Buddhist Wisdom
Throughout history people have wondered about the universe in which we
live in
and looked for a purpose of our existence. Many Western philosophers
believed
that an individual is a separate entity from every other individual
and nature.
In the Buddhist belief however, there is no separation
between you and any other
person or animal. The goal of living and dying is
to eventually see the world as
it actually is instead of the illusion that we
see with our senses. This state
of enlightenment is known as Nirvana. To
reach Nirvana it is necessary to give
up attachments to the things of this
world, see the interconnectedness of
everything, and clear your mind so that
you can see things the way they actually
are. In the Western world we are
very attached to our possessions, to the people
that we care about, and
especially to ourselves. Most Westerners would be glad
to sacrifice something
to help another person or even an animal in need if we
could. But most people
would not sacrifice something very important to us and
very few would give up
their lives in the spirit of compassion. On the other
hand, because the
Buddhist belief is that we are all connected to each other by
helping another
you help yourself and by hurting Polinsky 2 another you hurt
yourself. In the
story of "The Bodhisattva and the Hungry Tigress" the
Buddha tells of a
prince who sacrifices his life so that a starving tigress that
has just given
birth may live. To be able sacrifice shows that you truly
understand that
there is more than just this life: Yes self-sacrifice is so
difficult! It is
difficult for people like us, who mare so fond of our lives and
bodies, and
who have so little intelligence. It is not at all difficult,
however, for
others, who are truly men, intent on benefiting their
fellow-creatures, and
who long to sacrifice themselves (Buddhist Scriptures, p.
57). The prince
was able to give up his life for the tigress because he was
aware of that his
own life was just a temporary state. His body and his life are
not permanent
but only a small part of a chain of births and deaths. It is
almost
impossible for us to imagine having no attachment to our lives or our
bodies
because in the Western belief that is our self and we are born and grow
up
with very strong self-preservation instincts. Buddhists on the other
hand,
believe that we need to "recognize the true nature of the living world,
and do
not be anxious; for separation cannot possibly be avoided (Buddhist
Scriptures,
p. 59). This attachment to our present lives and bodies will help
us to ease our
suffering and see the world as it truly is. Another of the
beliefs in Buddhism
is the system of births and deaths called Samsara. A
person is born and reborn
until that person reaches enlightenment. Death is
not an ending but just a new
beginning. Time has no importance and is just an
illusion like the world is. All
people and things are connected to each other
as well as all of the people that
those people have been and will be in other
lives "in a thousand relationships
to each other, loving, hating, and
destroying each other and becoming newly
born" Polinsky 3 (Hesse, p. 133). In
Hesse’s Siddartha, Govidna experiences
this "unity in diversity". The
Buddhist image of reality is everything
simultaneously together without
divisions such as time and space. These
divisions such as time, space, past
lives, and everything else around us are
simply illusions according to
Buddhist beliefs. If everything is just an
illusion then why should we love
nature and our fellow creatures? The Buddha
responded to this by saying "If
they are illusion, then I also am illusion,
and so they are always the same
nature as myself. It is that which makes them so
lovable and venerable"
(Hesse p. 132). This is what the prince had in mind
when he fed himself to
the tigress. Losing our attachment to the things of this
world and our
connection with everything else in the universe go hand in hand
towards
seeing things the way they truly are and becoming enlightened. Even
after we
lose we attachment to this world and we become aware of our
interconnected
role in the universe we cannot become enlightened unless we have
clarity of
mind. To become enlightened is to be aware of your true nature, but
that is
impossible to do by thinking about it since "our true nature is beyond
our
conscious experience" (Suzuki, p. 180). Zen Buddhists practice zazen,
or
sitting meditation, to achieve a calm mind: "it is when you sit in zazen
that
you will have the most pure, genuine experience of the empty state of
mind.
Actually, emptiness of mind is not even a state of mind, but the
original
essence of mind" (Suzuki, p. 181). Since this world is a world of
illusions
then by thinking about the things of this world we are thinking
delusions. But
when you realize that these clouded thoughts are just
delusions, they will drift
away and you will be Polinsky 4 left with a pure
and calm mind. This is the
enlightened mind. So by realizing that you are in
a world of illusions and that
you are thinking in delusions is when you
become enlightened. You have to accept
the delusion because if you try to
expel it, "it will become busier and busier
trying to cope with it" (Suzuki,
p. 182). By clearing your mind you can expect
every moment to be a moment of
enlightenment experience. All of these readings
deal with different aspects
of Buddhist belief, but they also have certain
things in connection with each
other. The goal of Buddhism is not to lead a good
life, although that should
come along as well, but to see things as they
actually are and to reach
enlightenment. To see things as they really are means
understanding that
everything is interconnected with everything else regardless
of space or
time, understanding that this world is a world of illusions and so
should
have no attachments to the things of this world, and finally realizing
that
the enlightened part of us lies in the "true self" of the clear
mind.
Bibliography
Buddhist Scriptures. "The Bodhisattva and the
Hungry Tigress and
Parinirvana." Roots of World Wisdom: A Multicultural
Reader. 2nd Edition. Ed.
Helen Buss Mitchell. Belmont: Wadsworth
Publishing 1999. Hesse, Hermann. "Siddhartha."
Roots of World Wisdom: A
Multicultural Reader. 2nd Edition. Ed. Helen Buss
Mitchell. Belmont:
Wadsworth Publishing 1999. Suzuki, Shunryu. "Beyond
Consciousness." Roots
of World Wisdom: A Multicultural Reader. 2nd Edition.
Ed. Helen Buss
Mitchell. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing
1999.