In this issue:
The Buddhist Fifth Law of the Universe states: "All beings possess the intuitive knowledge of the Buddha Nature." In her commentary on this Law, Rev. Master Jiyu writes,
When man does not heed this intuitive knowledge, body and spirit separate and the cycle of birth, old age, disease and death becomes as a binding cord from which he cannot be free until he again decides to heed the still, small Voice within which is the voice of that intuitive knowledge which comes directly from the non-personal Buddha Nature.
In reflecting on this teaching, it occurred to me that there may be a helpful way to graphically illustrate this movement from heedlessness to union with our Buddha Nature, the Eternal, and this article is my effort to do so.
I must, however, offer a caveat: the presentation is necessarily linear while the experience pointed to is more organic and multi-dimensional. The karmic inheritance of living beings varies, so our evolution along the Path to the Eternal will differ; some travel rapidly, some more slowly, some in an instant. And each of us individually, on any given day–any given moment–may progress or regress on our journey depending on whatever karmic winds are buffeting us at the time and how we react. Whatever our peculiar karmic differences, though, there is one thing we all share: the longing to return to our True Home. It is a spiritual journey, a journey of heart to Heart.
Although it is natural to talk about a “journey to” and a “relationship to” the Eternal, it is, perforce, mistaken since it implies a subject-object separation for what is, in truth, a unity. However, being human and subject to the egocentric delusion of separateness, we tend to experience this false sense of separation as reality, however illusory in fact it is. Indeed, the whole purpose of our spiritual training is to enlighten this delusion of separateness and realize “recognized reunion with the Eternal,” as Rev. Master Jiyu so aptly expressed it.
Before we begin spiritual training, we experience this false sense of separation from the Eternal and from others. Our intuitive knowledge of the Eternal is dim and our sense of separation strong:
It need not be, however, for when we begin training in meditation and the Precepts–and sustain the practice–we begin to move closer to the Eternal and other beings:
Although the self remains strong, our awareness that the Eternal IS begins to brighten and our sense of separation from other beings lessens with a growing awareness that they are essentially no different from us; that we share a common lifeforce and its challenges and mysteries.
As training continues and we increasingly open our heart-mind to the Eternal, our natural longing to dissolve the barrier between self and other, self and the Eternal, strengthens. Correspondingly, the death grip of self begins to loosen and the boundaries between self-and-other, self-and-Eternal, begins to open up. Our consciousness becomes more porous and the compassion, love, and wisdom of the Eternal flows into us:
The Eternal never forces us but waits patiently for us to play our necessary part of opening our heart-mind to It. If we continue the work of training, we increasingly allow the compassion, love, and wisdom of the Eternal to convert our greed, anger, and delusion which causes our false sense of separation. Then, it is as if the door to the solitary cell of self we have confined ourselves in swings open and we step out into the radiant Purity of the Eternal and see it in all things:
As long as we are human and alive, there will of necessity remain the self that must function in the world—make choices, speak, act—and experience the consequences of these actions. But our interactions with the beings and objects of this world will be less motivated by selfish concerns and more by a stronger awareness that our actions have consequences that increase or lessen suffering for both self and others. We know that causing suffering to others by our actions of body, speech, and thought also affects us because we share the same Buddha Nature. It inspires a generosity of spirit that makes life a joy and not a negative, burdensome, downward-looking, self-protection program. Body and mind can know peace.
The more karma we clean up during this lifetime, the less will be left for someone else to clean up in a future lifetime. Until, when all conditions ripen, the clean-up is completed and we have returned fully Home.
