Hsin Shin Ming: “8. Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject that our minds are disturbed.”
Choosing to accept or reject means being attached, which results from not being able to see things as they are. That is known as being deluded by illusions, which happens when we can’t see things as they are.
We choose to accept what seems appealing and reject what appears to be ugly or unpleasant. However, things rarely happen as we wish. We often fail to attain what we choose to accept and must accept what we choose to reject. From time to time, what we accept turns out to be what we want to reject, and what is worse is that sometimes we can’t avoid what we want to reject as we wish.
That is as if we, mistaking a piece of broken glass as diamond, strive to attain it. We feel disappointed when we fail to get it, and we may have our hands hurt while trying to grasp it, or while playing with it, when we succeed in achieving it. When it later turns out to be a piece of glass, we, feeling deeply regretful for what we have paid for it, become frustrated and even feel betrayed.
When we can see things as they are, such things never happen, because we are aware that everything is empty when we can see things clearly, just as they are.
So, to rephrase the main scripture, it is due to our inability to see things as they are, or see things as empty that our minds are disturbed.
Student: “How could we avoid choosing to accept and reject?
Master: “What matters is not accepting and rejecting but not knowing who accepts and rejects what. If you know that both you and what you accept, or reject are empty, your choosing doesn’t matter.”
©Boo Ahm
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