Buddhism and Subud
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What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? “Make
me one with everything.”
There are around 350 million Buddhists worldwide
(Wikipedia).
Although there are sects who pray to the
Buddha, more usually a Buddhist tries to follow his enlightened example. Many
Buddhists feel no inclination at all to “pray” or to “worship God”. In fact
hearing about the latihan in terms such as “worship of God” will suggest a gulf
between their religious experience and Subud. There is no belief in a Creator
God in Buddhism, so talk of God usually leaves them cold.
For many Buddhists, their biggest challenge
approaching Subud is that the heart of their religious practice is not prayer
but meditation.
This is what Subud U.K.’s website says about Subud and
religion: “Following the latihan can add a deeply meaningful and experiential
dimension to existing religious and spiritual practice.”
This summarises Bapak’s inclusive vision, and I like
the way it is worded. But there does seem to be a conflict between this message
and Bapak’s advice not to combine meditation with the latihan. This sends out a
mixed message, not only to Buddhists, but also to the growing number of
spiritually inclined non-Buddhists who are now practising meditation for
reasons ranging from stress release to deepening their spiritual life. Are we
dismissing or negating a core Buddhist religious practice?
Bapak seems to use the term meditation in a very
specific and restricted sense, as a focussing
of the mind. He may have been concerned to draw a clear line between the
latihan and certain meditation traditions found in Indonesia. But concentration
is only one of many forms of meditation. Other forms don’t involve focussing,
but aim at “de-focussing”, relaxing and broadening awareness.
In my experience, many Subud people seem to have a
very generalised and incomplete picture of what meditation really consists of.
Wikipedia says of Buddhist meditation that there are more than fifty distinct
kinds. For example, of eight well-known forms, one is described as “walking
meditation” and another as “just sitting”.
One of my friends, a Subud member with a Jewish/Hindu
background, does five- to ten-minute meditations periodically during the day.
She says that her preferred form of meditation is to sit and relax, allow the
breathing to naturally slow down, allow thoughts to arise if they do, without
concentrating or focusing on anything. Although she is “doing nothing”, the
peacefulness feels very full of content, like a blessing. This seems very much
how I experience the quiet periods before latihan, and it’s what I do sometimes
if I find myself getting wound up or needing to feel the latihan during the
day: I quieten myself. How is my friend's practice different?
This friend is disappointed at the ignorance she finds
in Subud about meditation. If she describes having several short “quiets” during
the day, people approve and are impressed, but if she talks of having brief
meditations, people look concerned or disapproving! Yet the difference seems
only to be a question of wording.
So I am inviting you to be aware that there exist many
forms of meditation, some of which are very like the quiet times we cherish
before and after latihan. Many people today who share our interest in spiritual
development, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists, treasure meditation highly.
Imagine how it would feel to you or me if someone said, “You are accepted into
this course but you’ll have to stop doing the latihan!”
Ironically, when I first tell people about Subud,
hearing the name “Subud”, some guess that it may be connected with Buddhism.
And indeed, a Buddhist may recognise the elements of the acronym “Subud”. The
same or similar Sanskrit words in a
Buddhist context have meanings quite close to the ones Bapak gave.
susila—of
good character, ethical
bodhi—the
Buddhist term for awakening/enlightenment
Dharma—the
true nature of things
.
These words taken together could suggest to a Buddhist
that Subud is about an awakening to the true nature of things, leading to an
improvement in character and an ethical way of living.
To a Buddhist, Subud’s non-reliance on doctrine could
be seen as an attraction because “the Buddha regarded his own teachings as a
raft to cross the river and not as an absolute truth” (Thich Nhat Hanh in his
book, Interbeing). A
Buddhist might also feel very drawn to the latihan as a potential source of
direct experience of that which—being beyond words and images—Buddhists
sometimes call “suchness”.
I find in Subud some particular resonances with Zen
Buddhism. “Zen teaches nothing; it merely enables us to wake up and become
aware” (D. T. Suzuki, Introduction to Zen
Buddhism, London, 1960).
And this awareness, or enlightenment, has been described in Zen as the
discovery of the “original face before you were born”. In terms of the action
of latihan this could perhaps be comparable to the uncovering of our true inner
nature.
There is a Bapak quote about the latihan which is very
apt here: “Within our being this Power enables us to get to know and to feel
our own true nature and personality. And that is why the experience you have in
the latihan kejiwaan, the
experience of a power within yourself, is like a life within your life, and
deeper than our everyday life. It is this which you must worship. It is this
which you must magnify. It is this which must be your God. Because there is
nothing else from whom you can learn.” 81 YVR
1
My son, Philip, has lived for many years in the far
East. After studying the Tibetan language, he took vows and became a Tibetan
Buddhist monk. In his tradition (Nyingma), though ancient texts are sometimes
studied, a great importance is given to receiving “transmissions” and
“empowerments” from respected lamas. In Subud, it is hoped that a new
possibility may have opened up to receive empowering transmissions regularly
and directly from an unmediated source.
So should a person stop meditating if they want to
join Subud? The answer may be different for each individual. I would like Subud
to become user-friendly to Buddhists and to others who meditate. The
alternative is religious intolerance. When encountering spiritual practitioners
who are already travelling along a path of self-awareness, I ask you to be
aware of our common aims, and to show respect. Let’s be open towards those who
practice meditation and are also drawn to Subud.
Subud aims to welcome people of all religions, but
this article has attempted to show that our theistic terminology and glib
advice about meditation can create barriers for Buddhists potentially
interested in Subud, and asks that we find a way to be more inclusive.