Piece of Wisdom for Peace
Which parts do we see, conditions arising from other conditions, our own projection as to what is real? What exists of itself? We build things from materials, those materials come from somewhere else; the mind thinks of the plan and sets it forth, so where does it exist first? The raw materials all come from outside us. The tree is wood, which was grown from carbon that was taken from our very breath. A breath given from that tree releasing oxygen from the process of growing, so where do our bodies stand? What do we have to prove we inherently exist, riddle me this. We eat an apple and parts of the apple become us, we break it down and use the molecules to create energy. When it comes down to it, we trick ourselves into believing our separateness – this person, that blade of grass, the energy of the sun, the cardinal sitting in the dogwood tree. We isolate these experiences and filter them into bipolar vision – the ‘this’ and ‘that’.
To understand this concept is what Buddhists call emptiness – which means things do not exist in and of themselves. Emptiness does not mean, in Buddhist reasoning, that nothing exists. Rather, everything is a compilation of causes and conditions which appear to us at this point in time to be ‘something’, but we rarely contemplate their parts, how they got to be, and what made them that way. When we start out on this question, we find that everything is causing everything to happen, and when we put ourselves in the equation we begin to dismantle the illusion of who we think we are.
Everything is constantly changing; every moment is different than the previous one. Is there anything that remains constant? Contemplate this, and expand your awareness a hundred years, even a thousand years if you can – you may find realize that the phenomena which you perceive daily is likely to be different in the future. The body ages every second, cells die and are regenerated, mutations occur, our bodies do not stay the same. Despite what commercials are telling us, even a diamond will not last forever; it too is subject to impermanence and change.
It is our consciousness that creates it that way. The way we think creates for us this world which is merely a product of our ignorance brought to us by karma. It is the ignorance of not knowing who we are, and the karmas we create by acting out of ignorance – this cycle perpetuates itself – we continue to create from ignorant action and that action shows us an illusionary view of the world, which we believe to be true. We may be happy one moment, then sad the next, desiring love then repelling it; it is hardly satisfying. So why still grasp to the phenomena of our own creation, when we know it can never bring us lasting peace. We may seem to suffer, but the reality is that suffering is even part of the illusion. What may be pleasure to one, may be pain to another. What is delicious to one, is repugnant to another. Show me the dessert that I can constantly eat without getting sick of it. These things are not in and of themselves satisfying, it is only the thoughts that we hold of them to be; if they were then they would always provide satisfaction no matter how often we partake of them.
The question then remains, what view will bring us peace, what way of thinking can we adopt to remove our illusions and ultimately allows us have a deeper state of being? At any moment we have the potential to be fulfilled, satisfied, content, peaceful, joyful, blissful and in harmony – it is not some future state dependant on external conditions. This path of thinking starts at the only point we can be, in the moment. Awareness and a determination to just fully be allows the illusions to fade away. When we are not grasping, we are observing. Without attachment, sufferings have no where to stick, and we might find ourselves expanding in the moment. Gaining the wisdom of peace is this consciousness which is content in all situations, all places, and with all people.