Who We Are: Buddhism and Poetry When one thinks of Buddhism, images of a chubby golden statue, non-violence and merry monks instantly flash to mind. These stereotypical images, along with a slew of others, have all come to taint the Western idea of what Buddhism truly is: a complex and gorgeous religion that is equal parts mysterious, puzzling, simple and pure. Buddhism, when one examines it, holds as many answers to life as it does questions. Quite simply, Buddhism is not a typical religion with a deity, a holy book and a complex organization of worshipers and preachers. Buddhism, one of the fastest growing religions in the world, is almost more than a religion: it is a train of thought that guides ones life. Due to the fact Buddhism is a way of engaging ones mind, it comes as no surprise that literature and artwork associated with Buddhism is just as mysterious and thought provoking. Who Are You? is a poem that discusses what constitutes ‘being’ and asks the greatly discussed question of, what is it that defines a human as a human? By focusing on one man, Peter, an unknown questioner begins to breakdown every element in Peter’s life, trying and sadly not coming to a conclusive answer to his question of, “who are you?” All in all, Who Are You? employs many Buddhist concepts, and it is through the Four Noble Truths, dharma, skandhas, shunyata, and visualization meditation that one can see how Who Are You? is without a doubt, Buddhist poetry at its finest. First and foremost, Who Are You? can be viewed as a koan, or, an ancient Zen Buddhist riddle. A koan is an ancient meditative puzzle passed down from Zen masters to their students as a form of gauging how far along in their studies they are (King 515). Moreover, much like Who Are You? a koan does not have a clear answer and an answer itself relies heavily on a Zen students intuition and rational understanding (King 515). According to King, “any answer spoken from dualistic thinking will be rejected”, therefore a Zen student has to heavily engage Buddhist thinking and philosophies before regaling their master with an answer (515). Consequently, deciphering an answer for the brain teasing koan without a serious grasp on core philosophical Buddhist ideas is futile, and often results in a failed answer. Although deceptively simple looking, koans are extremely multifaceted tools in which one can understand the complexity that is the Buddhist religion. To begin, Who Are You? contains many lines that can be discussed by dissected them with two of the Four Noble Truths. Toward the end of the first verse, Peter is asked who he is, and he replies with certainty and confidence: “I am a man” (Who Are You? 7). When asked if he is a man because he is not a woman, Peter once again states, simply and assuredly: “No. I mean that I am a man” (Who Are You? 9). Peter, if examined under a Buddhist microscope, displays signs of ignorance with his steadfast and reassuring confidence that he is a man because he is not a woman. Peter’s ignorance, therefore, will cause suffering, which is the first Noble Truth. Dukkha, or ‘life is suffering’ is further explained by Lopez as “life is inherently unsatisfactory…[because] the fundamental problem is presented as…a lack of control over future events” (18). Dukkha subsists in every aspect of a person’s life and, as explained in the second Noble Truth, exists because there is a cause. This cause or thirst is samudaya, the concept that every human is in a continual state of craving that is the cause of suffering. Peter believes that he is a man and thus believes in the idea that there is a self to be defined as. As Lopez explains, the idea of the self, “is the cause of the egotism and selfishness that harm others now and oneself in the future through the negative karma they create” (18). Since Buddhism believes that “an active misconception of the nature of reality [is the] belief in self”, Peter is not only stating that he is a man but is also creating an ego for himself. Moreover, dharma, can be seen in Who Are You?. When asked what he is, Peter begins to list family members and their exploits and how they relate to him: his daughter is a world-class gymnast, his grandfather is a famous Arctic explorer, and he is, as according to everyone, “intelligent and accomplished” (Who Are You? 25). Rahula states in The Fourth Noble Truth, there is belief that defines dharma and all ideas and concept associated with dharma, as mental projections that people apply to impermanent ideas like time, space, the self, the soul and so on (52-53). These notions can only be understood though rational understanding, conventionally accepted facts and dharma. For instance, is Peter intelligent and accomplished because other people tell him he is? Or is it because he studied hard in school, achieved stellar grades and then went on to attain a highly lucrative and successful job? Or, could it be that Peter believes himself to be more intelligent and successful than those around him? Rahula believes that Peter is all of those concepts, because everything in this world is inter-reliant and relative (54). A further example is Peter’s grandfather. Is his fame based on the polar bear that Peter remembers him for? The boat where he was able to carry back the polar bear? In order for Peter’s grandfather to be the famous explorer Peter claims him to be, all of those elements come together to define him. Someone, at some point, is there to witness Peter’s grandfather’s triumph and mark it down as an occasion to remember. That occasion then later effects the way in which Peter views his world and how he describes himself. This will continue to effect his daughter, the world-class gymnast, and people she meets in a successive chain. What Peter’s daughter does not know, is that her great grandfather’s exploits will play a part in her great grandchild’s life, for everything is “relative, conditioned and interdependent” (Rahula 54). In Buddhism, literally, no deed is overlooked. Also, in Buddhism, there are certain truths and beliefs that are absolute. These truths are called the five aggregates or skandhas. Rahula describes the five aggregates as ways in which “we call a being or an individual” (52). These aggregate, however, do not imply that there is a ‘self’ or an ‘I’ (Rahula 52). As Professor Braitstein outlined in class, the five aggregates are: • Form: Comprises of all physical elements, sense organs, and sense objects. • Feeling: Comprises the experiences, which fall into three categories, positive, negative and neutral. • Perception: Refers to recognizing the distinguishing qualities of an object. For example, smell, taste, touch, sound, and think are all perception qualities that allow us to identify familiar and unfamiliar objects. • Mental Formations: These are the habits that get formed in all lifetimes, and that we attach to the first three skandhas. These habits are the reason for our reactions to things and lead us to act in certain ways. • Consciousness: A general awareness where, following that first moment of perception, we become aware of the first four skandhas. Peter is a perfect example of a human that falls into the five aggregates. Peter tells the questioner that he is a man, to which the questioner replies, “But you are only a man because you are not a woman” (Who Are You? 10). Peter distinguishes himself as a man based solely on his physical form: he has a penis and not a vagina; he has an Adam’s apple; he is unable to reproduce; he is male and everything that signifies a male based on his clarification that, “No. I mean that I am a man” (Who Are You? 9). As well, the questioner says, “Ah, you are Peter the tragic, Peter the successful. Which would you say is the real you: a motherless son or the father of a successful daughter?” (Who Are You?, 28). Peter responds, “Both are within me” for only he can understand the feelings of pride and sadness that correspond with the memories of his mother and daughter (Who Are You?, 29). Furthermore, Peter describes himself as “an Englishman” because he “was born in England” (Who Are You?, 12, 16). Like the third aggregate, Peter identifies himself as an Englishman because it is his perception that he is English. Pete cannot identify himself as a Chinese man because he is only familiar with what it entails to be English. That is why the questioner furthers his questions with “Oh, then, you are not a person, rather you are a country” (Who Are You?, 19). Peter and the questioner then begin discussing a feeling that Peter has that he is unable to describe. Peter is able to say that he cannot determine its size, but knows its location, and knows it does not have a color or a form, but is certain that it exists. Even though Peter cannot touch or taste this feeling, he knows it is real because it exists within himself, for he states, “Where else could it be?” (Who Are You?, 49). Peter, throughout the poem, is convinced of his points and states them with certainty and clarity. Even when faced with the innocent, childlike questions that would stump any man, Peter replies with ease and demonstrates how deeply he believes in his ability to define himself. Additionally, Buddhism employs a concept of dependent origination that is called shunyata. Shunyata is the belief in a lack of self through nirvana or emptiness, for the existence of everything in the world relies on the existence of something else to define it. In short, nothing, according to Buddhism, exists independently. This, however, is not to say that there is no self, for Gethin explains that it is an, “account of the way things are… ultimately arbitrary” (235). As mere humans, we are unable to see the atoms that comprise us, nor are we able find happiness at the microcosmic level. Gethin comments that our ‘self’ is, “nothing but insubstantial, evanescent dharma” (235). We are all truly empty, for shunyata encapsulates everything, stating how everything is nothing. The ‘self’, as Buddhism believes, is impermanent, therefore it cannot have an essence. When discussing the feeling inside of him, Peter says “Where else could it be?” without realizing, that there cannot be a feeling inside of him, for his self does not exist (Who Are You?, 49). This, however, does not go to say Peter is just a figment of the imagination. He does have substance, for as Gethin explains: “Emptiness is not a ‘nothing’, it is not nihilism, but equally it is not a ‘something’, it is not some absolute reality; it is the absolute truth about the way things are but it is not the Absolute…the Buddha taught Dharma for the abandoning of all views and emptiness is precisely the letting go of all views, while those for whom emptiness is a view are ‘incurable’” (240). Lastly, visualization meditation can be seen as a way to interpret the poem, Who Are You?. Peter, for the duration of the poem is continually asked questions on how to define himself. Peter, who starts off with a clear idea of who he is, ends up puzzled and uncertain toward the end. Visualization meditation falls under the Tantric aspect of Buddhism (Vajrayana Buddhism) and is an esoteric form of worship that requires an extremely dedicated amount of focus and commitment. Harding outlines the stages in Tantric Buddhism, stating how after the creation stage, one attempts to develop “clarity, recollecting purity, and pride” (230). Once a person has reached the creation stage, they enter the completion stage where “the true nature of mind and all phenomena is beyond intellect and inexpressible” (Harding 230). The creation stage is merely a jumping off point, an area where a meditator can slowly begin to eliminate their physical attachment to the physical world. Naturally, this does not mean a meditator will achieve complete separation from an empty and clear mind, for in the completion stage a “whole new wonderful world dissolves back into basic ground, from which it never really departed” (Harding 230). Peter and the questioner, as far as the reader can tell, have not left the area in which they initially begin their conversation, yet one can definitely see a distinct shift in Peter’s mind. When asked at the beginning of the poem, Peter says, “My name is Peter…I am a man” yet, toward the end of the poem, his answer is “I don’t know” (Who Are You? 1, 7, 56). Harding states, “there is no intentional effort that causes its realization except that …the power of devotion causes it to arise from within” which goes to show Peter is the only one who can truly decipher the mystery of who he is (230). Truly, Who Are You? is a Buddhist poem. By using the Four Noble Truths, dharma, skandhas, shunyata, and visualization meditation, Who Are You? becomes a beautiful example of how complex and thought provoking Buddhist poetry can be. The poem, which fits the criteria of a koan serves to deconstruct Peter of his notions of what components make up his being, while simultaneously constructing a newer, shinier image of himself to contemplate. Peter, within the span of 60 lines, loses his identity only to regain a stronger, deeper sense of what he really is. Peter, as he discovers, cannot be truly defined by his ancestors or his lineage, his origins or his sex. Who Are You? becomes not merely a question, but a statement to all those reading.