Hsin Shin Ming: “30. The Great Way is all-embracing, not easy, not difficult.”
The Great Way that means the true-Self, or Emptiness, is the essence of our being. ‘The Great Way is all-embracing’ means the Oneness of the Great Way, which implies that there is only the Great Way and nothing else that doesn’t belong to the Great Way. Here ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ means that the Great Way is neutral in its essence as Emptiness; not easy, not difficult, not beautiful and not ugly.
The reason why there are ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ is not that the Great way is easy, or difficult, but rather that we draw the imaginary lines ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’ on it depending upon our views. Everything is neutral, and there is nothing fixed as ‘easy’ or ‘difficult’. Everything can be easy and difficult at the same time according to the beholder’s view. For example, the maths question ‘What is two plus three?’ is very easy to grownups but can be very difficult to three-year-old children. Therefore, not only ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’, but other labels such as ‘beautiful’ and ‘ugly’ are also just illusionary, not real.
Student: “Why is it still so difficult for me to see the Great Way?”
Master: “Because you think that it should be easy.”
Student: “Why can’t I see the Great Way?”
Master: “Because you separate yourself from the Great Way.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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