Bypass -- A Fuller Understanding
If you have an automatic, visceral rejection of the word “bypass,” this article is especially for you.
The Buddha frequently taught by redefining words in common usage in his own culture. Partly this was in order to use understandable terminology, rather than invent a new jargon. But another reason was so that people were usefully jarred out of habitual understandings.
For instance, the word “brahmin” referred to the hereditary religious caste of ancient Indian culture. Brahmins upheld Vedic teachings through conducting rituals, memorizing texts, and doing sacrifices, among other things. They believed that their purity came from being part of a long line of brahmins, and that their culturally sanctioned methods were leading them toward the highest spiritual achievement possible for humans.
The Buddha disagreed with much of this. He taught a path in which purification comes through wholesomeness of action, not hereditary position. He taught practices that develop the mental abilities of calm and insight, in order to gain deep knowledge for oneself, rather than repeating knowledge gained through cognitive understanding. But he often used the word “brahmin” for an arahant, one who has fully walked the Buddhist path. This was a deliberate choice in order to help the brahmins see beyond their habitual understanding of the spiritual. He would say, “Whoever is seated, absorbed in meditation, done what had to be done, free of contaminants, who has reached the highest goal, I call a brahmin” (Dhp 386).
Let’s consider this word “bypass.” It has come to have a negative tone in the psychological and meditation worlds, where it refers to avoidance of knowledge that is perceived to be uncomfortable or even threatening to one’s viewpoint. Framed this way, one could say that Buddhist practice leads to overcoming the bypass created by ignorance (avijja, not knowing how suffering comes about and ends).
But if one approaches practice with the idea that any kind of selection or discrimination in how one meets experience must be a form of “bypass” – and hence is wrong – one cannot actually walk the path. Effective spiritual practice requires choosing ways of experiencing. Buddhist practice offers many skillful ways that are onward-leading, meaning that they help the mind to progressively see where it is obstructing itself, grow into maturity, and let go.
It is useful to broaden one’s understanding of “bypass” in Dharma practice, for it can be unskillful or skillful depending on the purpose. It is also very useful to learn the skill of seeing beyond mundane understandings of words, just as the Buddha encouraged through his teaching. Awakened beings are not tripped up by any words.
Skillful bypass
“Skillful bypass” means bypassing conditions that hinder or obstruct clear seeing, in order to favor the conditions that help develop the mind. This is the very basis of spiritual practice. (Of course, the fruit of practice goes beyond any need to bypass, but we start by talking about the way to get there. This does involve choosing one thing over another). There are plenty of forces in the world – and more importantly, in our own mind – that do not help our path of mental development. Spiritual teachings help us understand this and take appropriate measures to reduce their influence, while also bolstering the beautiful and peaceful states.
It’s important to realize that the problem is actually not bypass itself, if we define that to be avoidance of certain experiences. We are always filtering the sensory input we receive – every moment, our six senses are flooded with more information than we could possibly cognize. Somehow, we select what we experience. (How that happens is a deep point in Buddhist teaching, but we won’t go into it here).
The question is, how can that selection be done such that it helps our path, not delays or inhibits it?
There is skillful bypass in the form of deliberately choosing experiences that will help develop the mind, and avoiding experiences that harm or distract from the development of the mind. This is, in fact, what spiritual practices are designed to do.
Let’s look at some examples from Buddhist practice. In mindfulness practice, the meditator sits down quietly, brings attention to the fore, and “sets aside covetousness and grief for the world” (MN 10). This is not done out of avoidance, but for the purpose of strengthening mindfulness. It is completely skillful, for mindfulness is the quality that will help the meditator handle their life when they get up from the cushion. It makes sense to devote 100% of one’s attention to that strengthening during the time of sitting.
In concentration or samatha practice, the skillful avoidance is even more clear. The meditator chooses a single object of attention, setting aside all others (as much as possible). The purpose is to saturate the mind with wholesome tranquility, bringing it to a state of beautiful and healing unification. (And in Buddhist practice, the broader purpose is to use this clear mind for insight). Again, the avoidance is completely skillful; the states cultivated in samatha practice strengthen everything from ethics to mindfulness to wisdom.
In Brahma-vihara practice (such as mettā), the instruction is to just direct the attention and say the phrases as well as possible, even if the mind throws up resistance of various kinds. Of course, there is no forcing, but to some degree, we “just do it” because we understand that these are purification practices that will naturally bring up the opposite of mettā. We avoid engaging the ill will in order to saturate the mind in the wholesome quality of goodwill. The purpose of the avoidance is entirely skillful.
And finally, in insight or vipassana practice, the meditator avoids habitual modes of seeing and thinking, such as focusing on the self or on what one wants. Instead, perception is skillfully directed to seeing the changing nature of experience (or other universal characteristics or processes), which, according to the teachings, leads to the release that cuts through agitation and brings deep peace. Our mind needs training in these particular ways of seeing – and training involves choosing something over something else.
Unskillful bypass
Now, with some understanding of how bypass can be used skillfully, we can turn toward unskillful bypass. Sometimes turning away or avoiding is not helpful. When is that, and how can we tell the difference from the skillful case?
There are three common ways that bypass can be unskillful – a “triple bypass” that does not benefit the heart. The first is to avoid emotional development by clinging to a spiritual ideal of some kind. This is the classic “spiritual bypass,” in which the person imagines and tries to inhabit a world of bliss or detachment rather than meeting the real situation of their life.
Second, some people avoid the work of real liberation by remaining entangled with emotional ups and downs and the endless discovery of psychological patterns. There is a certain amount of important work to be done in this realm, but the word “endless” is notable: There is no end to the world of mental reaction and shifting patterns of mind. That is what the Buddha called “samsāra.” It is interesting (for a while) to see and “work with” all of this, but in Buddhist practice, one eventually gets fed up and wishes for liberation, which is only available through deep insight.
In addition, it is possible to bypass some of our inner work through engagement with activism in the world. Clinging to judgment and ideas of how things “should” be may be for the purpose of avoiding inner pain. If we believe the world must be fixed, probably we also believe that we must be fixed, and when we sit still, we will encounter the pain of our deep self-judgment. It is easy to decide that it’s better to get up off the cushion and go do something.
In all three cases, persistent agitation provides the tipoff that we are bypassing unskillfully. Deep honesty is called for: When we do our chosen practice, do we feel agitation that doesn’t settle out? Gently, when we feel ready, we can turn toward this agitation and consider what is needed to let it go. In contrast, skillful bypass leads to calm, ease, and clarity, even in the midst of various thoughts and emotions.
Only you can know if you are currently bypassing in an unskillful way. There are times when what appears as classic “spiritual bypass” is actually an important stage of practice – withdrawing and going deep can be more fruitful than cleaning up the surface. There are times when it’s best to work on the psychological level and not go deeper into concentration and insight. And there are times when engagement with the world allows something important to ripen inside.
Doing the Practice
In my own practice, I have found that the traditional instructions really do what they say. When I skillfully bypass thinking about my problems on the cushion; letting my mind get drawn into distraction or ill will; or seeing in terms of self, wanting, permanence, and other habits, there really is mental development. Certainly, some of the fruits described in the teachings do come about. This is something that you could verify for yourself, if it inspires your heart.
At some point, walking the Buddhist path involves the skillful bypasses mentioned in relation to mindfulness, concentration, mettā, and vipassana practices. Please protect your path from both outer and inner sabotage. In the Buddha’s words, “That will be for your benefit and happiness for a long time.”
Ultimately, there is no spiritual bypass. If the bypass is unskillful, it is not spiritual work. And if the work is genuinely spiritual, it leads to a place where nothing needs to be avoided. Skillful bypass is the path, and the goal bypasses nothing.
If you have an automatic, visceral rejection of the word “bypass,” this article is especially for you.
The Buddha frequently taught by redefining words in common usage in his own culture. Partly this was in order to use understandable terminology, rather than invent a new jargon. But another reason was so that people were usefully jarred out of habitual understandings.
For instance, the word “brahmin” referred to the hereditary religious caste of ancient Indian culture. Brahmins upheld Vedic teachings through conducting rituals, memorizing texts, and doing sacrifices, among other things. They believed that their purity came from being part of a long line of brahmins, and that their culturally sanctioned methods were leading them toward the highest spiritual achievement possible for humans.
The Buddha disagreed with much of this. He taught a path in which purification comes through wholesomeness of action, not hereditary position. He taught practices that develop the mental abilities of calm and insight, in order to gain deep knowledge for oneself, rather than repeating knowledge gained through cognitive understanding. But he often used the word “brahmin” for an arahant, one who has fully walked the Buddhist path. This was a deliberate choice in order to help the brahmins see beyond their habitual understanding of the spiritual. He would say, “Whoever is seated, absorbed in meditation, done what had to be done, free of contaminants, who has reached the highest goal, I call a brahmin” (Dhp 386).
Let’s consider this word “bypass.” It has come to have a negative tone in the psychological and meditation worlds, where it refers to avoidance of knowledge that is perceived to be uncomfortable or even threatening to one’s viewpoint. Framed this way, one could say that Buddhist practice leads to overcoming the bypass created by ignorance (avijja, not knowing how suffering comes about and ends).
But if one approaches practice with the idea that any kind of selection or discrimination in how one meets experience must be a form of “bypass” – and hence is wrong – one cannot actually walk the path. Effective spiritual practice requires choosing ways of experiencing. Buddhist practice offers many skillful ways that are onward-leading, meaning that they help the mind to progressively see where it is obstructing itself, grow into maturity, and let go.
It is useful to broaden one’s understanding of “bypass” in Dharma practice, for it can be unskillful or skillful depending on the purpose. It is also very useful to learn the skill of seeing beyond mundane understandings of words, just as the Buddha encouraged through his teaching. Awakened beings are not tripped up by any words.
Skillful bypass
“Skillful bypass” means bypassing conditions that hinder or obstruct clear seeing, in order to favor the conditions that help develop the mind. This is the very basis of spiritual practice. (Of course, the fruit of practice goes beyond any need to bypass, but we start by talking about the way to get there. This does involve choosing one thing over another). There are plenty of forces in the world – and more importantly, in our own mind – that do not help our path of mental development. Spiritual teachings help us understand this and take appropriate measures to reduce their influence, while also bolstering the beautiful and peaceful states.
It’s important to realize that the problem is actually not bypass itself, if we define that to be avoidance of certain experiences. We are always filtering the sensory input we receive – every moment, our six senses are flooded with more information than we could possibly cognize. Somehow, we select what we experience. (How that happens is a deep point in Buddhist teaching, but we won’t go into it here).
The question is, how can that selection be done such that it helps our path, not delays or inhibits it?
There is skillful bypass in the form of deliberately choosing experiences that will help develop the mind, and avoiding experiences that harm or distract from the development of the mind. This is, in fact, what spiritual practices are designed to do.
Let’s look at some examples from Buddhist practice. In mindfulness practice, the meditator sits down quietly, brings attention to the fore, and “sets aside covetousness and grief for the world” (MN 10). This is not done out of avoidance, but for the purpose of strengthening mindfulness. It is completely skillful, for mindfulness is the quality that will help the meditator handle their life when they get up from the cushion. It makes sense to devote 100% of one’s attention to that strengthening during the time of sitting.
In concentration or samatha practice, the skillful avoidance is even more clear. The meditator chooses a single object of attention, setting aside all others (as much as possible). The purpose is to saturate the mind with wholesome tranquility, bringing it to a state of beautiful and healing unification. (And in Buddhist practice, the broader purpose is to use this clear mind for insight). Again, the avoidance is completely skillful; the states cultivated in samatha practice strengthen everything from ethics to mindfulness to wisdom.
In Brahma-vihara practice (such as mettā), the instruction is to just direct the attention and say the phrases as well as possible, even if the mind throws up resistance of various kinds. Of course, there is no forcing, but to some degree, we “just do it” because we understand that these are purification practices that will naturally bring up the opposite of mettā. We avoid engaging the ill will in order to saturate the mind in the wholesome quality of goodwill. The purpose of the avoidance is entirely skillful.
And finally, in insight or vipassana practice, the meditator avoids habitual modes of seeing and thinking, such as focusing on the self or on what one wants. Instead, perception is skillfully directed to seeing the changing nature of experience (or other universal characteristics or processes), which, according to the teachings, leads to the release that cuts through agitation and brings deep peace. Our mind needs training in these particular ways of seeing – and training involves choosing something over something else.
Unskillful bypass
Now, with some understanding of how bypass can be used skillfully, we can turn toward unskillful bypass. Sometimes turning away or avoiding is not helpful. When is that, and how can we tell the difference from the skillful case?
There are three common ways that bypass can be unskillful – a “triple bypass” that does not benefit the heart. The first is to avoid emotional development by clinging to a spiritual ideal of some kind. This is the classic “spiritual bypass,” in which the person imagines and tries to inhabit a world of bliss or detachment rather than meeting the real situation of their life.
Second, some people avoid the work of real liberation by remaining entangled with emotional ups and downs and the endless discovery of psychological patterns. There is a certain amount of important work to be done in this realm, but the word “endless” is notable: There is no end to the world of mental reaction and shifting patterns of mind. That is what the Buddha called “samsāra.” It is interesting (for a while) to see and “work with” all of this, but in Buddhist practice, one eventually gets fed up and wishes for liberation, which is only available through deep insight.
In addition, it is possible to bypass some of our inner work through engagement with activism in the world. Clinging to judgment and ideas of how things “should” be may be for the purpose of avoiding inner pain. If we believe the world must be fixed, probably we also believe that we must be fixed, and when we sit still, we will encounter the pain of our deep self-judgment. It is easy to decide that it’s better to get up off the cushion and go do something.
In all three cases, persistent agitation provides the tipoff that we are bypassing unskillfully. Deep honesty is called for: When we do our chosen practice, do we feel agitation that doesn’t settle out? Gently, when we feel ready, we can turn toward this agitation and consider what is needed to let it go. In contrast, skillful bypass leads to calm, ease, and clarity, even in the midst of various thoughts and emotions.
Only you can know if you are currently bypassing in an unskillful way. There are times when what appears as classic “spiritual bypass” is actually an important stage of practice – withdrawing and going deep can be more fruitful than cleaning up the surface. There are times when it’s best to work on the psychological level and not go deeper into concentration and insight. And there are times when engagement with the world allows something important to ripen inside.
Doing the Practice
In my own practice, I have found that the traditional instructions really do what they say. When I skillfully bypass thinking about my problems on the cushion; letting my mind get drawn into distraction or ill will; or seeing in terms of self, wanting, permanence, and other habits, there really is mental development. Certainly, some of the fruits described in the teachings do come about. This is something that you could verify for yourself, if it inspires your heart.
At some point, walking the Buddhist path involves the skillful bypasses mentioned in relation to mindfulness, concentration, mettā, and vipassana practices. Please protect your path from both outer and inner sabotage. In the Buddha’s words, “That will be for your benefit and happiness for a long time.”
Ultimately, there is no spiritual bypass. If the bypass is unskillful, it is not spiritual work. And if the work is genuinely spiritual, it leads to a place where nothing needs to be avoided. Skillful bypass is the path, and the goal bypasses nothing.