...Inner Truths...

by Brian Alterowitz

Photos by Chad Harder

Very little about Buddhism is universal. There are as many different paths of Buddhism as there are branches of Christianity, each with its own take on what is true. For example, some practitioners of Vipassanna don't consider what they practice a religion, or even call themselves Buddhists.

David Perry doesn’t look 63 years old.


Perry is one of a growing number of people in the Missoula, Montana area who practices a form of Buddhism. While western stereotypes often portray Buddhists as old people with shaved heads and orange robes, many local people with very conventional upbringings have found truth in the teachings of the Buddha and apply them every day to their personal—and professional—lives.


"The Buddha said, "Don't believe me, don't believe anybody, don't accept anything based on tradition. Don't believe anything based on the fact that your community believes this or your country believes this or the people that you are around believe this,"" says Perry. "What the Buddha taught is that there is suffering, and that [meditation] is a way out of suffering."


"The practice of law is based on finding different ways to describe the same thing, either to put a rose tint on it or a black tint on it," he says. "You're trying to restate reality for a court or a jury."

To Perry, truth and honesty are essential to both his life and his profession. In fact, he finds that most of his work involves finding a way through other people's misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the truth. In his experience, a common thread runs through all human conflicts: The stated cause of the controversy is rarely what's really going on.

Perry considers himself a practitioner of dharma, the teachings of the Buddha. Dharma is also a Sanscrit word meaning "truth," which forms the foundation of his profession. The mediator often has to work through a couple's resentments and petty differences before he can address the problems at hand. Generally, when his clients' unfinished business is taken care of, the problem usually takes care of itself.

"The dharma has helped me to see things the way they are," he says. "The whole drift of how I practice mediation is to try to really understand what is going on. Then I can bring some effectiveness to [my clients] to help get beyond that."

Perry isn't surprised that Buddhism has found a strong following in the Missoula, Montana area, which reminds him of San Francisco, California circa 1967, where he lived and practiced law for years. He says the physical setting of western Montana is conducive to spiritual rather than materialistic pursuits.

"There are enough people here who have denounced the American Dream as life's end-all and be-all," he says. "That seems to have created an energy here that is particularly interested in this kind of spirituality."


"Part of what happens when you meditate is that painful emotions and desires become less frequent visitors," he says. "You generally become more and more content with the way things are."

In 1989, Perry picked up a book on Vipassanna meditation and was immediately attracted to it, he says. Vipassanna, which literally means "seeing things the way they are," has allowed Perry to approach his work without preconceived notions, a neutrality that is vital to his profession.

"Vipassanna carried with it the unmistakable ring of truth," Perry says.

The pursuit of truth is one of the few things that the different branches of Buddhism have in common. While most Buddhists follow five basic precepts "avoid taking life, take only what is given, avoid lies and hurtful language, refrain from sexual misconduct, and avoid intoxicants" these ideas are by no means universal.

In fact, very little about Buddhism is universal. There are as many different paths of Buddhism as there are branches of Christianity, each with its own take on what is true. Some practitioners of Vipassanna, Perry included, don't consider what they practice a religion, or even call themselves Buddhists.

So what is universal? Buddhism teaches that life's natural state is suffering, and that the cause of all suffering is desire. People constantly desire what they don't have, be it a big house or a new car. Buddhism teaches that no matter how often someone's desires are fulfilled, the person will never have lasting satisfaction while they continue to desire.


"If you lay the three years teachings of Jesus Christ alongside the 45 years of teachings of the Buddha, they really said the same thing," says Deanna Sheriff, director of Osel Shen Phen Ling, (OSPL) a local Tibetan Buddhist center. "Be good and kind, try to help others. Be happy and you'll make yourself happy."

This kind of acceptance is an everyday part of life for Leslie McCormick, a volunteer coordinator at Partners in Home Care Hospice. Her job is to pair volunteers with people with terminal diseases and try to make the patient's final months as happy and comfortable as possible.


Being understood is important to McCormick, and she makes a point of explaining and re-explaining anything that may be vague or unclear. She resists lingo and labels, saying that people who overuse them either aren't very creative or don't know what they're talking about.


"It was just becoming clearer and clearer to me that it was just not reaching a depth in me, that I was not clicking with people on a level I wanted to," she says. "Things were just feeling less and less synchronized."



"Instead of waiting for the end to find out what happens to us, moment by moment we look at our mental states and pay attention to the consequences in our lives and other people's lives," she says.


While it might seem that working with the dying for long periods of time "especially those who die young" would shake a person's religious beliefs, McCormick finds that her work actually strengthens her beliefs. Buddhism teaches that all life is transient, that nothing stays the same for long. By working with people in their final days, McCormick confronts this reality every day.

"We all know intellectually that we are going to die, but most of us don't know it on a deep level," she says. "My work takes what I know intellectually and helps me to understand it emotionally."


"We all want assurance from the world around us that we are real, that we have our own identities," she says. "But this is essentially not the case. What I am is not any kind of essential thing, but is defined by my environment."

More importantly, says McCormick, her work keeps her thinking and living in the present. She can't worry too far in advance, because her patients simply don't have that luxury. Being forced to live in the moment reminds her of how precious life is.

"This work takes you down to the most real level of human interaction," she says. "You see so much amazing love and change and suffering that it allows you to put your life in perspective."