Book Review

Taking Tea with the Buddha: The Gift of Practice
by Bradly Jay Keller, 2008. 175pp.
(Available on amazon.com)

In this concise, carefully constructed and clearly written book, Bradly Jay Keller leads the reader on a journey of discovery on the path of Buddhism. The distinction between the map and the territory is useful here. The author, as our tour guide, takes us on the actual terrain of the meditation practice, in the Zen tradition of Mahayana Buddhism. But he makes judicious use of historical and philosophical maps of Zen Buddhism, and other schools of Buddhism, Western psychology and Hinduism too. He presents theory in the context of the practice of meditation—both sitting meditation and incorporating meditation in one's daily activity.

The book is divided into 36 chapters of between 4-6 pages each. One might call these short-journey sized sections, in that could read each section, close the book, and ponder on what they've read, and seek to realize it. Each chapter also ends with short haiku-like poems, by the author, which attempt to sometimes nudge, and sometimes jolt, the reader toward a direct experience of what has been described in that chapter. We'll present several examples of these later, in the course of presenting some of the Buddhist concepts discussed by the author.

***

In a sense, the books by the Buddha, the great Buddhist teachers, and practitioners of Buddhism say the same thing with different degrees of emphasis and eloquence. The author points out that all of this material, including his own book, is an attempt to get the mind to stop doing what minds like to do, which is think, to judge and to make distinctions, between this and that, adding judgments—I like this, but I don't like that. The next step in this process is forming attachments to the desires or aversions without understanding the consequences. In Buddhism, desire is due to ignorance, and alleviated by the path of the Dharma itself, which is called the path of discriminating wisdom. This takes us right into the heart of the famous Four Noble Truths of Buddhism—Suffering, Cause of Suffering, Cessation of Suffering, and Release from Suffering through the Eightfold Path of right living and mindfulness.

It is not things that cause us to be attached to them, but our desires. So, the author points out that one ought not say, things are bad, spiritual goals are good—because one could get as attached to spiritual goals, as physical one, with both being exercises in clinging and desire.

Desires may be hindrances, but, as he writes, they are hindrances on the path. And so, he places the original Buddhist teachings from the Theravada tradition of the so-called Three Marks—of impermanence, suffering, and non-self—in the context of the Mahayana tradition, of which Zen and the Yogacara school are two schools, and in which samsara and nirvana are one. This is an example of the author's method—placing theory in the context of practice, and seeing the practice in the perspective of the development of Buddhism as a way of viewing of the world.

This review is written in the context of a major financial crisis in the world, in the Spring of 2009. It is important for people to watch their thoughts and emotions, as they see their brokerage accounts and retirement accounts fall in value precipitously, lose their jobs, houses or apartments. Finance plays a role in a seemingly endless stream of news stories about family and workplace shootings, in which many people, including babies and children are killed by their distraught parents or relatives.

So, while we may earnestly strive for particular results which elude us, we still have opportunities to respond with non-attachment and non-clinging to what actually happens. Hindrances, as financial reversals, turn into their opposite, so to speak, and become the means by which to practice non-attachment. The author notes this too, as in the earlier description of the relationship between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism.

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The key meditation process in the book is the Zen Buddhist meditation practice of zazen (also called shikan taza, sitting just to sit). In this, one follows the inflows and outflows of the breath, and sees thoughts as clouds which only temporarily fill the open sky of the mind, in it original and pure nature. This is original mind, Buddha mind, the mind that watches thoughts and emotions without clinging to them as attachments. The author also describes the Buddha's own image of meditation as a smelting process, which frees the gold of the original mind with no attachment, from the ore of ordinary consciousness with its attachments. <p.13> The author writes of zazen:

Become aware of how thoughts and self-clinging interfere with being mindful of breathing in the here and now. As the mind is relaxed and focused on the breath, the habit of thinking will reoccur. Thinking will interfere with your effort to remain mindful of the breath. As soon as you notice that thinking has robbed you of your mindfulness, return to your focused awareness of the posture and breathing…<p.10>

…During zazen, letting go or our attachment to thoughts is essential. Being attached to endless discursive thinking is like sleep walking. Focused bright attention in the here and now is waking up to being alive. Zazen is the practice of letting go of attachments to experience waking up in this very moment. It is like having the darkness of delusion peeled away from your eyes, and suddenly seeing the brightness of reality. <p. 62>

A little later in the book, the author describes a second kind of Buddhist meditation, whose starting point is the very question of who am I? (He later identifies it as a Koan from the Rinzai tradition of Zen Buddhism.) One goes beyond watching the rise and fall of the breath, to the thought of who is it that watches, or who am I. Then, one could forget the thought of mind and body, and just be. The author gives us an excellent two page description of this, from which we'll cite several paragraphs.

When the questions, "Who am I?" suddenly presents itself in the mind, let go of being afraid or anxious. It just means that your attachments are being questioned. Can you feel the basic body-emotion evoked by the question? Notice if the question gives you a feeling of being in a more constricted space, or a more open space. Finally, try to breathe into experiencing the question, "Who Am I?" <p.27>

Appreciate that for a moment your true Self broke through the shell of the personal self, and you had the feeling of truth that presented itself a the question, "Who Am I?" An honest answer to this question might be, "I don't know." <p.28>

This type of self doubt is an opportunity for letting go of attachments, to realize the original Self. Can you realize that there is no personal self that asks the question, "Who Am I"? If there is no personal self that is asking the question, then who is truly asking the question?

Enlightenment hides
From those who seek her,
But reveals herself
To those who surrender.
<pp. 28-29>

Both practices try to make accessible to the practitioner the "experience" of original Mind, or Oneness, or Buddha mind that is the ground of our ordinary dualistic consciousness. Zazen is the practice of stilling the mind by following the breath. Koan meditation involves posing a question to the meditator that cannot be solved by ordinary thinking or through the will, but by our higher consciousness, as Who am I? or what is your original face before your mother and father are born <pp. 52-3>

While the following are not koans exactly, here are two poems by the author that seem to use poetry as a way to jolt us from the ordinary way of experiencing thing. These are the two poetry selections at the end of two chapters.

Why does the frog eat
When he has the entire universe
Within his full belly.
<from chapter 12 on Original Mind>

and

The black lacquer box
Shattered by a whisper
Non longer needs a lid.
<from chapter 5, Samsara and Nirvana are One>

Some of the other poems at the end of the chapters are descriptive and evocative, and seem to correspond more with zazen than with koan pratice.

The crimson rosebud
Gives freely its fine fragrance,
To the winds of time.
<chapter 11, The Wheel of Desire>

and

The great mandala
Of the universe
Breathes in and out,
As each one of us
Breathes in and out.
<chaper 15, Vibrationand Resonance>

***

There are other points by the author that are worth noting here. He writes that we should approach the practice with faith and devotion to the Buddha, which is also reverence to our self, the self which we are seeking to see and develop into Buddha nature. If one bows to an image of the Buddha, this is the same as bowing to one's original self.

To clean up one's personal psychology can be helpful, if one brings fewer psychological encumbrances to meditation. But, in the end, there is just the practice of being quiet and letting the quiet of the unattached mind speak to you.

The author introduces the analogy of musical vibration to describe levels of consciousness. Due to the principle of resonance, a vibrating tuning fork makes a violin string resonate at the same frequency. It's helpful to introduce this image of attunement to the higher vibration, to which one might be receptive—as in sitting meditation—into one's lifestyle. This is especially true in this age of portable electronic "devices" and seemingly endless distractions that are available to people. Later in the book, the author speaks of the importance of habits in terms of whether we have a yes or no attitude. This ties in with our karma too, of promoting negative or positive thinking. Even given these vibrational levels, one is encouraged not to feel attached to particular stages or experiences. Even feelings of Samadhi or bliss are at best, but a stage on the path of mindfulness meditation, and at worst, a distraction, and a feeder of one's sense of spiritual pride.

Karma is endless, therefore, we should let go of karma, and try to do what is right. As the author writes at the end of section 18 The Principle of Karma:

Being non-attached to our actions and the results of our actions allows great freedom. In this way we can freely accomplish the great task of life. We can pay attention to the principle of karma without having to constantly analyze our karma. And we can bow to our karma and let it go. In this way we are fully connected to all of mankind with the great love of no-self. This is the true Bodhisattva Way of selfless action.
A dog chasing his tail,
Looking for happiness,
Does not find enlightenment! <p.88>

The author also describes world peace as the extension of individual practice, a very important point. He also describes non-attached love as unconditional love.

***

Having done his best to ground theory in practice, the author provides a peek into what is called in Western philosophy, speculative philosophy of nature. In Buddhism this involves questions such as why does the primal undifferentiated self become maya—to eventually know itself through the world of nature. The author explores this in terms of the Dharmakaya in the Mahayana tradition—the unmanifest aspect of the Buddha, that has been compared to the Father in the Christian Trinity, and to the speculative thought of philosophers as Hegel, in Western philosophy.

By way of comment, while ordinary meditation is meditation from the perspective of a separate self which is not separate from empty mind, or Buddha mind, speculative philosophy proceeds from the perspective of the One which is not separate from individual beings. Each meditating on the other—the self on the Self, and the Self on the self—provides the vibrational basis for this speculative philosophy of nature. And so, the finite mind, and empty infinite mind achieve self-awareness by meditating on each other, in a kind of cosmic dance.

***

In summary, this book is a basic guide to meditation from the tradition of the Zen Buddhist Mahayana school of Buddhism. It is written in a style that is simple and clear. Its energy is gentle and inspirational, but the message conveyed is very powerful. Reading, and then re-reading a section daily would be an easy way to help one to stay on the path of right intention and mindfulness; Taking Tea with the Buddha: The Gift of Practice by Bradly Jay Keller would make a lovely gift too. It is available online through Amazon.com.

Reviewed by Paul Dolinsky
editor@thegoldenlantern.com