06. POPULAR COMPASSION
BODHICHITTA
Lesson 6 POPULAR COMPASSION
Usually in teachings of Buddha Dharma it is said that all human creatures have two desires in common: the desire to be happy and the desire to be free from suffering. But it should be made clear that although these indeed have been the impetus, the motivation for the existence for about 10,000 years of this state is not the natural state of apparent existence. The natural state is to be free from desire and free from suffering. The cause of this fall from grace has been the development of the Dual mind and Identity. It is our task here to take a profound look at these two factors.
But there is a third factor, naturally intertwined with these two, that is a great impediment. It is Sexuality, which is a natural impulse which has also been distorted and has become a great problem in the path of liberation.
Buddha in speaking of this to Ananda declared, "the most important of the seductions are thoughts, desires and the sexual impulses, with the subsequent disipation, slavery and suffering…"
It is not important how sharp one's mind is, nor how well one is able to pratice meditation, nor how advanced one's apparent level of apparent Samadhi may be, unless one is able to anihilate the vehemenent sexual desires one will fall into the levels most base of existence.”
Sexuality, Identity and Duality then are major obstacles to liberation. Now comes the bad news. When there appears to be a true liberation the only thing that has occurred is that there has been a sublimation of these three, so that the symptoms in consciousness and in behaviour are all that has been accomplished. This is the state known as Arahatship.
For a true liberation one has to proceed further until one experiences directly the Awakening, which is a full and complete awareness of the truth of NO MIND.
You can see therefore that the Path of Buddha Dharma has various mileage indicators upon it, although clearly there is just one path.
There is a mileage post “Zero,” a mileage post at the apparent end of the path “Final Awakening,” and a mileage indicator (Intermediate Identity Relief) somewhere in between, in which the actual distance from zero in time and distance travelled is determined by apparent individual factors.
Further sad news for many is the fact that you have not finished when you reach that final milepost, which is the moment of Awakening, for one must then travel within Samsara with the difficult task of adjusting to ever-changing circumstances. There is no great moment of awakening when all things become ILLUMINATED.
I will draw your attention to the words of the Diamond Sutra:
Section XXII
Then Subhuti asked Buddha: "World-honored One, in the attainment of the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment did Buddha make no acquisition whatsoever?"
Buddha replied: "Just so, Subhuti. Through the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment I acquired not even the least thing; therefore it is called 'Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment.'"
Nothing is really therefore atainable in the sense that most people believe. There is no great promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Here then is where we come to an important point. If one sets out with the objective of obtaining the "Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment" one will never attain that end. Why? The answer is quite simple really. If there is a searcher, then there is an Identity. The searcher must be dissolved if there is to be progress.
But this quest for Awakening is not the only inhibiting factor. It is equally an error to enter the Dharma path to encounter a better way of living within Samsara (who is living in Samsara?) and it is an error to enter the Dharma Path with the objective to eliminate one's suffering and to be happy (who suffers and who is happy?).
The perfect way to enter is simply with the natural impulse of the Life Force which says, “something is wrong here.” I am reminded of a recent pop recording of a group that are called “The Four Non-Blondes” in which that theme was presented with vigor: “What the hell is going on here?”
You see here is a subtle and important point. The question is not “What the hell is the problem with me?”, it is “What the Hell is the problem with everyone in relation to everything?”. This was Buddha's search and it must be converted in the quest for all who enter the path.
“What is going on here with the human creature? What is the Truth? There is this impulse within me to know and correct what needs to be corrected. It doesn’t matter what that Truth is, let it be known.”
This is the path of the Buddha Dharma. You see it is not for ME, it is for all apparent human creatures. That is the place to start.
Does that mean then that we must start the quest for an indeterminable truth with Compassion for others?
What is this compassion which everyone in Buddha Dharma talks about?
Webster's Universal Dictionary explains it in the following way:
“An experience of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken with suffering or misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the pain or remove its cause.”
Would you agree with that? From a mundane point of view it is acceptable, but from a profound Buddha Dharma point of view it is not appropriate.
In the Buddha Dharma path there is a clear distinction between Pain and Suffering.
There are three forms of Suffering:
1. The classical Suffering of the mind (which is craving and clinging)
2. The Suffering of the mind which is called Happiness
3. The Suffering which accompanies Pain and is mistakenly believed to be Pain itself.
How can Happiness be called Suffering? It is because happiness is a conditioner which increments the level of Craving and Clinging.
But we can look more profoundly at this Happiness.
If we consider suffering as unhappiness, we can ask if Happiness can exist without Unhappiness (Suffering)? Of course it cannot. The concept of "Up" cannot exist without its counterpart "Down." All words have as a condition for existence their antithesis. Even nouns like “chair” cannot have apparent existence without there being the apparent “no chair.”
If we wish to let go of Suffering, then it is clear that we must let go of Happiness also. Here we have a problem. Are you prepared to give up all your apparent happiness?
Almost everyone when it comes to the important moment of decisions will declare emphtically “NO.” They want their Happiness but they want the Unhappiness to go. That is what modern Psychology wishes to do without great success for patients. One cannot be half-pregnant and the Buddha Dharma Path rejects that possibility. Happiness must be allowed to dissolve with Suffering.
Can Buddha Dharma promise something in its place?
Yes.
Neither Happiness nor NO Happiness, neither Suffering nor NO Suffering.
This is the enigma of the Buddha Dharma path.
Likewise in the Buddha Dharma path we cannot give “Compassion,” for to give compassion is to accept a state of “No Compassion.”
What profound Dharma proposes is a state of “Neither Compasion nor NO Compassion.”
What Buddha Dharma proposes is not halfway between these, nor does it propose philosophical word games. Consider this.
Let me further confound the issue of Compassion in this first lesson (as many have had some introduction with Buddha Dharma before).
Why do we take a Bodhisattva pledge to perform our compassionate actions on the path for the benefit of all sentient creatures?
We actually do not. If that is taught it is an error. This is not a profound Buddha Dharma concept or idea.
One should never in profound Dharma perform compasionate acts for the benefit of sentient creatures.
Look what Buddha declared once more in the Diamond Sutra when speaking with Subhuti.
Section XXV
"Subhuti, what do you think? Let no one say the Tathagata cherishes the idea: 'I must liberate all living beings.' Allow no such thought, Subhuti.
"Wherefore? Because in reality there are no living beings to be liberated by the Tathagata. If there were living beings for the Tathagata to liberate, He would partake in the idea of selfhood, personality entity, and separate individuality.
"Subhuti, though the common people accept egoity as real, the Tathagata declares that ego is not different from non-ego. Subhuti, those whom the Tathagata referred to as "common people" are not really common people; such is merely a name."
Do you see? Neither Identity nor NO Identity.
Let me leave you with this first part of the first lesson with these thoughts.
Compassion which is experienced by the conditioned population and accepted as correct and natural is not TRUE COMPASSION.
True compassion is not empathy, pity, sympathy or sorrow for others. Furthermore, I leave you with three paradoxical thoughts which we will explore in the second part of this lesson.
1. Any compasion generated by the natural human creature cannot have personal suffering as a consequence.
2. Compassion does NOT generate Benevolent Affect nor Benevolent Action.
3. The concept of performing any action for the benefit of Individuals is completely incorrect in the profound Path of Buddha Dharma.
Naturally there will be questions, but save them until the first lesson is complete, for they may well be answered in the second or third part. I have cut up this first lesson in parts to permit you to think about what I have said without racing on in haste.
Shan Jian