Practice #2 of the Bodhisattva
Toward friends, attachment rages like a river;
Toward enemies hatred blazes like fire.
Therefore, it is the practice of Bodhisattvas to give up that home,
Where the darkness of stupidity, of forgetting what to accept and reject, prevails.
If one’s primary preoccupation is to focus on the Dharma than one’s homeland is counterproductive to that end. Focus inevitably shifts back to loved ones and friends. Meditation gives way to conversation, study gives way to family outings, focus gives way to pleasant distraction. And so like a river of attachment we are carried down stream to the lower realms. We are pre-occupied by worldly, temporary relationships that subsequently keep us from practicing the Dharma. While pleasant attachment to friends distracts us, anger toward our enemies destroys our merit. Like a wildfire, even a little anger can completely incinerate any seeds of merit we may have been sowing. So it is better for us to move away from our homelands and free ourselves of these ingrained attachments and aversions. If the Dharma is the path one chooses, than it is more advantageous to become a homeless renunciate than a householder.
This is a tough lesson for me to hear. Yet something rings true here, something that I’ve heard before. “And another of his disciples said unto him. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, ‘Follow me; and let the dead bury the dead.’” (Matt 8:21-22) Wow! Now that seems a bit harsh, but if our focus is the Gospel than all else is secondary. Is following the Way of the Cross any less demanding or radical than the Path of the Bodhisattva? Consider the Gospel of Mark, about the only thing the disciples did right was drop everything to follow Jesus (the Way), “And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. And when he had gone a little father thence he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.” (Mark 1:17-20). Furthermore, homeless renunciate sounds an awful lot like, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath no where to lay his head.” (Matt 8:20). Sometimes we get a little complacent with the Gospels from familiarity, and that is why I find it so wonderful that I can glimpse these treasured testaments through different eyes. Following Jesus demands of us to give up our homelands.
However, it is to one last Biblical reference that I make my final peace with this, “There came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him and they said unto him, ‘Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.’ And he answered them, saying, ‘Who is my mother or my brethren?’ And he looked round about on them which sat about him and said, ‘Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and my sister and mother.’” (Mark 3:31-35) Jesus isn’t lowering his family to mere stranger status, He is raising the mere stranger to family status. It’s not about loving your mother less, it’s about loving everyone as you love your mother. That’s how God loves us and how He wants us to love each other.
Over one of the doors to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame Du Lac reads the inscription, “God – Country – Notre Dame.” This has always stuck me as a simple and powerful declaration of priority. And while I might re-arrange the order a bit to include family in there, God will always be at the top. This is an ardent thing to say, but it is a tough thing to live. The Second Practice of the Bodhisattva and Christ’s demands of his disciples are concrete reminders of what it means to put one’s faith at the top. Good things to reflect on before we act.