Buddhism, Solitude and Self-Discovery: Swami Lotus, part 2

Are you ready to journey into the heart of Buddhism? Our conversation with Swami Lotus continues on Spiritual Gumbeaux. We take a philosophical tour down the paths of Mahayana and Hinayana, touching on the practice of Chan and its differences from Zen. Ever pondered the thin line separating the practitioner from the monk or the essence of working towards one's own salvation? Brace yourself for some profound revelations.

We then shift gears to a captivating narrative of the hermetic life, as experienced by Russian nuns. Be prepared for a deep dive into the power of solitude, an exploration of how a solitary life can be a testament to spirituality. As we wrap things up, we bring you a compelling dialogue about personal dance. Explore the power of letting go, of stepping away from societal pressures, and discovering the melody of your own heart. This episode invites you to question, explore, and truly own your spiritual journey. Embark on a transformative journey of introspection and self-discovery with us today.

You can learn more about Swami Lotus and the Water Moon Refuge at watermoonrefuge.org

Transcript

Rev Lynne: 0:28

Swami Lotus, can you talk a little bit about Buddhism?

Swami Lotus: 0:34

I can a little bit. The way of Buddhism that calls me and calls me deeply is called Chan. It's spelled C-H-A-N. People walked around the mountains of South China in all weathers with very little clothes. Most of them wrote poetry. They were always alone, except once in a while they'd stumble on a monastery. Perhaps they would meet an old friend and stop for overnight together, but mostly they walked these mountains in a solitary way so that they could find the divine within them, or the Buddha. Buddha is a word in Sanskrit that means awake, so they wanted to find the awake universe inside themselves by choosing to live completely solitary lives in nature. It was not an easy life, but their poetry is exquisite, and if someone would like to explore that a little more, I would recommend the Palms of Cold Mountain. You can look that up and see their exquisite Palms.

Swami Lotus: 1:46

Buddhism has touched many lives in many ways, but there is a more secular form in temples where people go to worship and pray and they offer incense. It's not unlike the Episcopal Church. And there are other forms of Zen Buddhism that are practiced in Japan and America, both, where people sit in a very formal state and stare at a wall. There are reasons for that which we won't go into here, but that you can explore. The interesting part between China and Japan in this case is that monks from Japan came over to China and they found the Chan all the solitary, and they loved it and the freedom to be solitary and to be open, and they took it back to Japan. But there wasn't anybody in Japan who got it except the Samurai soldiers, and they liked it because it taught them how to be present and solid inside themselves so that they could fight better Really. So out of that came, the only ones interested in learning about Buddhism in this way were the soldiers, and so that's why there is a difference. In the Japanese sitting, zen is very formal and the Chinese Chan another word for Zen actually is much more open.

Swami Lotus: 3:20

Now, of course, both of these traditions have evolved from the 7th century, so hopefully everything is evolving in good ways, but there are always these fascinating stories to look up and see. So Buddhism is a beautiful way, and there are two major traditions in Buddhism Mahayana and Hinayana, and you can look both of those up. One believes in all beings and working together, and there are bodhisattvas, enlightenment beings that help us attain, and in Hinayana it is like Chan in a way, although much more formal, a very solitary practice. They're going to work out their own salvation. That's what the monks in China did they're going to work out their own salvation Instead of Mahayana. It's a little more graceful or easy, perhaps because it's not so rigid. It's open a little more. And what a blessing. And we think of all the Christian ways. There's something for everybody, what works for somebody. They must pursue that with all their heart to find out what it is and then embrace it or not embrace it.

Rev Lynne: 4:38

That's interesting because some Christians would not say well, what would Christianity have in common with Buddhism? But this whole notion that each person has to work out their own salvation. I can see some folks rolling around now in the pulpit going, well, well, well, what do you mean? That's close to Buddhism. But if you want to be truthful and honest with yourself, it makes a lot of sense that that divine consciousness presents the things that are so important in all of our traditions, but we want to take them on as our own sense of ownership. You can only get that out of this particular tradition, but it's not, and this whole notion that we all work out our own salvation.

Rev Lynne: 5:34

That's a very powerful piece.

Swami Lotus: 5:37

That's ultimately the only real spiritual path. Now we can digress from that, but many need to find courage in order to do that. You need to be able to say well, as your mother might not like it, and you're going to do it anyway, but not in that up yours tradition, it's going to be. I really have to have to do this because it comes from where my heart. So working out our own salvation is really what we're doing now anyway, but that also implies we don't take somebody else's word for it. We might in the end and say, oh yep, they were right, or maybe we use it, but it has to become ours.

Swami Lotus: 6:19

There is a woman named Helen Luke who was a mystic. She came from Great Britain and then to the United States and she said that we have an obligation and this would be as a teacher to make whatever we're teaching our own. We don't just read a book, we don't just say it the way that we were taught in school. We own it. And that's what I would ask of everybody listening to this podcast. You own what you believe, what matters to you, and put it in your words. It may take years to do that, it takes a lot of confidence, but you can do it. You will do it If you're listening to this and you've gotten past the first 10 minutes. Lynn has offered you quite a few things to think about, and this will change your life if you just it's so simple. Yes, work out your own salvation, learn how to be still and know that you are God.

Rev Lynne: 7:28

What is the difference in a practitioner of something and a monk? I'm a Buddhist practitioner and you're a monk, so what's the difference in the two? What is a monk?

Swami Lotus: 7:53

A monk is a being who has given, in this case, her life to the divine completely and utterly. I take on no worldly duties. Like you land at a church, a monk is free to go anywhere or to do anything, as if we use the word spirit as the spirit moves him or her. It's a different commitment to this relative reality. That's what monastic life is. Now there are different layers of it.

Swami Lotus: 8:31

I have been called to what's called a hermetic life, which means I'm a hermit as much as I can be and still have a 501c3 non-profit for stillness. I live in an apartment. I don't wear robes anymore for anonymity, but I'm solitary. I would say 70% of my time I'm alone. Now that doesn't mean I'm sitting in a chair by myself. I'm very active, but I am not usually doing something with people or doing a business or trying to make anything happen, and in that solitude comes the peace that passes understanding, if we come back to those words.

Swami Lotus: 9:18

So other practitioners like then running a church or someone leading a Buddhist sangha sangha means community. Well, they have a lot of work to do. They have people asking questions and they have to know a way. They teach sutras and scriptures and things that help people understand what's really going on, not what they think is going on, and it's a big difference between being a hermit called out of secular life and being involved in it in a deeply spiritual way. So each of us has to decide what that is. But both of those physicians are calls with a capital C. Don't say no to a call. Find out if that's what it is. But if it is, then that is exactly right and you are in totally harmony with the universe and beyond as you live your call.

Rev Lynne: 10:14

That's very powerful because I think about what we call the early church fathers and mothers, and many of them lived as hermits in caves where I was in Cyprus, and we would go up to the mountains and they would have carved out these holes in the mountains and they lived in these holes and these little holes and they were called to a solitary life. And you find these people who have dedicated themselves in that way and I would say, all of our religious traditions, where they have lights of solitude and prayer. When I was in Russia years ago, when the institutional church, the Orthodox church, was just coming back into being under, I think it was Gorbovich Gorbovich, I think, was his name and we went up to the mountains and there's a whole train of consciousness that's taking me to this notion of mountains. But we went up to the mountains and we met these nuns who had, during communism, had been married. They were nuclear scientists and physicians, but all their lives they had wanted to be nuns but they couldn't be because it was called noresta. They couldn't be because of communism. And so when communism fell and these women had their husbands, they could only go into the monastery if their husbands had passed and they had. All their children were grown, and so they went up and they lived in the mountains of noresta, and I was in seminary, and so we went to see them.

Rev Lynne: 12:06

This was an ecumenical trip of seminarians of all ages. And while we were there, well, one thing that happened the bishop of the forget what he's called of the Russian Church, russian Orthodox Church, when he found out that I was an Episcopalian, he went out of his way to greet me. He said, because the Episcopal Church was one of the few churches that respected the Orthodox tradition in Russia and knew that it was a long-standing Christian tradition. And as we went up into the mountains later, I asked the nuns what do they do? And they told me we don't do anything but pray for you. And so they had this book and we all had to sign our names in this book. Now, mind you, this was 30 years ago, and they assured me that my name would always be prayed every day. They prayed every name in that book, every day, and that's what they do.

Rev Lynne: 13:18

And that, to me, was my first experience of some sense. They are in community, but a life of prayer. And I remember the nuns going down. They were on the Volga River and they would go down to the river and get their fish for us to eat and we broke bread and we ate the simple fish and bread and I can't remember what else was there. But they started to tell their story how they knew, as young women, that they had been called to this life, but they could not embrace this life because the church, as we understood it, was underground and everything was underground, and so they had to conform to what the state told them they needed to be, which there were. Several of them were nuclear scientists, so they were very highly educated people but knew that their heart and spirit had a bigger life and a bigger purpose, and even in their aging and now, that it was okay for them to be who they were. So that was my first real experience.

Swami Lotus: 14:45

Well, that's a beauty. I don't think it can be topped. The Desert. Fathers and Mothers, of course, in the Christian tradition. However, I would point out that the mercy that was given these women in the end to live their call finally, that they were able to do that even though they had to wait so long to do it, is so beautiful that they did, and what a benefit to all of us. You know, they're just and someone will say, well, what do you do? They say, well, we pray, yeah, but what do you do? Yep.

Rev Lynne: 15:24

And that was me. I was well, what do you do? But in that, what do you do? It was like that was the beginning of the recognition that prayer shapes belief.

Swami Lotus: 15:37

See, so your call was answered in that visit 30 years ago. Look where you are today. I mean it's beautiful once we start seeing a progression and we aren't afraid to embrace that, to recognize that divine mercy has been operating in our lives whatever you call it all along, even in the hard parts.

Rev Lynne: 16:00

What would be some of your wisdom that you would give to young people today? Some are really struggling to find their way in a chaotic world.

Swami Lotus: 16:20

Well, there are so many typical answers to that. I think one of the things I would say to them to all of you, young, beautiful young people be as creative as you possibly can in all aspects of your life. Take the best of what you know you are. And I know that you're still going to do all the technology, and I understand that. We all understand that it's not always beneficial, but there's something in your life, no matter how terrible you feel or think that you are uniquely gifted at, that, you are beautiful at doing. Find that, don't be afraid to do that. Anything creative.

Swami Lotus: 17:09

Even technology can be creative, and you don't have to be somebody who changes the planet. You're going to change yourself and that will change the planet. So that's what I would say Please find your creativity and use it, because that's being taken away from you at every turn by the speed and by your fingers typing too much and all the rest of it, and that's not a judgment. I understand how the world is working now. It takes my breath away sometimes. So that's what I would say Be creative.

Rev Lynne: 17:47

That again just kind of goes back to that adage let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. Indeed.

Rev Lynne: 17:57

Yeah that's where that takes me to. One other thing you said that I want to go back to, which is very powerful, because it reminded me of my own upbringing. Your mother sent you this information and we don't. This is maybe a stereotypical kind of thing, but we're such a Christian, judaic society, and to find a mother who is going outside of the normal expectations of how things should be and to encourage you, that really is and in Michigan, I'm from the Midwest, from Ohio, same thing and to have someone in your life that is pushing you outside of a box, what does that?

Swami Lotus: 18:52

what does that? Wow, yeah, she was something. She wasn't always easy, of course. She was intense and my mother you know I think about that and how she taught us to explore and to not accept. We all grew up Catholic and she didn't adhere to that all of her life and she came back to it and you know, I would say, well, maybe I won't say that right now about my mother, something that we're doing.

Swami Lotus: 19:24

Anyway, she's reappeared to me. I'm 80, so she's been dead for a while, but she's still so alive. You know, and I think, how can I go further than my mother understanding past her death, how hard it was for her for her dreams to come true. For her she was a highly accomplished professional woman and established the first school for birth damaged babies in the United States. So you can get a hint of her. But what a sense of humor. And I have a friend who, in his own humor, said well, if it's not one thing, it's your mother, and that can go all kinds of places. Well, my mother was challenging and I wish she were sitting here with us today, because she's the one you could ask these questions to.

Rev Lynne: 20:20

Well, I have to say for a woman at and I'm just gonna assume you were probably a young girl at that time a young woman when she's telling you go and see this man go and see him.

Swami Lotus: 20:31

No, no, no, that was well. It was about 26 or eight years ago. Well, yeah, I guess that is young at this point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes, but she was so brilliant, she could see opportunities for things, and if we aren't busy in our minds deciding how everything goes, we too will see opportunities for things, and they will be appropriate to us. Who else is here? There's nobody here, it's just us. So to court that, to court it what is calling you? What is right in front of you? What do you see? Not as what is seen for you. It's such a fabulous dance, the whole thing.

Rev Lynne: 21:19

The image of a dance, back and forth and all around.

Swami Lotus: 21:24

Or even just doing your feet, like in Africa. You know where you're standing. It doesn't matter what the dance is, it's your dance. It's your own personal dance, given to you as a gift from what you are. You are dancing your own music. Poets have said that for a long time.

Rev Lynne: 21:45

Don't be afraid. Yeah, wow. Well, I think that's a great wrap up too. Thank you, Emmanuel, our technician for today.

Swami Lotus: 21:57

Thank you Emmanuel, thank you Lynn, all right thank you.

Rev Lynne: 22:01

Thank you, that was good. I like the way we ended that. Thank you.