Buddha Nature & Cyclic Existence

by Buddhist Center (Miami Florida) via Facebook

Since every being has the Buddha seed, the Buddha potential, every being is naturally inclined towards liberation. This is self-evident. Nobody wants to suffer and everyone wants happiness that is permanent and unconditional, for if not, then we would be totally satisfied with temporary pleasures and we would not need to seek more happiness when those pleasures faded away, we would be fulfilled. But this is clearly not the case.

The source of all human suffering, both great and small, is that we are all looking for this permanent unconditional happiness in temporary, conditional states. The more we do this, the more we perpetuate cyclic existence: around and around we go, never finding what we are really looking for.

At the heart of all this samsaric wandering is the illusion of self-hood, this ego grasping that says "I want this" and "I don't want that." From this ego grasping comes all the negative emotions and from them come negative actions. These in turn reinforce and support continued ego grasping and around and around we go.

Understanding all this intellectually is the first step. We have to understand the defects of samsara, the basic faults of cyclic existence. Once we understand intellectually that temporary states are dissatisfactory by nature, that they only produce grasping and thence frustration, how can we in our right minds expect to find any lasting peace and stability in such things? They will only root us more deeply in our deluded habitual patterns, making us slaves to our negative emotions: pride, anger, jealousy, attachments, and so on.

Merely recognizing this intellectually however, is still not enough. We have to actually change our behavior to reflect this understanding. Without transforming our behavioral patterns, we will only continue to cultivate our deluded habitual tendencies. So we need to do something about this. This takes courage and is not easy. But it can be done! Confidence in one's own ability to transform oneself is essential. Indeed, since you have the Buddha-potential, there is no reason why you can't make this transformation a reality. This is not just fanciful thinking, this is your basic nature: your absence of any inherent "self" is itself the Buddha-potential. Because you have no fixed identity whatseover, because in reality you are empty of an ego, you are actually, by nature, full of infinite potential, bliss, compassion, and all the qualities of the Buddha. In this Buddha-nature, there is no "self" to experience suffering, and all the negative emotions are just like clouds forming in the sky: although they arise, they do not make the sky any better or worse. They are not intrinsic to your nature. They are like dreams that cannot hurt you. They only seem to harm us as long as we do not know we are dreaming.

So first off, have confidence. Have the courage to change yourself, and don't get discouraged if it doesn't happen overnight. It's like going to the gym, little by little, if you keep at it, you will eventually start to notice a difference. But it takes commitment and dedication. You can't give up on the first day just because it's hard. That way of thinking will get us nowhere.

The only real permanent solution to the problems of cyclic existence is a dedicated meditation practice. Any other advice would at best only result in masking the symptoms. But to really strike the heart of the problem of samsara (in all its forms whether gross or subtle) we need to uproot our mistaken sense of self-hood. This cannot be done through study and reflection alone. It has to be experienced. Although understanding all this intellectually is beneficial in the beginning, ultimately words and concepts only get in the way of this experience. This is because the experience of no-self or emptiness is completely beyond ideas, doctrines, concepts, or any thought of what it might be. If we really wish to attain indestructible great bliss and put an end to pain and frustration once and for all, we must practice meditation.