The Value of Devotion

The Chinese Lunar New Year holidays is always a good time to reflect on my Chinese culture and heritage. I see a lot of practices and rituals, which are steeped in history and tradition. For the unbeliever, it is easy to scoff at these pagan superstitious practices. But I think most Chinese treat these things as part of their culture rather than something that has deep spiritual significance.

Those with an intellectual bent might think ritualistic worship has no spiritual merit. I see it slightly differently. I see a lot of value in pursuing the devotional path--especially for intellectuals. And let me explain why.

Having said that, I do agree that blind ritual practices are often mired in superstition and dogma. These are supposedly rules which some 'wise' person of yore has decreed, and which must be observed strictly or the gods would be displeased. Devotees are happy just to adhere to them in the believe that its mere performance would gain them spiritual merits or divine blessing.

Such devotees have an abundance of faith but suffers from a dearth of insight. Both ingredients are required if one were to progress on the spiritual path. The intellectual does not lack knowledge but he is hampered by doubt. In the Buddhist tradition, doubt is considered one of the five hindrances that a meditator has to overcome to progress. The remaining four being sensory desire, ill-will, sloth-and-torpor and restlessness-and-worry.

Unlike the faithful devotee, the skeptical intellectual questions everything--an attitude which is essential in science inquiry. However on the spiritual path, at a certain point in one's practice, it becomes a hindrance to progress because doubt is like a gigantic thought-barrier that lodges in the mind. It conditions the mind to reject what is instinctively true for lack of 'proof'. This is the point where a 'leap of faith' is required to cross the spiritual chasm.

We cannot easily will the mind to unthink a stubborn thought (think of a big pink elephant; now try to erase that from your mind). Doubt is like that. It calcifies portions of the mind, making progress extremely difficult. It has come to this through years of philosophical inquiry and study, which has the side-effect of creating an intellectual ego. Ego is like gravity--it wants to pull things together into solid intractable masses.

You cannot will it away using thinking. This is where devotional practices become useful. Rituals starts from physical movements: we can will our hands and feet into a position of prostration, into a stance of surrender to a higher power. When we worship, we willingly surrender our ego. The mind is proud, so let's start with the body and kowtow before the gods. This is much easier than unthinking the pink elephant.

When properly done, with the right attitude, devotional practices can be quite beautiful. The thinking mind is put aside. Movements, sometimes chants, and the smell of incense guide one into the right mental state--a state of loving openness which one can call grace.

By practicing this regularly, you chip away at your intellectual pride; you unleash the power of devotional love. It melts away all the hardness that has congealed in one's mind making it softer and more malleable. Once the skeptical mind is tamed, that leap of faith can then happen, and one is propelled into the next level spiritual level of insight. Thus is the value of devotion--the path of Bhakti Yoga.