Journey Through Cancer – Chapter 57 - Sobriety and the Dharma

This weekend I celebrated 24 years sobriety. I got sober as a Russian Orthodox monk, but that had not kept me from getting drunk for the preceding two years. Now I am a Tibetan Buddhist Ngakpa and plan to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk when Khenchen schedules the next batch of ordinations. While this may seem like an inconceivably long spiritual journey or an impossible transformation, it is the one that I have made over the years of my sobriety.

Now looking back over these years, I can see that a guiding principle of AA is also one of the cornerstones of Tibetan Buddhism: service to others. In AA, it is the key to lasting sobriety. In Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhahood is sought “for the benefit of all sentient beings.”

Over the past year, I have found it difficult to maintain anything like a regular schedule of meetings. I had been introduced to one particular meeting which I especially appreciated which was also rather close to my home. This specific meeting was focused on the 11 ^th Step of Alcoholics Anonymous which says, “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.” With that as a focus, the meeting begins much like most AA meetings, but the overhead lights are turned off and it becomes a candlelight meeting with a significant difference. A period of time is spent in meditation, albeit not in the Buddhist form, but still similar to Shamata. Only after that does the discussion begin.

This Sunday to celebrate my anniversary of sobriety I went to that particular meeting. I had intended to get to other meetings this weekend before Sunday, specifically a Labor Day weekend “Alcothon.” However, these ongoing after-effects of the radiation interfered with those larger plans. Nevertheless, it was good to get to the meeting I did manage to attend. A special plus was that two people I know were there, a newer friend and an old friend I've known for years.

I have gotten the one red chip that is for me. Now I plan to get to whatever meetings this week that I am able to attend in order to collect red chips for the benefit of others. Years ago my sponsor told me that this was what I was supposed to do. While I am the first beneficiary of my own sobriety, it is nonetheless for the benefit of others as well. Isn't that reminiscent of, “May I attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings”?