On Rites, Rituals, and Ceremonies

People sometimes ask.

If they come to one of my retreats. Will they have to participate in any kind of ceremonies or rituals. I've even had People ask if I come to one of your retreats while I have to bow to you.

Well, I can tell you emphatically that you will not have to bow to me.

Unless you want to make me feel uncomfortable, but I can deal with that. That's just a rising of self preferential fit so if you want to test my practice and see how I can deal with being made to feel uncomfortable. And, yes, you can bow to me, but otherwise that would definitely not be a feature of my retreats. In fact, most happy if People look upon me as just.

I don't like anybody else, you like somebody you could challenge or say you know use screwed up or I disagree with you or?

And so forth.

So now you're not going to have to bow and that could have to do any kind of rights or rituals or ceremonies.

Rites rituals ceremonies, we find them everywhere we find them in.

Our early beginnings the tribal world.

We find them in.

Christianity.

Particularly in the Catholic form or forms of Christianity.

We find them everywhere.

Historically, the boot da who lived approximately 2500 years ago.

Seem to be pretty down on rights and rituals in the sense that he clearly stated that rights and rituals in and of themselves.

Don't have any effect on the external world and actually don't have any effect on our internal spiritual progress. The rights and rituals in and of themselves.

And since in his culture rights and rituals in and of themselves.

Were considered to have a lot of effect and to be important?

Peoples.

Religious life spiritual life.

Often centered around these rituals.

To deny the efficacy of Rights and rituals.

Was pretty?

Damn revolutionary an actually got a lot of pushback.

So when we look historically at Buddhism.

There would seem to be a negation up.

Rites rituals ceremonies and so forth.

One of the things that the book that taught.

Was to pay careful attention?

To your experience.

And he said that if you pay, careful attention to your experience you will see that.

The nature of your experiences a Nietzsche impermanent.

And.

You will also realize that that's the nature of everything.

Things change.

One of the things that.

Changes is Buddhism.

It's a condition phenomenon all conditioned phenomenon phenomenon change. That was the last words of the Nietzsche Butter. Some Carl all conditioned things change.

Buddhism as a cultural historical phenomenon is most assuredly a condition thing it may point.

The path to something beyond conditions, but it itself is conditioned.

And therefore.

True to the foot does on teaching.

Who doesn't changed some People held to earlier forms of practice something People we've evolved new forms of practice some People help to earlier terminology and conceptual frameworks. Other People develop new terminology new conceptual framework.

Buddhism disappears from its native soil of India.

Around the year 1200 AD.

We get there's a long process, but if you want a sort of OK to think in easy round numbers. You can think of Buddhist history as spanning.

On Indian soil approximately.

1700 years, there's the 500 years of the BC and then there's about 1200 years of the Eiti. Fortunately, Buddhism by the time it was wiped out in India.

Have been.

Propagated throughout the rest of Asia preserved and now in fact, has been reintroduced into Hindi up during that 1700 years.

Changes took place.

About 500 years after the printers depth very, very roughly speaking once again just to give you some simple home after benchmarks.

Reaction to early Buddhism arose.

That said.

It's not enough just to be liberated for your own liberation. It's equally important to contribute to the liberation and broadly. The welfare of other People, those 2 are on the same footing.

So that's called Mahayana Buddhist.

The Buddha's life exemplified that he served but his teachings tended to.

Tell People you need to set up get yourself Liberal.

About 700 years after the Mahayana Revolution started the Vad Rihanna Revolution started so from say 780 to 12180.

Other developed something called venture out of my life.

What version is known by a lot of different names but we'll just use that one for now.

What's interesting about but Rihanna is relative to rights and rituals is at the other end of the spectrum?

It's all about rights in rituals.

So does this mean that God Rihanna is the ultimate degradation of the original teachings of the good die.

Not at all.

The Buddha said rights and rituals.

All in and of themselves are not efficacious.

But rights and rituals.

If you wish.

Can create?

An ideal situation to develop concentration sensory clarity and equanimity they can be vehicles.

For a meditative practice.

So if you make it a vehicle for meditative practice, you use the simplified situation the repetitiveness the symbolism and so forth?

Then you write and ritual can be a legitimate practice.

There was a famous Kabbalistic Master in Judaism, who said.

Judaism without cough ona is Idolatry Covenant is the Hebrew word for high concentration.

Implying that if you just superficially do the Jewish liturgy. You might as well be worshipping idols on the other hand, if you intentionally focus and use that environment to cultivate a certain state of consciousness.

Then.

Yeah, so it's a powerful practice. We don't use rights and rituals at my retreats, but

We often will do a sweat. Lodge afterwards for those who wish to to go back to a very ancient form of writing ritual one that most assuredly developed deep concentration clarity and equanimity.