Seeing Things "As They Are"

  We often talk about "seeing things as they are" from a Buddhist perspective. But what does that really mean?  How can we truly "see things as they are"?

I'd like to outline a few important points for clarification:

a) Seeing things as conditioned while the nature of mind is "unconditioned". That means, whatever has happened is part of a greater unfolding stream of conditioned arising. Experience rises and falls, one after the other, as a result of prior causes and supporting conditions, This conditioned mind is what Master Sheng Yen has called "impermanent mind" However, our minds are not governed by these conditioned experiences. In fact, mind itself is fundamentally unconditioned. No matter what kinds of experiences flow through, our awareness itself is not "tainted" by those experiences. It is always fundamentally pure. Even if someone says that you are "impure", what they are seeing is only the phenomena. They are not witnessing the true mind that is behind the phenomena.

b) Seeing things as they are is not escapist and nor is it pessimistic. Pessimistic views suggest that we can't influence our present moment. Escapism suggests that there is something beyond this world from which we can be rescued. But neither of these theories holds correct. We can learn to be happy and present with whatever is happening to us now. And we recognize, nothing that happened in the past can prevent us from cultivating real contentment.

What gets in the way of this?

a) Believing that we have to be perfect, infallible beings, who have perfect reputations with everyone and are meant to be unchanging. (this is belief in a false reified permanent self, rather than realizing that we can change our thinking all the time). Even a piece of rock is not 100% permanent. It too is subject to erosion and wear.

b) Believing that we are somehow undeserving of love and or permanently worthy of blame. This is not a very compassionate view. It resides in the deluded notion that people are fixed entities. In fact, given encouragement and positive reinforcement, ALL humans are indeed capable of a great deal of good. If we are supported, we can do almost anything. So we should believe in our capacities to improve, rather than getting mired in the muck of blame--the "blame game", in other words. If someone thinks otherwise, then they are just not being supportive-perhaps because they didn't get support in their lives! If someone thinks this way about us, why should we bother with that view? It's not very nice or encouraging. So we can choose not to adopt it for ourselves. Life is short! Who needs it? I don't. You don't either!

In other words, seeing things as they are means, look forward to being a better version of you. Life is changing all the time; you are learning and growing and changing. Work hard every day at the things you need to do, but don't damn yourself for your past imperfections. Since life is short and we are not here for very long, we don't need to always condemn ourselves.