Our World

With palms together,

Many of us are tempted to say our world is "going to hell in a handbasket." Perhaps it is, but I'm not so sure. The Buddha Way realizes the universe is nothing but change. What we call "emptiness." Nothing exists forever, everything is "conditioned" (read, dependent) by everything and so not one thing is dispensable; everything is necessary.

Even the evil in our world has its place along side the goodness: night has day, black has white, weeks conclude as new weeks are born. In each we are free to chose how we will live in such a world. This is what the Diamond Sutra teaches: how to live in our world as a "bodhisattva" (an awakened being or being on the path to awakening).

What does it take to live in this way? For one, an open heart/mind. Second, a forgiving heart. Third, a generous heart, and fourth, a willingness to always see in the largest possible context. Without these, we are doomed to repeating our historical mistakes, see objects rather than brothers and sisters, and walk the path of suspicion and anxiety.

If we are in that hellish handbasket, I say we are putting ourselves there. Only we, through our practice, can see through the basket we have woven and free ourselves. I encourage you to look deeply, investigate your mind, and walk directly into the issues you face. As you do, perhaps the mind weeds in that basket will be transformed into lovely basket of flowers, each to be given away.

Yours in the Dharma,

Daiho