2. BUILDING A NATURAL SPARROW NEST

In no way do I wish to demean the magnificent Sparrow, but the behavior of a Sparrow is not appropriate for a human creature.

There are three types of folly-riddled human Sparrows.

The Intelligent Sparrow

In pages of this level the most frequent is the Intelligent Sparrow and really there is nothing worse than a Sparrow with intelligence that has no contact with his true nature.

They guard a broken stick as if it were the whole nest and build their nest of frozen shards of last year's ice.

The problem is, you see, that they believe that they are intelligent.

They might well be in the high percentile of Cognitive intelligence, they may have a facility for collection and organization, but they have no idea of what real intelligence is.

They do not want Awakening, they want to know themselves to be Awakened (which is absolute folly) and, what is more, wish that others respect that Awakening.

They do not realize that that form of Awakening is only a part of the Samsara game of Monopoly... In which all that they receive is two cards with "Park Avenue" and "Mayfair" marked on them.

They would be better off going to Jail without passing the Go to False Awakening and there reflect on the folly of all they are doing.

With that intelligence, what do they believe they are looking for?

They believe that there is something out there somewhere that their intelligence can reach and then let go. It is beyond the Two Truths. It is beyond their melding. It is beyond the Uncarved Wood. They believe that the Two Truths are a duality and you can't convince their closed minds that they are not.

I have had many students of that type who study well, but after a meditation when I ask for the experience they give me a description of what the experience is like or describe what they think is happening.

Far better if those students in that moment could see their folly and seeing that folly as terrible experience declare "shit on the devil." 

The Confused Sparrow

You know the type. Are you one of those who picks up a piece of Dharma straw then drops it to pick up another... Are you sure that Dharma is what you want or do you just want to find a place where you can sit in silence and let the busy world go by?

When this type of Sparrow finds a piece that seems good, someone else thinks it's bad so they let it go.

They dart here... they dart there and want some big mother (or father bird) to tell them what is best and true. So web pages, groups, blogs, Facebook and Twitter are places they look. There they find those that believe that they know (from the intelligent group) and they accept the "all is emptiness" phrases as signs of wisdom and when someone declares "Emptiness is Form and Form is Emptiness," then he becomes the Buddhist "Reverend Jones" and can lead them off to a suicide somewhere in the dark Africa of their own mind.

The Greedy Sparrow

Buddhism is full of Greedy Sparrows. Are you one?

They are intelligent, and without arrogance and pride, but they adore the beauty of words and phrases and the charisma of those that use them. They sit as close to the master as possible and twiddle their prayer beads as if somehow they exuded special knowledge.

If the beads or a bell falls then they place either on their heads to dispel the evil spirits. They cling to Buddhism, for they know in their MIND HEARTS that the Dharma is correct... How do they know that? Because the Master declares that the Buddha said so.

So they want the Dharma but they don't want to give up what they have.

They are the mainstream of Buddhism, and they are used by the system for they feel that they are a part of something greater than the mundane world that they will return to when, for example, a weekend retreat is finished.

Buddhism is Psychotherapy. It is a sugar-coated pill that really works as long as you are only playing the Buddhist game. With these delightfully chupy Sparrows you must play the game... Tell them it is difficult and they want to leave. Tell them that Buddha said that and they nod, for he was a long time ago and Buddhism is now with Meditation instructors on every corner and a Sparrow with the arrow that killed Cock Robin is waiting there for you to look up and smile.

I have been unkind, some may say, but look at yourself and really see what is happining and what is going to happen in the rest of the short life that you have.

The interesting thing is the a true Sparrow knows how to build a perfect nest, but as a human creature you have not the slightest idea how to build your nest. And that nest is the base of all your relations your work and your life.

No wonder you look to the Buddhism of religious bigotry.

How many years has it been that you have been looking for crumbs thrown by foolish patrons, when there is a magnificent cornfield with ripe heads just a short beat of the wings away?