A couple of days in the past I used to be sitting within the kitchen, consuming breakfast once I heard panicked chirping together with an occasional thud coming from the upstairs bed room in my residence.
Confused, I went to see what was taking place and there was a brown blur flying by means of the air. Finally, the blur landed in a nook of the room, and I noticed that it was a sparrow.
I might left the window open earlier within the day to let in some contemporary air, and the poor fellow a lot have flown inside. We stared at one another for a second, after which I took a step towards him; large mistake.
My motion despatched the chook right into a panic. He instantly took to the air; chirping and flying into partitions till he lastly landed in one other nook of the room.
I did not wish to harm him, however I additionally did not need him in the home. We’ve got a number of cats, and I did not need them to eat the sparrow for dinner.
My preliminary thought was that I might catch him, and set him down on the windowsill. However it did not matter how slowly I moved, the second I took a step in his path the sparrow would transfer out of attain.
Subsequent, I attempted to herd him in direction of the window, waving my arms and positioning myself so he needed to fly in direction of it to get away from me.
He responded by flying into the partitions even more durable. It obtained to the purpose that I believed he was going to harm himself, so I finished. Pissed off, I sat down and leaned my again towards the wall.
The sparrow landed within the nook farthest from the place I used to be sitting, and we locked eyes. “How is it doable that you simply obtained in right here, however you do not know depart,” I mentioned.
Out of concepts, I gathered up all the things that I would wish for the day, and I walked out of the bed room; closing the door behind me so the cats would not get in.
Because the morning progressed, I heard the occasional thud come from upstairs together with a couple of unhappy, desperate-sounding chirps. Finally, all I heard was silence. Both the sparrow had escaped or he’d knocked himself out.
I crept upstairs and put my ear to the bed room door. I did not hear something, so I opened it a crack and appeared contained in the room. After I did not see something I walked inside and did a extra thorough search.
I appeared underneath the mattress. I checked in all of the corners. I even moved garments round within the closet to verify there wasn’t the start of a nest. Nothing, the sparrow was gone.
I used to be eager about this expertise and the way it pertains to Buddhist observe once I stumbled upon the next passage:
Simply because the Buddha’s personal thoughts is totally pure, as a result of its unique nature is luminous and pure, so it’s with the minds of sentient beings. The unique nature is absolute, the unique nature is pure.
~ The Buddhabhumi Sutra
There is no hidden message right here. There is no complicated philosophy. The textual content is saying in no unsure phrases that there’s something righteous and exquisite inside every of us.
How a lot of our struggling would finish if we believed that; if we did not fall prey to each industrial and snide comment on social media that mentioned we’re not adequate? The window to liberation is open, we simply must fly by means of it.
However we’re just like the sparrow that was trapped in my bed room. We’re so distracted by the world round us that we won’t assume clearly. We do not see the open window, as a result of our minds our clouded with the defilements of greed, anger, and ignorance.
Fortunately, there’s a treatment for our predicament; enlightenment. By way of the conclusion of enlightenment, we are able to take away the concern and agitation from our minds, and clearly see the best way out of struggling. After all, that begs the query, “How can we understand enlightenment?” The reply is discovered within the following passage:
Good son, there is no such thing as a path of enlightenment other than enlightenment itself, and there’s no enlightenment other than the trail. The trail of enlightenment is enlightenment, and enlightenment is the trail.
Once more, there is no secret data. There is no riddle that we have to clear up. The textual content is saying in no unsure phrases that the Buddhist path and enlightenment are one and the identical. If we stroll the trail, if we observe diligently, our pure, unique nature will come forth.
And what’s the path? It is the 4 Noble Truths. It is the Noble Eightfold Path. It is the Six Perfections and the 4 Brahmaviharas. We have possessed these teachings for two,600 years. Not solely is the window to liberation open, however we now have a roadmap that tells us get there.
However we do not wish to stroll the trail. We do not wish to let go of the causes of struggling. As a result of we’re hooked on the short-term pleasure we get from them.
We wish to ship another offended textual content earlier than we observe Proper Speech. We wish to take pleasure in another night time on the bar earlier than we abstain from alcohol.
Just like the sparrow, we’re trapped in a disaster of our personal making. We hate residing in the home (of our struggling), however we do not hate it sufficient to go away.
Fortunately, the Buddhist path is constructed on a basis of grace. It does not matter what number of instances we lose our method, we are able to strive once more. And it does not matter what number of instances we bash our heads towards the wall like a scared sparrow. We will choose ourselves up once more.
In these moments, our unique nature remains to be pure. The teachings are nonetheless obtainable. And the window to liberation remains to be open; ready for us to fly free.
Namu Amida Butsu
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