Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

<div>Franz Metcalf received his doctorate in religion from the University of Chicago. He is the coauthor of Buddhist Spirituality and What Would Buddha Do at Work? He lives in Los Angeles.</div>

Franz Metcalf received his doctorate in religion from the University of Chicago. He is the coauthor of Buddhist Spirituality and What Would Buddha Do at Work? He lives in Los Angeles.

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What Would Buddha Do?

Ulysses Press

Chapter One

What's Wrong with Me?!

Tough title, I know, but we don't become better people by congratulatingourselves on our good points. Would you be readingthis book if you were content to let yourself simply stay the wayyou were? As Buddha might tell you, you've got to keep changing.Even the deepest pool stagnates without action.

    This section of the book concentrates on our typicalhuman faults. But thankfully, Buddha does not merely chronicleour many failings, he lays out their origins and gives us clues fortheir eradication. I mean that literally: "eradication" means pullingup roots. Our faults are like weeds?if we really want to getrid of them we can't just take off their tops, we have to rip themout by their very roots. Taking out the root of suffering: this iswhat Buddha strove to embody and teach.

    Each of you reading this book should find at least a coupleof these questions and problems that cut right to the quick.Those are the ones you need to read again, to take to heart,to live with. What's wrong with you then becomes your spiritualpath. Your anger, boredom, frustration?these become yourteachers.

What would Buddha do if someone hates him?

In these few words Buddha teaches what might be the greatest spirituallaw. The Roman poet Virgil wrote "love conquers all." I believe thereare things love is not well-suited to conquer, but love is perfectly suitedto conquer hate. Why? Because it is so hard for hate to combat. Violence,revenge, sometimes even civil disobedience, add to the tremendousenergy embodied in hatred. Love, on the other hand, takes theenergy of hate and redirects it, as a martial artist might?only here thearts are not of war but of love. As the song tells us, "Only love can conquerhate."

    Love confronts hate in the one way hate cannot comprehend, withsomething beyond itself?with compassion. Hate cannot go beyonditself. It draws its strength from the self's defense of self. Love lives togo beyond itself, drawing its strength from that very act. Love can thuscomprehend hate, integrating it into something larger. Slowly hate isdefeated, as a grain of salt dissolves into the sweetness of a pond.

What would Buddha do when a friendlets him down?

Buddha was sure right about this. How do I know? As country singerHank Williams used to say, we better not mind other people's business'cause it's all we can do just to mind our own. Hey, when you get Buddhaand Hank agreeing on something, well, it just has to be true. Anyway,I believe I'm safe in saying we can all testify to the truth of theadvice. Living mindfully is not easy; it requires constant attention?that'sthe whole point. It's all we can do. Dwelling on others' failurejust messes us up.

    This doesn't mean we should ignore evil when we encounter it.Remember, we are all in this together: Buddha taught that we're notseparate selves at all. So we should take responsibility for evil, not bydecrying the deeds of others, but by overcoming them with better onesof our own. To do that we need to pay attention, especially when ourdeeds are not so pretty.

What would Buddha do when he gets sick?

Of course "he" in this passage is the bodhisattva, the wisdom-being weall should strive to embody. But what if that body is ailing? Yes, evenBuddhas get blisters. When we face such troubles, or troubles muchgreater, we confront the basic lesson of life: all we see, all we touch,even our very selves are, in the end, ephemeral. Our bodies are neverperfect, never free of disease, and though they stand faithful for so long,they will betray us in the end. We should treat our illness as part of life,part of our bodies.

    We should not give in to disease?of course not. We should battleit for the sake of this world. But the sutra teaches us not to exhaust ourselveswith avoiding all disease. We are obsessed with health in theWest: we seem to think we're entitled to it. We're not. Some people drainall the life from their years in order to postpone their deaths. They maylive longer, but why? In the end they too will pass away.

What would Buddha do about dieting?

It may seem odd to compare the two, but Buddha's striving for awakeningand the modern-day compulsion to fit in that leads people tostarve themselves in the name of beauty are not so far apart. Beforebecoming awakened, Buddha spent six years starving himself, trying tofit in with the other renunciants and break away from the impurities?thegrossness?of his body. Finally after all those years he realized hisself-punishment was only making him weak and confused. Remember,this was Buddha! Imagine how confused a modern teenager or dietermight be.

    Let's acknowledge that self-abuse takes enormous discipline andstrength and see it as a measure of our greatness of spirit. Then let's remindourselves and our loved ones that this is the wrong way to expresssuch greatness. Buddha was awakened soon after he began again to eatand to love his body. We must embrace and support our bodies, withall their faults; then with that renewed strength we can embrace andsupport each other.

What would Buddha do about lying?

It is hard to imagine Buddha killing, stealing, having sex or doing drugs.Still, given highly unusual circumstances, there, are stories of Buddhadoing these things, at least during his many lives as a bodhisattva,before he became fully Buddha. Of course he always did these things withthe intention of saving others from ignorance and death.

    In contrast, it is impossible for Buddha to lie. Buddha cannot lie,even if lying would seem to help others. Why? Because he is too intouch with reality. Lies contradict reality and blind people to the truth.Even when they help in the short run, they harm in the long run. A bodhisattvacannot do this and neither should we. Stay the course; remember,though truth may be hard at first, it is easier in the long run. AsMark Twain said, "It is easier to tell the truth: you don't have to rememberanything."

What would Buddha do when facinga crisis?

Wake up! shouts Buddha. You have the power to act, and the responsibility.The wise person shows her resolve to do her best in any circumstance.Buddha spoke these words in the teeth of a terrible stormthat threatened the lives of everyone aboard his ship. Despite the dangerand the need for action, the crew was apathetic. Why was this? Itseems absurd.

    It may be absurd to become passive in the face of danger, but itoften happens, and for a variety of reasons. We doubt ourselves. Wedon't trust our crew. We give up hope. This is a natural tendency, andsome of us live our entire lives this way. How sad, because what is theworst that can happen? Failure through inaction?that is the worst.Buddha encourages us to awaken to reality and to act. That in itself issuccess.

What would Buddha do whenfeeling frustrated?

When frustrated, I become rude. I'm too cunning to be nasty to humans,but boy do I take it out on long-suffering objects! When I get thisway I'm likely to knock something over or piss someone off and thisjust makes things worse. Does this remind you of anyone?

    We need to heed this Buddha wisdom. It is good to direct our frustrationaway from people, but this is not enough. People will still feel itand can even be injured by it (driving angry is as bad as driving drunk).Instead, we have to stop the feelings of frustration. We need to questionour impatience, get to its root. Why are we putting ourselves first,right now? Do we have a genuine need to take the first place? Usually,the answer is no. If the frustration remains but we overcome it, we canthen give ourselves credit for our deference.

What would Buddha do about road rage?

Anger afflicts us now, perhaps even more than at the time of BuddhaIn the privacy of our cars we unleash our rage. We have reasons tothis, and we feel safe there, but we must remember our cars are hugeand deadly weapons, and other people's cars are weapons aimed at us.

    Look again at what Buddha said. He reminds you that real controldoes not lie in your smooth shifting or the way you weave through traffic.Real control lies in the mind, steering yourself away from anger. Weshould drive our lives like our cars. And we should drive our cars wecontrol. I have heard it said the best way to test a spiritual teacher isgo on a drive with the teacher at the wheel. Then you'll see the realself come out; then you'll see either control ... or a teacher you don'twant.

What would Buddha do when a friendhits him up for favors?

Oh yes, make no mistake, Buddha does believe in heavens and hells. It'sjust that you simply live another lifetime there and then move on. Still,I imagine time passes slowly in hell. It is nice to think we might avoidthat by doing something in this world. One thing to do is be generous.

    We are fools to dislike generosity because only fools see the act ofgiving as separate from the rest of their lives. Sometimes the rewards ofgiving are distant in time (we don't get thanks or attention or a reciprocalpresent). Sometimes the rewards are distant in emotion (we givecoldly but dutifully). But always the reward is there, because nothing isseparate.

    We might also remember that a gift is never deserved; if it were deservedit would be a payment. Do we wish to pay our family and friends?Of course not?so just give happily, and be happy when you too receivea gift you do not deserve.

What would Buddha do when criticized?

Buddha knows who we should be hanging with: not sycophants, sometimesnot even those who love us and let us slide. A real critic is a blessing.A person like that shows us how we really are. This is a rare opportunityand we shouldn't miss out. Right.

    The trick is to be open. There's nothing like criticism to bring out themonkey mind of the defensive self. The monkey mind will chatter backin the nastiest way. And you should see the things it throws. Buddhachallenges us not to be this way. Are you ready for critique? How aboutthis: Why are you reading this book when you could be donating blood?

What would Buddha do when bored?

Boredom lies in our character, not in the world. "If you're bored," I'veheard it said, "you're boring." Think about this.

    When you're bored, you tend to bore others. Conversely, whenyou're bored, it is because you are boring: you are the one who engagesin the act of boring. It's not the world that is boring you, it is you whoare boring the world. This is Buddha's meaning.

    So, when you are boring, stop doing it. Look inside and ask yourself,"Why am I draining the life from this moment?" Answering this questionrestores you and the world to life. Boredom becomes impossible.

What would Buddha do when fearingpersonal failure?

It is hard to think of Buddha as having doubts, especially after his awakening,but Buddha was just a person and all persons, even enlightenedones, have doubts. He thought about the enormity of his goal?savingthe world and all living things!?and asked himself, "Do I really havethe strength to accomplish this?" He found the answer was yes, and hefollowed his duty. (Interestingly, the Sanskrit word for "duty," dharma,also means "teaching" and "truth.")

    When we face the greatest challenges, even when we know we areright?especially when we know we are right?we may feel acutelyconscious of the greatness of our aspiration and the smallness of our ability.Like Buddha, we must draw on everything we know, find our resolutionand, like him, throw ourselves into our dharma.

    Our dharma may not compare to Buddha's in scale, but it remainsour duty, and if we let it teach us it will become our truth.

Continues...

Excerpted from What Would Buddha Do?by Franz Aubrey Metcalf Copyright © 2002 by Franz Aubrey Metcalf. Excerpted by permission.
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