Our preconceptions about Buddhism, which are often coupled with our emotions, are our biggest obstacle in trying to fully understand what the Buddha actually taught. It is important to get rid of these obstacles. To be sure, this is not an easy task for anyone. There are a lot of preconceived ideas to jettison including the emotions connected with them.
Also consider that the human mind always looks towards the unknown through past experiences which are familiar to it. Said another way, when we read the Buddha’s words our brain attempts to explain his words by using what is stored in the memory which is inadequate to the task.
As mentioned earlier, those who really what to see what the Buddha saw first have to shed all of their preconceived notions about Buddhism if only for a minute (as in my case in 1969). In other words, one has to make a leap into the abyss, so to speak, where there is nothing familiar in front of us to leap into. In this task, the present world cannot help us make such a leap since it deprecates the spiritual nature of man.
By the way, this is not a leap of faith, which is a disaster but, instead, a leap that leaves even faith behind. If we take this leap to be a matter of recognizing our true nature, it doesn’t require faith. It is more of a leap that suddenly finds us awake to a reality that never left us—it was just more subtle and purer that we ever imagined it to be. That is why we never realized it. Our preconceived ideas, in other words, plastered over the obvious.
"Do not seek the truth; only cease to cherish opinions."
Posted by: Jure | December 14, 2011 at 02:00 PM