A few days ago I was sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast when I heard panicked chirping along with an occasional thud coming from the upstairs bedroom in my home.
Confused, I went to see what was happening and there was a brown blur flying through the air. Eventually, the blur landed in a corner of the room, and I saw that it was a sparrow.
I'd left the window open earlier in the day to let in some fresh air, and the poor fellow much have flown inside. We stared at each other for a moment, and then I took a step toward him; big mistake.
My movement sent the bird into a panic. He immediately took to the air; chirping and flying into walls until he finally landed in another corner of the room.
I didn't want to hurt him, but I also didn't want him in the house. We have several cats, and I didn't want them to eat the sparrow for dinner.
My initial thought was that I could catch him, and set him down on the windowsill. But it didn't matter how slowly I moved, the moment I took a step in his direction the sparrow would move out of reach.
Next, I tried to herd him towards the window, waving my arms and positioning myself so he had to fly towards it to get away from me.
He responded by flying into the walls even harder. It got to the point that I thought he was going to hurt himself, so I stopped. Frustrated, I sat down and leaned my back against the wall.
The sparrow landed in the corner farthest from where I was sitting, and we locked eyes. "How is it possible that you got in here, but you don't know how to leave," I said.
Out of ideas, I gathered up everything that I would need for the day, and I walked out of the bedroom; closing the door behind me so the cats wouldn't get in.
As the morning progressed, I heard the occasional thud come from upstairs along with a few sad, desperate-sounding chirps. Eventually, all I heard was silence. Either the sparrow had escaped or he'd knocked himself out.
I crept upstairs and put my ear to the bedroom door. I didn't hear anything, so I opened it a crack and looked inside the room. When I didn't see anything I walked inside and did a more thorough search.
I looked under the bed. I checked in all the corners. I even moved clothes around in the closet to make sure there wasn't the beginning of a nest. Nothing, the sparrow was gone.
I was thinking about this experience and how it relates to Buddhist practice when I stumbled upon the following passage:
Just as the Buddha's own mind is absolutely pure, because its original nature is luminous and pure, so it is with the minds of sentient beings. The original nature is absolute, the original nature is pure.
~ The Buddhabhumi Sutra
There's no hidden message here. There's no confusing philosophy. The text is saying in no uncertain terms that there is something righteous and beautiful inside each of us.
How much of our suffering would end if we believed that; if we didn't fall prey to every commercial and snide remark on social media that said we're not good enough? The window to liberation is open, we just have to fly through it.
But we're like the sparrow that was trapped in my bedroom. We are so distracted by the world around us that we can't think clearly. We don't see the open window, because our minds our clouded with the defilements of greed, anger, and ignorance.
Thankfully, there is a cure for our predicament; enlightenment. Through the realization of enlightenment, we can remove the fear and agitation from our minds, and clearly see the way out of suffering. Of course, that begs the question, "How do we realize enlightenment?" The answer is found in the following passage:
Good son, there is no path of enlightenment apart from enlightenment itself, and there is no enlightenment apart from the path. The path of enlightenment is enlightenment, and enlightenment is the path.Again, there's no secret knowledge. There's no riddle that we need to solve. The text is saying in no uncertain terms that the Buddhist path and enlightenment are one and the same. If we walk the path, if we practice diligently, our pure, original nature will come forth.
And what is the path? It's the Four Noble Truths. It's the Noble Eightfold Path. It's the Six Perfections and the Four Brahmaviharas. We've possessed these teachings for 2,600 years. Not only is the window to liberation open, but we have a roadmap that tells us how to get there.
But we don't want to walk the path. We don't want to let go of the causes of suffering. Because we're addicted to the temporary pleasure we get from them.
We want to send one more angry text before we practice Right Speech. We want to enjoy one more night at the bar before we abstain from alcohol.
Like the sparrow, we're trapped in a crisis of our own making. We hate living in the house (of our suffering), but we don't hate it enough to leave.
Thankfully, the Buddhist path is built on a foundation of grace. It doesn't matter how many times we lose our way, we can try again. And it doesn't matter how many times we bash our heads against the wall like a scared sparrow. We can pick ourselves up again.
In those moments, our original nature is still pure. The teachings are still available. And the window to liberation is still open; waiting for us to fly free.
Namu Amida Butsu
 |
Comments
Post a Comment