your truest deepest self
This post is a part of my exploration meditation through direct experience, which has led me into Buddhism, and more specifically, Tibetan Buddhism.
I have been reading and listening to a lot of Bruce Tift, an expert and practitioner on the relationship between Western Psychotherapy and integrative relational Buddhist practice.
Pema Chodron, a well-known Buddhist nun, who became the first American in the Vajrayana tradition to become a fully ordained nun or bhikṣuṇī, has also made up a large part of my recent studies. As has Reginald A. Ray, another well-known Buddhist scholar who has more recently stepped away from there public eye due to controversies.
I would like to add that this does not mean his teachings are any less valuable. We humans, are not perfect, and when it comes to spiritual teachers, we must remember that it is possible for an imperfect container to carry a pure essence.
So, what do these teachers all have in common? They're all students of the one of (if not) the first Tibetans to bring Buddhism to the West. This was an enigma that went by the name of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.
Part of his journey to the West involved escaping the Chinese invasion of Tibet, crossing through Himalayan rivers equipped with nothing but his monastic robes and a pair of binoculars. At the start of the journey, around 300 Tibetans made their way to the border, but reportedly only 13 made it. They had to eat the leather from their belts and shoes to survive, and were flown to safety by the Indian air force when they reached the border.
After his establishment in the West, Trungpa Rinpoche became known for his elaborate teaching methods, some of which were highly-controversial, and included several allegations of abuse. I am not here to defend, or justify those claims. I am simply writing this post to highlight a simple, but profound spiritual insight.
While watching this documentary on Trungpa's life and teachings, his personal physician said this...
"He thought by being a human being. He never said follow me, imitate me. He said, I am completely who I am, and I want to help you understand how to be completely who you are."
So simple, it sounds, but who can honestly say they are truly who they are? So much of our energy is spent on trying to be who we think our friends, family, or the world at large want us to be, we forget to be who we are at heart.
Many people think the spiritual journey is about finding something outside of ourselves, or building ourselves into our fantasy of enlightenment. It is quite the opposite. Self-realisation is a deconstructive process. Our essential being, our Buddha-nature, is already there, and always has been. All we need to do is remove the ignorance and delusion obscuring it from our view.
Imagine a world where no-one had to hide who they were? How much life energy there'd be? Sure, it might get ugly at times, but at least we'd be dealing with the truth, and not an idea of what we think the world wants from us.
Everyone has flaws and blind-spots, but my personal therapeutic journey has taught me that keeping them in the dark does far more harm than bringing them into the light, where they can be seen for what they are, and addressed as necessary.
When all is said and done, is there really any better gift you could give to the world than to be your truest, deepest self?
Is there any better gift you could give to someone else than to help them be their truest, deepest self?