Part 14-9
“Subhuti, when I also recall the past when I was a wizard of patience for five hundred lives, I had no image of self, no image of person, no image of sentient being, no image of a liver of life during all that time as well.”
Commentary:
That when the Buddha was a wizard of patience, he had no image at all means that he didn’t have a difficult time bearing any suffering whatsoever because there was nothing to endure, since everything was empty to him.
Here the Buddha is telling us how to withstand the suffering, difficulties we are faced with in our daily lives.
The mundane way to withstand suffering is to put up with it and wait until it is resolved, or fades away with time. This implies that we cannot avoid difficulties until they ease. This is why we sometimes say that time heals all wounds. However, when they happen to overwhelm us due to our failure to control them, we can be faced with a lot of unexpected side effects.
However, the Buddhist way is not to put up with suffering but to realise that there is no suffering to withstand and that there is no one to bear any suffering by seeing both as empty.
Student: “If suffering is empty, then shouldn’t we see a doctor, or take medicine when we have physical problems?”
Master: “It’s up to you because all your choices are empty when everything is empty. The Buddha had food although hunger is empty.”
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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