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| The Pure Land |
There is a short passage at the beginning of one section of Ulysses where Stephen recognises that one thing is unavoidable, that there is a reality that imposes itself upon us, and that we must interpret it, react to it. (Joyce speaks of an "ineluctable modality of the visable", and I had to look up those words upon first reading - Ulysses is not always easy reading)
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| Ineluctable modalities |
" We are the beings who interpret" says one modern philosopher. "We are that which we understand" says Dogen, modern in his own way.
In a recent essay on Buddhism that I read, it claimed:- "Everyone at a deep level wants to return home, to be at home. To be at home in one’s own skin anytime, anywhere. The Way of the Buddhas is just this."
I thought when I read this that in all probability a man such as Ian Brady, the Moors murderer, felt at home in his own skin, aclimatised to a world where he inflicted pain and suffering upon others. He possibly felt perfectly at home as he recorded a young child pleading for her mother. Before killing the child.
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| The Moors Murders |
So there is "being at home" and there is "being at home." Samsara is nirvana. Yet remain chalk and cheese. But it is always this world, not some imagined "other".
"That girls are raped
That two boys knife a third,
Were but axioms to him
Who had never heard
Of any world where promises are kept
Or one could weep because another wept." (W H Auden)
We all seem to have our own axioms and perhaps we feel at home in them, they have been ours for so long, bestowed upon us by the time and place of our birth. But another time, another place, then different axioms. Who are "we"?
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| Axioms for all |
Maybe not feeling at home in our own skin is a blessing? We can start asking serious questions. I want to feel at home in my own skin but in such a way that others are encouraged to feel at home in theirs; in such a way that between us no one imposes suffering upon another. And not in a "world to come", but here, in this world. The Pure Land. I think "seeking the end of suffering" is a Noble Path, it makes life worth living.
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| Dukkha - Suffering - Alienation |
And if the journey is home, if Dogen is right that every moment is complete in itself, yet has a "direction towards Buddha", then most things are taken care of. We can just say "thank you".
" In protecting oneself one protects others
In protecting others one protects oneself" (Theravada Text)
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| And the journey itself is home..... |
