Some details finally are emerging about the recent, tragic deaths during a sweat lodge ceremony in Arizona. This was not part of a Buddhist retreat, but the episode brings up issues that relate to spirituality, Buddhism included.
The background, in a nutshell: As part of a "spiritual warrior" retreat in Arizona, between 55 and 65 people were jammed into a 415-square-foot space made of a wooden frame covered by plastic tarps and blankets. Hot rocks were brought in to make the "sweat lodge" something like a sauna. Two people died during the ceremony and a third died after several days in a coma.
Phylameana lila Desy, About.com's Guide to Holistic Healing, writes that retreat leader James Ray had urged participants to ignore their physical needs and push themselves to endure the pain and trauma they were experiencing. The sweat lodge ceremony, which sounds bad enough by itself, had been preceded by five days of fasting and sleep deprivation.
The connections between pain and spirituality are complex. Most of the time we think in terms of using spiritual practices to deal with pain, but there is also pain as spiritual practice. Many human civilizations have concocted right-of-passage rituals that include tests of pain, strength or endurance. Fasting is part of many of the world's religions.
In some circumstances, "working through" pain in a spiritual way can be empowering or cleansing. But I understand that pain and exertion cause the nervous system to release endorphins, which can result in a temporary euphoria. As a rule this euphoria has no more spiritual value that the buzz one gets from drinking a couple of beers.
Even so, endorphin highs can be intense experiences that feel significant. So people voluntarily put themselves through ordeals to feel as if they are accomplishing something.
You may remember that before his enlightenment the historical Buddha practiced extreme asceticism, including fasting to near starvation, before he realized the effort wasn't getting him anywhere. He gave up extreme practices, took nourishment, and sat in meditation to realize enlightenment. Good health enables physical energy and mental alertness, which are ideal assets for Buddhist practice.
In the case of the sweat lodge deaths, I would think anyone with a lick of sense would have realized that shoving that many people into a small, hot, unventilated space would be dangerous. And although people in the sweat lodge were free to leave, critics of James Ray say that he pushes people past their safe limits through peer pressure and fear of failure.
As a Zen student I confess I've met some pain junkies in zendos. There can be peer pressure to sit on a zafu instead of a chair, and even to sit through kinhin (walking meditation). When do you sit on the zafu through pain, and when do you say enough and sit on a chair? It's up to the individual, but I say there's no virtue in torturing yourself.
About the Zafu: I practice Vajrayana meditation. On retreat, or even for a short session I had a Zafu which would cause a lot of pain, which distracted me from my meditation. After about 15 years I wised up, and got a nice rectangular cushion (gomden), and now I can meditate in peace. As Clint Eastwood said, A man’s (or woman’s) got to know their limitations. I really feel that it is necessary to practice joyful enthusiasm to persevere on the path, but there is a point at which pain is just pointless.
My understanding is that the Buddha considered the six years he spent in harsh austerities basically a waste of time. He also stressed moderation repeatedly.
Austerities can be a manifestation of an unhealthful vanity — or the opposite, an equally unhealthful low self-esteem. (We do, after all, need to tend daily to our “illusory” selves while we are in this world of samsara.)
And — Clint Eastwood is very cool. I disagree with the man on some issues, but overall I admire him and his movies.
I also practise vajrayana (or at least my teachers do, I just do the practices they’ve been teaching me for the last few decades). I also use a zafu, but my understanding is different – any discomfort is caused by my limited understanding which is often expressed by bad posture. When I can align the bones of my body by using the seven-point posture as a guide (with a straight back and knees down flat) the discomfort abates.
But that is not the substance of this article which I think is something that quite often happens and that is that people pay money for what I’ve often (semi-)jokingly referred to as the concentration camp experience where people put themselves in uncomfortable situations as groups with the aim of achieving some “spiritual” experience. To me this is a lack of skill on the part of organisers. It is also a misplaced reliance on “austerities” as a cause for “spiritual” experiences, and maybe like Trungpa Rinpoche’s famous “spiritual materialism” ?
First off, to connect this ceremony with spirituality is in error. I have taken part in a sweat lodge ceremony and his idea of the practice is somewhere in “left field”.
It appears he read some book and decided to give it a try using only the information is wanted. The problem he has created is that now many people will look upon it as damaging. When done the right way, it can be a very spiritual experience.
ah, yes — that fine (?) line between virya and violence ….
And did anyone note the cost of this man’s “spiritual warrior” experience? Over $9,000, according to one article I read. That is suspicious in itself.
As somebody who has partisipated in traditional native american ceremonies for over 37 years i can say with certainty that what Mr. Ray conducted for the nine to ten thousand dollors was not an native american sweat lodge. First we do not charge for ceremony. Secondly our ceremonies are thousands or years old. We do not add or subtract. What was done by Mr. Ray was a poor imitation of something very sacred. The Inipe (sweat lodge) is not an indurence contest but a way to pray which is practiced by many tribes. People became ill because Mr. Ray did something for money , did not know what he was doing and had little if any regard for the partisipants.