Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘Seeing all things wisely, as “empty” of their “own-being,” the bodhisativa begins to live differently in the world. Based on the vision that this perspective enables, this new way of living absorbs energy from the surrounding world and transmits quantities of energy that can be harnessed by others.

Wisdom empowers that ability, in part by offering “freedom from the ideas of pleasant and unpleasant” and from all static dichotomies that keep us isolated and closed. Recognizing the contingent and ironic existence of all things, including one’s “self,” the bodhisattva is not overwhelmed by hardships. Although these hardships do not go away, their presence is “empty” of

“own-being” and therefore open to a wide variety of conceptions and attitudes. Not bound to conventional self-understanding and not obligated to experience suffering and hardship as unbearable or insufferable, the bodhisattva attains levels of freedom, flexibility, and energy that are inconceivable in ordinary existence. It is in this light that the classic texts of Mahayana Buddhism envision the perfection of energy, and in this sense that they claim that “Where there is energy, there is enlightenment.”‘ (The Six Perfections)

We read this passage in my student group last week, and it encapsulated so much about how practice develops. I checked to see if I had posted it before, and indeed, I had, at least the first part of it, but no reason not to highlight it again.