10 Jan
2012
"Think of a tree. When you think of a tree, you tend to think of a distinctly defined object; and on a certain level, like a wave [in an ocean], it is. But when you look more closely at the tree, you will see that ultimately it has no independent existence. When you contemplate it, you will find that it dissolves into an extremely subtle net of relationships that stretches across the universe. The rain that falls on its leaves, the wind that sways it, the soil that nourishes and sustains it, all the seasons and the weather, moonlight and starlight and sunlight - all form part of this tree. As you begin to think abou the tree more and more, you will discover that everything in the universe helps to make the tree what it is; that it cannot at any moment be isolated from anything else; and that at every moment its nature is subtly changing. This is what [Buddhists] mean when we say things are empty, that they have no independent existence.
Modern science speaks to us of an extraordinary range of interrelations. Ecologists know that a tree burning in the Amazon rain forest alters in some way the air breathed by a citizen of Paris, and that the trembling of a butterfly's wing in Yucatan affects the life of a fern in the Hebrides. Biologists are beginning to uncover the fantastic and complex dance of genes that creates personality and identity, a dance that stretches far into the past and shows that each so-called "identity" is composed of a swirl of different influences. Physicists have introduced us to the world of the quantum particle, a world astonishingly like that desribed by Buddha in his image of the the glittering net [of Indira] that unfolds across the universe. Just like the jewels in the net, all partices exist potentially as different combinations of other particles.
So when we really look at ourselves, then, and the things around us that we took to be so solid, so stable, and so lasting, we find that they have no more reality than a dream.
Contemplation of this dreamlike quality of reality need not in any way make us cold, hopeless, or embittered. On the contrary, it can open up in us a warm humor, a soft, strong compassion we hardly knew we possessed, and more and more generosity toward all things and beings. The great Tibetan saint Milarepa said: "Seeing through emptiness, have compassion."
When through contemplation we really have seen the emptiness and interdependence of all things and ourselves, the world is revealed in a brighter, fresher, more sparkling light as the infinitely reflecting net of jewles that Buddha spoke of. We no longer have to protect ourselves or pretend, and it becomes increasingly easy to do what on Tibetan master has advised:
Always recognize the dreamlike qualities of life and reduce attachment and aversion. Practice good-heartedness towards all beings. Be loving and compassionate, no matter what others do do you. What they will do will not matter so much when you see it as a dream. The trick is to have positive intention during the dream. This is the essential point. This is true spirituality.
True spirituality also is to be aware that if we are interdependent with everything and everyone else, even our smallest, least significant thought, word and action have real consequences throughout the universe. Throw a pebble into a pond. It sends a shiver across the surface of the water. Ripples merge into one another and create new ones. Everything is inextricably interrelated: We come to realize we are responsible for everything we do, say or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone and everything else, and the entire universe."
- Sogyal Rinpoche,
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying
p. 37-39
