Excerpt from Awareness by Anthony deMello

A little boy was walking along the bank of a river. He sees a crocodile who is trapped in a net. The crocodile says, “Would you hae pity on me and release me? I may look ugly, but it isn’t my fault, you know. I was made this way. But whatever my external appearance, I have a mother’s heart. I came this morning in search of food for my young ones and got caught in this trap!” So the boy says, “Ah, if I were to help you out of that trap, you’d grab me and kill me.” The crocodile asks, “Do you think I would do that to my benefactor and liberator?” So the boy is persuaded to take the net off and the crocodile grabs him.As he is being forced between the jaws of the crocodile, he says, “So this is what I get for my good actions?” And the crocodile says , “Well, don’t take it personally, son, this is the way the world is, this is the law of life.” The boy disputes this, so the crocodile says, “Do you want to ask someone if it isn’t so?”

The boys sees a bird sitting on a branch and says, “Bird, is what the crocodile says right?” The bird says, “The crocodile is right. Look at me. I was coming home one day with food for my fledglings. Imaine my horror to see a snake crawling up the tree, making straigt for my nest. I was totally helpless. It kept devouring my young ones, one after the other. I kept screaming and shouting, but it was useless. The crocodile is right, this is the law of life, this is the way the world is.”

“See,” says the crocodile. But the boy says, “Let me ask someone else.” So the crocodile says, “Well, all right, go ahead.” There was an old donkey passing by on the bank of the river. “Donkey,” says the boy, “this is what the crocodile says. Is the crocoile right?” The donkey says, “The crocodile is quite right. Look at me. I’ve worked and slaved for my master all my life and he barely gave me enough to eat. Now that I’m old and useless, he has turned me loose, and here I am wandering in the jungle, waiting for some wild beast to pounce on me and put an end to my life. The crocodile is right, this is the law of life, this is the way the world is.”

“See,” says the crocodile, “Let’s go!” The boy says, “Give me one more chance, one last chance. Let me ask one other being. Remember how good I was to you?” So the crocodile says, ” All right, your last chance.” The boy sees a rabbit passing by, and he says, “Rabbit, is the crocodile right?” The rabbit sits on his haunches and says to the crocodile, “Did you say that to that boy? The crocodile says, “Yes, I did.” “Wait a minute,” says the rabbit, “We’ve got to discuss this.”

“Yes,” says the croodile. But the rabbit says, “How can we discuss it when you’ve got that boy in your mouth? Release him; he’s got to take part in the discussion, too.” The crocodile says, “You’re a clever one, you are. The moment I release him, he’ll run away.” The rabbit says, “I thought you had more sense than that. If he attempted to run away, one slash of your tail would kill him.”

“Fair enough,” says the crocodile, and he released the boy. The moment the boy s release, the rabbit says, “Run!” And the boy runs and escapes. Then the rabbit says to the boy, “Don’t you enjoy crocodile flesh? Wouldn’t the people in your village like a good meal? You didn’t really release that crocodile; most of his body is still caught in that net. Why don’t you go to the village and bring everybody and have a banquet.” That’s exactly what the boy does. He goes to the village and calls all the menfolk. The come with their axes and staves and spears and kill the crocodile. The boy’s dog comes, too, and when the dog sees the rabbit, he gives chase, catches hold of the rabbit, and throttles him. The boy comes on the scene too late, and as he watches the rabbit die, he says, “The crocodile was right, this is the way the world is, this is the law of life.”

On Nonduality

I was rereading Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hahn with my philosophy group when a friend of mine posted to our email listserv about her confusion over the concept of self-compassion in nonduality in response to Hahn’s quote, “If you cannot be compassionate to yourself, you will not be able to be compassionate to others.”  Here was what she had to say:

To me, compassion requires a separate entity that acts as the object receiving the compassion.  I looked up the definition, and compassion is ’sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it.’    Compassion comes from compati, meaning ‘to suffer with.’  But if there are not two, there can be no ‘with,’ there is only one ‘nondual’ thing, and that is everything; therefore compassion and sympathy are impossible.

And here was my response:

I think you saw compassion as distancing because the definition used the word “sympathy” as opposed to “empathy”. Whereas empathy is where you feel what the other person is feeling, investing themselves in you, sympathy implies at least some degree of objectiveness or disinterestedness. It is my impression that the accuracy of words is something that is important to you right now. I.e. there is a difference between the words “beautiful” and ”pretty”. If my supposition is true, then that could be a big factor as to why you can’t fully make the concept of nonduality your own. Here we have a concept called nonduality claiming that we only perceive that there are dichotomies, and we are working on dichotomizing the building blocks of communication: words.

Even though I don’t fully grok nonduality, myself, I’ll try to explain what I can understand about it. I think what the concept of nonduality is trying to say is that we are not different from each other, we are not separate. However, we do not exist as one being. We are all connected. We are part of a cycle. Each individual is not separate; he is part of something bigger. He is part of a circuit that could not exist without him. He can not exist as his own separate entity, because if the circuit cannot exist without him, likewise he cannot exist without the circuit. So we do not exactly exist as one; we exist in relation to each other and all compose a sum greater than its parts.

In terms of an analogy, a picture I get of the compassion/nonduality complex is like the body. The heart pumps oxygenated blood to the extremities of the body. From the cor of the body to the fingertips and toes. Like compassion, the heart is affecting something beyond itself. It is supplying oxygen rich blood to the limbs. However, it must also supply oxygen to itself (coronary arteries). If it cannot supply oxygen to itself, how can it supply oxygen to something distal to itself? You must start at the center before you can radiate out. This applies to both the heart and compassion. Furthermore, on the theme of “oneness”, the heart and limb vascularity are both apart of the same system, connected in a continuous loop….I’m not too happy with my own analogy but I think it does its job well enough.

On another, complementary level the dichotomy of self/nonself does not exist in the concept of nonduality. Having said that, reevaluate what TNH said: “”If you cannot be compassionate to yourself, you will not be able to be compassionate to others.” Also, with the concept of nonduality, does the dichotomy of duality/nonduality exist?

Personally, I just can’t make this concept mine at this time, and I’m fine with that. I think I resent the concept for reasons I’d have to sit down and think about, and I’m not about to make something I resent a fundament of my life. I’m not going to try to make it mine because Thich Nhat Hahn said I should. I might never make it mine, but if I do one day, I will make it mine because I chose to, not because a monk, regardless of his wisdom, told me to do so.

The Dōkkōdō

So I’ve found something really cool. It’s called the Dōkkōdō or “Path of Aloneness” which is a series of 21 Precepts the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi wrote a week before his death.

I liked it because the precepts are very similar to my own values (although mine are not quite as ascetic) and puts into simple words what I strive to achieve. I’ll color code each precept to show how I feel about it and then follow up a little more in depth after each one.

What I strictly follow/agree with
What I’m working on
What I don’t strictly follow/agree with

1. “Accept everything just the way it is.” - I often waste too much energy worrying about the past or how things will happen in the future, but….there’s not much I can really do about all that. I snap my fingers and try to center myself whenever I find that I’m straying too far away from the present.
   
2. “Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.”
   
3. “Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.” - I don’t fully understand what Musashi is trying to say here. I can see how it can apply to swordsmanship, but I’m still trying to see how it incorporates into everyday life.
   
4. “Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.” – Naturally, this is how I am, but not nearly as much as I think I should be. I’m not personally looking to take this as far as constant self-sacrifice on behalf of the world, but I could be doing a whole lot more to benefit it.
   
5. “Be detached from desire your whole life long.” - Well, I agree kinda, but not enough to make it a precept to live by. I’d try my best, but it’s one of those things that I’m not gonna kill myself over if I don’t follow it full heartedly.
   
6. “Do not regret what you have done.” - If you live your life right, there’d be nothing to regret anyway.
   
7. “Never be jealous.” - Okay, I’m guilty. I find myself getting jealous over my sister’s preferential treatment or friends’ more fortunate lives a lot, but then I ask myself “Why am I being so materialistic. Worldly possessions don’t really matter. They’re nice to have, but not the difference between life and death. Also, why would I want to be more like anybody else other than myself?”
   
8. “Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.” - I think what Musashi was trying to say here was that it’s okay to feel sadness after separation, initially. It’s a healthy part of life to mourn, but don’t let it linger for too long. It becomes an unecessary burden. there’s more that I’m trying to say here, but I don’t know how to say it yet. Best I can get to is an analogy: Leaves falling of a branch in autumn. (Soooooo Japanese of me, right?)
   
9. “Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself or others.” - Instead of resentment, either set a course of action to make things right or let go. Most of the time, it will probably come to the latter. Same goes for complaints. Nothing good comes of them, and are counterproductive.
   
10. “Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.” - Heh, if he was influenced by samurai at all, then he was probably referring to celibacy. I don’t intend to take it that far at all, but I know where he’s coming from. Also, I think I know a little bit about what happens when you let love take the reins coughcoughrachelcough
    
11. “In all things have no preferences.” - Say what now? Anywho, it just seems like this wouldn’t really apply to me enough to make the precept my own.
    
12. “Be indifferent to where you live.” - Here, I think what he’s trying to say is that you miss out on too many of life’s experience if you stay in one place too long. Also attachment to worldly possessions can apply to real estate as well. All in all, a sedentary lifestyle is not that worthwhile. However, I do find value in settling down nowadays. A big difference in the way it was back in Musashi’s time and today is the sheer amount of experiences at our disposal. Now, we have a surplus of experiences. I think the task at hand in the present day is weeding out the worthwhile experiences (world travel, community service) from the wasteful ones (most of the trash that’s spouted from teh boob tube)
    
13. “Do not pursue the taste of good food.” - Musashi. Dude. You’re crazy. Call it my greatest vice, but I love food. However, I do believe in all things moderation. This applies to food especially. Also, quality of food counts (enriching foods vs. McDonalds).
    
14. “Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.” - it’s not that I disagree with it, I just don’t support it as strongly as Musashi does about it. I guess you could say it’s too ascetic for my tastes.
    
15. “Do not act following customary beliefs.” - I can see where he’s coming from with this one, too, but I do see where it is beneficial to follow customary beliefs. Those beliefs hold value as well, and most were founded with good intention. However, customary beliefs should NEVER hold you back from progressing.
    
16. “Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.” - I’m already breaking this. I have some ornamental katana, wakisashi, etc. from Chinatown on display on my dresser. Really, though, i’m kinda iffy on this precept. With martial arts especially, I believe in only learning practical uhhh…..practices. It’s good to be practiced in CQC, some jujitsu, and even to go so far as to say trapping. However, to learn swordsmanship today serves no practicality. It’s all for show. On the other hand, there are other lessons to be learned from these now impractical martial arts styles that apply to other aspects of life that I don’t think should be overlooked. As its name conveys, martial arts is an ART and unlike most art it is functional AND serves a purpose. Oy, I could go on and on about this so I’m gonna end it on this note: This precept does not just apply to weapons and fighting, but to life as well. I’ll leave it up to you to determine how (cuz I would probably end up with an essay length explanation)
    
17. “Do not fear death.” - Sure, I still get scared sometimes, but for the most part I don’t fear it anymore. The problem is, my METHOD for not fearing it. This lack of fear sprouts more from ennui, and that’s something I’m trying to change. I’m still in the process of fully accepting death and all that comes with it, but for the RIGHT reasons.
    
18. “Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.” - this one is just obsolete. Nuff said. (although alot can be said about hoarding wealth)
    
19. “Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.” - This also applies to other religions. I’m not saying this is how everybody should believe, but it is definitely how I believe. I’ve always believed in God, but I don’t see Him as answering to my every beck and call. I think it’s kind of disrespectful. I mean, I think we were left here alone to learn, not to be babied around and holding His hand the whole way. It’s not that He’s completely detached from this world’; He still has a hand in it. However, I think there’s a reason why He’s not as involved as we’d all like to believe. I’m sure that could have been more delicately put, but I don’t know how to explain this one any other way. Hopefully you understand what I mean?
    
20. “You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.” - I still have trouble defining what exactly honor is, but I do know that mine at the present is different from the traditional Japanese definition. Now, some of you may be thinking “Well this precept conflicts with what he was saying in precept 15.” I’ll tell you one thing. Honor is NOT a customary belief. Methods of preserving it are. I personally do not believe in seppuku.
    
21. “Never stray from the Way.” - The way is a razor’s edge. On one side is a wall of great fire while the other is a torrential wave of water. I do believe I’ve burned myself quite a few times, and gotten wet to say the least. However, I’ll keep on trying for as long as I live.

Does any of this apply to the rest of you guys?