“In the matter of compassion, the path of sages and the Pure Land path differ. Compassion in the path of sages is to pity, sympathize with, and care for beings. But the desire to save others from suffering is vastly difficult to realize.”
Here I n this quote from the Tannisho, Shinran Shonin shares with us the difficulty of saving others from suffering. In today’s world full of conflict, differing views, wars and human suffering people wonder what is the goal of Buddhism, and how can Buddhism help? Some will say that the answer to, or the resolution to conflict can be found in Buddhism. The goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment. Some will say that by reaching Enlightenment we can resolve conflict.
Most of us are compassionate human beings who feel for the suffering of others. As we look around the world, we see numerous disasters befalling the world, from raging wars, wildfires, typhoons, hurricanes and on and on. Some of these events affect us more than others, why is that so? Are some lives more valuable than others? Is it because we know someone suffering. We know we should do something and feel equally, but we are conflicted when for a number of reasons we cannot do what we feel we would like to. The greater our awareness of the self and our reactions the more we feel for all beings who are experiencing suffering.
The key here is awareness of the self. We too are the source of conflict and suffering. In Buddhism we create our own karma with everything we say do and think. We get frustrated, we get angry we use the world to make our lives comfortable. As self-awareness grows so does our realization of our narrow view and our limited compassion for others.
As much as we wish to help others and alleviate their suffering, this self is limited. Often we are limited by our lack of understanding of a situation or it is based on our self-centered perception of things. The Buddha talked about what he called the Gate of the Three Perceptions 三観門. They are: impermanence; powerlessness or helplessness and guilt. We come to realize that things don’t go as planned, there are things beyond our capacity to change and we feel guilty that we did not or cannot do more.
When we lose a loved one, we enter the gate of the three perceptions. We see impermanence unfolding before our eyes, we feel helpless at helping our loved one and we feel guilt at not having done more for them or for not saying what needed to be said. When we realize this and our eyes are open we enter the gate of the Dharma.
Upon entering the gate of the Dharma we begin to see the powerless self and at the same time the embrace of the Buddha who understands us and has unlimited compassion for us.
Namoamidabutsu,
Gassho,
Rev. Hosei Shinseki
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