A lot of people say, "helping all beings is impossible!" Yes, it is impossible. The Buddha way is inconceivable- I vow to save all beings from suffering. Inconceivabe means you cannot fathom it. You cannot cognitively understand this. This reminds me of a story I sometimes use. A bird flies into a burning forest with a droplet of water in it's beak. What does this story mean? The burning forest is the suffering of all beings. The bird is a bodhisattva bird-help all beings bird. And the droplet of water is this bird's love and compassion. If every bird would vow this way, the forest's fires could be put out. So thank goodness for this bodhisattva bird with a very strong try mind! If it weren't for this bird's try mind, maybe one day all the forest's would burn down completely. Salt lakes do not become sweet through wishing. Wishing is only wishing. Salt lakes become sweet when I vow to take as many grains of sugar my body can carry unto it. Maybe sometimes other people remark seeing this action, "Maybe it is time I help to bring some sugar to the salt lake." So what is love? What is compassion? Sometimes people get confused and think love and compassion are feelings. Based on pity and sympathy for someone's situation. But that is incomplete love and compassion. Feelings and sympathy cannot put out burning forests can they? What puts out a burning forest? Water puts out a burning forest-that water is called love and compassion.Spraying this water on this burning forest means spraying love and compassion onto the fires of the suffering of all beings! So love and compassion are very, very clear to a human being that understands it's correct relationship to all beings moment to moment. An elderly person falls down on the sidewalk. This person does not need our pity, our sympathy, an "Oh my goodness!" What does this person need? This elderly person needs you to help them stand back up and ask them, "are you OK?" Tears and sadness do not feed a hungry child's stomach. So food is love and compassion. Compassion and love start as a feeling, it is the prerequisite for true love and compassion to come about. "OK, I can see that someone needs help-I will help them." So feelings and pity have their place, yet mean nothing without action. So genuine love and compassion means action-help this person! There is a somewhat famous story about a prostitute living around the time of the Buddha named Pass-A-Million. Every single day this woman would sell her body in exchange for money many, many times. These men coming to pay for sex were coming to her with a lot of desires, a lot of hunger. Yet every man whom would have sex with Pass-A-Million walked away enlightened. Their minds would leave completely clear without any desires. So Pass-A-Million was practicing sex for everyone. She was having Bodhisatva sex. The story here is not really about sex, it is about how are you keeping your mind? What is your direction, your intention? If you do any action only for yourself, you are on the wrong path. Love and compassion make sense from a human's survival standpoint. If all we do is cultivate hate, anger, lust, and greed-then human beings cannot survive. But if we can become loving and kind toward one another, we can take real steps toward real world peace. Even a seemingly meaningless action such as puting on your shoes before you leave the house can be a bodhisattva action. If we remain mindful while doing any task we will understand why it is we are doing it. Is this action only for you? Or do you want to make sure your feet remain healthy so you can walk around this earth with ease to help all beings? If some of you think maybe this is a joke, I am very serious. Why does a human being eat? To live; then why do you want to live;because you do not want to die? Then what is life and what is death? You eat when you are hungry, but a bodhisattva eats also to ensure this human body remains healthy so that they can continue helping everyone. Sometimes this means not eating your bread and giving it to someone else. So Zen also means what is your intent, are you mindful of your actions? Through the practice of meditation it is possible to ensure your center becomes strong so your direction remains clear. Some simply do not see how a Zen Buddhist can understand how to help all beings, if Zen is about the point before all thinking. But before thinking, you just do it. If you already understand your direction and relationship to all ebings-then you can go straight. Just as the sun rises and the flowers grow-a hungry child comes before you and you feed them-very simple. This is before thinking action, you understand why you are here. So you just do it. Meditation before thoughts is important becase it dissolves all opposites such as good and bad, like and dislike, inside and outside. Why is that important to dissolve, and how does this help all beings? If you do not understand why-you need to do some investigation. Opposites thinking is the root which chains all beings to suffering. Every war starts from that position, "I am right, you are wrong." Opposites thinking. Opposites thinking has alot of good intentions behind it. Some religions make good and evil. That is alot like a well intending monkey grabbing a fish from a river to save it from a watery grave. So good intentions are simply not enough.
The Triple Gem
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