The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

For Buddhists, every day should be a going back to basics, a return to the source.

So many of us - and I'm talking particularly about non-Tibetans from the Vajrayana tradition - are on such a magical, Buddhist ego-trip to La-La Land that we've lost sight of the springboard that launched us into the clouds as well as our destination.

To my understanding, Buddhism is a simple philosophy which teaches the causes of suffering and the means to overcome it. These means range from the simple to the complex, but they all have the same aim.

Over the years there has been much cultural and superstitious overlay that has grown up around Buddhism; also, for good and for ill, Buddhism has been shackled to a scholastic system that has (directly or indirectly) kept the vibrancy and immediacy of its message from the ears of those who have most needed to hear it. (In my opinion, this is why Buddhism *really* died out in India and is dwindling in Nepal.)

Yet, even the most high-faluting words and treatises of scholars mainly are just interpreting how Buddhism's simple message is correctly to be understood and applied so that freedom from suffering can be achieved. They point us back to basics.

The highest of teachings from all Buddhist yanas ultimately point us backwards in this way, to simplicity. Our journey as (Vajrayana) practitioners is not about collecting restricted, secret teachings or engaging in arcane rituals or practicing the most fearful-looking yidam in the market place, but about recognising that through these skilful means, with the correct intention and application, we can achieve that simplicity which is conducive to happiness: abiding in the uncontrived nature of mind, free from elaboration.

Too many times I've heard people talk with seeming authority about the Yogas of Naropa, or the benefits of Yidam x over Yidam y but look blankly when asked about the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path or the Links of Dependent Origination. In craving the exotic, we can overlook the simple truth that is staring us in the face.

The destination for us Buddhist-types really is a return to the springboard from which we sprung on our magical trip through the ether, with the realisation that there's nowhere to spring from and no need to spring anywhere anyway. Everything is about returning to the source, to simplicity, so that we can gain insight into the nature of mind.