Beyond Happy and Unhappy

Monday morning brings a bit of rain. I am on the subway and see the downtrodden faces, on their way to work and school, crowded and cramped together. Feelings of tiredness emerge in me; the sense of not being terribly motivated but still trudging forward. And I just try to see that this is all the mind, yet the mind is not limited to what I am seeing. The mind is in this present but simultaneously beyond it. And for a while, the thought arises, "this isn't working. I am feeling unhappy." But what happens is a kind of space opens up for both the happy and unhappy experience. It is a wide space which allows both possibilities, 'happy' and 'unhappy' to emerge in this immense space and time. I no longer feel I have to swing to the safety of a  happy thought, the way a monkey swings between the vines of trees. There is a space there that floats around and inside the thoughts.

There is a beautiful chapter in Stephen Levine's book Becoming Kuan Yin, and it describes how Miao Shan (who would later become Kuan Yin) descends into Hell after her father orders her to be executed. The father is enraged because Miao Shan does not want to follow his ideas or expectations that she marry and continue the family line. Miao Shan's power of compassion causes the executioner's axe to turn into a flower, whereupon the king orders the executioner to also be killed. But Miao Shan's compassion is so boundless and great that she takes on the form of death in order to protect both the executioner and the king from Hell, and she takes on their deeds by descending to Hell herself.

To me, Miao Shan seems to represent the awakened mind and heart of compassion, which is capable of descending into the depths of any kind of karma. How is it possible for the awakened or compassionate mind to follow the bad karma of the executioner?  I believe that this compassion is always present with and beside all beings, and this story is a kind of allegorical tale for how the true mind abides in all karmas,whether good or bad. Levine writes:

"In hell she [Miao Shan] taught mindfulness of the present, where all the feelings that assault the mind and tear at the heart reside, where all the emotional afflictions find their home. She said to instead find from moment to moment your heart's awareness of what's happening while it's happening...She taught the denizens to have compassion for themselves and others, to reach through themselves to the intimate next door" (p.36)

According to this story, it is in Hell that Miao Shan transforms into Kuan Yin. But why did she have to undergo the torment of seeing and experiencing others' pain in order to become the embodiment of compassion, Kuan Yin Pusa? Perhaps it's because Miao Shan needed to see the extent to which beings suffer from affliction. Levine remarks:  "Miao Shan saw...what pulled people into such dreadful environments. That perhaps no other word needed forgiveness more than this one." (p.35) 

Is it possible that there is a kind of value in witnessing suffering, including one's own, as a way of opening a space for compassion? This is interesting. I think that if a person does not sense suffering or the reasons behind suffering, it may be very difficult for them to cultivate compassion. It would be like trying to protect myself from things and not allowing myself to feel the fragility of life's wants and fears. It's not impossible to have compassion in that case, but sometimes one might need to experience suffering in some way, be it in oneself or in people around oneself.

It might sometimes be useful in times when one feels suffering or alone, to see that state as a window into all beings, all longing, all the states of being thrown into the world, In this way, that state of suffering can be a bridge where I reflect that everyone has something going on within them. Otherwise,the suffering feels like isolation, when in fact, it is a deep communion with others, as Miao Shan's story illustrates. 

Levine, Stephen (2013) Becoming Kuan Yin: The Evolution of Compassion. San Fransisco: Weiser Books.