#MonthofMinistry Day 22
In Buddhism, wisdom doesn’t just mean having a lot of knowledge or understanding. Instead it’s about having an insight or realisation about the true nature of reality. This is to do with the realisation that all things are interconnected at a deep level, which is often referred to as “emptiness”.
Thich Nhat Hahn explains that “emptiness” isn’t about nothingness, but is a way of saying that all things are empty of separate existence. As one important scripture, the Heart Sutra puts it:
Form is emptiness, emptiness is none other than form.
In my mediation practice this morning I was using a koan from the Zen tradition. These koans are little stories or sayings, often paradoxical, that help us get beyond the thinking mind that tries to understand things, and perhaps allow us a glimpse of the wisdom that goes beyond that.
In this story, the monks are writing short poems, and one senior monk writes:
We must polish the mirror of the mind
to keep it free from dust
Another monk, much more junior, but perhaps deeper in wisdom, responds with:
There is no mirror
There is no mind
Where could dust ever settle
Don’t try to puzzle out what that might mean – just let it percolate and see what comes!
Photo: Holy Linn waterfall in Galloway, by Jane Lewis