The full moon has passed and we are still in Dharamsala. After the wonderful rains, the skies have become clear and the temp cool and the visibility has improved greatly.
Yesterday while walking I was approached by a young male from Tibet who asked me if I would be willing to have a conversation to help him with his English. I agreed and as I went down to the area with him it was full of others who were meeting there for that purpose. There were several volunteers and many more students. Our conversation, me and my four, began simply enough. Hi, how are you, what is going on, what is your favorite color…but then, of course, it became a conversation about what is knowledge and how one comes to obtain knowledge. Of my group there were three young men, 2 monks and 1 not then there was an older monk.
The older monk said that one obtains knowledge by three means, according to Buddhist teachings. By thinking, by lesson and by meditation. I said that knowledge comes only by experience and gave examples of each of the three.
For thinking one may think a certain food tastes good but one will not know until they eat. So not by thinking but by doing does one know.
For lessons, one may be taught something but it is not until the lessons are applied that one knows. So not by lessons but by doing does one know.
For meditation, one may meditate and receive an idea about a thought but not until the idea is applied to the application of one’s current reality does one know. So not by meditation but by doing does one know.
The three young men became interested but the older monk just looked straight ahead. After we began talking about trees. Their purpose and of what good are they and that trees are grateful to man. This point I reversed saying trees are not grateful but man should be grateful for the tree. For man does nothing for the tree but cut them down but trees do much for man. Then I said, or asked, if trees have feelings or if they feel if they are cut down. By this time one of the young monks had left so we were down to three. The first non-monk, after much discussion, said “no trees do not feel” and of course I asked how does he know. He smiled. Then I asked the young monk the same question and he said yes, he thinks they do. Then the old monk said to the young monk, “Do not be angry with me but Buddhist teaching says trees do not feel and stated there are twenty-eight types of matter in the Buddhist teachings and eight types of animate matter. But Buddhist law states it is wrong to cut down a tree. Then the young non-monk asked me if I thought trees and plants feel. I said that there is scientific data showing that man’s interaction with plants has both positive and negative effects by merely conversation or rather speaking to the plants in different modes. But this to me is not known. I said a lot of us can know the truth by getting two plants and conducting an experiment. For the two plants, use the same food, same water, same sun, but to one plant talk harshly and to the other talk kindly. Then see the outcome and then we all will have knowledge and know if what we think is truth or not.
The older monk then asked me of my religion, if I was a christian. I of course said no but that I serve the spirit which is at the core of all scriptures and it is what all scriptures and all prophets came to direct our attention and focus toward. I do not follow an organized religion because of the separation it brings and we should not want to separate ourselves from one another. The young non monk said, “Then you are just interested in truth and not the aspects of religion?” I said, “yes”. The old monk then talked of more teachings and I said that religion must be transcended. I said Buddha was not Buddhist, Christ was not Christian, Mohammad was not Islamic but each made the knowledge of the spirit their focus and came to the understanding they all gave, saying here is what I have found, now you can use this as a guide but you too must find your thread of spiritual knowledge. I then was told by the young non monk that if one does not know where to start that he thinks religion is good. I told him I completely agree but do not stop and say I am this religion or that religion but come to the point that I follow not Buddhism as Buddha but I follow… I asked the old monks name, he told me Walleat, and I said, “As Buddha’s knowledge came to be known as Buddhism, our ideological knowledge should not remain of another but should become Walleatism.” The old monk looked at me and said, “Let’s change the topic.” But our session had ended.