover for himself. He knew that Enlightenment is available to everyone, as our most organic and true nature, and thus, that everyone inspired to hear the Dharma is worthy.
So he began speaking to anyone interested, specifically in the language of the people. The scholars and elders were horrified and offended that someone would dare teach the Dharma in a language other than Sanskrit. They tried to get the Buddha to stop. Having a sense of humor—as the Enlightened tend to do—he held up his palm and told them, “Talk to the hand.” And everyone thought he was performing some kind of mudra.
The Buddha was a radical. He drew large crowds and entertained everyone with his magnificent Light and the music of deep meditation. By today’s definition, he was a rock star.
The modern era’s Buddhism is inclusive, which is wonderful. Everyone can learn to meditate, practice mindfulness and seek serenity. However, the Pathway to Enlightenment is different from the Pathway to Feeling Peaceful. For these more intense teachings, the Buddha created the Tantras. These are the advanced instructions for attaining liberation in a single incarnation, for making this lifetime, now, the one lifetime when, after thousands of years of seeking, you finally become free. It is possible to find peace and serenity, but not be free. However, once you are free, peace and serenity are also achieved. Freedom requires an intensity, passion and sense of urgency that most spiritual seekers do not learn to cultivate—although anyone interested can.
We have a name for this radical, rock-star, make-it-happen-now kind of spiritual path. It’s called Extreme. Extreme Buddhism is for anyone who wants to hear the Truth, and learn how to use the tools necessary to become That, now.
Extreme Buddhism is for anyone who believes that spirituality can be exhilarating, not boring; outrageous, not stuffy. And above all, it’s for anyone with a good sense of humor. In such an intense practice, you’ll need one!
Extreme Buddhism takes Shakyamuni’s approach: adapting ancient wisdom for students living in this age, speaking our modern language. There is a reason Buddha drove the traditional scholars of his day nuts. He had the crazy idea that seekers had to understand the teachings in order to actually benefit from them. He wanted to teach others to appreciate the ecstasy and fun of spiritual practice, not just the rules and regulations. He knew the Truth and spoke about it clearly and humbly, according to the sensibilities of the students sitting in front of him in his time.
Back then, when he wanted to communicate to his students a simple message such as, “Meditation Is Fun,” perhaps we would have found Buddha chiseling “MIF” into a rock and throwing it into the crowd. Someone might have chiseled a short reply into the same rock, such as “TYT” (Thank you, Teacher) and tossed it back. Ancient text messaging…The point is, there is nothing more spiritual about a rock than a cell phone. It’s essentially the same practice, just using more modern technology.
We do not live in rural India in 500 B.C. If Buddha were teaching in the United States in 2009, he would do things differently than he did 2500 years ago, while keeping the spirit and essence of the teachings the same. He would undoubtedly do whatever it might take to inspire others to seek enlightenment, no matter how unconventional. He would be what we call Extreme.
Experience Extreme Buddhism : The Shortest Path for the Darkest Age - Harder, Faster, More Outrageous at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco November 14 and 15. For more information about Extreme Buddhism, visit extremebuddhism.org or view their page on Facebook.