Review: Dead Drunk

Dead Drunk by Paul Garrigan is a quick and captivating read. From his life growing up in Ireland to his transformative 10 days spent in Central Thailand’s Wat Thamkrabok—Garrigan offers an insightful and sincere look at alcoholism and the nature of addiction in general. Never making excuses for his destructive behavior, Garrigan writes with the addict in mind—showing them that it is possible to quit. But this memoir is interesting for the general reader as well to see how a Buddhist temple helped to ultimately end Garrigan’s addiction.

This memoir is told in a chronological way—beginning with Garrigan’s childhood and homelife. He relates how alcohol always had always held an attraction for him, especially as a socially awkward child. He continued to have this positive association with alcohol, observing how adults became more lively and fun when drinking, and this led to some early experimentation. When his parents got divorced he became a hardcore drinker and soon an alcoholic. There were many moments where Garrigan lets himself imagine a different past for himself where if he had gone down a different path, or some outside circumstances would have changed, he wouldn’t have become an alcoholic. But he always admits in the end he should not make excuses for himself and it was his own making.

Paul Garrigan was able to remain sober for over two years in his early twenties through AA. But in the end he decided that although he is grateful to AA for all their help, the program could not help him to fully quit his addiction. He reasons that with the AA program he is always thinking about alcohol—either consuming it or not consuming it. He decides that he would like to stop thinking about alcohol altogether—to end the suffering of his relationship with alcohol. But instead of ending the suffering, he stops going to AA and becomes an alcoholic again. He convinces himself that he should enjoy his life and his youth and be a hedonist.

He decides to travel and winds up to Thailand— still binging on alcohol. At this point he wants to quit and knows that his addiction is making a mess of his life. A highlight of the book is his time at Wat Rampoeng’s Northern Insight Meditation Center in Chiangmai. He completes the basic course there and is able to find some freedom from his addiction but once back in the world he easily gives in to temptation. It is only when he hits rock bottom that he takes quitting seriously. He is living with his Thai girlfriend in Central Thailand, drinking from morning until night, not able to digest food without severe abdominal pain, when he finds out about the detox program at Wat Thamkrabok.

Garrigan knows this is his last chance. On the way to the temple Garrigan is constantly worried that he will go on an alcoholic binge and not ever arrive. He even wants to have one last beer but his stomach pain from decades of alcohol abuse, does not let him. Wat Thamkrabok is not a meditation course, but a detox program involving a morning ritual of public vomiting. Besides this humbling ritual done for five days in a row and chores in the early morning, there is not much of a routine for the participants. But as Garrigan makes friends he starts to think about his life and hopes he can stay away from alcohol after his ten days here.

By the end of the book Garrigan has remained sober for over a year. He continues to maintain a website about mindfulness and addiction recovery in Thailand. His memoir highlights a significant program in Thailand that may not be well-known but can help many travelers to the country. This is an informative and interesting read for alcoholics or loved ones of alcoholics looking for alternative methods of recovery, or Thailand enthusiasts interested in finding out all of the many ways Thai Buddhism is being used and applied to help modern lives.

Reinterpretation and Adaptation in Jeff Wilson’s Mourning the Unborn Dead: A Buddhist Ritual Comes to America

In this first book (Mourning the Unborn Dead)  based on his dissertation by young scholar Jeff Wilson, he looks at the state of ritual in American Buddhist communities and what this means for the state of American Buddhism as well as the categories scholars use to describe Buddhism in America. To do this, Wilson focuses on a Japanese ritual for aborted fetuses called mizuko kuyo and the ways this has manifested within American religiosity. Wilson first compares Japanese-American temples with Zen convert communities’ practices of this ritual but then moves more broadly to appropriations of this ritual within a non-Buddhist context.

The differences and changes he finds between the Japanese-American and Zen convert temples are illuminating as ways to ‘ethnicize’ Western Buddhist communities. Wilson demonstrates how American culture is forming a hybrid with Buddhist concepts to create new forms of Buddhist practice. Through investigating how Zen convert communities adapt the mizuko kuyo ritual, Wilson shows how the particular characteristics of Western Buddhist communities such as focusing on meditation, downgrading prayer, group discussion, productivity and emotional catharsis (91). For example in this ritual in America, a portion of the ceremony is dedicated to sharing one’s feelings in a circle, which is not found in the Japanese version.

Another example is that in the American ritual, the participants chant the Heart Sutra together in English for all to understand. But in Japan the Heart Sutra is not chanted in modern Japanese, so the focus is on the words which are thought to have power. So the text changes for this ritual in America from something meritorious or magical to performing a teaching role. In Zen convert communities therapy is also involved. The participants express feelings and reasons for joining the ritual. Many people cry and weep while sharing their stories. In Japan it is not common to cry or express feelings to strangers.

In the American Zen performance of the mizuko kuyo the lay person is as important in the ritual as the priest. In Japan the priest is necessary but the lay person is not—as it is believed that priests have the training to perform the ritual. In American Zen the ritual is performed as an emotional catharsis for those who have lost a small child while in Japan the ritual is used to pacify the spirits of the recently deceased. Therefore in America the point of the ritual is spiritual health of mother—not placating an angered spirit. These changes in the ritual have opened up the reasons to participate to include not just aborted fetuses, but also mourning miscarriages, stillborn births, death of an infant or adult child among other reasons (102). In the American ritual Wilson finds the ritual is more a “series of psychotherapeutic exercises performed in a religious arena—similar to group therapy” (103).

The mixture of American cultural ideas of psychotherapy, self-help groups, rationalism and skepticism show that converts don’t simply divorce Buddhism from Asian culture as is often stated but instead add their own. Through the lens of the mizuko kuyo ritual Wilson illustrates clearly the reinterpretations that occur within the American Buddhist context. He shows the hybrid formations of American Buddhism which mix common cultural ideas with Buddhist practices.

Review: The Mindfulness Revolution

In this new book from Shambhala Publications there are many definitions of mindfulness. One definition states “It means the mind is fully attending to what is at hand, what you’re working on, the person you’re talking to, the surroundings you’re moving through” (xi). Another definition says that mindfulness “means deliberately paying attention, being fully aware of what is happening inside yourself—in your body, heart, and mind—and outside yourself in your environment” (4). Mindfulness is also “the art of observing your physical, emotional, and mental experiences with deliberate, open, and curious attention” (11). “Mindfulness is the practice of cultivating nonjudgmental awareness in day-to-day life” (28). Mindfulness is “careful, openhearted, choiceless, present-moment awareness . . . Mindfulness is the awareness that is not thinking but is aware of thinking” (39). Some of the authors in this edited volume also discuss what mindfulness is not. It is not a means to think hard about something, it is not self-help as you are not trying to change who you are. This book discusses mindfulness meditation practically, mostly within daily life and its significance in enhancing all aspects of society. Therefore the mindfulness under discussion here is a secular practice. In fact the word Buddha and Buddhism, as far as I could tell, appear only once each in the volume.

The editor, Barry Boyce, attributes this secularity to the well-known author and scientist, Jon Kabat-Zinn. The introduction to The Mindfulness Revolution also details the scientific studies related to the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) techniques of Kabat-Zinn. The reason mindfulness meditation is accepted as beneficial without religious training is because it has been proved effective by scientific studies (xiv). Health studies as well as neuroscience discoveries have created the popularity in mindfulness techniques in secular areas.

Most of The Mindfulness Revolution however consists of an anthology of writings on mindfulness from Shambhala Magazine, as well as excerpts from books by Wisdom and other publishers, and some original material. These excerpts are divided into four parts: How to Practice Mindfulness, Mindfulness in Daily Life, Mindfulness, Health and Healing and Interpersonal Mindfulness. These different sections discuss basics on how to practice, ways to practice in daily life such as gardening and other hobbies and at work, the benefits of mindfulness practice with a focus on well-being both physically and emotionally, and how to use mindfulness in relationships such as between parent and child.

This book describes techniques for using mindfulness for accepting life and its uncertainties, helping with pain and addiction, illness, and anxiety. Therefore the benefits of mindfulness listed in this book are far-reaching, both for general health and happiness and toward specific applications. Jan Chozen Bays in her article “What is Mindfulness” writes of the importance of mindfulness for all humanity: “When we allow the mind to rest in the present, full of what is actually happening right now, redirecting it away from repeated fruitless excursions into the past or future or fantasy realms, we are doing something very important: conserving the energy of the mind. It remains fresh and open, ready to respond to whatever appears before it” (5). The general effects of mindfulness listed in this volume are to be more fully present, move out of the disconnection of life caused by living on automatic pilot, help to maximize life’s experiences, and lessen reactivity to the stimuli of the world. Specific uses of mindfulness have their place in this volume also in chapters about digital mindfulness, mindfulness for parenting and for children, mindful consumerism, music and mindfulness, mindfulness and cooking, using mindfulness to help with chronic pain, trauma, addiction, shyness, and mindful eating.

The final essay of part four is written by the editor, Barry Boyce, and is called “Creating a Mindful Society.” This part introduces the reader to the large community of mindfulness practitioners. Boyce describes the people who have built and maintain institutions for mindful study and practices. This essay summarizes the many stories from the department called ‘Mindful Society’ in Shambhala Sun magazine. Boyce here argues that mindfulness is not only for the individual but that it affects society, and can in fact change the world. It constitutes a revolution as all the people and groups practicing mindfulness, Boyce believes, can transform the world. Boyce writes that mindfulness “usually causes us to look outward more often” and “causes some people to say that mindfulness blossoms into ‘heartfulness’” (263). Boyce outlines the people, institutes, and initiatives that study and promote mindfulness for children and parenting, for elementary education, university education, inner-city youth, music students, cancer patients, corporate offices, lawyers, soldiers, and the dying.

Boyce states that in order to develop a mindful society we do not need to create more meditation centers but to find all the ways possible to be fully present in the moment. He finds that practitioners want to see the peace they have cultivated inward in the outer society. The last words in the book emphasize this: “Mindfulness is not a me thing. It’s a we thing” (264). This rhetoric dispels any lingering ideas that Buddhism and seeking Enlightenment is a selfish activity. By taking the practice out of its Buddhist context and into daily life, it becomes not a practice to be done sitting alone, but in society, while engaged with people.

The Mindfulness Revolution does not end with the book, but has much more information on the website called Mindful: Living with Awareness and Compassion. This website is a one-stop spot for all of the recent news, resources, books, and information on the practice of mindfulness. This website continues to emphasize mindfulness as a secular aspect, saving more Buddhist content for their magazines, Shambhala Sun and Buddhadharma.

Review: The Novice: Why I Became a Buddhist Monk, Why I Quit, and What I Learned

Stephen Schettini has written another Buddhist memoir, The Novice, to add to my list of Westerners writing in this sub-genre. This book carries some of the main themes I have already noted in my extensive reading of Western Buddhist memoirs (see post). His book reveals themes that are consistent with other Western monastic tales. He is disenchanted with Christianity and finds it does not answer his questions. Because of this, he travels to India and encounters Tibetan Buddhism. Back in Europe, he finds a Tibetan monastic community and ordains. In the end he realizes that he put the religion of Buddhism on a pedestal and that it could not live up to his ideal. As he is realizing this he writes “So Buddhism wouldn’t answer my every question. It couldn’t even pose them all” (240). Below I will detail these themes in more detail.

This is a more traditional memoir, which is structured chronologically, as the reader learns in detail about the author’s early life and travels before becoming a Tibetan Buddhist monk in Switzerland. He first travels from England and eventually to Dharamsala where the Buddhist part of this memoir really begins. In India he also finds his way to Mt. Kopan and the retreat center of the famous Lama Yeshe.

After this initial contact, Schettini must return home due to lack of travel funds. But he soon finds a growing community of Western Tibetan monks in Switzerland under Geshe Rabten. Through a stroke of good luck or karma, he is able to find a sponsor so he can undertake this endeavor. This part reads like a who’s who of early Western Buddhism as Schettini’s colleagues in this early Western monk community are Steven Batchelor and Alan Wallace.

But like many of the memoirs I have investigated this one also expresses doubt in the tradition as well as concern about the cultural exchange between Eastern teachers with Western students. He writes “Western Buddhism would sooner or later have to develop its own feet, and it was beginning to look like the sooner the better” (305), in reaction to the lay and monastic community that he believes are too excited by the exoticism of the guru and tradition that they cannot use their own critical judgment. He finds that trying to think for oneself makes one a persona non grata. He also realizes that language and culture are a barrier to understanding Buddhism through his Tibetan teachers. Schettini writes “I’d already seen that we should dig into our own culture for a vernacular to express the purpose of Buddhism. Now I realized that we’d have to explain our own truths . . . We were climbing the distant mountain of Tibetan language only to gaze back, fascinated, at our own valley” (240).

Schettini tests his growing doubt further by next delving into Tibetan culture by staying at Sera monastery in the south of India. Here he finds the debate and rote memorization an affront to critical thinking, although his Tibetan does improve, as he had hoped. A highlight of this second trip to India is his meeting with the Dalai Lama and running into now well-known professor Robert Thurman. But back in Switzerland with Geshe Rabten it is inevitable that he will disrobe. He writes of himself throughout these monastic experiences as too questioning of the tradition and the hierarchical structure and this is even more apparent in contrast to the new Western monks he encounters who are uncritically devoted to their teacher.

The end of the book leaves one unsatisfied with Schettini’s journey. He was looking to find answers in Buddhism but found he could not find them in the religious structure he had ordained into. But he doesn’t find the answer anywhere else either—he is left in a similar situation as he was before he found Buddhism and meditation. He is still confused about life and relationships, although of course, has gained helpful tools through meditation practice and study of Buddhism. Only in the epilogue does the reader get a sense that he has learned how to be happy, and he does this through becoming part of a family and writing this book, The Novice.

 

Review: Practicing the Jhanas: Traditional Concentration Meditation as Presented by the Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw

Practicing the Jhanas by Stephen Snyder and Tina Rasmussen is a typical, practical meditation guidebook with a unique (for many modern English-speaking practitioners) set of instructions—the ancient Samadhi practices of absorption meditation or the jhanas. In the foreward to this book, the well-known Pa Auk Sayadaw writes that this book he hopes will be a bridge to both the teachings of the Buddha and the famous commentary, the Visuddhimagga, as well as his own book Knowing and Seeing. The authors, Tina and Stephen, write from the perspective of expert practitioners of the method of Samadhi meditation as taught by Pa Auk Sayadaw. They write of their experiences of a two-month retreat in 2005 with Pa Auk Sayadaw in Middletown, Connecticut. Their aim of this book is to “share with you pointers from our direct experience—the experience of two contemporary American practitioners who completed the entire samatha path” (4).

Stephen and Tina start off by explaining the importance of the jhanas in the Buddha’s life story, as well as the importance of jhanas before the Buddha’s time. For those modern Buddhists who want to follow the Buddha’s teachings and his path of practice, they argue, jhana plays an essential role. They recount the Buddha’s experience with jhana as a young boy, as an ascetic, and before his death.

After recognizing the significance of jhana and samatha practices, Practicing the Jhanas becomes a handbook for understanding and cultivating these deep absorption states. From the beginning of basic anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing) practices to access concentration and the jhana states this is a complete look at the path of practice of the samatha meditator. They outline how to get into a jhana state while acknowledging the main purpose is always to purify the mind before undertaking vipassana (insight) meditation practices. The beginning chapters outline the foundational understandings of samatha and jhana practice within the larger milieu of Buddhist meditation

After the foundational understandings and the basics of developing the first jhana state, the book progresses further to show how to cultivate further jhanas states from second jhana through until the eighth jhana. These are difficult concepts and experiences to put into language. Tina and Stephen manage to do this in an accessible way through relating it directly to their experiences. The reader is often told directly that Tina found entering a jhana one way to be effective while Stephen used a different method. They give the reader confidence, through their obvious knowledge and experience, that it is possible to sit in a jhana state for 3 hours and to attain mastery of the state by being able to enter it at will.

This is both a book that draws on traditional and pre-Buddhist teachings and one that is particular to the method of the current teacher Pa Auk Sayadaw. For this particular teaching, he requires meditators to master each jhana before being able to move onto the next one. This is done for all eight jhanas including additional practices all before vipassana meditation. This is an incredible amount of samatha but Tina and Stephen show the reader how these deep concentration states are important and vital for purifying the mind before vipassana. Pa Auk Sayadaw also states that cultivating all eight jhanas gives one a stable base for a thorough vipassana practice.

With the popularity of the Mahasi Sayadaw method in Burma and abroad, as well as the Ajahn Tong method where I live in Chiangmai, which both use the vipassana-only techniques, Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw’s focus on samatha is refreshing and provides a balance. Stephen and Tina’s presentation of this path of samatha before vipassana is a needed and welcome addition to meditation guidebooks.

Review: Buddhism Through American Buddhist Women’s Eyes

This newest series of essays written by American Buddhist women, edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo is one of a number of such volumes introducing and promoting women’s roles in the current formation of Buddhism in America and worldwide. Other important volumes include Sandy Boucher’s Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the New Buddhism, Lenore Friedman’s Meetings with Remarkable Women: Buddhist Teachers in America, Ellen Sidor’s A Gathering of Spirit: Women Teaching in American Buddhism, and Karma Lekshe Tsomo’s Sakyadhita: Daughters of the Buddha. These books all have similar aims to highlight female teachers in America and show the feminization of Buddhism in America. This list of volumes, however, is mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. With this new book, Karma Lekshe Tsomo introduces us to new teachers and teachings among Buddhist women in America. This volume in particular aims to give “women a chance to express themselves on the Dharma and their experiences of adapting and implementing the teachings in their daily lives” (13).

The list of contributors includes female monastics, lay meditation teachers, and women who have incorporated Buddhist principles into their work. More well-known names such as Jacqueline Mandell, Ayya Khema, and Karma Lekshe Tsomo, have full-length pieces. The book contains excerpts from a retreat for women at St. Mary’s Seminary in California in 1989. The purpose of the retreat was to discuss issues for American Buddhist women in all the many Buddhist traditions. Karma Lekshe Tsomo finds that although American Buddhist women have not been practicing for very long as they are almost all ‘new Buddhists,’ their words and perspectives may be more fresh and dynamic (157).

Topics in the essays in this volume include those that focus not on the practice of sitting meditation, and in fact, formal meditation is downgraded in order to highlight the applicability of Buddhist principles in daily life. Essays discuss parenting, understanding dying and grief, abortion, alcoholism, addiction, relationships, helping mothers and pregnant women, and others. One of the most successful pieces is Chapter 12 “The Monastic Experience,” which discusses female monasticism from many different perspectives: Shingon in Japan, Zen in America, FoGuang Shan in America, vipassana meditation in Burma, and Tibetan Buddhism. Here each person describes her unique experiences in each tradition and yet the similarities of being a female Buddhist monastic are still apparent.

These works show what women can offer the emerging Buddhist communities in English-speaking countries— a Buddhism that is more integrated into daily life applying Buddhism to difficult real-life situations.

Dhamma Talks of Ajahn Gavesako

The dhamma talks of Ajahn Gavesako can be found in three books published by the Maya Gotami Foundation. Two are separate volumes of dhamma talks titled A Fragrance of Dhamma. And the third is a well-illustrated book titled The Seven Practices of a Healthy Mind.

The Seven Practices of a Healthy Mind focuses on happiness and how to be happy through looking at one’s own mind. Ajahn Gavesako promises that a well-trained mind is the one thing that will bring true happiness. Besides this benefit Ajahn Gavesako lists other major benefits such as increased mental health, learning about life, and heedfulness. Ajahn Gavesako teaches the method of anapanasati following the stages of the Anapanasati Sutta but also mixes in forest master techniques such as repeating ‘Buddho,’ and incorporating mindfulness into daily life. He includes success stories of both Thai and Japanese people who have come to his temple to practice, and how his seven steps have benefitted their lives. He also points to medical studies and research to show the power of meditation for health benefits. Another main focus of his is anger management, as he offers a number of techniques on how to subdue anger. The seven practices are not just for a healthy mind but within these practices are more lists, which contribute to self-development and being a better person for society.

In the Fragrance of Dhamma series Ajahn Gavesako’s dhamma talks are autobiographical teachings that discuss anger, wrong thinking, patience, and maintaining virtuous hearts and minds. He also continues in the tradition of Ajahn Chah’s disciples by writing about Ajhan Chah’s teachings and his relationship with him. He tells stories of his temple in Thailand and his trips to Japan, and how his teaching has affected his followers to understand the Buddhist truths of life. His teachings are also conveyed through stories about daily life in Northeast Thailand seen through the laity at Wat Nong Pah Pong, as well as stories from the time of the Buddha, and true stories from people he has met in Thailand and Japan. These stories teach the reader about kamma and the unpleasantness of anger.

Phra Ajahn’s dhamma talks are recommended for their practical advice and teaching stories. He offers many lists to incorporate into one’s behavior for improved self-development. Often there are medical studies and psychological findings incorporated into his work to show the concrete benefits of meditation. He finds that science helps to back up the claims of meditation but that it does not help one find happiness, like Buddhism and its teachings do.