As we celebrate the Buddha’s Awakening, I’ve been reflecting on how his spiritual insights can offer guidance for living in this chaotic time of political, social, and cultural tensions. How can we move forward together with greater understanding and compassion for one another?
The phrase “enemy from within” has been strategically used by certain political leaders with the goal of creating division and dehumanizing those that disagree with them. It feeds our ego which believes the illusion of “us” versus “them,” blinding us to the truth of our profound interconnectedness. Our desire to dominate and to oppress others who we see as separate from us is the cause of immense suffering for everyone.
In our delusion, we see “enemies” everywhere, blind to the real enemy that is inside us. Our mind tainted by the poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance is the real “enemy from within” that Shakyamuni Buddha sought to conquer in his quest for enlightenment. In the Dhammapada, the Buddha teaches, “To conquer ego is a greater triumph than to conquer a battalion of soldiers on the battlefield.” The challenging work of overcoming our ego-self and seeing our inherent wholeness is the Buddha’s path of spiritual liberation as the late Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh taught, “We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
In The Fire Sermon, the Buddha famously teaches how everything is “…burning with the fire of passion, the fire of hatred, the fire of delusion. I declare that it is burning with the fire of birth, decay, death, grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow, and despair.” However, through the insight gained from his awakening, the Buddha offers us a way to quench these fires through the cooling light of wisdom which illuminates our spiritual darkness.
Doesn’t it seem like we are dealing with hotter fires and a deeper darkness in our world? From our climate crisis to our politically polarized society to the destructive forces of hate and discrimination which threaten to consume us, we are struggling to find hope and light in the long shadow of our spiritual night.
Many spiritual traditions have holy days during winter when the world is darkest. Hanukkah, Christmas, and the Winter Solstice all celebrate light as a symbol of hope and renewal. In Buddhism, we observe Bodhi Day which commemorates the great Enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha on December 8. It is said after spending the long dark of night under the leaves of the Bodhi Tree, Siddhartha Gautama would realize enlightenment when the morning star appeared in the eastern sky. Dispelling his spiritual slumber he would become the Buddha, the Awakened One declaring, “At this moment all beings and I awaken together.”
In the sacred story he confronts Mara, the embodiment of obsession and delusion, who tries to distract Siddhartha by dragging him back into the realm of reaction, confusion, and uncontrolled desires. Mara attacks Siddhartha from within, assailing his heart and mind with visions of doubt, fear, and sensual pleasures but Siddhartha remains undisturbed. In his deep meditation, he realizes the root cause of suffering is his unexamined and undisciplined emotional reaction to all that arises in experience. Perceiving the emptiness of these illusions, he transforms them into a rain of beautiful flowers. Attaining a diamondlike clarity and peace he finally wakes up. It is said at the moment of his awakening, Siddhartha touches the ground with his right hand and the Earth bears witness to the triumph over himself. Mara, the demon within, was vanquished and no longer had any power over him.
In Old Path White Clouds, Thich Nhat Hanh offers insight into what Siddhartha learned as he looked within himself:
Without wavering, he shined his awareness on his mind. He saw that living beings suffer because they do not understand that they share one common ground with all beings. Ignorance gives rise to a multitude of sorrows, confusions, and troubles. Greed, anger, arrogance, doubt, jealousy, and fear all have their roots in ignorance. When we learn to calm our minds in order to look deeply at the true nature of things, we can arrive at full understanding which dissolves every sorrow and anxiety and gives rise to acceptance and love.
Ignorance deeply rooted in our own mind is the “housebuilder” that Shakyamuni refers to in the Dhammapada when he says:
Oh, housebuilder! You have now been seen.
You shall build the house no longer.
All your rafters have been broken,
Your ridgepole shattered.
My mind has attained unconditioned freedom.
Achieved is the end of craving.
The promise of awakening from the darkness of our greed, anger, and ignorance is the hope that the Buddha offers to us unconditionally. In Shin Buddhism, we understand this promise of spiritual transformation as the Vow of Amida Buddha embodied in the nembutsu. In the Tannishō, Shinran Shōnin shares “But with a foolish being full of blind passions, in this fleeting world—this burning house—all matters without exception are empty and false, totally without truth and sincerity. The nembutsu alone is true and real.” Namo Amida Butsu is the fulfilled promise of Amida that lights our way in the darkness of this world of suffering—this “burning house.”
Waking up to oneself is the hardest thing we will ever do. Truly seeing our ego and the reactive and destructive patterns that control our lives is the heart of the Buddha’s teaching. Realizing we are asleep is the first step in our spiritual awakening. Dispelling the illusion of separateness is the real work of conquering the true “enemy from within.”
The Buddha’s Enlightenment was truly a journey within himself in which he discovered the potential for awakening that everyone possesses. In overcoming our inner darkness, we can encounter the light of wisdom unfolding as compassion in our lives. The true nature of awakening that the Buddha teaches is one of continual learning and growth. Every moment is an opportunity for self-discovery and for better understanding the fullness of life in all its joys and sorrows. We are becoming more fully human through all that we experience. From the simple to the extraordinary moments of our lives, we are being shown how we can embody the heart of a bodhisattva, caring for self and others.
I am grateful for how Amida Buddha’s light of all-inclusive wisdom and all-embracing compassion continually pierces through my darkness revealing my own inner light. Of how the heart of reality embodied in Namo Amida Butsu unconditionally embraces and transforms my foolish self. Amida’s compassionate voice is the sound of the universe waking me up to myself.
The Buddha roused himself from the bliss of his awakening under the Bodhi Tree to re-enter this world of suffering offering hope through the light of the Dharma. We can cultivate spiritual wholeness through the practice of wisdom, compassion, and moral clarity that he taught. We can heal our brokenness by embodying a bodhisattva’s vows of universal compassion. Each of us carries within the light of these living vows as we make our way through this darkened world.
We are so fortunate the Buddha shared with us the path of conquering the demon within—of controlling our own heart and mind. With time and attention, cultivating a profound awareness of self, the healing light of the Dharma pierces into our heart of darkness transforming greed into generosity, anger into love, and ignorance into wisdom. The Buddha’s Enlightenment is the ultimate promise of our own. Namo Amida Butsu.
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