Found someone you have...

Today seems like a good day to reflect upon the lessons of our teachers, be mindful of what we've learned and possibly gain even more insight. To what? Anything... and maybe nothing.

Actually, any day is a great day to do that. Being the armchair Buddhist and mindless philosopher that I am, I figured I'd finally put up this thing I've been thinking about writing for a long time. Add to my list of credentials that I have Star Wars perma-brain.

Today marks the date on the Tibetan calendar of Saka Dawa when the birth, enlightenment and death of the Shakyamuni Buddha is celebrated. I made a stab at speculating this previously, on the western calendar marking of the 15th day of the 4th month. The Tibetan calendar works out a little differently.

I don't presume to have a clear understanding of what that all means: Why celebrate? Why this day? Well, the full moon has something to do with it I guess. Eastern science, mysticism and philosophy is deeply integrated with astrology and cosmology, perhaps as are the ways of the Jedi in the GFFA.

The observance at least brings a consciousness to teachers and guides, their teachings, and the example of their lives. After going through the motions today of contemplating some in-universe dharma, as usual I am taken back to the teachings of Star Wars and more specifically that quintessential Zen alien.

The Yoda Sutra has been a guide for me throughout my life. Even though little green man comes from a fictional universe - unless George Lucas really is an alien telling us a true story that our limited perception can only comprehend as fictional metaphors - his words have affected my real life outlook in many ways, and ways that are often changing.

Full of contradictions is Yoda, but does that negate his teachings, or does it challenge one to see things from more than one narrow perspective.... or point of view. After growing up with the Yoda of the OT, the PT cast a whole different light on Yoda. Another event of note is that I grew up somewhere between the OT and the PT, again from a certain point of view of course. I can't remember what, if anything, Yoda's teachings to Luke meant to me as a kid, but maybe more importantly I thought about what they meant, and the conclusions keep on evolving - especially as I accrue more experiences that they can be applied to.

Lost yet? Good.

Oh, no. We'll never get it out now.

So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done. Hear you nothing that I say?

Master, moving stones around is one thing. This is totally different.

No! No different! Only different in your mind. You must unlearn what you have learned.

All right, I'll give it a try.

No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Those are probably the most famous words of Yoda: Do. Or do not. There is no try. In essence, it implies some pretty circular thinking. We can't really say whether something is or isn't done until we get the final result, so all we can really do is try, right? If that's what you beleive, then so it is.

I see that some fans take these words of Yoda to be an absolute, which would contradict what Obi Wan says only the Sith deal in. Sure, that's one way to look at it... in absolute terms. But Luke also had an absolute way of thinking...

You want the impossible

What are the limits of possibility? Perhaps that in which we have physical proof or experience. Pesky space-monkey mind goes into overdrive looking for rationality.

I don't believe it.

That is why you fail.

Whatever Yoda said before that, it was hearing that last line as a kid that triggered the liberation of my imagination, which continues to have an affect on my approach to everyday life. All I gotta do is beleive! As the years went by I realized there was a lot more I had to do in addition. I came to realize something about intention, which made some sense of Yoda's teaching of 'do or do not' - at least to me in my experience.

Control, control. You must learn control

I grew up using my Force abilities somewhat recklessly. I bruised and battered my body, felt little pain and always bounced back resiliently. I didn't understand my powers, and sometimes my misuse of them brought me dangerously close to a dark path that could forever dominate my destiny.

As fate would have it, I became a bit older and some body parts rebelled against my recklessness, telling me to seek disciplined Jedi training. "Yoga... you seek yoga"... and I soon fell into a deep rooted lineage and traditional practice.

After entering this practice with a specific physical purpose that proved itself very effective, I later began to wake up to the underlying philosophy and background. My intentions started to change and the meaning of the practice evolved. Just as Luke entered his training with a somewhat narrow and limited idea of what he was getting into and why, it began to unfold for him as he accepted his training. It even caused him to approach his training differently through time, blossoming from Yoda's early teaching on intention.

I began my padawan training relatively late in life, as did Luke. I also began my training with a somewhat different perspective and approach than what would have been normal in traditional yoga. For a good long time in the eastern world, yoga has been a general term for the way in which one lives their life. Different levels of aeseticism would manifest certain yogic practices, one of which entails a specific physical regimen (the specifics started to vary amongst lineages).

In more recent history, yogic philosophy and tradition made its way to the west and my physical point of entry has become the norm. Be it for healing purposes or building that "yoga butt", westerners have picked up on yoga, made it into a craze and yoga has actually adapted somewhat because of it. The head of my lineage has commented on this before, and his views have even changed. Where once he was skeptical that people were starting a physical yoga practice for the wrong reasons, like vanity, he also has seen people come for many different reasons. As well, many who approach it with one reason, however superficial, often come to discover the vastness of yogic philosophy.

The physical aspect has been a point of entry to a larger world of understanding for many westerners. At the same time, many people won't get too far beyond the physical. In some ways the latter party threatens the integrity of many of the traditional practices. The detrimental effects of resistance to change is a key point of awarenes in yogic philosophy. While the old traditions long resisted the imapct of westernization, they are now starting to adapt. In a weird way this helps to preserve them while they change in certain ways.

Always in motion is the future.

Modern Buddhism is also starting to adapt to it's emergence in the western world, as is the western world to the eastern sciences. Perhaps the changes are neccessary so that they can continue on and benefit humanity in some way. I already went off on the point of how the Jedi of the Old Republic inevitably died out due to the stagnancey of their tradition. Perhaps the rebirth was in Yoda's slightly changed perspective from that experience, and his teachings unto Luke. Later in the post-ROTJ EU we see Luke continually try to develop and adapt the new Jedi order from the ashes of the fallen order.

Yoda was changed from his experiences in the PT. He became aware, I beleive, that the order was resistant to change and therefore blind to what threatened their very existence. While he taught Luke in Episode V, he seemed still at a crossroad between his old teachings and adapting them to the new situation, while at the same time becoming aware to the neccessity of change.

Luke sought Yoda as his teacher, as I also sought my "guru". The times had changed in both my world and the GFFA, where in the past the master moreso took the initiative to select their apprentices. There is still some degree of acceptance by the master in both worlds now, but the masters have evolved to realize if they don't teach these bumbling fools the "right way" those lost souls will find themselves in an aimless world of trouble and hurt. Anybody who has jumped into a mixed yoga class with little prior experience might understand this world. Just as Luke needed to build a new base of Jedi, yoga in the west is lacking experienced teachers even though the 'craze' continues to escalate. The danger to both the lineages and individuals is in less experienced people "teaching" what they consider to be yoga.

A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind... Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph. Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless!

I won't fail you - I'm not afraid.

Oh, you will be. You will be.

People really can hurt themselves with their ambition sometimes. I had a fairly high midichlorian count to begin with, and was *lucky* enough to fall into a structured traditional lineage that had a pretty scientific approach to the practice, as well as the many years of the lineage to prove it beneficial. There have been a lot of western "freestyle" regimens that base themselves on physical yoga. Henceforth we see a birth of never seen before "yoga injuries". In the beginning of my practice, I would stray sometimes into the freestyle stuff, and try to rush ahead into the more advanced. "I want more, but I know I shouldn't". Not only is it dangerous physically, but it can be dangerous mentally as well. Ouch - okay, I soon learned the difference between right way and wrong way.

The mistakes were scary and potentially harmful. After sticking to the traditional stuff longer, the real benefits of a committed practice began to show themselves. Not just the physical ones, but it became more and more clear that this was more about mental "control" and focus, which further leads one to the philosophy and yogic precepts. I would have never seen these things without continuing in that disciplined and guided way. Even with my dwelling in Buddhism and the teachings of Star Wars: it was the overall yogic approach (not just physical!), the larger meaning of yoga that brought all these things together in a more comprehensive "path".

I could have just as easily continued in the scattered way, not really progressing and feeling the bumps and pitfalls of mistakes made through ignorance and negligence.

I'm not levetating rocks yet or standing on one hand very well, but I don't not beleive in it (you know what I mean!). One of the things I've been thinking about in my yoga practice more and more, which also comes from the Buddhist thing - and Yoda, is the intention behind it all, and behind every little thing. Okay, so as the years have gone by, my practice is more on and off - something more akin to Leia's Jedi training in the post-ROTJ EU.

No, no, there is no why. Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions.

One of the aspects that are particular to my yoga tradition is that you go in a certain order, and when you come to something your body (or mind) isn't willing to do, you stop there until you break through and can do. Literally you "do or do not". If you ask why something should or should not be done in a certain way, the answer from our lineage head is usually "something very bad will happen". Hokey religion or his difficulty understanding English (a native of India, he only ever bothered to learn a few English phrases)? Maybe it's his way of getting you to just do the practice, and not think too hard about it.

Modifications or doing something incorrectly earn you a "bad lady" (or man) remark from Yoda.. er Guruji (see link below), and immediately end your practice for the day. "No more will I teach you today!". It also isn't unheard of for (experienced!) teachers to carry or adjust you into the positon, sometimes standing on your back while you're all bent over like a pretzel. Not too different from the picture in this entry .

Back to intention, yet again - Many of the physical aspects of this yoga practice seem inhuman (as many of the esoteric philosophies seem inconceivable). Many people come to a stand still in the practice when they can't acheive something, and it's usually because they don't beleive it to be possible. These are their intentions. There are certain steps taken to approach each phase of the practice. These too are intentions. The intentions are broken down to smaller steps, so much so that they would keep the mind focused on the moment - destroying the forward thinking anticipation that causes doubtful intention.

Look I so old to young eyes?

There are so many more aspects to Yoda's teachings of course, as well as to yoga. I've taken up a good hunk of blog space to talk about a few small aspects in an unscientific, unstructured and somewhat unfocused kind of way, but maybe someone will at least get a kick out of it. If you've made it through this whole entry in one sitting I commend your attention span and thank you. It usually takes me a few tries to get through an equal lengthed Moose entry.

Hopefully this wasn't too much of a waste of life. If anything, the purpose of this is to share an aspect of life that is potentially for the better. That is the essence of the Saka Dawa observance - and all good deeds are amplied by a thousandfold or some odd thing. Now I'll have to wrap it up before the day ends and I end up asking myself "What have I done?".

Before I go, a pretty intersting and almost eerie coincidence occured to me, after I started to write this down and the discussion became more steeped in real world yoga. Not only is today Saka Dawa in the world of Buddhism, but it's also Guruji's (term of endearment for the head of my yoga lineage) 91st birthday. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is still going strong after all these years. I already pointed out the striking resemblance of Yoda to HH the Dalai Lama in an earlier blog, should I do the same with Yoda and Guruji? I'll let you decide. So to end, instead of a Star Wars quote, I'll borrow a quote from him that is simple yet inspires (maybe Yoda should have caught on to this in the PT?):

'Ninety-nine percent practice, one-percent theory'

["If you take practice, practice, practice--ninety-nine percent practice, one-percent theory, automatically you will get mind control; then, union with the Atman (soul). One birth is not enough."]

Hmmm, maybe twins will do then?

Next up in my one percent theory mindless philosopher series: The Tao of Obi Wan

Namaste, and may the Schwartz be with you.