‘SALUTING
THE SHRINE’
HOMAGE
TO THE BUDDHA, DHARMA, SANGHA
–
some
of the rich, overlapping layers of meaning
When we ‘salute
the shrine’ with the Buddha image on it, please don't feel you have to
join in,
if you have problems with the idea of 'worshipping' an idol or even an
externally conceived ‘God’ or ‘Reality’.
Actually
our 'saluting' or paying homage is a special reverential moment for us
when we
honestly acknowledge our existential situation before the encompassing
mystery
of Life. Our route into this awe before the unique unrepeatability of
this
moment (alone and together) is shaped by the triple symbol of
Buddha/Dharma/Sangha,
which we use to attune us to the precious help we and others have
derived from
these 'Three Jewels', which each have several dimensions.
Putting
our trust in the Buddha can mean:
a) paying grateful
homage to our founder, the historical person of 'Shakyamuni Buddha',
whom we understand
to have realized a full Awakening, and who then went forth to help
others to
awaken to the centrality of Wise Compassion and Tenderness in our
dealings with
each other;
b) we also
express our faith in pure Compassionate Awareness, which the Awakened
mind
reveals to lie at the Heart of Reality and of our true 'Buddha'-nature;
c)
therefore we practice not so much in order to become loving and
‘enlightened’
at some future point in time, but to express our trusting intention to
accept Life
and ourselves as part of evolving Life, just as we/It are right now in
the
present, and our prayerful resolve to gently bring ourselves back (be
brought
back) to What Is whenever we find we have drifted off into the past or
the future,
as happens to us all again and again, so that we too may and shall
‘Real-ize’
the Truth.
Homage
to the Dharma can mean:
a) expressing
our appreciation of the teachings or philosophy of Awakening as
Shakyamuni
Buddha taught and as those who followed
after him have practised and developed down the years;
b) accepting
to be taught by Life’s hard knocks and by learning to ‘read the signs’
Life
offers us; and
c) affirming
our determination to orient towards Reality/Life/Nature as 'It' really
is,
which can never be captured in words and is always greater than our pet
theories about life;
.
Celebrating
the Sangha can also
be understood on several levels:
a) the Sangha
(congregation) of fellow practitioners in our immediate group, which we
honour
as an evolving field of practice for each of us to learn how to be
together in supportive,
authentic, growthful and wholesome ways, without allowing old mental
habits and
social games to discourage or derail us;
b) but we
also honour our Buddhist tradition(s) over time, as communities of
practice through
which the Compassionate Aware Mind and teachings of Buddha/Dharma have
been
embodied and transmitted down the generations;
c) we also acknowledge
wider communities of people of Goodwill
of whatever faith (and none) through all historical times, whose love,
work and
witness have fed into the world we all inherit;
d) and even
wider we also situate ourselves gratefully in a state of
(inter)Dependence upon
the community of our fellow earthlings of all species.
[Note: some Buddhist traditions also
Honour
the Buddha
Maitreya – the Awakened Mind
that is to
come, which refers both to the mind(s) of true teachers/practitioners
who will
arise, and the minds of all those who will increasingly be able to
recognise,
respond to, act on and embody those teachings at a time of overflowing
Love on
Earth; and/or
Express trust in the Pureland – the underlying wholesomeness
of our life together which we increasingly attune to in the course of
our
practice, and the yearning we experience (integral to our full humanity
and
stemming from our very Source and Nature) for this wholesomeness, this
awakening, to be realised generally, even universally: May
All Beings Be Happy!]