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24 EASTERN HORIZON | FACE TO FACE

• The movement of mental and material out of the body purification of consciousness in immaterial beings. This
is an energetic shift. level of detail and scope of description opens the mind
Writing is a physical act and no amount of thought to observational processes that occur in meditation.
moves our internal states as much as an action.
The physical relocation from inside to outside Abhidharma study also helps meditation in a unique
transforms the state. way by drawing on the non-verbal awareness of the
process. By looking at experience in a schematic and
• Writing neutralizes judgment out of experience. non-narrative manner, we open our brains and minds to
When we write, we see internal process and thought new views. When we bring this capacity to meditation
as literal objects. Completely habitual judgements and to all experience, broader awareness naturally
or reactions are revealed and can no longer hide in follows. I believe that this is why Abhidharma study
the background or be camouflaged. Perspective is always gives me a burst of freshness in perception and
automatically increased when process is in front of experience. Beyond words, the study opens insight to
you, not in you. the pure and moving structures of process. This is such
a rich facet to add to our practices of meditation and life.
“This list is adapted from an online course I wrote about
Mindfulness and Journaling and is reproduced here Could you tell us briefly how the Abhidharma as
with permission from the International Association for the third basket of the Buddhist Canon differs from
Journal Writing.” the other teachings in the Suttas (Sūtras) taught by
the Buddha?
Poetry takes this whole process further. In poetry,
language use becomes intuitive. Creation occurs that If the Sūtras are considered the communication of the
is completely specific and unique to a moment. In Buddha’s teaching, the Abhidharma might be considered
poetry, the dynamism of cause and effect arranges the communication of the Buddha’s vision. There is a
words. This allowance, acceptance, and notation of great deal of overlap in the information of the Sūtras
process feels very much like meditation to me. The and the Abhidharma and probably in their production,
poem is a product of “dropping body and mind,” but the essential methodology of presentation is very
as Eihei Dogen says, and then it communicates different. The Abhidharma is composed of lists and
something about that to those who read it. This is matrixes and describes essentially every possible
why I think the Buddhist tradition of poetry is so event without any story or actor. It is an architecture
incredible and rich, from the earliest canonical verses of material and immaterial processes interacting. It is
to a book like Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry a diagram of dependent origination, showing limitless
(Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, 2003). applications of unchangeable laws of nature. It works
on a vast range of scales, from the slightest occurrence
You’re also an authority on the Abhidharma, having of consciousness in a small fraction of a second to world
written “The Original Buddhist Psychology”. Do we systems evolving in eons that are truly immeasurable
need to study the Abhidharma in order to practice from a human perspective. It is fascinating and quite
meditation properly? overwhelming but unique in the Buddhist canon.

I don’t think we necessarily need to study the The Abhidharma mentions that 3 roots of
Abhidharma to practice meditation properly, but I do unwholesomeness - greed, hate, and ignorance –
think it is a wonderful and underutilized resource for should be eradicated. But greed appears to be the
helping our meditation practices. Concentration and only consistent human motivation that produces
insight are bolstered by the clarity of information in preferable economic and social outcomes under
the Abhidharma. It carefully describes everything from most circumstances. Can human society continue to
sequences within perceptual processes to steps of grow if there is no greed?