as usual, when unable to sleep, i turn to the sangha. a helpful piece i find, which in turn creates drowsiness. strange how it works, but it is as it is. noting it here for further contemplation, that it might benefit one who visits and reads, and that it will remain for reminder to me in future:
Here is a story of a great Vajra master in Tibet. Various lamas would come to him and he’d ask about particular lamas.
The monk being questioned would respond, “Oh, he’s doing great work. He’s built stupas, printed Dharma books, and established monasteries and temples.” To which the Vajra Master replied, “Oh, that’s good, but isn’t it great to practice genuine dharma.”
When asking about another lama the monk responded, “Oh, he’s doing great work. He’s teaching the Dharma and has many disciples.” To which the Vajra Master replied, “Oh, that’s good, but isn’t it great to practice genuine dharma.”
When asking about third lama the monk responded, “Ah, him, he sits around, he puts his robe over his head and cries all the time.” To which the Vajra Master replied, “Oh, he’s practicing genuine dharma.”
Gyatrul Rinpoche’s commentary:
“Don’t think that this man had fallen into some chronic depression. He was weeping out of compassion. If you truly want to serve the needs of others, such genuine compassion is necessary, and there must be genuine wisdom as well.”
Source: Padmasambhava, “Natural Liberation” – p.29-30
and further commentary by one whose words have consistently held deep meaning for me:
Compassion and Wisdom are like the two wings of Buddhahood. Without either of these two wings, enlightenment cannot be realized.
Compassion of the bodhisattva is marked by a willingness to take the suffering of all sentient beings without exception or preference upon one’s self.
Wisdom of the bodhisattva is the realization of emptiness — including the emptiness of self and others as well as the emptiness of the distinction between self and others.
Wisdom is a tricky term in the Vajrayana tradition because it is very easy to degenerate into wrong view of diminishing (and/or dismissal) of the bodhisattva’s compassion towards sentient beings. On the other hand, it is also easy to have emptiness degenerate into a merely intellectual “concept”.
It is essential to remember that emptiness is an experiential reality (as opposed to an intellectual concept) that has as its prerequisite the generation of relative bodhicitta as well as shamata (or “calm abiding”) meditation. Only when these two prerequisites are in place do we begin to experience glimpses of emptiness and realize genuine wisdom.
more later, to be sure. i chuckle for the inadvertant pun in the subject of this entry. ah well. on to blessed sleep.