Universal and Particular

Universal and Particular

The Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, famously said: Love of wisdom puts you on the spot all the time…

Which is a good motivator for any discussion.

The more specific motivation for these notes, is the planning to attend a one evening discussion on “Torah and Dharma,” hosted by the Hebrew College in Boston, in January of 2024, where faculty from Naropa University, including Judith Simmer-Brown and others, would speak, also in recognition of their close work done with Reb Zalman, who founded the renewal movement in Judaism.

Although there are a number of elements to consider in the interface between the traditions of Judaism and Buddhism, it could be useful to single track the ideas.

Starting with Buddhism. Primary is both mindfulness, and awareness….where the former leads to the latter.

Also, mindfulness can be thought to be cultivated by a close attention to one’s breath.  And, as a natural outcome of that, one develops awareness.

Frequently, where Buddhism is understood to be a three yana tradition, attention to mindfulness and awareness, as one meditates with the breath, is aligned with the first of the three yanas.

And, in the Mahayana, where the important practice of tonglen is inspired, the idea that the practice is mediated by the breath is central.

Then, let’s turn to the third of three yanas, the Vajrayana.  Through one of the summer seminaries, shamata and vipassana were understood to manifest, alternately, throughout the yanas.

So, consider the following. In the same way that attention to the breath brings forward mindfulness, so too does attention to visualization….sometimes known as utpatikrama.  Then, when resting from this focus on visualization, when relaxing that focus, and turning to sampanakrama…you have a parallel expression of awareness…that completes…what had been created with the visualization.

The book, Creation and Completion, is one of the important books students of Trungpa, Rinpoche have been exposed to.  And, the idea presented in it is a simple explication of the third yana of Tibetan Buddhism.

Although visualization has not been universally considered as central to liturgical practice in Judaism, Rosenberg of Jewish Liturgy as a Spiritual System, did conceive it that way.  Examples in the liturgy make the idea seem more evident, after the fact.  Consider the main prayer in Judaism’s liturgy, the Amidah.  The pray-er begins by moving backwards and then forwards, consistent with their imagining that they are relating to a ruler on high.  Later, they rise up on their heels at kadosh kadosh kadosh, imagining that they are angels.  Rosenberg provides more and similar explanations for the rest of the liturgy.

One argument, with respect to the engagement of the shabbat service, goes that the practice of the liturgy, leading up to the torah service, is like that focus on mindfulness, followed by the torah service, which stands in for a greater experience of awareness, in contrast.

And, so what does the above have to do with Universality and Particularism?

What is proposed above is that Judaism, when engaged as intended, is really most like Vajrayana Buddhism (vs other forms of Buddhism, that do not engage in visualization).

But, if both of these traditions…that have been called practicing traditions….can be viewed as having the ability to bring the practitioner through transformative stages, in the engagement of mindfulness and awareness….the question can lead to…wonder…about other religious traditions.

It would be good if those trained separately and together in Buddhism and Judaism, especially the latter, would affirm what is supposed in the above.

But, if this particular focus on the value of giving ones attention to visualization, as a medium for mindfulness, holds true…..could a next, fruitful question point to other traditions?  Traditions that use texts for the congregants to engage?

Are there other religious traditions, whose congregants intentionally use texts in prayer…can they likewise creatively engage, and participate in a new way in their tradition, to a yet to be reviewed positive end?

With these strategies, there is no wish to do other than participate in an understanding of reality.

Rosenberg’s argument…that the Jewish liturgy is intended to be visualized…to be engaged properly….is based on his work with his teachers, his study of history and the development of the Jewish prayerbook, and his clearly represented insight as to the development, and function of the text.

What will need examination….perhaps….is the nature of text development for liturgy, altogether.  Is it reasonable to apply the same principles…more generally. If so, how will that have worked.  That should be reviewed, and closely.

At this point, it’s a question.  That may be worth exploration.