On Paths toward Awakening

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Today, 2018

“Life is a magnificent accumulation of . . .”

living on effie street, echo park, california, 1958, fragment of a poem never finished: “Life is a magnificent accumulation of sights and sounds.” Writing this history of a spiritual journey sixty years later reveals the kaleidoscopic, multi-layered accumulation of “sights and sounds” on a path being followed through the years—an undefined path, seldom realized that it was a path at all—yet here we are today at the start of a New Year, 2018, approaching the forty-second year of connection to the supernatural, pervading power of the Buddha and his teachings through the ultimate, mysterious wonderful Law of the Lotus, The Threefold Lotus Sutra.

  As the Lotus Sutra reveals the accumulation of all the Buddha’s teachings, thus do all events related here—this compendium of sights and sounds—reveal a path toward awakening. Only because of a disciplined, daily return to the life and teachings of the Buddha in the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law have I attained this state of mindfulness.

  And the journey continues. There’s a lot of karmic unfinished residue to overcome before moving on. In this century, apart from the pivotal moment of discovering Thich Nhat Hahn, his celebrative essay on the Lotus Sutra, and his perception of “Buddhahood in Three Dimensions,” this has been a century in which I have found Ken Wilbur in the archives of “Shambala Sun,” now “Lion’s Roar,” in an extensive interview:

  “Buddhist contemplation is sufficient for ultimate truth . . . all boundaries and dualisms have been transcended and all individuality dissolves into universal, undifferentiated oneness. . . the simple, direct, clear recognition in which it becomes perfectly obvious that you do not see the sky, you are the sky. You do not touch the earth, you are the earth. The wind does not blow on you, it blows within you. In this simple one taste, you can drink the Pacific Ocean in a single gulp, and swallow the universe whole. . . . and it is all as simple as the sound of a robin singing on a crystal clear dawn.” Ken Wilbur is active today and may be found at the web site, Integral Life.

  In this century, other writings in quantum physics and biology have enriched this tapestry of sights and sounds along the path toward awakening. Perhaps this is, without my knowing it, an expression of intent suggested in the Lotus Sutra: I see also bodhisattvas who seek association with the wise, and with all their mind get rid of distraction.

  Turning 80 in 2006, coming upon a friend, Dr. Cody Masek, who, himself, at the time of our meeting, was exploring paths toward awakening. I had gone to him because of severe back pains, which he happily took care within a few weeks, we connected like two long-lost friends (he is 48 years younger than I) and was to discover that at his birth moment of cause the Sun and Jupiter were in conjunction in his sixth house (the experience related to learning, healing) at 25° Aquarius, the mid-point degree of a Jupiter and Mars conjunction at both my birth moment of cause and promises made in past lives. At my birth, the Sun is also in the sixth house. Our exchanges at times seem almost psychic in nature.

  He was, and is today, already close to completing the journey—this revealed, not only in our frequent contacts and conversations, but his rather amazing attentiveness—he is a man who lives fully in the moment. This doesn’t mean he hasn’t lived without trouble or adversities, and also to note he has never even approached becoming a Buddhist or studying the Buddha’s teachings, although exploring many other disciplines for self-awareness; yet I have learned much from him about the “path Buddha” and infinite Buddha-truth; for as with Thich Nhat Hahn, his life is a validation of the truths to be discovered and celebrated in the Lotus Sutra.

  I believe that if the tapestry of the Buddha’s pro­found dharma is woven again, again, and again in our hearts and minds, perhaps more than a few will be encouraged to discover that it’s possible to leave weary discourse behind and find a consistent, day-to-day practice that will enrich our lives, “advancing together to the place of jewels”—to find liberation from anguish and despair; to discover Perfect Enlightenment in this lifetime, as the Buddha did under the Bodhi tree. . . as has been my own  good fortune through the years. I now realize, and only recently, that what is related here is all part of one, single tapestry, leading to this moment in time.

  Ken Wilbur: “One’s own mind is intrinsically one with primordial energy."

  Nikkyo Niwano: “The ultimate substance of the Buddha is the eternal, imperishable life-force; the Buddha abounds within us all. . . We ourselves are one substance with the Buddha.”

Dana Forline Skolfield
Temecula, California
February 14, 2018