A religion is an entire package of learning, inner cultivation and purification, but I feel that there is always something at the centre of an individual’s religious life, a particular doctrine, teaching, or ideal that they find particularly inspiring and in some cases compel them to believe in the entire thing. I have some friends in Australia and England who admired and sympathized with the Buddhist tradition because of the teaching of no-self (anatt?), a challenging doctrine that places Buddhism at philosophical odds with almost every other living faith in the world. It is true that we always live our daily lives with a “self” in our head, but it cannot be denied that the very existence of such an intellectual philosophical position would be quite attractive and engaging (and somewhat intimidating as well).
The universalism of Buddha-Nature (tath?gatagharba) and the teaching of interconnectedness (expressed in the Avata?saka S?tra) represent some of the loftiest and inspiring religious ideals conceived by humanity. Of course, there are many other ideas that could be one’s very raison d’être, chief among them the Buddhist insistence on the non-attachment to views (via the Middle Way of the path) and an emphasis on countless universes and ages, each with its own Buddha. But Buddha-Nature and the Avata?saka S?tra represent seem to represent the best of Mahayana, at least in an existential sense. They mean the most to me in this vast universe that is filled with so many questions and uncertainties. I am not so egoistic to think that human art, culture, politics, and economics matter on the grand horizon of the cosmos, on the grand scale of the dissolution of stars, supernovae, and Heat Death (the entropic end of the universe). I also do not think that religion can be completely authentic if it is used only as a comfort blanket to assure oneself of an ultimate purpose in life, even if as an “expedient means” (up?ya). Faith is not an answer to life: faith is a conversation to life. So we might as well make it an interesting conversation, a respectful and cultured conversation, an exchange filled with compassion, goodwill, and the pious desire to protect all beings and bring them benefits.
Buddha-Nature is such a marvellous idea. A teaching that insists on the universality of enlightenment and of Buddhahood itself, and that the radiant Buddha is reflected in the shy eyes of a small girl holding hands with her new friend as clearly as in the resolute irises of a heroic wolf prowling amongst the forests of north Europe. The seed of bodhisattvas germinates not only in the awe-inspiring trees on Huangshan but also the humble, hardy plants at Woburn Square in London. Buddha sings through the talented choirboy as enthusiastically as the majestic humpback whale bursting from the rolling waves of the blue sea and waving to excited tourists on a cruise liner. This is a teaching where nothing is excluded from moral accountability, yet nothing is excluded from the sunnum bonum of spirituality either. Heaven (eternal beatitude) and Hell (eternal retribution) is a false dichotomy to me. If one can’t have her cake and eat it too, and religions have miracles, then why should there not be a doctrine of moral responsibility that also allows for the universal deliverance of every single being that has existed, exists, and will exist? That is what rebirth points towards; that is what countless world-systems involve, and that is what Buddha-Nature realizes. That is a vision I hope to participate in because it is not only philosophically sound, but also rouses one to believe in the meaning and truth of morality. It rouses one to the conversation of faith.
I like to think of myself as having a scientist’s attitude (whether I do is another story). I like to perhaps delude myself into believe I exercise the brain over my sometimes scattered and contradictory emotions and make reasoned conclusions that are rational and satisfying. But I am a warm-blooded mammal (a close relative of the bonobo monkey), and the heart does matter. It matters as much as music and fables sung under the constellations, stories and dance, and retellings old myths sung around a crackling fire. This isn’t about mere truth or fiction; this is about the will to act and to vocation. How many people have been able to achieve something because their hearts were in it? Spiritual investment is a powerful force, and the more inspirational the stakes are, the greater the claim one will be willing to make on it.
Many of us have a particular piece of artwork that we are particularly enchanted by, or we may come back again and again to a melodic piano piece we simply cannot get enough of. Likewise, why should we not reflect deeply and mindfully upon our religious faith and be proud of a unique feature that sustains and nourishes our very being?
Buddha-Nature in all? Salvation for all beings? That is where I’d like to be.
