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| Article: Meditation is Living the Way and Its Virtue - by Dr. Andrew Shugyo Bonnici | ||
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There is a word in Japanese that I use in the teaching of mediation life practice. This word is
"jotoku". The meaning of Jotoku has special relevance to the inner posture and authentic
meaning of your meditation life practice. "Jo"in Japanese means "quiet" and
"toku" means"virtue". Thus, Jotoku literally translates as "Quiet Virtue". Jotoku as virtue should not be confused with the self-righteous virtue that promotes arrogance, ignorance, separation and animosity between the the saved and the unsaved, the believer and the disbeliever, the sinner and the saint, the moral and the immoral. Rather, jotoku can be understood as the natural goodness or innate virtue of things and beings just as they are. This means that when our original nature is like an uncarved jewel or untouched by social or cultural conditioning, its essence is neither pure nor defiled. It just is. For example, the virtue of the sky is blueness, the virtue of space is infinite darkness, the virtue of the sun is light and warmth, the virtue of water is wetness. In this respect, the virtue of humanness is just being. Being is also our peaceful virtue because when we stop doing and have nowhere to go and nothing to become, our felt experience within our body is completely fulfilled and joyfully content. When we experience our original virtue as quiet and peace,"just being human" expresses itself as authenticity, sincerity, openness, spontaneity, faithfulness, wonder, respect, and compassion toward self,others, and all of nature. We reveal the quiet and peaceful virtue of our original nature when our behavior unselfconsciously demonstrates the living practice of a true human being. The translation of the Japanese word Toku as Virtue has its roots in the 2,500 year old Chinese text called the Tao Te Ching . "Ching" in Chinese means Book. "Te" is translated as Virtue and is the same meaning as Toku in Japanese. "Tao" is translated as "The Way". Thus, Tao Te Ching is translated as the Book of the Way and Its Virtue. Tao, as the Way. refers to an Infinite Source which creatively manifests, upholds, and returns all beings and things to Itself while remaining eternally mysterious, nameless and formless. Te, on the other hand, is the Way's Vast Inner Wisdom (Its Quiet and Unseen Virtue) that sustains the dynamic integrity, individuality, authenticity, equality, and interconnectedness of all living and non-living forms throughout infinite time and space. This means that all human beings can live in harmony with their True Nature (the Way) and Its Virtue when they daily acknowledge an Infinite and Nameless Source of Vast Wisdom while embracing the Truth of Oneness and Mutual Equality amidst all their Differences and Distinctions. When human beings yield to their True Nature (the Way) they may be said to manifest Virtue as their dynamic integrity, simplicity, authenticity, and mutual interdependency with each other. This yielding to True Nature, this trusting completely in the Wisdom of the Way and Its Virtue, is no other than the expression of a human being's Original Faith before all cultures, religions, ideas, and beliefs. By arousing this Original Faith in the Way and Its VIrtue, human beings authentically manifest their momentary existence within the Eternal Womb of the Infinite Universe and willing return to True Nature as a trusting Infant yielding to its loving Mother. Authentically manifest means to "be that human being" which one Truly is in each Moment of Vast Impermanence. To be authentic is exactly the embodiment of compassionate openness and vulnerability to both life and death. Authenticity, genuineness, integrity, and spontaneity are all qualities of Te or Natural Virtue. We see the beauty and clarity of Natural Virtue most readily in young infants and toddlers. This is why our hearts and minds trustingly respond to them so easily and naturally. Infants and toddlers manifest the Way and Its Virtue without the need of any cultural development or external religious standards. They are just being their natural goodness, spontaneously being themselves before thoughts and names. As children learn their name and begin to think in words, they tend to become less intimate with this natural and spontaneous goodness, this Way and Its Virtue. They quickly learn from social verbal patterns and coping behaviors how to manipulate the environment to adapt and survive in a world filled with multiple standards, beliefs, expectations, and ever changing demands. The true practice of Meditation is exactly the recovery of our intimacy with the Way and Its virtue, an intimacy that we all knew in our early years before we understood our name or began thinking in words. Meditation can be understood as the practice of reawakening to this Original Truth of Intimacy with the Way and Its Virtue moment by moment. When we study "Meditation as reawakening to the Way and Its Virtue " we are in fact studying how to live our everyday life with "Te" or "Natural VIrtue" manifesting as the practice of truth, wisdom, faith, creativity, compassion, vitality, acceptance, spontaneity, and courage. Meditation as reawakening is exactly your bodymindheartspirit just sitting down, breathing, yielding in complete trust to your True Nature's integrity, authenticity, and reciprocal interconnectedness with all beings and things. "Te" or Quiet Virtue is living everyday life as the body of meditation. Living the body of meditation as everyday life is the practice of being human or deepening our understanding of this human beingness. When we practice the body of meditation as quiet virtue, we yield to the ever present reality of our impermanence in this Only Moment while listening with openness and trust to a Vast Wisdom Stillness (the Way) within ourselves and all beings and things just as they are. Quiet Virtue is exactly seated meditation--- "Just sitting in this Only Moment with wakefulness and a deep confidence in Vast Wisdom (Original Faith) ". Meditation, in this respect, is trustfully listening (Original Faith) with our whole bodymind to that innately genuine integrity (Vast Wisdom Oneness) within our selves and the Universe as a Whole. Rising from our seated meditation, engaging in the activity of our everyday life, we continue to nourish the quality of sincere inner listening and embodied Original Faith before all our beliefs and thinking mind. This is also the meaning of "Quiet Virtue"-- to listen trustingly and fervently in our daily mundane activities to the One Vast Inner Stillness and Wisdom in all circumstances and all forms. Quiet Virtue is to dedicate our whole life and our whole bodymind to listening fervently to that Vast Wisdom Stillness within and without. This listening is before our thinking mind or any thoughts or ideas about ourselves as unique personalities. It is listening from the deepest experience of being within our body or the felt source of being our human body moment by moment. This is wholehearted bodily listening as a human being. Meditation is the endless practice of listening with all the pores of our body to that Vast Wisdom which precedes the limitations of our personal preferences, beliefs, ideas, desires, or expectations. It is Just Unconditional and Wholehearted Bodily Listening to the Way and It's Virtue!! This, then, is the meaning of the Way and Its Virtue that we seek to nourish in our meditation life practice. As we commit ourselves daily to these behavioral and spiritual principles of unconditional listening, personal integrity, human authenticity, genuine equality, and compassionate interconnectedness with all beings and things, let us throw our whole life force into the ceaseless meditation practice of our life and relationships. By throwing our whole life force into our seated and engaged meditation practice, we liberate our spiritual courage to meet the situations of our life with action based on the body of faith, the mind of clarity, and the heart of openness and compassion. This means that when our whole life force is committed to our meditation life practice, we release the full potency of our innate vitality, aliveness, caring, creativity, and wisdom within all the mundane experiences of our daily life. In this way, our meditation practice literally infuses our daily mundane activities and experiences with the breath of freshness, wonder, gratitude, and compassionate action for self and others. This relationship between the discipline of throwing our whole life force into our engaged meditation practice while being compassionate with ourselves is a paradox that each of us is called to daily examine in our own life. When looking at that paradox, we must remember that being overly willful in disciplining ourselves only hinders the liberation of our fullest potential for manifesting the body of ease, the mind of wisdom, and the heart of love. On the other hand, if we do not make our meditation practice a priority in our life, we do not generate sufficient life force to experience the satisfaction of our own wholeheartedness nor the precious meaning of living as a growing and deepening human being in this very moment. With these thoughts in mind, I encourage you to continue to throw your whole life force into living meditation, to always extend compassion to yourself, and to celebrate the practice of your life and relationships as none other than the Way and Its Virtue. with Blessings and Encouragement, Dr. Bonnici August 1, 2000 |
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