Finding Grace In The Bardos – Concepts Of Humanity In Tillich And Rinpoche Essay, Research Paper

Finding Grace in the Bardos

Concepts of Humanity in Tillich and Rinpoche

In the books The Shaking of the Foundations and The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, Paul Tillich and Sogyal Rinpoche lay out parallel visions of the human condition and the path to overcome it. The books have very similar themes and vocabularies and contain remarkably few substantive differences. The authors define the state of humanity as a state of separation. Man s separation has three distinct facets: separation from others, self, and the Eternal. Each work contains a path to achieve unity with all three.

Tillich holds that the state of separation is due to the fact that man lives in a state of sin, “To be in the state of sin is to be in the state of separation” (Tillich 154). Sin is not a singular act against God; it is the fundamental condition that humans live in, “Sin is the great, all-pervading problem of our life” (Tillich 154). Sin penetrates all things, effects all things, and touches all things. Sin is a process in which man “actively participate(s)” (Tillich 155). Thus, man shares in the guilt of sin, and a sinful nature is the fate of humanity. “Separation that is fate and guilt constitutes the meaning of the word sin ” (Tillich 155).

Tillich gives examples of the first form of separation, the separation from others, and shows how sin is its cause. A lack of self-love pushes man is into a constant struggle for self-elevation, and he knows that it comes at the expense of others. Tillich elaborates, “Are we not almost always ready to abuse everybody and everything for the pleasure of self-elevation, for an occasion for boasting, for a moment of lust?” (Tillich 157) Failed attempts at self-elevation breed jealousy, and jealousy increases separation. This form of separation delights in the failures of other people. Here Tillich cites Immanuel Kant, “There is something in the misfortune of our best friends which does not displease us” (Tillich 157). So estranged are people from each other that they seek to find unity through shared failure and despair.

However, the most prevalent evidence of this separation is not the number of times man finds pleasure in the suffering of others; it is the number of times that man ignores the suffering of others completely. “The strangeness of life to life is evident in the strange fact that we can know (of) all this (suffering), and yet can live today, this morning, tonight, as though we were completely ignorant.” (Tillich 158) This conscious denial of compassion rejects the humanity of the sufferer and reinforces the separation of man to fellow man.

Not only does man ignore and harm others, but he also neglects and injures himself with self destructive behavior. Man’s separation from himself causes this behavior. Sin prevents man from loving himself. Instead of loving himself, man pursues a “mixture of selfishness and self-hate” (Tillich 158). Motivated by a rejection of himself, man rushes to elevate himself and harms others and himself in this pursuit. Tillich explains, “In our tendency to abuse and destroy others, there is an open or hidden tendency to abuse and to destroy ourselves. Cruelty towards others is always cruelty towards ourselves” (Tillich 158-159).

The sin that abides within man also prompts actions that he does not understand and that he rejects. The apostle Paul said, “For I do not do the good I desire, but rather the evil that I do not desire” (Tillich 159). Paul sensed the division between his will and the will of his sin. He felt as though he could not control his sinful impulses. He called this separation from himself “sin.” These actions serve to push the possibility of self-love farther from man, and prevent him from being “capable of a great and merciful divine love towards (himself)” (Tillich 158). Overcoming self-hate and contempt is the first step in being able to love and accept others.

Man is not capable of that love because he is “estranged from the Ground of (his) Being” (Tillich 159). Separation from God, original sin, denies man the knowledge of “the mystery, the depth, and the greatness of (his) existence” (Tillich 159). This estrangement robs man of the meaning of his life, and he attempts to forge his own. From time to time he “hear(s) the voice from that depth” (Tillich 159), which is God, but he “rebel(s) against it” (Tillich 159).

This rejection ultimately causes man great despair. Man can not escape from God, the Ground of his Being; he is “bound to it for all eternity” (Tillich 159). Sin estranges man from God. Thus, man is “separated yet bound, estranged and yet belonging, destroyed and yet preserved” (Tillich 160). Mired in the sin, man is unable to recognize God yet unable to escape His presence, and he is in despair.

Instead of using the phrase “state of sin” (Tillich 154) to describe the state of man, Sogyal Rinpoche uses the term “samsara” (Rinpoche 14). Samsara is an “ocean of suffering” (Rinpoche 14) that stems from the unenlightened mind. The unenlightened mind is incapable of perceiving the essential nature of reality, because it has not recognized its own essential nature. Therefore, man misperceives his relation to others, himself, and the Eternal, and misperception separates him from each of them. In this state of ignorance, man is incapable of helping himself, he cannot discern problems nor solutions, and he is in despair. To be in a state of misperception is to be in a state of separation.

Man has two key misperceptions about the world around him: he does not see its impermanent nature, and he does not see the interdependence of all things. Man does not recognize that “there is nothing that is permanent” (Rinpoche 25) and that everything changes. In personal relationships, man struggles to hold onto the other person and to ensure that the relationship never changes. This manner of relating causes great pain for both people, especially when the relationship changes dramatically. Rinpoche writes:

So often it is only when people suddenly feel they are losing their partner that they realize that they love them. Then they cling on even tighter. But the more they grasp, the more the other person escapes them, and the more fragile their relationship becomes. (Rinpoche 35)

Man also fails to see that all of his actions have profound implications on the world around him. Similar to the “trembling of a butterfly s wings affect(ing) the life of a fern in the Hebrides” (Rinpoche 38), all of a person s actions and thoughts have an effect on the rest of nature. There is only one nature, and each person and thing makes up a part of it. Instead of acknowledging this, man sees his existence as a struggle to define himself to himself and others.

Man wrongly believes that he forms his identity with his “name, (his) biography,’ (his) partners, family, home, job, friends, (and) credit cards” (Rinpoche 16). Thus, he strives to amass as much stature and wealth as he can. Man struggles to attain and to hold onto as material possessions. This causes great suffering to other people and to him. Attaining wealth comes at the expense of others; man exploits man in his pursuit of the temporal.

Even if a man succeeds in gathering much wealth and status, his despair only increases. He knows that he will not be able to do that which he most desires, retain these things forever. If he does not lose them before, man knows that he will lose all of his possessions and positions to death (Rinpoche 16). Therefore, man lives in an intense state of fear and despair. He has not only succeeded in further separating himself from others; he has also increased his separation from himself.

It is fear that increases man s separation from himself. Rinpoche explains, “Without our familiar props, we are faced with just ourselves, a person we do not know Isn t that why we have tried to fill every moment of time with noise and activity?” (Rinpoche 16) Instead of facing his fears, man buries his head and continues grasping for security. “And this is the tragedy and the irony of (his) struggle to hold on: not only is it impossible, but it brings (him) the very pain (he is) seeking to avoid” (Rinpoche 33).

A fundamental misperception causes this neurotic struggle for self-elevation. The misperception is that man needs elevation. The Dalai Lama teaches “that we are all already essentially perfect” (Rinpoche 53). Man s insecurity, clinging, and despair stem “from a lack of real self-love and self-respect” (Rinpoche 53). There is a part of each person that is essentially perfect and changeless; it is “the essential nature of the mind man s buddha nature” (Rinpoche 47).

This is the Eternal that man is separated from, his buddha nature. Rinpoche teaches that there are two parts to the mind: “Sem” and “Rigpa” (Rinpoche 47), or “the ego” and “the true nature” (Rinpoche 116). Sem is the state of mind that the unenlightened man lives. It is “what we call our basic character, only a mindstream, nothing more” (Rinpoche 27). The ego controls the mindstream. The ego is not the true nature of man; it is “the absence of true knowledge of who we really are” (Rinpoche 116). The second part of the mind is its essential nature. Rigpa is “a primordial, pure, pristine awareness that is at once intelligent, cognizant, radiant, and always awake” (Rinpoche 47). It is “the ground of truth” (Rinpoche 26), and it is the Eternal that man is separated from.

Both Tillich and Rinpoche teach that the separation from the Eternal is the fundamental problem with human existence, and that overcoming it is the goal of life. It is the first step in achieving unity with the self and others. Therefore, this form of separation is the most important to overcome, and both authors lay out a path to conquer it. Tillich uses the concept of grace, and Rinpoche uses the model of enlightenment.

Tillich holds that the way for man to be reunited with the Eternal is to recognize his relationship with God, to acknowledge God s unconditional love for him. The grace that God gives to man is the only thing that allows this to be accomplished. Grace is “the reunion of life with life, the reconciliation of the self with itself, the acceptance of that which is rejected” (Tillich 156). There is nothing that man can do to achieve or deserve grace. It simply occurs. Grace is a power that comes into man s life for no other reason than an acknowledgment that he needs it. Grace will “not happen if we try to force it upon ourselves, just as it shall not happen so long as we think, in our self-complacency, that e have no need of it” (Tillich 161). Grace occurs when:

We are in great pain and restlessness It strikes us when we feel that our separation is deeper than usual It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear , when despair destroys all joy and courage. (Rinpoche 161-162)

Grace transforms; it has the power to conquer sin and to eliminate separation. The stroke of grace reveals to man that God loves him, and he can see that he is a part of the Ground of being. This is reunification with the Eternal. He also sees that he can have the same divine love for himself. Self-love ends man s striving to prove himself and his struggle for self-elevation. This is reunification with the self. He can also see that all other people are part of the same Ground. This recognition allows man to have divine love for others. When he sees that all other people are part of the same Ground, he is able to understand and accept other people, to “understand (their) words not merely the literal meaning of the words, but also that which lies behind them” (Tillich 162). This is reunification with others. This state of unity is the goal that Tillich seta out for humanity.

Rinpoche sets out the goal of enlightenment. Enlightenment is the moment when man can recognize things for what they truly are, when he can see the essential nature of all things. Enlightenment is “not for an elite, but for all humanity” (Rinpoche 53). All people have the ability to “realize the nature of the mind and so know in us what is deathless and eternally pure” (Rinpoche 53). The path to enlightenment is meditation.

Meditation is “bringing the mind home” (Rinpoche 56). It is a process of purification that focuses the mind upon its essential nature, Rigpa. When mediating, man tries to achieve egolessness. This happens when Sem is completely eliminated and Rigpa is realized. There are times when man s chance to be transformed is heightened; “these are moments when you can go through a powerful experience, and your whole worldview can change quickly” (Rinpoche 32). “Bardo” is the term for one of these opportunities (Rinpoche 11). The purpose of meditation is to prepare the mind to be transformed at one of these moments. When this happens “it is as if all our lives we have been flying in an airplane through dark clouds and turbulence, when suddenly the plane soars above the clouds into the clear, boundless sky” (Rinpoche 40).

The realization of the essential nature of the mind allows man to see his relation to the Eternal clearly. He finds that he has a buddha nature inside himself that is changeless and pure. This recognition is the reunion with the Eternal. He can see that he contains this essence and is “already essentially perfect” (Rinpoche 53). This realization releases man from the binds of self-advancement. He sees that he does not need to cling to attachment. This is the reunion with the self. Once he has seen his own buddha nature, he sees that it is connected to the buddha nature that is in all people. He can see that he is “interdependent with everything and everyone else, (and that) even (his) smallest, least significant thought, word, and action (has) real consequences throughout the universe” (Rinpoche 39). This is the reunification with others. The goal that Rinpoche sets out for humanity is unity through enlightenment.

The similarities between Tillich and Rinpoche are clear. The diagnosis of man s separation is the same, the paths to overcome separation are parallel, and the goal of unity is identical. Man s state of sin in Tillich is the same as the realm of samsara in Rinpoche. Man is in a profound state of separation from the three parts of existence. However, man s actions and perceptions are imperfect, and therefore, his agency is limited. Imperfect actions and perceptions can never produce a state of perfect unity. Both sin and samsara prompt man to reject himself by seeking self-elevation, to harm others by ignoring their interdependence, and to deny the Eternal by trying to conquer separation alone.

The key for man to overcome separation is for him to recognize that he cannot do it on his own. He needs the aid of the Eternal to achieve unity. Tillich calls this aid grace; Rinpoche calls it enlightenment. Grace and enlightenment are things that just occur. Tillich teaches that grace will not happen unless man knows that he needs it and sees it when it occurs; Rinpoche teaches that man needs to prepare himself for reunification by meditating.

In both works, there is a discussion of moments in life when the chance for transformation is heightened. Tillich calls them “moments of grace”; “we experience moments in which we accept ourselves, because we have been accepted by that which is greater than we” (Tillich 163). Rinpoche calls them “bardos”; “such moments of illumination, peace, and bliss happen to us all and stay strangely with us” (Rinpoche 50). It is impossible to earn these moments, but if recognized, they can set man free from the bonds of separation.

At this point, there is a slight difference of thought between the authors. All people contain grace and enlightenment, but there is a difference in how they are realized. In Buddhism, there is a definite route to enlightenment, the eight-fold path. There are things that a person must do to achieve enlightenment. The soul must be purified of the “results (of its) actions” (Rinpoche 92), its karma. Christianity does not have the same sense of a path to follow to achieve unity. Tillich simply says, “It happens; or it does not happen” (Tillich 161). According to Tillich, the only thing that man needs to do to achieve unity through the grace that abounds is to “allow (himself) to be transformed by that stroke of grace” (Tillich 161).

Regardless, the transformation wrought by grace and enlightenment is the same; it is perfect unity with others, the self, and the Eternal. Unity with the Eternal is what leads to unity with self and others. The authors concepts of the Eternal are very similar. Tillich calls the Eternal, “the Ground of being” (Tillich 159); Rinpoche calls it, “the ground of truth” (Rinpoche 36). It is the nature that all of humanity is a part of, “Christians and Jews call it God , and Buddhists call it buddha nature ” (Rinpoche 47). In both books, the unity with the Eternal has the same feeling: love of life, acceptance of self, a feeling of wholeness, and a recognition of the meaning of life Tillich (163); fearlessness to negotiate life and death, unmasking of the self, unity with the nature of the mind, and the realization of true life Rinpoche (55,57 & 53). Both authors are trying to help their readers reach this stage; it is the goal of life. Man has the chance to elevate himself in this lifetime; may he find grace in the bardos.

Works Cited :

1. Rinpoche, Sogyal; The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins, New York, NY, 1993.

2. Tillich, Paul; The Shaking of the Foundations, Scribner s Sons Inc., New York, NY, 1948.