(Community Matters)
“Unkindness comes out of certainty; when we throw out certainty, we have the bare reality of consciousness, and another name for that is love.”
At the heart of Zen, and of all Buddhism, is a story. Even in the simplest life, pain
and disappointment accumulate, and at some moment everyone longs to walk
through a gate and leave the past behind, perhaps for an earlier time when the
colors were bright and the heart carried no weight. The quest for a fresh start is so fundamental that it defines the shape of the stories we tell.
Buddha’s story is what’s happening to you now. The journey of the Buddha isn’t a literal journey that happened long ago. And it’s not what your life will become. It’s here now, and paying attention helps you notice that. If you look into the life you have, your looking will lead you into a new life. What you meet on the way is part of the way.
Koans are little stories from the point of view of awakening – a life in which you are unfaithful to your sorrows… The classic Zen accounts from East Asia all have the same plot: The student doubts the value and purpose of life, connects with a master, though this might be for a very short time – even as little as a night, or in a dream, or just reading a koan – and usually works hard at meditation. Then she achieves, often in unlikely circumstances or through some ridiculous error in practice, a breakthrough followed by a lasting joy and compassion for others.
[About several stories of transformation under all types of varied circumstances]… I like these stories because they indicate that there are no conditions under which it is wise to refuse life. From the koan point of view, this is one of the consequences of awakening – life is always here and it’s always for our benefit.
[Referring to St. Paul and the direction Christianity took following his epiphany]… changing what you believe is probably irrelevant in terms of awakening. Awakening undermines the stories you live by, as well as the way you make stories – or what you call a story. Switching thoughts is like switching rooms in what is essentially a prison the mind has made. But in awakening you can’t find any walls or bars. Changing your beliefs about what’s bad and what’s good could even be an indicator that a more fundamental change has not taken place.
Zen people talk about emptiness because when you awaken, the maps that hold
your beliefs are suddenly gone. You also notice that new maps appear in the mind, even without encouragement from you. And as new maps appear, you can take them as provisional. The Zen task is to open to the gates of the world beyond our prejudices. Like the Buddha, we can step away from everything we are certain about. I think this possibility is the best contribution we can make to healing the flaws in consciousness and helping the world. Unkindness comes out of certainty; when we throw out certainty, we have the bare reality of consciousness, and another name for that is love.
[Shambhala Sun, July 2007]
Hat Tip: Flint Sparks
Community Matters 