SILK AND STEEL Ozmo Piedmont, Ph.D. What is a spiritual ideal and how do we train with it?

The ideal is a spiritual standard that becomes the target to which we aim the arrow of our aspiration. For a Buddhist, we are aiming to find our identity in the Buddha, our Buddha Nature, and to become more and more like the Buddha in our actions in the world. The Precepts guide us in this endeavor, reminding us that to become a Buddha, we can start by emulating the behavior of a Buddha based on wisdom and compassion. In the Scripture of Great Wisdom, it says: O Buddha, going, going, going on beyond and always going on beyond, always becoming Buddha. Hail! Hail! Hail!1 Our aspiration is to become Buddha, while we practice every day toward this ideal. It is as if we are aiming at a target in the same way as the master archer mentioned in the scripture The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi where it says: A master archer hits a target at a hundred yards because he skill possesses. But to make to meet two arrows in mid-air, head-on, goes far beyond the skill of ordinary manThis is far beyond all common consciousness, beyond all thinking.2 In order to reach our ideal embodied in the Buddha, we must go beyond our ordinary skills and modes of thinking and acting. We must find our connection to the Infinite, to that which is Unborn and Uncreated in us, that which is Eternal. When we open our hearts to the Unborn, something begins to function is us, guiding us, opening the way to our spiritual emancipation. We cannot go it alone; we must find that which is beyond normal thinking and normal consciousness. In this surrendering to the Divine, we discover a fluidity of action, a harmony that sustains and directs us. Then the two arrows, our own aspiration and that of the Divine awaiting us, are able to meet in mid-air, revealing our true nature and showing us the Reality of our existence. Toward this goal of Realization, we start where we are right now, with all our shortcomings, flaws and complexes. These become the focus of our spiritual practice, and through them, we purify our negative patterns, our karma, and free ourselves from suffering. As it is written in the scripture Sandokai: Lo! With the ideal comes the actual, like a box all with its lid; Lo! With the ideal comes the actual, like two arrows in mid-air that meet. Completely understand herein, the basic Truth within these words; Lo! Hear! Set up not your own standards.3 There must be a perfect fit between our ideal and where we are with our practice, like a box with its lid. We apply the teachings as we see fit to our needs as they arise, following the standards the Buddha and other practitioners have established through their direct realization of Truth. We then incorporate these standards into our practice as a measurement of where we are and where we are going, thus allowing the Infinite the opportunity to meet us in our work and practice, guiding and transforming our lives through the process. In fact, our spiritual practice is like washing silk and tempering steel. The contemporary Japanese Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki4 used these metaphors to

demonstrate the quality of our practice and the results it gives. He says that in Japan, the word neru refers to the act of washing the crude silk so that it may be used for weaving. The silk must be washed many times, over and over again, which removes the impurities and little by little turns the silk white, pure, and soft. At that point it can now be used for creating beautiful cloth and clothing. Our spiritual practice is like doing neru to the little self, in which we wash ourselves clean of the three primary impurities of the ego mind: desire, aversion, and delusion. As we practice, little by little we liberate and purify ourselves, becoming soft, loving and compassionate in our actions of daily life, more like Buddha. This generates both joy within as well as improved relations with others who now seek our company and consider our advice because they sense this loving acceptance, patience, and gentleness in our treatment of them. Our spiritual practice is also like tempering steel. Before one can make a sword out of raw steel, the metal must be tempered, placing it in the heat of fire and pounding it again and again, so that the steel becomes stronger, harder, and more resistant. Our spiritual practice is such as this. As we encounter the various challenges we all must face in life, the financial crisis, the loss of loved ones, sickness, ageing, and constant change, we are as if being put through he fire of life. When approached with clarity, acceptance, and Truth, these challenges temper us, making us stronger, more resistant to the ups and downs of life, able to face hardships and difficulties without wavering in our spiritual understanding and resolve. Although we may experience many losses and pains in life, we discover that our inner peace and wellbeing are never dependent upon external factors. We are as strong as steel in our resolve to face life as it is. We temper our desires, moderating them so they do not have such a hold on our mental wellbeing. We temper our emotions and our feelings, putting them in accord with the Precepts, which become an expression of our Buddha Nature. In this way, we are both soft and hard, like silk and steel, pure and strong in our aspiration and determination, awakening to our True Self in the Eternal.

P.T.N.H. Jiyu-Kennett. The Scripture of Great Wisdom. The Liturgy of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives for the Laity, second edition. Shasta Abbey Press: Mt. Shasta, CA., USA. 1990. 2 Ibid. The Most Excellent Mirror Samadhi. 3 Ibid. Sandokai. 4 Suzuki, Shunryu. Libre de Soi, Libre de Tout (Original: Not Always So : Practicing the True Spirit of Zen, San Francisco Zen Center, Harper Collins, 2002). ditions Du Seuil : Paris, France. 2011.