Wed, 12 Nov 2008
Friend or Foe
The purpose of Buddhism is the elimination of suffering. We suffer for two reasons. First, we divide the original wholeness of experience into a duality. And second, we layer feelings of attachment and aversion on top of that duality. It is deluded to think that one can divide the world into friend and foe and then go to the meditation hall and attain enlightenemnt. The enlightenment one is seeking is nothing other than to have gratitude for whatever circumstances arise, be they pleasant or unpleasant, and to have impartial love for all persons. True meditation cannot be threatened by adverse circumstances since it takes these circumstances as fuel for meditation. When you see this, no person, whatever they may do to you, is your enemy and everyone is your friend. Your friend is your friend because they help you and your enemy is also your friend because they show you where you are still attached, so they help you in another way. This is not the practice of a beginner, but one can aspire to it. There is no end to acting from within a dualistic attitude with the idea that one needs to set the world right. There will always be another situation that needs to be set right before one can practice properly. And the disturbed mind that always chases after an imagined future when things will be better will never know satisfaction. It takes a different sort of courage to look at the many difficulties of life without flinching, but as the Dhammapada says, better than the conquest of a thousand enemeies is the conquest of oneself.
