Episode Details

When we enter the path of practice, two paths open up simultaneously—first we have the path of what we think we are doing. This is the practice method, the conceptual framework, the spoken vow that we turn towards, that we make effort at, that we can talk about more or less.

The other path is the path of what is actually happening. It is darker, more mysterious, often below the level of consciousness, embodied in our soma. This path is before words, before concepts and identification, its a path that is more like an open field, without any directions, markers or guardrails. The pathless path.

When someone asked one of Dongshan’s students—what does your teacher teach?

The student replied: The dark way, the bird’s path and the open hand.

As we enter the dark moon time of the year, the period of late autumn/early winter where the nights are long and dark. I want to talk about the Dark Side of Enlightenment—the path of what’s actually happening. To approach, we lean into story + metaphor and listen with our deeply secret minds, our innermost hearts.

In the Zen tradition we celebrate the Buddha’s Awakening in early December, as a culmination of the year of practice. When we tell the Buddha’s story it is often told in the style of The Hero’s Journey. Its a path of revelation, hard work, mastering techniques and the conquering of Maara.

Another story, I find important to tell is the story of the Buddha’s wife—Yasodhara.

This story is from the Hidden Lamp, a collection of koans from the Buddhist Women Ancestors, the source of this story comes from the Sarvastivadin tradition.

Yasodhara was Siddartha Gautama’s wife. In one of the less well-known stories told about her life, Yasdohara (The Glorious One) and Siddartha had been married in many previous lifetimes. The night that Siddartha left home, Yasodhara had eight dreams that foretold his awakening, and so she encouraged him to leave. They made love before he left, and their son, Rahula, was conceived.

For the next six years, Yasodhara remained pregnant with Rahula, and although she did not leave home, she traveled the same spiritual path and experienced the same difficulties as her husband Siddhartha. She gave birth to Rahula (Moon God in this particular story) on the full moon night of the Buddha’s enlightenment. She prophesied that Siddhartha had awakened and that he would return in six years. Later, she and her son Rahula both became part of the Buddhist sangha.

Yasodhara’s path is the Yin to the Buddha’s Yang way. It reminds us that in truth both are important, and make up the complete path of this life as spiritual practice.

In Yasodhara’s story we open to mysteries of dream, embodiment, pregnancy, intuition and birth. We learn about the patience of staying with, of trusting the unseen processes at work. We ripen through our devotion to life—the creative force alive in each of us.

So, let’s look a little closer at some of the teachings in Yasodhara’s story.

Yasodhara has a series of eight dreams.

Dreams—where do they come from?

These images that sometimes seem to ring of deep clarity— yet appear when we are in deep slumber, one with the night—seemingly unconscious.

Dreams illuminate the dark, dark.

How is it that information, awareness, insight, wisdom, deep feeling and profound experience can happen in the times when our conscious mind is deeply asleep, when we are seemingly unaware of our surroundings?

Dream invites us to explore the nature of mind/consciousness. The relationship between sleep and wakefulness. What is your experience of dream? Have you ever had a dream of insight, clarity or deep feeling? Have you ever trusted information that came through a dream? Do dream images linger in your heart from time to time?

What is dream?

I’d love to hear your reflections to these questions