Huang Po in the Buddhahood

I laughed when I read the first part of this passage; not because it was humorous or light-hearted, but because it seems so simple. It makes so much sense though and seems so right. “It has no color or shape, neither exists nor doesn’t exist … It is what you see in front of you.” How can that be? It is everything and nothing and is right in front of us? What a clever riddle. It is hard to understand yet innately understood all at the same time and is an unanswerable riddle.

I also loved the part that said, “there is no distinction between Buddha and ordinary beings, except that ordinary beings are attached to forms and thus seek for Buddhahood outside themselves.” Buddhahood is such an awesome term in the first place, but overall it is an amazing concept. I think it is so true that humans often (not always) need something to hold onto and it manifests as a form of higher power.

“They don’t know that all they have to do is put a stop to conceptual thinking.” That is so true in so many aspects of life. Stop overanalyzing things and they usually work themselves out. Stop worrying about something and it either goes away or gets better. Really, stop following your brain all the time and follow your heart.

I think my favorite line from the first paragraph (which was my favorite overall) was the last line. “It is not any less for being manifested in ordinary beings, nor any greater for being manifested in Buddha.” That says so much. People often think themselves unworthy of things because they are not God and put a separation between them and their higher being, but it is unnecessary. We are all part of the same thing and no one thing or being is greater or less than another and we need to remember that and carry it with us.