"History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake." - James Joyce

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy

Yes, those are somewhat daunting, technical terms, but I came across them while reading "One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps" by Kevin Griffin, a great discussion and guide to the 12-step program from the Buddhist perspective. Here's the money quote:

What's appealing about Buddhism is the fact that, as Reverend Heng Sure, a Buddhist monk says, while most religions are orthodoxies - that is, they adhere to a system of ideas, of rules, of words - Buddhism is an orthopraxy: it adheres to a set of practices, through which you can come to your own understanding, not one imposed from the outside.

This is from the chapter on the eleventh step (p. 226). When I came across it it immediately struck a sympathetic chord within me, resonating with my deepest needs and views. Yes, this is why I respond to Buddhism and why it works so well for me. I have spent years learning the orthodoxies of the various religions and have come to find them wanting in various degrees. And yet, I feel something on a much deeper level that apprehends a reality and meaning deeper than words and rules and theologies and dogmas. This, I guess, is also an existentialist view: direct experience without the comforts of received dogmas, the individual discovering meaning for himself. In fact, these dogmas must be smashed, ideation avoided, for this direct experience to occur. Zen Buddhism, as I understand it, teaches us that we must strips away such ideas and preconceived notions to get at direct experience of...well, of what, exactly? The goal is left open, or hidden behind paradoxes and odd stories and actions. The goal is to create this experience within the seeker. Orthodoxy, on the other hand, tries to impress certain dogmas and ideas through a system the seeker must accept - not as authentic or genuine in my experience. Griffin relates this to the 12-step program through its goal of a "desire to stop" in a practical way - the steps and other principles were discovered to work; they were/are practical. Thus, it doesn't matter what kind of Higher Power you have, or meditation program you practice; what matters is that you have the experience of staying sober through them.

Cool.

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