The more I learn about various schools of Buddhism — Theravada and Mahayana in particular — the more clearly I see their claim of superiority over each other. An ancient claim. An unavoidable claim. And also a very human claim that finds fertile soil in our Western culture that programs us to get ahead of the competition no matter what it takes. In our weakest moments, this tendency clouds our judgment and clear seeing.

In contemplating this tendency, I was reminded of new research by an eminent scholar Bhikkhu Analayo now published as Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: a Historical Perspective. (It’s worth noting the book also covers secular Buddhism, a phenomenon similar to secular Christianity, that aims to transform and adapt ancient teachings to fit the modern world; the world of both religious and scientific dogma — two unskilful extremes that keep us stuck in the dichotomy of science and religion, and which Albert Einstein described beautifully by writing that “mere thinking cannot give us a sense of the ultimate and fundamental ends,” and “to make clear these fundamental ends and valuations, and to set them fast in the emotional life of the individual, seems to me precisely the most important function which religion has to perform in the social life of man.”)

In the final chapter of the book, having examined the main types of superiority conceit in Theravada, Mahayana, and secular Buddhism, Bhikkhu Analayo writes:

Instead of appropriating the historical Buddha to authenticate one’s personal or group beliefs, the true seal of authentication for any Buddhist practitioner can be found by putting into practice the central discovery of the historical Buddha: emptiness, or not self. It is by diminishing ego, letting go of arrogance, and abandoning conceit that one becomes a better Buddhist, no matter what tradition one may follow.

We can find freedom from ego on the path laid out by the Buddha two and half millennia ago and expounded in his teaching on the Noble Eightfold Path.

This path becomes light in the darkness that bridges immense expanse between rivalries — light that leads us out of the cave of ignorance to see the very essence of the Sun, the ultimate truth of complete liberation.

In consonance with deep ecologist John Seed’s insistence on going beyond anthropocentrism and echoing poet Wendell Berry’s call for realization that what is good for the world will be good for us, Bhikkhu Analayo writes:

The need to give up superiority conceit in its various Buddhist manifestations is required not only from the viewpoint of Buddhist doctrine, but also in light of the current crisis faced by humanity on this planet. The superiority conceit of human beings in relation to the natural environment, in the form of the assumption that nature can be exploited without concern for possible consequences, has led to a crisis: the repercussions of climate change and ecological destruction are threatening to escalate to a point at which human life on this planet can no longer be sustained. It is already too late to prevent mass extinction of species and a serious deterioration of living conditions. But it is not yet too late to prevent a total catastrophe.

In this situation, members of all Buddhist traditions need to collaborate in a spirit of mutual respect, in order to apply the medicine of the Dharma for maximum effect in countering the mental disease responsible for the current crisis. The historical Buddha’s teachings on ethics of the mind can be relied on to counter the irresponsibility of materialism and its rampant greed, together with employing the practices of Buddhist mental culture to find a middle path between the extremes of denial and despair. In this way, as an expression of the conjunction of compassion and emptiness as well as an implementation of internal and external dimensions of mindfulness, stepping out of various forms of superiority conceit could pave the way for a collaboration of members of all Buddhist traditions in doing the needful to ensure that future generations can still benefit from the liberating message of the Buddha.

Complement these insightful passages from Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions with a short two-minute excerpt from the interview with Bhikkhu Analayo, where he talks more about how respecting all Buddhist traditions helps us overcome differences and gain a deeper understanding of the Buddha’s teachings.

It has been said that grief is love, it’s all the love we want to give but can not give. The grander the love, the deeper the grief. And because parental love is grandest of all, grief for a child becomes a bottomless well of pain, sorrow, and despair. This is a theme of a famous Buddhist “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” a version of which is included in an anthology Teachings of the Buddha edited by a renowned meditation teacher and writer Jack Kornfield.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl called Gotami, but because her body was very skinny and tired easily she was called Kisa Gotami or Skinny Gotami. When she grew up, she married, going to the house of her husband’s family. Being a daughter of a poverty-stricken house, she was treated with contempt. Only when she had given birth to a son was she accorded the respect she deserved. But that son, running hither and thither, while playing met his end. Overwhelmed by grief, she thought:

Since the birth of my son, I, who was once denied honor and respect in this very house, have received respect. These folk may even seek to cast my son away [into a charnel ground].

Taking her son on her hip, she went about from one house door to another, saying, “Give me medicine for my son!”

Whenever people encountered her, they said, “Where did you ever meet with medicine for the dead?” So saying, they clapped their hands and laughed in derision. But hearing their words, Kisa Gotami had not the slightest idea what they meant. A certain wise man saw her and thought she must had been driven out of her mind by grief for her son. With compassion and kindness, he told her to see the Buddha who lived at a neighboring monastery. If anyone had a cure for the breathless body in her hands, it would be him. Upon meeting the Buddha, Kisa Gotami said, “Oh Exalted One, give me medicine for my son!” To which he replied:

You did well, Gotami, in coming hither for medicine. Go enter the city, make the rounds of the entire city, beginning at the beginning, and in whatever house no one has ever died, from that house fetch tiny grains of mustard seed. [They will cure your son.]

“Very well, revered sir,” she said and glad of mind entered the city and went about from one house door to another, saying, “The Buddha bids me fetch tiny grains of mustard seed for medicine for my son. Give me tiny grains of mustard seed.” But she found no house where death had not claimed a family member. And finally, she understood: in the entire city this must be the way. The Buddha, full of compassion for the welfare of mankind, must have seen. Overcome with emotion, she carried her son to the burning ground and cast him away into the fire. Then she uttered the following stanza:

No village law, no law of market town,
No law of a single house is this —
Of all the world and all the worlds of gods
This only is the Law, that all things are impermanent.

Another version of the “Parable of the Mustard Seed” is included in the album Ghosteen by Nick Cave. In the track “Hollywood” he retells the story in his own words as a way to process the tragic death of his son.

PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED
from Ghosteen by Nick Cave

Kisa had a baby but the baby died
Goes to the villagers says my baby’s sick
The villagers shake their heads and say to her
Better bury your baby in the forest quick

Kisa went to the mountain to ask the Buddha
My baby’s sick! Buddha said, don’t cry
Go to each house and collect a mustard seed
But only from a house where no one’s died

Kisa went to each house in the village
My baby’s getting sicker, poor Kisa cried
But Kisa never collected one mustard seed
Because in every house someone had died

Kisa sat down in the old village square
She hugged her baby and she cried and cried
She said everybody is always losing somebody
Then walked into the forest and buried her child

Complement the “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” an integral part of Teachings of the Buddha, with the art of jisei, a Japanese death poem, and then revisit symbolist painter Gustav Klimt’s art meditation on death and life.