Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Hsin-Hsin Ming III: The Way

Scott Bradley


"The Great Way is not difficult / for those not attached to preferences. / When neither love nor hate arises, / all is clear and undisguised. / Separate by the smallest amount, however, / and you are as far from it as heaven is from earth." (Clarke)

The Way is Tao, not as a metaphysical abstraction, but as a way of being in the world. It is not a canon of doctrine to which we adhere, but an experiential understanding of the fundamentals of our human experience. It is not Buddhism, Zen or Taoism. It is that to which these traditions aspire. It is a way of life. A way of conscious being.

The Way is oneness. It is all-pervading, all-encompassing, all-inclusive. It makes no distinctions. Be likewise, and there is no difficulty in realizing the Way — for this is the Way.

And yet, this easiest of things is also the most difficult. Why?

Non-duality, oneness, does not admit to stages or approximations. It either is, or it is not. We either are this experience, or we are not.

Until free of love and hate, we are not free to love and hate. Love and hate arising is a chain upon the leg; follow it back and you will find the ball. Free of this, and you can love and hate with abandon.

You can check out Scott's other miscellaneous writings here.

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