One quote I've heard a lot since joining the Navy is, "perception is reality." It started in boot camp: our Recruit Division Commander(s) would shout it back to us if anyone argued that they weren't talking in the galley, sleeping, or doing whatever they were accused of doing when they got called out for breaking the rules. It meant that simply giving the appearance that you were doing something out of line means a petty officer or chief is well within their rights to harp on you for it. For the record, I mean sleeping anytime between reveille and taps (during a presentation, for example, when it is necessary to stay awake.) This phrase has persisted into nuclear field training, where the following scenario plays out fairly often: Chief: "SN So-and-so, go stand at a podium in back for the rest of class." SN So-and-so: "But I wasn't sleeping." Chief: "Perception is reality."
This phrase continues to strike me as enormously profound. I know, I know, all the petty officers mean by it is, "Look, you were laying your head down on your desk. As far as I am concerned, that's as bad as sleeping. Stop quibbling about whether or not you were literally asleep and do as you're told since you were obviously not sitting up and paying attention like you should have been." Younguns, as it turns out, are remarkably prone to argue with authority figures. Catch phrases go a long way to convey proper military behavior. But still... it's pretty zen, I think.
Perhaps that sounds like a contradiction. Zen, as I understand it, instructs us to set aside our perceptions, not to believe in them, and instead remind ourselves that perception taints reality, colors it as something different than it is. All means of perceiving are empty. But going further, perhaps it dawns on one that such tainted input, flawed though it may be, is the only means of interacting with reality afforded to this body. While it is important not to get carried away by the thoughts we form about what goes on around us, while satori may be a beautiful experience of truth, a smack in the head from a teacher's kosu still hurts. And that is very naturally true. As the Pink Floyd song goes, "...all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be."
So perhaps "perception is reality" is inaccurate. Maybe "perception distorts reality" is more accurate.
Maybe, "our perception, flawed though it may be, is the closest experience of reality we get."
Maybe, "the reality of interdependent co-arising is comprised at least partially by one's own flawed perception and the flawed perception of all beings."
Yeah. That one has a nice ring to it. And as zen would have us face reality, I feel we would do well to face the perceptions of others as well as our own.
For example: Is zen a religion or not?
...
One day in boot camp, the setting sun was shining in brilliantly through the fogged windows. Several of my shipmates were trying to see the sun. Then they complained about their eyes hurting. I don't remember what exactly the words I shouted at them were, but it was something like, "Holy shit! Of COURSE your eyes hurt you fucking dumbasses! You've been trying to stare at the fucking sun! There's a REASON you're not supposed to do that!" I had been having a bad day. Probably. In any case it's the response that sticks with me the most: One guy went, "Wow. You want to be a zen buddhist monk and you use words like that?" A lot of responses went through my head, like pointing out how it takes a while for reality/practice to develop towards intention, or how his idea of "monk" is too limited, but I think all I said was, "yeah." or something. But that issue has remained in my memory, illustrating as it does what peoples' perceptions of religion are.
I wholeheartedly endorse Brad Warner's position as he states in this blog post. It really speaks to me. However I also have noticed that people tend to look at the incense, statues, candles, chanting, austere silent sitting, and perceive "religion." That is human nature. The military chaplain corps offers the following options to service members: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist. As much as I shuddered to hear "worship" used to refer equally to the various "religious needs" of Christian/Jewish/Muslim sects and buddhist meditation together (since for me there is no aspect of "worship" in my buddhist practices*, though it did occur to me that several branches of buddhist practice are much more similar to some Christian practices than they are to zen), I also had to acknowledge that until people hear otherwise they are bound naturally to perceive any religious practice as just a different flavor of what they have experienced for themselves.
So in the spirit of the Middle Way, with respect to perceptions about religion, I try to eschew my own perceptions while at the same time accepting the perceptions of others as being a part of reality, part of the "where I am" in the dictum "start where you are." To use peoples' perceptions as a jumping-off point, not trying to "correct" them, that should be my focus.
*I suppose "homage" is pretty close, all things being equal... but I still don't like the word "worship."
