I’m always somewhat skeptical about books that mention various religions under one breath. This often results in generalisations and misinterpretations. True to my ‘suspicion’, the author made these mistakes. It’s probably true that most religions teach us to be good but to equate them as being exactly the same does no justice to their true nature. One major mistake in the book was to say an enlightened being is god. (Sic: ‘In the Buddhist tradition, we say enlightened being instead of god, but this pretty much means the same thing.’)
There is no god who is a creator, all-loving, supreme and ultimate in Buddhism. God(s) in Buddhist cosmology are not free from the three poisons (greed, hatred and delusion) and thus definitely not on par with enlightened beings who are free of them. I can understand the intention of stringing religions together for ‘harmony’ but I don’t agree that they should be written off as having no differences in doctrine and ideology. It is even harder to swallow when he mentioned that ‘dedicating our life to serving others – then we truly become enlightened, and then we truly become a servant of God, an attendant to humanity.’ The ultimate goal of Buddhists is to become fully enlightened ones, Buddhas, who are greater than all gods, not to be subservient to any!
His intention perhaps is to say that humans have the capability of showing kindness and compassion regardless of religion or race. I would say he did a fairly good job if the above mistakes are not made. I like the idea of injecting personal stories and historical facts to illustrate his point. Historical and present figures are included like Florence Nightingale, Martin Luther King Jr, Ang San Suu Kyi and His Holiness The Dalai Lama to name a few. As a student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and a Tibetan, it’s only natural that he quotes heavily from him and other Tibetan great masters, but it’s rather refreshing that he also introduces the Theravada meditation method on curbing anger (though briefly) and Thich Nhat Hanh’s famous mindful walking meditation method. But I’m surprised that the famous Metta Sutta was not mentioned at all.
As a musician, it’s only natural that he suggested music and dance as a channel to express kindness – which he seems more at ease and passionate at explaining. It may seem a little new age, but it should sit well with Western audiences or nominal practitioners .
It is a pity that a book about Awakening Kindness has no mention about vegetarianism, although there’s a line or two advising readers to treat all sentient beings well. The famous teaching “All sentient beings are our Mothers” often repeated by Tibetans when kindness and compassion are taught is missing from the book as well. Perhaps too cliched? In any way, being a vegetarian is the very least any human can do to show compassion to hapless animals and the environment. And certainly one of many ways to cultivate Bodhicitta, which is often mentioned in the book too.
I say read this book if one is keen to know how to apply kindness and compassion in everyday life. But certainly not as a training guide for serious spiritual practitioners. Even though he had gone through proper Buddhist monastic education, his sharing on kindness and compassion might not be systematic enough for those who want to cultivate all-rounded compassion.
[ad#awakeningkindness]
In Buddhism, being born as a human form is a precious opportunity/form that even the gods are envious. While humans are the most vulnerable and most theistic beliefs tend to regard the human as below gods simply becos we are the end product of an act and will always ranked lower in a certain hierarchy but Buddhism being evolutionary and cosmic states otherwise.
The same way a subordinate may view that the CEO of a company is the highest on his throne but aren’t there some CEOs who started off as subordinate as well who later took the opportunity to carve out a niche for themselves and discovered the CEO material in themselves.
Buddhism is evolutionary. In Buddha’s eyes, we are all potential Buddhas-to-be and can do great works if only we can discover the Buddha nature and let it shine. We live in a world of consciousness which evolve or regress based on the actions we do. Some consciousness may even transcend beyond those found in the godly realms simply becos the human form lives a balanced form of existence. From joy, we find sorrow. From sorrow, we sometimes can realise joy when we develop wisdom in the process which the comforts of higher realms can never provide becos their seemingly perfect life which has masked away the reality of pain and do not provide a balanced picture. Wisdom can only grow with hard work. Even in Pureland, people are still studying hard to become bodhisattvas and Budddhas while living a leisure and peaceful life
Therefore, gods who dare to stand the test, to leave their comfort and really live with the flaws of man and see how far they can fare as imperfect humans who are taunted with so much temptations are admirable. To leave a trail of bliss and not blood in the process is another challenge. The Buddha was one such person who descended from the heavenly planes forsaking all heavenly comforts in order to transmit the Dharma.
We should treasure this human form. Like a stem cell which can become one of the forms in the six realms of samsara as we transit from this life to another. We are all in an airport waiting for our next transmigration. Just by looking at the migratory patterns and travel habits of humans, transmigration is a bigger system because every minute, every consciousness is migrating from one state to another.
Being human does not mean we are incapable of greater evolution. There are some computer games that I played and sometimes, playing as a human has its strengths even though choosing those bone gnawing monsters and aliens may seem stronger to begin with. Therefore to be human is a gift. Dun give up the opportunity to a greater life. Humanity can be the greatest hope so can we be the greatest obstacles to ourselves and others. Which path is entirely your choice.
Even though humans are imperfect. What makes an imperfect man perfect? An imperfect man constantly working hard to upkeep oneself in moral discipline despite temptations and tribulations. Thats perfect. What makes a perfect being imperfect? A perfect being who simply does nothing simply becos he is perfect. If perfect is as perfect does, perfection is an endless journey. There is no way one can stop and say I am perfect and can stop continue to perfect it. Only like that will regression not take place.