Endlessly Fascinating Cry - Part 1

... for a whole year. The retreat was held
in Norfolk, in a rather dilapidated Georgian mansion pleasantly situated amidst magnificent
trees on the outskirts of the tiny village of Tittleshall. Attending the retreat, which lasted from
13th to 22nd December, were MahaUpasika Gotami, Upasakas Dhruva, A§vajit, Subhuti and
Vajradaka, Mike Kitching (now Upasaka Devamitra), Gisela Szagun (now Upasika
Jinamata), and finally Mary Rawnsley (now Upasika Sulochana), the owner of the Old
Rectory (now known as ‘Abhirati*), due to whose kindness we were able to hold the retreat
there. Every morning after breakfast I left the isolated cottage which Mark Dunlop (now
Upasaka Vajrakumara) and I had rented for the winter and set out down the lane leading to
the highroad with a pleasant sense of anticipation. It was a cold winter in Norfolk that year.
As far as the eye could see the flat East Anglian landscape was covered in snow, and apart
from the vivid scarlet of the rose hips - unusually abundant that year - the only touch of
colour was the occasional patch of brown where the snow had melted, or where it had fallen
more thinly than elsewhere. Trees and bushes seemed cut out of white muslin, or carved from
silver filigree. In the lane the pools of water formed by the tricklings of a nearby spring had
congealed to sheets of crystal, and I had to pick my way through for fear of slipping. It
seemed strange that I should be making my way through this white frozen world to study a
text that had originated amidst the burning heats of India, and which spoke of coral trees,
golden lotuses, and jasmine. On mornings when the sky was blue, and the sun shone, the
whole landscape - trees, hedgerows and fields - sparkled as though fashioned out of white
icing by some celestial confectioner. But more often than not the sky was overcast and snow
flakes falling so thick and fast that everything was blotted out. Once or twice the weather was
so bad that Mark had to leave his work bench and drive me to my destination. On my arrival
there would be a cup of tea and a warm welcome from Mary and the rest of the participants in
the retreat, all of whom were staying at the Old Rectory. Then, when logs had been thrown
onto the library fire, and everybody had made themselves comfortable with cushions and
blankets on the floor, the tape recorder would be switched on and the session - which lasted
for three or four hours, and was interrupted only by a short break for coffee - would begin.
The only complete English translation of the BodhicaryŒvatŒra so far published is Entering
the Path of Enlightenment by the American scholar Marion L. Matics, and it was this that we
studied. Going round the circle in clockwise direction, everybody read from the book in turn,
I commented on what had been read, or perhaps somebody asked a question, and in this way
a discussion generally developed. The BodhicaryŒvatŒra consists of ten chapters. First we
read and discussed a portion of the extremely helpful Guide which precedes the translation
and is an effort, so Dr. Matics tells us, ‘to comprehend and explain sympathetically the
profound and beautiful classic which is the BodhicaryŒvatŒra, and to place it in perspective
in the evolving history of Buddhist thought* (p.6), then we turned to the corresponding
chapter of the text and read and discussed that. On one or two occasions this procedure broke
down. Thus the portion of the Guide headed ‘Confession of Sins* in fact also deals with
‘Grasping the Thought of Enlightenment* and therefore corresponds not with one but with
two chapters of êŒntideva*s text. Since this was not noticed when the retreat programme was
drawn up, and study material allocated to the different days, the reading and discussion of the
second of these two chapters, ‘Grasping the Thought of Enlightenment: Bodhicittaparigraha*,
did not take place until after the reading and discussion of a further portion of the Guide,
dealing with ‘The Perfections* and ‘Mindfulness and Awareness*. Moreover, this portion of
the Guide, which is quite short, also corresponds with two chapters of the text, i.e. with
‘Vigilance in the Thought of Enlightenment: Bodhicittapramada* and ‘Guarding of Total
Awareness: Samprajanyaraksana’. In this case, the two chapters of the text were both read
and discussed in their proper place immediately after the corresponding portion of the Guide.
One important section of the Guide, and two chapters of the text, were not studied on the
retreat. These were the section and chapter on ‘Perfection of Wisdom: Prajnaparamita*, and
the chapter on ‘Consummation: Parinamana’. So far as the Perfection of Wisdom is
concerned, the omission was to some extent made good on a Mitra Retreat held at
‘Padmaloka* in July 1976, in the course of which the first two chapters of the
Ratnagunasamcayagatha or ‘Verses on the Accumulation of Precious Qualities* were read
and discussed. When published in book form the transcript of this retreat will form an
important supplement to the present volume.
Despite the fact that we were not able to go through the whole of Entering the Path of
Enlightenment in December 1973, we succeeded in gaining a better understanding not only of
the Bodhisattva Ideal itself but of a number of different aspects of Buddhist thought. At the
same time we never forgot that an ideal has real meaning for us only to the extent that it is
actually embodied in our lives, and therefore constantly sought to relate the material we were
studying to the spiritual needs of the individual Buddhist, especially the individual Western
Buddhist, as he strives to develop both on his own and in association with other people. In
this way we came to discuss a number of topics of great practical interest. Among them were
the place of devotion in the spiritual life, the difference between disgruntlement and
disillusionment, the rival claims of discipline and spontaneity, why people are so unwilling to
give, our attitude towards our parents, whether Buddhism is escapism, the value of study, the
importance of gratitude, the alleged dangers of hypnotism and the difference between
hypnotism and meditation, the value of enemies, and the need for cultivation of the more
heroic virtues in the spiritual life. Our discussion of these topics - indeed the fact that some of
them could arise at all - necessarily reflected the state of the FWBO at the time, after nearly
seven years of existence, including my one year away from London where the greater part of
the Movement was still centred. In the course of the four years that followed much happened:
the Movement has expanded to an extent that hardly anyone could have foreseen, and
changes have taken place at virtually all levels. People are less problem-oriented, and more
ideal-oriented, than they were previously. There has been a shift of emphasis from the
‘psychological* to the ‘spiritual* end of the spectrum of personal development - from the red
of mental health to the violet of transcendental awareness. More energy is in circulation, and
there is a higher degree of emotional positivity. Nevertheless, the topics that we discussed on
that memorable first study retreat at the Old Rectory are still of great practical interest and
value, especially to those relatively new to the Movement, and I therefore hope that the
transcript of the tape-recording of our discussions will circulate as widely as possible among
Order members, Mitras and Friends - in fact wherever there is a desire to grow and a
willingness to appreciate the greatness of the Bodhisattva Ideal.
III
In preparing the present volume for publication, editing has been kept to a minimum. With
the exception of only two omissions of any importance, it is a complete and faithful record of
all the discussions that took place. The two omissions are (1) the discussion on Dr. Matics*
Introduction to the Guide, entitled ‘The Rise of the MŒdhyamika*, which we decided it was
not necessary to record on tape, and (2) the discussion on the latter part of Chapter V of the
text, ‘Guarding of Total Awareness*, which was not recorded for technical reasons. So far as
Dr. Matics* Introduction is concerned, the serious student of the BodhicaryŒvatŒra is strongly
recommended to read and study the whole Guide, which everybody on the retreat found
invaluable. The only material that has been actually deleted consists of discussions of no
general interest, such as those relating to the current functioning of ‘Pundarika*, the London
centre of the FWBO. Originally I had intended to edit the verbatim transcript of the tape-
recording of the discussion rather thoroughly, possibly recasting its rather colloquial language
in more literary style. On going through the transcript, however, I was surprised to find that
despite solecisms and redundancies it possessed a force and a flavour that it would be a great
pity to lose. Indeed in the case of some of my own remarks I found that insights which, owing
to the nature of the situation, had been expressed idiomatically, could not be communicated
in any other way. I therefore decided to confine myself to clarifying obscurities, tightening up
sentences that straggled on too long or too untidily, and cutting repetitions. In a few places,
where what I had said on a particular subject seemed insufficient, I added an extra sentence ...