i am a firm believer that there are as many paths toward TRUTH or understanding as there are people to walk them. i also think (though this is rather presumptuous) that the buddha would likewise agree. his path to enlightenment was NOT the path he taught to his followers. im going to use hesse's "Siddhartha" again, though this is really a book about truth rather than buddhism. in this story, siddhartha meets the buddha, and discusses this very thing. over and over, the buddha states that the buddhist path is not an instruction in truth, but a path to overcome samsara, the sadness and futility of living. siddhartha argues in many different ways that the buddhist path is filled with contradictions, and that the buddha himself found enlightenment by simply sitting under a tree for three days.
in the end the buddha says, "you are clever. be careful of such cleverness".
my favorite contrast in this story, however, is not the contrast between siddhartha and the buddha, but the contrast between siddhartha and the ferryman. the reader cannot help but feel how close siddhartha gets to enlightenment, so many times throughout the story, he achieves a state of being that we, as readers, probably DO equate with enlightenment, but then something happens that proves to siddhartha and the reader that he has not reached the ultimate state.
but consider the ferryman. in the end, he does not achieve enlightenment. instead, siddhartha and the reader realize that the ferryman had ALREADY achieved enlightenment! how beautiful, wonderful, and mysterious is this! he waited and waited and waited, not for anything in particular. he did not wait to learn something from the river (he always was learning from the river) and he was not waiting to help siddhartha (siddhartha was helped when siddhartha was ready to be helped). the ferryman was just waiting. his presence in this human form was the ferryman's enlightenment, his acceptance and love and lack of attachment to anything--no attachment to illusion, no attachment to enlightenment!).
meanwhile siddhartha has not achieved enlightenment at the end, either, but also ends where he begins. the only thing that has changed for siddhartha is that he understands why he has not achieved enlightenment. his path to truth has not ended.
SSG Geezer: i know this is a long way to explain my reaction to your post. the short version is that i completely agree with you. the middle length version is the one i've just written. but my real, lengthy answer would also deal with my belief that every path does lead to truth, regardless of whether we perceive it or not. eventually (hopefully) we do perceive it.
joeuser community is a fascinating concept. look how amazingly different everyone's takes are! we are so easily convinced that we are right, and if we just wax eloquently enough we can convert the troubled heathens to our perspective. on my good days, i believe that all of our perspectives are equally true, so long as we are courageous enough to take them all the way to their completed conclusions, rather than becoming attached to the simple sophistry of their boldness.
thanks for the article, dharma, and everyone else's thoughts. one of my most significant attachments in life is this sort of discussion. anyway, thanks, dharma, for the space to blather.
TBT
JoeUser Forums
(BTW, did you see "Little Buddha," and if so what did you think?)