The Best Buddhist Writing 2010 - Melvin McLeod [138]
When we think of political or social rebels—historical or contemporary, well-known or forgotten—people who fought and are fighting for the cause of liberty and justice, we think of them as heroes: from the fathers of the American Revolution to Harriet Tubman; Mohandas Gandhi; Martin Luther King, Jr.; Aung San Suu Kyi; and Nelson Mandela. Today, we stand in awe of their courage, compassion, and remarkable achievements. Yet such idealists and reformers are always regarded as troublemakers by those they challenge. Their ideas and intentions, and even their company, are not always welcome. Rebels are a mixed blessing it seems—good for the movie business, but in real life, they make people nervous. They’re hard to push aside. They keep coming back with questions no one else will ask. They won’t settle for partial truths or uncertain answers. They refuse to follow conventions that control or imprison them or the people of their society. Their path to victory runs through some rough territory. But their rebel character is not easily discouraged. Commitment to a cause—a greater vision of what might be—is the rebel’s lifeblood.
On the spiritual path, this rebel is the voice of your own awakened mind. It is the sharp, clear intelligence that resists the status quo of your confusion and suffering. What is this rebel buddha like? A troublemaker of heroic proportions. Rebel buddha is the renegade that gets you to switch your allegiance from sleep to the awakened state. This means you have the power to wake up your dreaming self, the imposter that is pretending to be the real you. You have the means to break loose from whatever binds you to suffering and locks you in confusion. You are the champion of your own freedom. Ultimately, the mission of rebel buddha is to instigate a revolution of mind.
ORDINARY BUDDHAS
This book is about a path to freedom described by the historical buddha, Buddha Shakyamuni, twenty-six hundred years ago. There are many beautiful and eloquent stories about the Buddha’s birth, his life, and how he reached the state of enlightenment. Some treat the Buddha as an ordinary man who lived an exceptional life. Others consider him a kind of spiritual Superman, a divine being whose actions showed how ordinary people could achieve the same freedom he had found.
Actually, the basic elements of the Buddha’s early life are not so different from our own, except for the fact that he came from a wealthy, royal family and most of us don’t. At heart, however, what we see when we look at Buddha Shakyamuni’s early life—when he was known simply as Siddhartha—is a young man’s struggle for independence and freedom against the authority of his parents and society. On one level, it’s a classic tale of the rich kid who runs away from home:
Siddhartha, the future Buddha, was born the only son of the king and queen of the Shakyas, a kingdom in northern India. He lived a protected and luxurious life, closely controlled by his parents, who awaited the day the young prince would succeed his father to the throne. He had every advantage, privilege, and enjoyment you could imagine—the fabulous palace, designer clothes,