The Spiritual Stepladder.
Having studied various spiritual and religious doctrines for a number of years now, diving deep into the practice and lore of each, I thought I’d share a little bit of insight regarding spirituality and the natural (logical) progression that brought about each new tier.
You may notice that I don’t mention any abrahamic religions here (Judaism, Christianity, or Islam), that’s because, when speaking about spirituality, there isn’t a direct religion associated with each. In essence, religion is just the finger pointing at the moon of truth; whereas I’m solely focused on the truth itself.
But “aren’t the spiritual sects you mention forms of religions?” Yes and no. Yes, they have become quasi-religions of their own; however, their original intent was not to be tied to some icon or deity.
That all being said, let’s get into it:
Level 1 - Yoga
Heavily influenced by Hinduism, Yoga was a practice first talked about in the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita is actually a section of a much large book known as the Mahabharata. In it, Lord Krishna teaches Arjuna the practice of Yoga (the ability to centre and still one’s mind) so that he can continue on with the battle that is being waged. In essence, Arjuna learned the practice of Yoga in order to quell his mental anguish.
As an interesting tidbit, the practice of Yoga taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna only consisted of one posture: sitting. It wasn’t until the more recent commercialization of Yoga that practitioners started adding additional movements. Supposed healing properties aside, these movements are actually not meant to heal the body (go see a physiotherapist for that); rather, they’re meant to ease tension within the body in order to allow you to sit longer.
Level 2 - Buddhism
An offshoot (or cousin) of Yoga, Buddhism was made famous by the first acclaimed Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, in order to quell (again) his mental anguish. Though the practice has now morphed into more of a religious practice, the initial practice of Buddhism via the Eightfold Path was merely a systematic approach to quell mental anguish. At the heart of Buddhism is the idea of non-attachment; letting go of the main thing that causes you to suffer: your attachment to all things. Think about it, you suffer because you don’t want to die—you’re attached to your life. You suffer because you fear pain—you’re attached to your comfort. If you look at the core of what it is that is making you suffer, there is always some attachment related to it.
As an interesting tidbit, Gautama wasn’t actually the first Buddha, he studied under many Buddhas that came before him in order to devise his Eightfold Path. The reason he has become so renowned or considered “the first” is because he invented a very specific method unique to him.
Level 3 - Zen
There’s a famous story related to Gautama where he was meant to give a sermon to an eager audience. Hundreds of people gathered to hear him speak, but instead, he just sat there, starting at a flower. After some time of uncomfortable silence and even some patrons beginning to leave, one person began to laugh. Suddenly, Gautama broke his gaze and asked the person to come up and receive the flower that he was staring at because he knew that person understood the lesson—this person became the founder of Zen.
The primary difference between Buddhism and Zen is Zen’s further refinement of the process to snuff out the conscious, working mind. It doesn’t require an Eightfold Path or necessarily sitting still for hours at a time; rather, tapping fully into the moment through (what is more contemporarily known as) a Flow State. Whether sitting, standing or performing some activity, the aim of Zen is to achieve a Flow State in order to lose oneself in an activity.
My personal Zen Koan (riddle) for you: how does one attach to something if there is no one to do the attaching? This is the essence of Zen.
As an interesting tidbit, this is the first time spirituality moves from achieving Samadhi (a complete loss of self) in a strictly seated position to achieving Samadhi in motion. This is also perhaps the most useful application of “no mind” compared to the previous two doctrines because life is in constant motion.
Level 4 - Tantra
More specifically, “Esoteric Tantra” as Thomas Cleary calls it, has the primary aim of using one’s natural energies and urges in order to channel them and achieve the life of their dreams.
But “what happened to snuffing out the mind and managing one’s mental anguish,” you ask? Well, you can’t go further than “no mind”, so why continue to refine that practice? What’s more important now is managing your life once you’ve learned how to manage your mind.
As an interesting tidbit, Tantra is often associated with sexual intercourse. Though this is a more superficial and surface level analysis of the practice, when you dig deeper into why you’d want to control your “ojas” (urges), you realize there’s a lot connected to sexual urges that you can actually harness in order to make your life better. Think about this as an example: what happens when you’re looking for a mate? You’ll probably start going to the gym, buying luxury items, or even feel more confident as you walk with a newfound swagger. The question is: why does it take waiting till you want to find a mate in order to pull your life together? Use that same sexual urge and harness it to transform your life now.
Level 5 - Taoism
Taoism is the last level (so far) there is in spiritual life. The reason being that it takes the good with the bad, and realizes that there is a bit of good and bad in each opposite good or bad (look at the yin yang symbol for a more visual representation of what it is I’m talking about).
Unlike the former tiers of spirituality I mentioned, Taoism doesn’t care about what you want and is more concerned with what is. At the end of the day, it is what it is. Life is happening and it’s in constant flux between what one perceives to be good or bad.
As an interesting tidbit, there is no good or bad in Taoism, there is only: Yin (Ha) and Yang (Tha) — for those of you that know Hatha Yoga, this is the essence of that practice. Also, reading Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, one quickly realizes the delusion of good and bad (or evil). Reading further into history, one also quickly realizes the hypocrisy of laws and morals. Taoism has already understood this long ago, getting rid of these superficial labels and focusing solely on opposing energies instead of labels like right and wrong, because the entirety of life is made up of opposing energies and not preconceived notions.
So, which of the 5 tiers is the most important? None of them. Instead of thinking of them in a hierarchal fashion, think of them more like different tools in your toolbox. Some days you need Yoga; some days you need Buddhism; some days you need Zen; some days you need Tantra; and some days you need to accept everything for what it is and reside in the Tao.
Rather than looking at one as being more important than the other, learn to understand each one of them and employ them as necessary in your life when you need them. Life isn’t a linear progression; rather, a convoluted mix that constantly intertwines and enmeshes itself in a mobius loop—a mobius loop of mind.
-happy untangling.