Most Intimate

I suspect most people come to Buddhism to better their life, perhaps hoping for a calm, ordered mind or transcendence of suffering. They may even aspire to become a bodhisattva or buddha.

And - good news! - practice may actually deliver one of these results. Many of us have some experience of this.

But, the Buddha Way goes through the self, an untidy and unruly place that contrasts with our aspirations. So grab some gloves 'cause we're gonna get dirty.

Mumon, who writes Notes in Samsara, posted this passage from the Lankavatara Sutra on Tuesday:

The Tathagatagarbha* holds within it the cause for both good and evil, and by it all the forms of existence are produced.

Similary, the Roman playwright, Terence (2nd century BCE) wrote:

Homo Sum: humani nil a me alienum puto

I am human; nothing human is foreign to me.

If we sustain our practice, we will inevitably encounter the foulest of aliens and demons (along with angels and devas). We may not want to touch but this is the soil that nourishes our relationship with all humanity.

Imagine the importance of this!

If we attain our own predatory nature, Eido Shimano becomes clear. If we attain our own compassionate nature, HH Dalai Lama becomes clear. If we attain ourselves, all beings shine with luminous clarity.

Perhaps we might even remove the gloves and get our hands dirty. That would be most intimate.

 
*Tathagatabarbha is a synonym for Buddha-nature.

Comments

[anonymous]

you say "If we attain ourselves, all beings shine with luminous clarity."
How would we know? Who would be there to describe or judge what is luminous or not? The only thing attained is ones' original nature, and that is still obscured by the three poisons in some degree. The ultimate enlightenment is just a fantasy, we in truth all always deluded, and "luminous".
It is like riding a bike with flat tires.:) Or telling the truth, with leaving out half the story. Shimano and the Dali Lama, Jack the Ripper, and Santa Claus. Good and Bad. Just wing it, and don't look back...:)

[mama p]

Barry, this phrase is one of the most beautiful I've ever read. I believe it cuts through all dichotomy, and gets to the real heart of what is at stake:

If we attain our own predatory nature, Eido Shimano becomes clear. If we attain our own compassionate nature, HH Dalai Lama becomes clear. If we attain ourselves, all beings shine with luminous clarity.

(and this I decided to write quite *before* reading the above comment, interestingly enough. lol.)

[jill i]

somehow this reminds me of words from Jane Goodall about similarites of chimpanzees to humans (that I heard tonight) - they can be altrustic, compassionate, affectionate, but they can have a dark side, too, just like people. The spectrum we share as primates.

But then she ultimately espouses reasons for hope. I know Zen is not about hope, it's about what is and what's now and striving to pay attention to it all. But I like her hopeful message!