John Corbaley shared the following Dharma Talk last Sunday. (Thanks, John!):

November first is All Saint’s Day. In Latin countries it is El Dia de los Muertes, or “The Day of the Dead”, which follows All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween. In Western Christian theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the beatific vision in heaven; in the Roman Catholic Church, the next day, All Soul’s Day, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet been purified and reached heaven.

The origin of the festival of All Saints dates to the year 609 or 610, when a Roman pope consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the blessed virgin and all the martyrs. This religious holiday brings with it a rich history, one which predates its Christian meaning. Like many Christian holidays, it is recycled. It replaces a holiday from earlier, more ancient traditions.

In Europe, it replaced the Celtic Wiccan holiday of Samhain [pronounced Sow-een] when, in the eighth century, another pope moved the date to November 1, closer to the Celtic harvest festival. This chosen day was a pagan observation of great antiquity, during which malevolent and restless spirits of the dead were propitiated.

Samhain customs included setting a place for the dead at the feast table and telling tales of the ancestors on that night. This was also the time to decide which animals were to be slaughtered for use during the winter because, with the frost, the meat would keep all winter, and the animals could no longer forage for food. Huge bonfires were lit during the Samhain festival, and bones of the slaughtered animals were thrown in the fire.

With the bonfire ablaze, the villagers extinguished all other fires. Each family then solemnly lit its hearth from the common flame, thus bonding the families of the village together. Often two bonfires would be built side by side, and the people would walk between the fires as a ritual of purification. Sometimes the cattle and other livestock would be driven between the fires, as well.

The Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico can be traced back to the indigenous native American Olmec, or Aztec roots. Rituals celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been observed by these civilizations for as long as 3000 years. In the pre-Hispanic era, it was common to keep skulls as trophies and display them during the rituals to symbolize death and rebirth.

The festival that became the modern Day of the Dead fell in the ninth month of the Aztec calendar, about the beginning of August, and was celebrated for an entire month.

The festivities were dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl [pronounced Mick-tech-atchee-watel] known as the "Lady of the Dead," the queen of the underworld, corresponding to the modern Santa Catrina. Her role is to keep watch over the bones of the dead. She presided over the ancient festivals of the dead, which evolved from Aztec traditions into the modern Day of the Dead after synthesis with Spanish cultural traditions. She is said now to preside over the contemporary festival as well.

This strategy of remaking holidays and traditions is not limited to the Christian religion. In the eighth century, The Indian sage Padmasambhava, trained at the great Buddhist University of Nalanda traveled to Tibet to bring the wisdom of the Buddha to that great civilization in the North. There he encountered the native Bon religion, an old religion with beliefs similar to the Wiccan religion the early Christians found as they spread through Europe.

The Bon religion existed in greater Tibet prior to the introduction of Buddhism. It is an animistic, shamanist religion which utilizes spirit guides and spiritual possession to attempt to positively influence human behavior and cultural activities. Padmasambhava wisely saw that his mission of bringing the Buddha’s teaching to this new land would require that he adapt his message to an imagery and vocabulary that was already understood by the native people he was proposing to reach.

So we see in the brilliant iconography of Tibetan Buddhism the colorful imagery of demons and spirit worlds informed by the symbols and beings which the Tibetans already knew. These native spirit beings, representatives of the powers and workings of the natural world, were now employed to convey the Buddha’s overlayed teachings of the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and egolessness of existence.

The monastics who learned from Padmasambhava capitalized and embellished this rich Bon iconography to produce a rich and expressive visual, symbolic language. Bon has now is now become entirely assimilated into the Buddhist canon in Tibet and HH the Dalai Lama has officially recognized it as one of the five official schools of Northern Buddhism.

Syncretism is the adaptation of new ideas and concepts to practices which are already known. It’s always easier to sell something that people can identify with, be it a holiday, a ritual, or a philosophical concept. Another way of looking at it is that it’s always easier to jump in the front of the parade that’s already marching than to try and start one all by yourself.

Religions may have syncretic elements to their beliefs or history, but adherents of so-labeled systems often frown on applying the label, especially adherents who belong to "revealed" religious systems, such as the Abrahamic Religions, or any system that exhibits an exclusivist approach. Such adherents sometimes see syncretism as a betrayal of their pure truth. By this reasoning, adding an incompatible belief corrupts the original religion, rendering it no longer true.

Critics of a specific syncretistic trend may sometimes use the word "syncretism" as a disparaging epithet, a charge implying that those who seek to incorporate a new view, belief, or practice into a religious system actually distort the original faith. Non-exclusivist systems of belief, on the other hand, may feel quite free to incorporate other traditions into their own.

What matters is whether you can extract meaning and significance for leading your life from that ritual, whether new or old. The words don’t really matter, only the change those words make in your consciousness. Samhain, Day of the Dead, and El Dia de los Muertes, and the Aztec ritual of the lady of the underworld are all expressions of an acknowledgement of the continuity of life. Even though the interpretation placed upon that acknowledgement may be very different.

The meaning of the ritual lies not in the motions or acts but in how you are changed by the experience. I am reminded of the Zen saying: “Even false words are true if they lead to the path of enlightenment; even true words are false if they become the object of attachment.”

I am also reminded of that gem of wisdom, the Heart Sutra, when it talks about no wisdom, no path. No one really knows who wrote this stunning sutra, but it contains so much enlightening teaching in such a brief verse.

In it, the Buddha is explaining the perfection of wisdom to one of his disciples, Sariputra. The sanskrit word for it is Prajna-Paramita. The Perfection of wisdom refers to the idea that form and emptiness are essentially meaningless concepts, just words that confuse us and obscure reality rather than reveal it. The perfection of wisdom also holds that nothing in the universe exists except in relation to something else--the ultimate interrelatedness of everything. Meaning lies in reality, not in our meager efforts to describe it.

It’s no wonder that most of eastern Buddhism reveres this sutra so much. I’ll end by reciting a quick Japanese translation...

When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is practising the profound Prajna-paramita,

He sees and illuminates the emptiness of the five skandhas, (the aggregates of clinging to existence) and Thus attains deliverance from all suffering.

Sariputra, matter is not different from emptiness,

and Emptiness is not different from matter.

Matter is emptiness and emptiness is matter.

So too are sensation, recognition, volition and consciousness (the aggregates of clinging).

Sariputra, the emptiness character of all dharmas, all truth, neither arises nor ceases, is neither pure nor impure, and neither increases nor decreases.

Therefore, in emptiness: there is no matter,

No sensation, recognition, volition or consciousness,

No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind,

No sight, sound, scent, taste, tangibles, or dharma,

No field of the eye up to no field of mental consciousness,

No suffering, no cause of suffering,

No ending of suffering, and no path,

No wisdom and also no attainment.

Because there is nothing obtainable.

Bodhisattvas through the reliance on Prajna-paramita, the perfection of wisdom, Have no attachment and hindrance in their minds.

Because there is no more attachment and hindrance, There is no more fear, and

Far away from erroneous views and wishful-thinking, Ultimately : The Final Nirvana.

Therefore, realize that Prajna-paramita

is the great wondrous mantra,

the great radiant mantra,

the unsurpassed mantra, and

the unequalled mantra.

It can eradicate all suffering, and

It is genuine and not false.

Therefore, utter the Prajna-paramita mantra -

Chant: Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhisvaha!

GONE, GONE, GONE FAR BEYOND,

AH! AWAKENING!

-- November 1, 2009. John Corbaley, M.S., M.A.