Posted: 05/04/2015
6:07 pm EDT Updated: 05/04/2015
6:59 pm EDT
Interfaith Connections is a column for
teens to dialogue about how their faith or wisdom tradition
influences their view of life's big questions. In each issue, three
teens from different backgrounds respond to a question posed by the
Editorial Board, based on the theme.
This quarter the
Ed Board asks: How have the narratives or texts in your wisdom or
faith tradition affected you as a person?
By contributing
writer Sharon Lin for KidSpirit's
issue, The
Word.
I knelt on the silken scarf laid across the hardwood
floor, my head bent in silent prayer to the spirits of my
ancestors. I heard muffled sounds of chanting monks through the old
music player at the side of the decaying red shrine.
There was no silence on Saturday morning for me. A
little after the crack of dawn, my grandmother would rise and
kowtow to our ancestors and pray for a better life for our family.
It wasn't that we didn't already have a good life, but the promise
of a better life was reserved for those who could make the effort
to sacrifice an hour of their sleep. Only then could we acknowledge
and appreciate the work of our predecessors who brought us into
this world.
My grandmother spoke in her native Fujianese tongue
while we kneeled. Although I was fluent in the dialect, I found the
words translating into English in my head. For a brief moment, I
wondered how and why I could understand something spoken in so many
different ways, and whether the physical sounds of language were a
manifestation of something much bigger. For instance, I could not
understand anything in the recording of chanting monks, yet I
understand their sentiment perfectly. They could have been singing
gibberish, but the meaning resonated with me.
There is a concept known as the Buddhist Theory of
Language, which is a theory that all aspects of language are
derived from a combination of interlocking traits, such as
impermanence and the realization of transience, present in all
forms of communication. Although the concept is not uniquely
Buddhist, it derives its roots from Buddhist concepts of the Four
Noble Truths and arbitrariness. The former explains that all
temporary states are unsatisfying, yet we continue to crave them,
and that only following the Noble Eightfold Path will relieve us
from this craving. The latter explains that self-determination
gives meaning to life, and prevents us from the arbitrary powers of
an external force, such as random chance.
Linguists have described the root of language as
suffering. In the Buddhist sense of the term, suffering represents
an acknowledgement of spiritual hardships. It comes from a sense of
responsibility: to take control and place yourself in a position
that you cannot escape. According to the Four Noble Truths, in
creating language, we pursue the idea of a temporary meaning that
we crave to control and use to represent our own thoughts and
feelings. However, in order to achieve true inner peace, we have to
cease in this craving. Only then may we achieve peace. Therein lies
the difficulty. This sense of separation and need to control is
essentially what many feel drives them. To eliminate such a need
requires the redefinition not only of one's mindset, but of one's
very life.
We Buddhists are taught that it is essential to
become aware of this suffering in order to fully appreciate our
lives. Since grade school, we are taught that using kind words and
treating others well equate to duty and responsibility. Although
following these duties may not seem to be an act of "suffering", we
are acknowledging that we cannot exhibit total and complete free
will. We have a responsibility to hold others up to a similar
standard that we hold ourselves and we recognize this as
duty.
This responsibility towards others is exemplified
through the use of the Eightfold Path, a concept in Buddhism that
acts as a guidebook for a path in life that will lead to the end of
suffering. The third factor of this path is known as Right Speech:
individuals should take responsibility for what they say, not use
their words too negatively, and speak only words that will do no
harm.
While Buddhism is traditionally thought of as a
religion, it plays a broader role for those who follow a Buddhist
lifestyle. It serves as a guideline for a life that explores the
reasons for our existence and presents methods for better
understanding the unsatisfactory nature of many of our everyday
experiences. Similarly, according to the Buddhist Theory of
Language, language is simply an outline of our communication, not
the communication itself.
Another concept in Buddhism is emptiness, the belief
that nothing comes into existence by the power of itself, and that
impermanence and change are fundamental. The Buddha showed through
his teachings the true nature of conditioned existence and,
depending on the sect of Buddhism one followed, presented various
methods for leading a flourishing life. In terms of how we
communicate, sounds and meanings are just as empty as the
impermanence of existence. Sounds are essentially waves vibrating
particles of air, and meanings are simply ideas we give to certain
thought processes that somehow allow us to conceive of incredibly
complex ideas. To Buddhists, this means that sound and meaning are
both impermanent ideas. We should seek to not develop our
perception of language around such arbitrary external states.
Instead, we should recognize that language is all-encompassing. It
is not an understanding of sounds or objects, but an indescribable
entity that represents our thoughts in a comprehensible
form.
While certain combinations of sounds may mean one
thing in one language, another combination of the same sounds could
mean something completely different in another. Even the same
combination of the same sounds could mean radically different
things, depending on who you ask. The words written on this screen
might hold meaning for you, but they could easily appear as
scribbles on a brightly lit wall for those unfamiliar with written
English. Nevertheless, the ideas that these words represent exist.
Certain permutations might not exist for people in different
cultures not exposed to the same ideas as us, but the ideas can
still be manifested by the human mind. Thus, it brings up the
question as to why language is so necessary in the first place, and
why we chose speaking and writing as our primary means of
communication.
That different aspects of language can
simultaneously be arbitrary and meaningful is astounding.
Interdependence is a concept in Buddhism that describes how the
different elements in the world relate. Just as we learned to speak
from our parents, and they from their predecessors, we are
constantly influencing those around us. Languages weave in and out
of human existence, building upon earlier generations of languages
and influencing newer generations to come.
My traditions as a Buddhist remain more religious
than secular, but I believe that even the religious aspects can be
meaningful in secular contexts. Rather than viewing the Noble
Eightfold Path as a distinctly Buddhist concept, applying the
actions to everyday life can have just as much impact. Following
the concepts taught by Buddhist monks is not akin to believing in a
higher-order deity or in spirits that may dictate our actions.
Rather, Buddhist beliefs are more of a guide for how we perceive
our world, and how we can make our own impact, even through actions
as small as saying a few words.
Even today, I relish the early mornings spent by my
grandmother's side. Although the words fly off my tongue like
silken thread, I still fail to understand their true meaning. And
it doesn't matter. Knowing that all languages are interconnected is
a soothing understanding, because rather than fighting to
comprehend the various clicks and slurs, it is far easier to
comprehend the spiritual undertones of the phrases. Just as the
Buddhist Theory of Language holds that all languages are
simultaneously meaningless and meaningful, I understand now that it
doesn't require academic knowledge to understand the language of
Buddhism. Rather, it requires understanding in my heart.
As I close my eyes, clasping the reed-thin stick of
incense between my fingers, I let the songs and chant wash over me,
the sweet smell of burning herbs enveloping me, allowing me to slip
into a spiritual experience. The words themselves, after all, are
just sounds vibrating through the air. What they represent is more
than their external manifestation. They represent harmony and
interdependence, the cornerstone of Buddhism, language, and
society.