Geshe la’s teaching this Sunday, as it took us closer to the heart of the equanimity practice, did so by leading us through some of the preliminary stages of the philosophy that finds equanimity to be an inevitable and logical component of a compassionate life. Practice and philosophy . . . according to the Gelugpas, or to this Gelugpa, at any rate, well, you can’t have one without the other.
Geshe la began by responding to the text on p. 52: “We are not isolated entities disconnected from each other.” It is this sense of independence, of false independence, that blinds us to the truly interdependent nature of our lives, and so in developing equanimity, the first order of business is to realize how deeply connected we are to the carpenters, electricians, plumbers, roofers, factory workers, mechanics, teachers, policemen, school board members, pavers, farmers, truckers, soldiers, environmentalists, and a host of others, both here in this country and abroad, who make life possible for each of us, just as each of us, in our small way, makes life possible for them.
Contemplating this simple fact regularly, once every morning, for example, will begin to erode our false sense of independence and isolation that arises out of an abiding ignorance about the deeply interdependent nature of our lives. When this false sense of independence begins to disappear, we begin to feel naturally a healthy sense of appreciation for what others are doing to make our lives possible, and that is the first step in developing equanimity. This is a practice that we can do daily, and daily we can mark our progress.
Geshe la continued by outlining the logical progression that follows the establishment of an ego in its grand isolation. Once isolated, the ego begins to grasp, sensing falsely that its own precious security lies in possession, in grasping, and once grasping is in place, craving then becomes its fuel, targeting object after object, person after person, ceaselessly expanding its horizon in an insatiable quest to find security through amassing a stockpile of trophies. It is one thing to own many cars and fine houses, but it is quite another to try to develop an authentic loving-kindness out of self-consideration. Such a project is ill-fated from the beginning because its foundation, that of self-consideration, is based on attachment, and when based on attachment such a love is subject to loss and erosion. From this loss and erosion, anger will surely arise. And of course anger cannot arise from a love grounded in concern for another’s happiness.
Geshe la then reminded us that the way to develop an authentic loving-kindness, ultimately leading to compassion, is by undertaking the meditations that visualize all the various sentient beings that crowd our lives (friends, enemies, acquaintances, loved ones, heroes, villains, movie stars, politicians, all of them) and by realizing that without their daily presence our own progress on the path toward compassion is simply impossible. How can we understand the power of patience, the primary antidote to anger, without our patience being tested? And how can our patience be tested without being around those who test it? How can we develop loving-kindness and compassion, an “unconditional” loving-kindness and compassion, without the vast gallery of humankind revealing to us the ulimited potential of the human mind where love and compassion reside?
If you placed an image of the Buddha beside an image, for example, of Adolph Hitler, which would be the more useful in developing a strong and durable loving-kindness? This was the essence of the question Geshe la asked, and this is the question we are each to answer for ourselves.
Pasang la summed up what Geshe la was saying in a couple of sentences. The deep respect that we all feel for the Buddha, he reasoned, the respect that we show in our prostrations, is essentially a respect for the penetrating wisdom of his teachings. And so our respect for all sentient beings arises in a similar fashion from our recognition of them as our teachers, as those whose lives allow us the opportunity to realize the Buddha’s profoundest lessons.
By meditating on this very simple and logical insight, by studying our own minds in the light of this truth, we can begin to construct a firm basis for an equanimity that will lead us to an authentic loving-kindness and compassion.
Sidney Burris
