" If with kindly generosity/One merely has the wish to soothe/The aching heads of the other beings/Such merit knows no bounds" -Shantideva, The Way of the Bodhisattva verse 1.21 (quoted in Chodron, Pema (2005), No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva, p.14)
As I read the passage quoted above, I begin to wonder: how can I soothe the aching heads of other beings when I still have an aching head myself? I suppose this is a kind of huatou, wondering what comes first: the chicken or the egg. I believe that according to Chodron, we are able to soothe other beings' aching heads precisely because we are experiencing aching heads now, in this moment. She remarks, "Bodhisattvas practice 'in the middle of the fire'. This means they enter into the suffering of the world; it also means they stay steady with the fire of their own painful emotions." (p.11). It is only by being in the midst of suffering (without rejecting it) that we can truly help other beings resolve their own suffering. To fearlessly swim in suffering is to teach others the same fearlessness.
This is the reading that Chodron offers us, but I also felt that Shantideva's verses allude to the suffering of the intellect. In today's 'knowledge economy', it often seems that knowing more is having more and 'being more'. But the acquisitive model of knowing more only creates its own kind of suffering--the suffering of 'never knowing enough'. I don't think Socrates or Confucius would have had such a suffering, since their teachings evoke a different approach to learning. Socrates emphasizes a questioning mentality toward the basic assumptions we 'think' we know. Confucius explores life with the attitude of a scientist, who encourages people to learn from their ancestors and history rather than resorting to abstract generalizing. Both offer a humble approach: no matter how much we learn and study, we are really like children in the world, and all we can do is keep asking questions as new situations arise.
As soon as I am aware that someone else's situation is different from mine, I want to 'know more' about them. So I will often go to a library seeking answers about the person's situation or culture. But what is the motive behind this learning? I think it's a kind of grasping, and the basic mentality is a belief that I don't have enough in me to relate to the other person. But if I look more deeply into the situation, I begin to realize that nobody can learn everything or 'know' everything, no matter how many books they read. Even if a person did read all the books in the universe, knowing is inexhaustible. Even according to the modern quantum physics view, all knowing is based on a position that is indeterminate. Even when I am able to isolate the speed of a particle, the position cannot be definitely known and vice versa. So why is there this anxiety to know except to try to cover every base? Sometimes we even learn with the intention not to leave any spaces of unknowing. But is this possible? Is it even necessarily desirable to leave no gaps in the conversation?
So, to go back to the original quote, what is the way to soothe others' aching heads, when one's own head is aching? I think the secret lies in two realizations. One is that it is simply impossible to know everything: the quest for knowledge is inexhaustible. The second is the realization that one does not need to 'know' to be of help. Opening up to the present without knowing what that present is beforehand is the way to truly and directly encounter what is, without the screen of reasoning to block what is happening or to cut it into pieces. Of course, this does not reject discursive thinking, but it suggests that discursive thinking should never close off the opportunity to be simply and purely present with all one's inner conflicts and confusions. It is about not seeing opposition as 'dividing', but to see opposition as a natural state of mind and to relax with that opposition. These principles can help others in the sense that it removes the obstacle of trying to separate myself from what I experience from moment to moment.
Chodron, Pema (2005), No Time to Lose: A Timely Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva. Boston: Shambhala
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