Zen Thought: Birds in the sky

  • 2017

When crossing the sky, an arrow or a bird leaves no trace. In Chinese and Hindu philosophy this recurring metaphor is used, although it seems strange, for things that apparently do not resemble anything. The rapid trajectory of an arrow that leaves no trace is used as an image of impermanence, of the passage of human life through time, of the inevitable truth that all things end up dissolving "without leaving any trace." However, in one of the sayings of Buddha, the invisible path of the birds in the sky is compared to the way of life of a sage, the perfect kind of person who has managed to dissolve his ego, as this Chinese poem defines it:

When entering the forest,

it does not disturb a blade of grass;

by penetrating the water,

it does not cause even the slightest undulation ”.

The image represents a number of qualities that are, in reality, different aspects of the same thing. They represent freedom and detachment from the mind of the wise, a consciousness that resembles heaven, in which experience moves without leaving any stains. As another poem says:

“Bamboo shadows sweep the steps,

but they don't raise dust. ”

And yet, paradoxically, this " detachment from " is also a " harmony with ", since the human being who enters the forest without disturbing even a blade of grass is a being that is not in conflict with nature. Similar to the Hindu explorers, he advances without being heard to break with his feet or a simple twig. Like Japanese architects, he builds a house that seems to be part of the natural environment. The image also represents the fact that it is not possible to trace or follow the path of the wise, since authentic wisdom cannot be imitated. Each human being must find it for himself, because there is no way to express it through words, or reach it by means of specific methods or guidelines.

But in reality there is a close connection between these two uses of the metaphor in different ways, the way of the wise, on the one hand, and the impermanence of life, on the other. And the connection reveals the deepest and most important principle of those Eastern philosophies that so confuse the Western mind by identifying the highest wisdom with what seems to us the doctrine of the unfortunate despair. In fact, the word hopelessness, in a particular sense, is the proper translation of the Hindu and Buddhist term of nirvana: say goodbye, expire, die.

We cannot understand how the Orientals compare this hopelessness with the supreme joy, unless, as we tend to assume, they are only depraved and faint-hearted people accustomed to fatalism and resignation for a long time.

It never ceases to amaze me to see how Western reflexives, particularly Christians, seem to be determined to overlook the essential point of this connection. Since is it not true that the theme of death proliferates in Christian imagery as an essential prelude to eternal life? Hasn't it been written that Christ himself " died " after he exclaimed that God had abandoned him? And in the Christian scriptures, is there not enough abundance of paradoxes about " having nothing and yet possessing everything ", about finding our soul when we lose it, and about the grain of wheat that bears fruit through its own death?

“Indeed, that is so, ” says the priest, “ but the Christian never really loses hope, he never really dies. Throughout all the tragedy, throughout all external death and despair, he strengthens his faith and inner hope that "the best is yet to come." He faces the worst that life can offer him with the firm conviction that the ultimate reality is the God of love and justice in which he has placed all his hope for "the life of the world to come."

Now, I think we say, feel and think so much about this hope that we miss the incredible eloquence of Buddhist silence related to this matter. When it comes to words, thoughts, ideas and images, Buddhist doctrines and most forms of Hinduism are so negative and hopeless that they seem a kind of praise of nihilism.

They not only insist that human life is impermanent, that the human being does not have an immortal soul and that, when the time comes, any trace of our existence is predestined to disappear, but that they also come to indicate us, as the goal of man wise, the liberation of this transitory life, which seems extremely difficult, a state called nirvana that can be translated as hopelessness, and reaching a metaphysical condition called shunyata, an emptiness so empty that it is neither existent nor non-existent. Since nonexistence implies existence, its logical counterpart, while the emptiness of shunyata implies nothing at all.

Although it seems impossible, they go even further. Nirvana, which in itself is already sufficient denial, is described in one of the texts as no better than a dead stump to which to tie your donkey, and insists that, when you reach it, you realize that nobody has achieved anything .

Maybe I can explain it more intelligibly. These doctrines emphasize first the sad and obvious fact that the human being does not have an enduring future. Everything we reach or create, without exception, even the monuments that survive our death, are predestined to disappear without leaving a trace, and our desire to remain is totally useless. Because, moreover, happiness exists only in relation to suffering, pleasure in relation to pain, so the insightful individual does not try to separate them. The relationship is so close in a way, happiness is suffering, and pleasure only exists because it implies pain. Aware of this, the person endowed with insight learns to abandon the desire for any kind of happiness apart from suffering, or pleasure that does not cause pain.

But, naturally, this is difficult to accomplish. Perhaps I can understand in a verbal and intellectual way that by wishing pleasure I am trying to quench my thirst with salt water, since the more pleasure, the more desire. (Remember the old meaning of wishing as " lack "!) To desire pleasure is not to have it. But it seems that I am still unable to get rid of the emotional habit of wanting it. If then I realize that I am consumed with a desire for pleasure that implies its burden of pain, I begin to wish not to want, to want nirvana, to try to abandon all hope. However, with this attitude, I have simply converted nirvana into another name that designates pleasure. Since pleasure, by definition, is the object of desire. It is what we like, that is, what we want. If I discover that this desire is suffering, and then I wish not to wish it… well, I begin to experience the feeling that “ we had not been here before? . That is why Buddhism suggests nirvana in terms that are negative and empty, and not with the positive and attractive image that surrounds the notion of God.

Nirvana equates to shunyata, the Nothing beyond there, to suggest the impossibility of wishing it. Everything we are capable of wishing implies a burden of pain. Nirvana, the liberation of suffering and desire, is called unattainable, not because it cannot happen, but because there is no way to look for it.

The point of emphasis on impermanence is that each object of search, of desire, is ultimately unattainable and useless. To get rid of this uselessness, we must stop looking for it. To seek God, to desire it, is simply to take it to the level of useless goals or, in Christian language, to confuse the Creator with his creatures. Likewise, to desire nirvana is simply to call the inaccessible pleasure by another name. As long as we keep thinking about God, talking about God or looking for God, we can't find him.

Now, from the point of view of Western culture, whether ancient or modern, Christian or secular, capitalist or communist, this constitutes the great heresy. Since Western culture lives consecrated to the belief that there is a formula for happiness, an answer to the question: What should I do to save myself? .

All political propaganda, all publicity and most of what we call education are based on the assumption that there is a way, and how only It is a matter of knowing how. (If some details have not yet been nuanced, you only have to give the scientists a few months and they will surely do it.)

But when do we grow up? In a profession that combines philosophy, religion, psychology and education, you meet so many people who have the answer, the great formula for human happiness if only we could put it into practice, although, for one reason or another, we do not. So anyone who talks a lot about philosophy and psychology is supposed to have the answers, and more or less automatically is assigned the social role of savior, preacher, counselor and guide. to. The person who knows the way!

But there is no way. No one knows the way. The only path that exists is the path of a bird in the sky, now you see it, now you don't see it. It leaves no trace. Life is not going anywhere, there is nothing to achieve. Every struggle and effort to hold on to something is like the smoke that tries to grab a dissolving hand. We are all lost, thrown into the void since we were born, and the only way is to fall into oblivion. This sounds very bad, but it is so because it is a half truth. The other half cannot be expressed in words. Nor can you describe, imagine or think. In words, it could be summed up in this way: everyone is dissolving into nothingness, and no one can remedy it.

Is it possible, just for a moment, to realize it without going to conclusions, without falling into pessimism, despair or nihilism? It is too hard to admit that all of our well-laid traps for happiness are just different ways of deceiving ourselves by believing that with meditation, psychoanalysis, dianetics, raja Yoga, Zen Buddhism or mental science will we somehow save ourselves from this end of falling into nothingness?

Because if we don't realize this, everything else in Eastern philosophy, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism will remain a closed book.

Knowing that we cannot do anything is the beginning. The first lesson is: " I lose hope ."

And then what happens? You discover yourself in a mental state perhaps rather unknown, in which you simply observe, without pretending to reach, wait, wish or seek anything, or try to relax. You just watch, for no purpose.

I must not say anything about the following. Since having expectations, promising a result spoils everything. The last words should be: "There is no hope, no way . " But there is no harm in adding something else, which lies on the other side of despair, as long as we all understand that something on the other side of despair cannot be desired, and that, in any case, if you have expectations, is lost.

The proverb says: " He who waits, despairs ." Surely we are familiar with the many involuntary acts of the human body that, the more we want them, while we are anxious to achieve them, will never appear, such as falling asleep, remembering a name or, under certain circumstances, sexual arousal. Well, there is something that, like all this, only happens with one condition: that we do not try to achieve it, that we clearly realize that we cannot make it happen. In Zen it is called satori, the sudden awakening.

Perhaps now we can see the reason for the double meaning of the metaphor of the bird's path in the sky. Just as the bird leaves no trace, no trace of its flight in a vacuum, human desire cannot obtain anything from life. But to be aware of this is to become wise, since the greatest wisdom lies on the other side, immediately on the other side of the greatest despair. Naturally, it is more than hopelessness, it is a bliss, a sense of creative life and power, I could even say a security and certainty beyond the imaginable. But it is a way of feeling that neither will nor imagination can provoke, just as we are unable to force our bones to grow, or to make the pulse rate decrease. All this must happen by itself.

Similarly, everything that is positive, the total creative content of that spiritual experience called awakening, nirvana, must necessarily occur on its own. Not only can it not, but it must not be induced by wanting it or trying to achieve it, since if one can wish it, it will not really be about this.

AUTHOR: Eva Villa, editor in the big family hermandadblanca.org

SOURCE: “Become what you are” by Allan Watt

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