Abiding in the Fearless State

At a spot called Vulture Peak Mountain, the Buddha presented some revolutionary teachings on the wide open, groundless dimension of our being, traditionally known as emptiness, absolute bodhichitta, or prajnaparamita.

Many of the students there already had a profound realization of impermanence and egolessness, the truth that nothing---including ourselves---is solid or predictable. They understood the suffering that results from grasping and fixation. They had learned this from Buddha himself; they had experienced its profundity in meditation. But the Buddha knew that our tendency to seek solid ground is deeply rooted. Ego can use anything to maintain the illusion of security, including the belief in insubstantiality and change.

So the Buddha did something shocking. With the teachings on emptiness he pulled the rug out completely, taking his students further into groundlessness. He told them that whatever they believed had to be let go, that dwelling upon any description of reality was a trap. The Buddha's principal message that day was that holding onto anything blocks wisdom. Any conclusions we might draw must be let go. The only way to fully understand the teachings, the only way to practice them fully, is to abide in unconditional openess, patiently cutting through all our tendencies to hang on.

This instruction---known as the Heart Sutra---is a teaching on fearlessness. To the extent that we stop struggling against uncertainty and ambiguity, to that extent we dissolve our fear. Total fearlessness is full enlightenment---wholehearted, open-minded interaction with our world. By learning to relax with groundlessness, we gradually connect with the mind that knows no fear.

-Pema Chödrön, Comfortable with Uncertainty

I appreciate this reading alot. The idea that we should not cling to any teaching is for me an important and fundamental spiritual principle. I know Pema refers to the Heart Sutra here, but this idea also permeates the Diamond Cutter Sutra. Soon, I think I will start the Diamond Sutra all over again. There is a lot of good stuff in that Sutra, but one might say, "Hey stop clinging to that Sutra." If I followed this advice, I would be clinging to the teaching of nonattachment to teachings, which is not following the teaching. Not clinging to teachings shouldn't mean that we abandon all beliefs, but it should mean that we abandon beliefs that are no longer useful to us. The analogy that is used here often is that we should ditch the raft after we've used it to cross the river, at which point it will become a burden if we try to cling to it.

The principle of not letting a dogmatic belief system to settle in has many benefits. Thich Nhat Hanh's book Living Buddha, Living Christ is a wondefrul example of its fruition. Hanh saw that the clash between Buddhism and Christianity in Vietnam was having deleterious effects. If neither side is willing to compromise, the conflict will continue, even if it is not manifested in overt violence. Hanh did a very bold thing by studying Christianity deeply and identifying very deep commonalities between Buddhism and Christianity. And also by accepting Christianity, despite a large amount of prejudice against it in the Buddhist community. In his book he says he has two statues side by side: one of Buddha and one of Christ.
This is Buddhism at its deepest. Abandoning beliefs (we must oppose the other side at all costs) when they become harmful.

I am glad, too, that Hanh as done this. Having grown up in the Christian tradition, I get quite a lot out of Hanh's comparisons. It helps me to understand both Christianity and Buddhism a lot more deeply. In particular, I think Hanh's comparison of Buddha nature to the Holy Spirit is fantastic.

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Random thought: I could also post poetry by various authors on some mornings, and not explicitly Buddhist literature. What do you think, B?