It is a real challenge to stay in touch with your true Buddha nature, your divine essence (see my post, "Buddhism and the Divine") throughout the day, every day. We are faced with so many vexing challenges every day, whether they are posed by the outside world, the people we interact with, the tasks we must perform, or whether they are posed by our mind, which, even though you may be far along in your practice and turned your will and you life over to the care of your true Buddha nature, is still there, waiting in the wings for a chance to assert itself. It is the human version of Mara and it is almost always there, lurking.
In a recent meditation, it came to me that the way to stay connected, to see the light, is to distinguish those things made of man from those things made of the divine universe. Most importantly to realize that the people we interact with and the systems they have set up are a product of man, and so are going to come with man's failings. Man at birth may be a product of the divine universe, but what becomes of man is a product of man,
The same is true of me as a person. My mind, the self that historically I have connected with is man made, it is a product of all my life experiences. My true self, my new self, is my heart, my true Buddha nature that I was born with. That is a product of the divine universe.
When I affirm that my true self is my heart, and that my heart is light, love, faith, trust, compassion, humility, gratefulness, joy, contentment, strength, courage, and wisdom – those are all qualities of my natural state, my divine-given Buddha nature.
And so now when I go about my day, I am not pulled away from my spiritual being by the things I encounter because I know they are a product of man, they have nothing to do with the divine universe, and so they do not cause me to question my faith in the Buddha dharma. The material world is what it is. And I know that I will be ok, safe, regardless what life provides because I have returned home and will always return home to my true Buddha nature, sustained by the love of Buddha within me, and so experience abundance and light, peace and equanimity, happiness and contentment, faith and strength.
Also, because I am aware of this distinction between the divine and man, there is no question that my peace and happiness lies in continuing to focus on my connection with the divine, not my connection with man. We must attend to our earthly business, but it must never become more important to one's feeling of safety, of security, than our connection with the divine, with our true Buddha nature, our heart.
In a recent meditation, it came to me that the way to stay connected, to see the light, is to distinguish those things made of man from those things made of the divine universe. Most importantly to realize that the people we interact with and the systems they have set up are a product of man, and so are going to come with man's failings. Man at birth may be a product of the divine universe, but what becomes of man is a product of man,
The same is true of me as a person. My mind, the self that historically I have connected with is man made, it is a product of all my life experiences. My true self, my new self, is my heart, my true Buddha nature that I was born with. That is a product of the divine universe.
When I affirm that my true self is my heart, and that my heart is light, love, faith, trust, compassion, humility, gratefulness, joy, contentment, strength, courage, and wisdom – those are all qualities of my natural state, my divine-given Buddha nature.
And so now when I go about my day, I am not pulled away from my spiritual being by the things I encounter because I know they are a product of man, they have nothing to do with the divine universe, and so they do not cause me to question my faith in the Buddha dharma. The material world is what it is. And I know that I will be ok, safe, regardless what life provides because I have returned home and will always return home to my true Buddha nature, sustained by the love of Buddha within me, and so experience abundance and light, peace and equanimity, happiness and contentment, faith and strength.
Also, because I am aware of this distinction between the divine and man, there is no question that my peace and happiness lies in continuing to focus on my connection with the divine, not my connection with man. We must attend to our earthly business, but it must never become more important to one's feeling of safety, of security, than our connection with the divine, with our true Buddha nature, our heart.
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