Joyful detachment

Of the thousands of people who read my dharma talks each month, there are literally hundreds, who feel a deep personal "call" to contemplative or monastic life. There are generally two reasons for their hesitation to take the next step, and contact a community, such as the Spiritus Project or Contemplative Monks of the Eightfold Path. The first of these is the belief that in order to live an authentically contemplative or monastic life, one must be poor and celibate; and the second reason is a perception that monastic life is somehow akin to "running away from responsibilities".

We're going to look at the first reason in this post, and will visit the second issue separately.

It is true that many ancient cultures originally interpreted the essence of what I call "sacred indifference" or "joyful detachment" as requiring literally dispossession of all material things, including the renunciation of sexual expression and intimacy. The idea was that these things cause attachment, and therefore, ultimately lead to suffering and are distractions. And while that perception could be true, it could also be true that one could become "attached" to the idea of poverty and celibacy, which is something I frequently have seen in both Christian and Buddhist monastic communities for years.

When Jesus and Buddha spoke of detachment, I do not believe they were speaking of an indifference toward things, people or natural expression of sexuality themselves, but rather to their controlling effects on our lives. I also believe they were clear that when our worldview is narrow, we seek pleasure from things, people and other impermanent phenomena, for purely selfish gain. This self-absorption leads us away from a mindful awareness of the unity of all things, all people, all phenomena as manifestations of Primal Love.

Thomas Merton, writing in the classic No Man is an Island, notes:

It is only when we are detached from created things that we can begin to value them as we really should. It is only when we are 'indifferent' to them that we can really begin to love them... We have to be detached from health and security, from pleasures and possessions, from people and places and conditions and things. We have to be indifferent to life itself, in the gospel sense, living like the lilies of the field.

One of the things I try to impress upon our novice monks and contemplatives is the awareness that monks do not jump to conclusions. They observe their initial perspective as simply the first layer of illusion, and peel away the ego mind, one perception at a time. The learn that our attachment to our "view" is a much greater obstacle than an attachment to sexual intimacy, material possessions, status or recognition; and that when we learn to let go of the attachment to view, we begin to assimilate the teachings of the Buddha and the Christ in ways previously not possible.

We learn to strip away the attachment to the words, which might mislead us to believe the scriptural accounts of the supposed "miracles" attributed to these two great teachers as literal or historical fact, completely missing the purpose and meaning of the texts themselves. By clinging to a fundamentalist or literalist interpretation, we are not truly appreciating the text and are incapable of real gratitude for any value that might exist in having read it.

When we let go of our opinions, our ideas and our perceptions, we begin to penetrate the inner meaning of things. This joyful detachment -- and it does give rise to joy -- allows us to see the Sacred in Everything, without need for personalising It into a cast of divine mythological characters. Sacredness and Love become synonymous, and everything comes more clearly into focus as neither "good" nor "bad", but simply "phenomena".

For this reason, there are in the Spiritus Project, many families -- both traditional and "non-traditional"; and among our monks, there are those who are involved deeply in our work, while still able to freely express their human sexuality without apology.

Embrace the path to which you are called. Realise that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to be present in the moment. When attachments arise, and they will, recognise them and gently let them go.

Even these words you are now reading, are a reflection of the impermanent and imperfect understanding and perceptions of a simple, punk-monk... nothing more... nothing less. I share them, allow them to wash over me, so that what truth exists in them might find fertile soil in which to take root, and let go of them.

As should you.

Namasté!

 

Founder and Spiritual Advisor of the Spiritus Project, and Director of the Society for Buddhist Contemplatives, Lama Gurudas Sunyatananda has been leading dharma retreats, teaching, and counseling individuals interested in Buddhist contemplative spirituality since 1979. He is an ordained Buddhist monk, a Franciscan contemplative, and former Eastern Catholic priest and bishop. He holds a dual-doctorate in theological anthropology and Buddhist philosophy, a masters in clinical pastoral counseling and lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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