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14 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS
Why I Walk
Two Paths
By Dr Gil Fronsdal
When I began my Buddhist training at the age of 21, I had no
interest in liberation or compassion. The great Buddhist ideals of
the arhat [one who has attained enlightenment], bodhisattva and
Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the buddha held no attraction for me. Rather, having discovered how
Insight Meditation Center in Redwood satisfying meditation felt when I became settled in the present
moment, I took up Buddhist practice as a way to have a more calm
City, California. He has practiced Zen and presence in my life. As a new practitioner of Buddhism, I began
Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. to find a peacefulness that was more meaningful than any of the
He was a Theravada monk in Burma in other ways I experienced myself.
1985, and in 1989 began training with
Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Eventually I learned that Buddhist practice involves more than
Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation simple presence and peacefulness. I came to find great meaning
Center where he is part of its Teachers in the Buddhist goals of liberation and compassion. I also came to
Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen appreciate the different idealized portrayals of people connected
priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in to these goals—arhats, bodhisattvas and buddhas. An arhat is
1982, and in 1995 received Dharma someone who is liberated by following the teachings of a buddha;
Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the a bodhisattva is someone training to become a buddha; a buddha
abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He is someone who discovers the path to liberation. Now, after years
currently serves on the SF Zen Center of practice, my approach to these ideals has become somewhat
Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded idiosyncratic. Rather than focusing on their literal meaning, I
IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. Gil has an view the arhat as representing our capacity for liberation, the
bodhisattva our ability for compassion, and the buddha how
undergraduate degree in agriculture liberation and compassion work together in partnership. To the
from U.C. Davis, and in 1998 he received degree that I distinguish the arhat and the bodhisattva, I prefer to
a PhD in Religious Studies from see them as walking hand-in-hand.
Stanford University studying the earliest
developments of the bodhisattva ideal. He My approach is in stark contrast to that of people who emphasize
is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays one practice ideal at the expense of the other. It is also in contrast
on mindfulness practice; A Monastery to the historical tendency to use the bodhisattva/arhat distinction
Within; a book on the five hindrances to separate from and condemn other Buddhists. I experienced
called Unhindered; The Buddha before this when I practiced in Asia. After practicing Zen in Japan on the
Buddhism; and the translator of The bodhisattva path, I practiced vipassana in Thailand, where the
Dhammapada, published by Shambhala focus is on the arhat path. In Thailand, I was told that the Japanese
Publications. You may listen to Gil’s talks bodhisattva path was heretical. When I returned to Japan, my Zen
on Audio Dharma. teacher told me that in Thailand I had been practicing with Mara,
the Buddhist devil.
