The more you awaken on the path of practice, the more you see how avidya—ignorance—is operative in the world. Each day, we are struck by the horror of man’s stupidity. And each day we are called to see the world through the eyes of compassion. Because we realize how absurd it is to wage war, to reject people because of the color of their skin, and to rape the land for oil, we get clearer and stronger in our caring heart. The more pain we encounter, the more we embody bodhicitta, an awakened heart-mind. Like Kuanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion, we develop a thousand eyes to witness firsthand the suffering of the world and a thousand arms to take action. Each day, we feel the ways that ignorance and delusion cause pain and hardship. The more you align with non-harming, tolerance and loving kindness, the more you cringe at their absence and feel the pang of suffering. Don’t be alarmed or put-off by these feelings. They are an integral to the path that dawns as wisdom. The wisdom body and the body of suffering are not two. It is for this reason (and this is a good thing) that many people study trauma today, realizing just how great suffering impacts the well being of the individual—and the nation. The important thing is to keep getting clearer and clearer as to how injustice, prejudice, malice, and greed are the result of delusive thinking. Don’t get hoovered into despair. Spend your days in reflection and meditation to see through suffering to the undivided, unbiased, oneness of totality that exists throughout all space and time. All the great texts say, in the long run, that realizing this oneness, this “Buddha Mind”, is the path to end suffering. But in the short run, be prepared to experience real twinges of grief and sorrow. Just build prajna in your practice until the energy of your awakened mind and heart joins with mine, joins to your neighbor’s, your leaders, and all your fellow citizens and the whole world wakes up to the great gift—the godsend—of this life.
Photo: Josie Weiss / Unsplash
