Note: The foreword of this book is written by Noah Levine, who has since been involved in sexual misconduct allegations through his leadership role at Against the Stream (ATS) and teaching role with Spirit Rock Meditation Center. ATS later dissolved and Spirit Rock revoked his license to teach. No criminal charges appear to have been filed concerning any of the allegations, and Levine denies any wrongdoing. This page will focus on the contents of the book itself.
Foreword
“The Buddha’s teachings are perfect in all ways and will lead any who thoroughly applies them to a profound transformation.”
Yes, it’s the first sentence but I already have to object. I’ve been critical of AA literature for making strong, sweeping statements about how the program can’t fail you, only you can fail the program. This is the same problem again, and it’s common marketing among a lot of self-help products that don’t ever come under scientific scrutiny. Let’s look at some quotes actually attributed to the Buddha.
From AN 3.65:
“Do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logical reasoning, by inferential reasoning, by reflection on reasons, by acceptance of a view after pondering it, by the seeming competence of a speaker, or because you think, ‘The ascetic is our teacher.‘”
“When you know for yourselves: ‘These things are unwholesome… these things, when undertaken and practiced, lead to harm and suffering’—then you should abandon them.”
“When you know for yourselves: ‘These things are wholesome… these things, when undertaken and practiced, lead to welfare and happiness’—then you should enter and remain in them.”
From MN 22, Alagaddupama Sutta:
“I have taught the Dhamma compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of grasping”
From DN 16, Mahaparinibbana Sutta:
“Be islands unto yourselves, be your own refuge, with no other refuge; let the Dhamma be your island, the Dhamma your refuge, with no other refuge.”
Obviously, the Buddha is depicted as having critical awakenings to share, but it’s hard to imagine that someone encouraging a radical skepticism towards himself would also approve of such a blanket endorsement.
“As modern American Buddhists we are in the rare and fortunate position to not only receive the Buddha’s Dharma, but to also receive the dharma of psychology. With his teachings and this wonderful book, Josh joins the emerging trend of integrating the best practices of Western theorists with the highest wisdom of the Buddha.”
This is tripping a lot of red flags I got reading The Four Agreements about unifying theories from different cultures in some kind of perennialist fusion, but I’m going to try set that bias aside and be upfront when I recognize it in myself.
Preface
As I make some final touches to this book in the early days of November 2016, I cannot help but note the storm clouds looming in the background of this endeavor… the United States, never to be dramatically outperformed, always seeking the spotlight of history, elects a bigoted sexual predator as president.
Oh, you poor sorry bastard. Just wait until 2026. I yearn for 2016. Simpler times.
On a serious note, I appreciate someone being upfront about their social and political stances. I’m of the opinion that everything is political, and if you don’t feel that it is, it’s because the status quo political situation is fine by you. Not making a choice is a choice.
Addiction is incredibly political. Study after study shows that the biggest factors in determining an individual’s capacity for sustained abstinence involves their access to recovery capital. The movement of capital will always be a political question. The concept of a worthy life enabled by the society we live in will always be political.
All of us suffer, and by trying to achieve peace of mind and security by trudging down capitalism’s Yellow Brick Road of workaholism, careerism, consumerism, fame seeking, and social-media-reputatioan fixation, we waste what little time we have, and wind up absolutely nowhere, not even treated to a glittering, extravagant spectacle such as Oz. Trying to acquire or achieve security and serenity keeps the economy buzzing, chews up our resources, and turns us into competitors, mistrusting each other, viewing each other as obstacles, fighting over slices of an ever-dwindling cake.
One doesn’t need to be a psychologist to discern that constant busyness is a symptom of avoidance, for when we run out of fuel and idle to a full stop, what do we experience? The voidness of meaning that is simply surviving in this world.
There’s not much I can say about capitalism that hasn’t been said a million times before and a million times better. I’d like to focus on the workaholism angle though, because it is unquestionably true that our society elevates certain addictions while stigmatizing others.
I’m reminded of a controversy back in 2017 when Andrew Ng, Stanford Professor and Coursera founder, opened job postings for software engineers to work 70-90 hours a week. I grew up in the Bay around tech people, so there were plenty of stories about tech CEOs, including some you still see making headlines, throwing temper tantrums because their employees weren’t on the 9am to 9pm grind.
I recall a presentation about study abroad during my time at UC Irvine where a slide was dedicated to the culture shock experienced by American students bragging about sleep deprivation as evidence of their hard work. We were told that students in other countries tend to see that as concerning, indicative of either poor work ethic or poor health.
Workaholism is perhaps the most acceptable addiction there is. We elevate it as a form of self-sacrifice and maximization of inner potential. Someone’s works often becomes their legacy. “Greed is good” is unironically a mantra we use to rationalize profit-seeking as meaning-making.
It follows logically that if we elevate one addictive behavior, and addictive behaviors are commonly interchangeable, then we’re elevating addiction itself as a virtue. Addiction to profit, addiction to consumption, addiction to power, addiction to dissociation, addiction to problem-solving, addiction to conflict, addiction to chaos, addiction to stress, addiction to winning, addiction to risk-taking, so on and so forth. A substance or few is just an addition to the pile.
After all, who works more single-mindedly towards a goal than someone in active addiction chasing the next fix? Eventually we elevate cheating as proof of commitment to prioritizing a goal over rules, ethics, integrity, sustainability, and relationships.
“I would sacrifice my child, negotiate with terrorists, and skirt the Geneva Convention if it raised the share price” is simply honoring one’s fiduciary duty to the shareholders.
“having more only leaves us wanting more… the underlying premise is that the answer is out there, not available to me already”
This definitely captures the core of Buddhism. From the Dhammapada, verse 187:
“Sensual pleasures give little enjoyment and much suffering- knowing this, the wise person finds no delight even in heavenly pleasures.”
From MN 75 Magandiya Sutta:
“Now suppose that there was a leper covered with sores & infections, devoured by worms, picking the scabs off the openings of his wounds with his nails, cauterizing his body over a pit of glowing embers. The more he cauterized his body over the pit of glowing embers, the more disgusting, foul-smelling, & putrid the openings of his wounds would become, and yet he would feel a modicum of enjoyment & satisfaction because of the itchiness of his wounds. In the same way, beings not free from passion for sensual pleasures — devoured by sensual craving, burning with sensual fever — indulge in sensual pleasures. The more they indulge in sensual pleasures, the more their sensual craving increases and the more they burn with sensual fever, and yet they feel a modicum of enjoyment & satisfaction dependent on the five strings of sensuality.”
From core Buddhist principles, one posits that there is no amount of material or worldly pleasures that will finally satiate one’s appetite for them. This doesn’t mean that we can just ignore these needs either, but we can’t expect to find a lasting solution to suffering from satisfying our fleeting desires. That’s the same as scratching a wound for the short-term relief, when it will quickly become itchy again as a deeper wound.
To tie it back to our modern America, the entire premise of advertising as an industry is that people can be convinced that part of their insatiable needs will be addressed through the consumption of some product that has relevant value. Go watch Mad Men, which is explicitly about the way an addict uses his own lack of fulfillment as inspiration for advertisements that resonate with consumers in a world celebrating Ayn Rand’s brand of selfish individualism.
One distinction though is that traditionally, Buddhism was not focused on the internal narratives we hold in the same way that modern “Western” psychology tends to emphasize them. After all, if we accept the impermanence of all things, then how could there be a permanently true self? The self and its cravings are both subject to dependent origination, thus an independently true self in a vacuum doesn’t really make sense.
So, it’s less that the answer to suffering is internally available by simply modifying our internal narrative of the self that’s been socially conditioned, and more that the answer to suffering lies in recognizing the constructs of the mind that produce craving through attachment. That tends to go in the opposite direction of many humanistic Western therapeutic interventions though, which can try to find some authentically true self that has experienced alienation but can achieve self-actualization through a transformation into wholeness.
This distinction will become relevant many times throughout the book. For instance, Korda states:
“All of the versions of Buddhist suttas in this book are my own…I find there’s an unfortunate tendency among some to render the early Buddhist transcripts in stitled phrases and word choices, which obfuscates ideas that can actually be quite accessible.”
More of those red flags from the The Four Agreements are coming back to me. I am generally wary of attempts to simplify the core teachings of a belief system for standalone self-help products. It’s one thing for someone beginning a serious study of a discipline who might need to get their foot in the door somehow, but it’s another to start repackaging a version while claiming you’ve preserved the integrity of the original canon. To Korda’s credit, he explicitly does say that you can “consult the now-standard translations of Thanisaro Bhikkhu, Bhikkhu Nanamoli, or Bhikkhu Bodhi” for deeper study. Even so, within the example he gives, we can observe a problem.
From the original Korda cites:
“Suppose there is no hereafter nor fruit of deeds done well or ill. Yet in this world I keep myself safe and happy, free from hatred and malice…”
From Korda’s translation:
“Look, even if there is no such thing as rebirth—if our experience ends with our death—and no way to feel the results of our actions, it’s still worth- while to act harmlessly, as we’ll feel better about ourselves while we’re still alive.”
First, I don’t think the cited excerpt is so challenging that one “would be hard-pressed to understand the Buddha’s important, though straightforward message.” There aren’t any technical terms being used there at all. I assume the word “hereafter” can be frightening?
As for what’s lost or gained in translation, Korda’s interpretation includes an element of self-evaluation. He writes that we should avoid doing harm because we would experience less suffering with a self-image that doesn’t involve doing harm. That goes back to the idea of actualizing an improved self rather than freeing one’s mind from the attachments involved in harm, like spite and obsession. The excerpt comes out of the Kalama Sutta where the Buddha is describing something akin to Pascal’s Wager, except that if there is no afterlife, you can still reduce suffering and have peace in this life. That’s not the same as feeling better about yourself.
Introduction
“I’ve been through riots, arsons, and blackouts, stood witness to the birth screams of punk and the slow death-by-greed of once-vibrant neighborhoods, run from the batons wielded by thugs operating under the guise of law and order, and mourned legions of beautiful artists, writers, and musicians lost to a disease that the most powerful man on earth couldn’t be bothered to speak about.”
I really thought he was talking about COVID until I remembered this book just referenced November 2016, so he’s actually referring to Ronald Reagan’s record of ignoring AIDS as a public health crisis. Make of that what you will.
Korda then describes experiencing 9/11 in New York and losing a firefighter friend he met in AA when the second tower collapsed. In the subsequent existential crisis, he notes:
“I had to face the fact that I, just like everyone else, was falling through time toward my inevitable death with absolutely nothing to cling to…” And what the fuck was I doing with my life… The truth is the lure of a solid paycheck, dangled before the financially struggling, is powerful. The truth is I sold out.
“And what did the twelve-step programs have to offer? They work for a lot of people, but all I got were patronizing pats on the head offered by smug true believers who, armed with quotes from the AA Big Book, dutifully insisted that my clinical depression was repayment for my atheism and lack of effort.”
I might be more skeptical about the negativity in this account if it weren’t for having seen the open disapproval of non-theistic beliefs myself. I’ve met really swell people who believe in AA but have never pushed their beliefs on me, so I don’t think it’s fair to assume that this is all AA has to offer, but that’s how it goes when we have a decentralized autonomous meetings. There will be immense variation between groups, and the East Coast has lots of traditions that the West Coast doesn’t.