In times of peace and prosperity, people turn away from inner life and pursue the things of this world. It happened in Rome and Greece, Alexandria and Assyria, Babylon, New York, London, Paris, Munich, and it was the same cycle every time. People partied and hustled and prosperity declined, and as access to pleasure was withdrawn, they suffered. Some turned to violence. Some to superstition. Some to despair. And some turned to the inner wisdom that has been handed down from generation to generation for millennia, that offers the means to put an end to suffering, to find honor and dignity, redemption and value in human life and life as we pass beyond death.
That is the place of spiritual life.
Now sophisticated people find the idea quaint, but religion was devised out of necessity. And like farming, like navigating across the ocean by examining the night sky and the ripples on the water's surface, spiritual knowledge does not record well. It needs to be lived, modeled and taught from generation to generation – in the company of people who value the knowledge, live it and take their custody of it seriously.
There is a page that western Buddhists can take from early American Christians and their descendants practicing fervent Christianity today. The page is well represented in a shape-note hymn from centuries ago which contains many essential Buddhist teachings and more, a means to understand and use them, helping to orient us in the vast ocean of experience, and helping us traverse that sea with skill.
As you read the words, take note of the natural sense these singers have of the pervasive condition of suffering as fundamental to life. These singers assume this to be as true as any Asian Buddhist – they did not have the misfortune of being deceived by a few generations of golden calf worship. They knew hardship and want all their lives.
And they did not complain about it. They did not hate life, protest, expect someone else to rectify this condition – they were inspired. They recognized, as Buddhism teaches, that suffering is one of the qualities of all dharmas, that it is the nature of this life.
Notice the singers’ graceful and intimate understanding not only of the Buddha’s first noble truth (the truth of suffering,) but of a well-developed non-attachment to that which has no self-nature.
What after all is vain about this world? The singers seem to know something the empire builders, titans, moguls, hacks, and hustlers all have missed. That there is no lasting satisfaction in holding on to things. They disappear. Buildings and monuments, books and movies cease to provide lasting satisfaction. Like the folly of Ozymandias lying in pieces in the desert sand, or an aging star staring at herself across the vanity table by candle light, or anyone anywhere anytime: our time, our life, our achievements will vanish without a trace. That is the vain world referred to in the song.
But this world, this realm of desire, suffering and vanity, (samsara as it is known in Buddhist teaching,) is not my home, the singers say. Just as sentient beings take rebirths in every condition imaginable as they cycle through the six realms of existence until they find ultimate refuge in their own Buddhahood, so these singers know that their suffering too is impermanent, and that ultimately they will return home. To peace. To a warm and loving welcome. To a place they belong and where they will feel at home.
A place they will travel in company — with their friends and family, like minded members of their community (called the sangha in Buddhism) with whom they share the trials and difficulties of life, the path ahead, and with whom they will ultimately pass through the gates of peace and joy and ease (nirvana as it is known in Buddhism.) They use the term “Christians” in this sense. It is the name of their community.
They honor the virtue of non-attachment, because they know that to be attached to impermanent and meaningless things, things that arise out of desire, things of this world, is a mistake, is a result of ignorance, is the cause of suffering. (The second noble truth, in Buddhist terms.)
And that beautiful world, that true home, like the Dharmakaya (the all-pervading truth-body of the Buddha), is not far away. For those who can see, it’s right here. For some, it is right down the road from here, or right up that hill, or just beyond that cloud-covered peak, yonder, you can just about see it.
And to sing praises is the insight of someone in ecstatic union who reported back and described something of the experience in a way like the blissful endless sounds of Buddha words shared by the community of Bodhisattvas in the Sambogakaya.
The place we will all be someday. Taking rebirth in a place they are calling the New Jerusalem, the holy city. A place beyond time, where every sound is bliss and every sight is magnificent and every act is virtuous and every person joyful and filled with boundless love for everyone they meet.
Want to go?
Farewell, vain world! I'm going home! Sweet angels beckon me away, (Chorus:) I'm glad that I am born to die, Bright angels shall convey me home, (Chorus) (Chorus)
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