Tina,

What a splendid question! I can understand why it seems confusing, but it cuts at the heart of materialism. Consider a wise guru, well versed in philosophy and spirit. He opens a closet door and sees a snake on the floor. He jumps back in panic, fear and stress. Now, he may try to rationalize and consider how the snake got into the closet, try to figure out some divine message, some intervention by spirit or whatnot. However, when the lights come on, he sees it wasn’t a snake at all, it was just a rope.

So, all that stress and consideration was illusory, instigated by his wrong view of the rope. Buddha is saying (as shown to me by my teacher) that it isn’t in rationalizing “what is” that sets us free from stress, its letting go of wrong views. Seeing the rope sets us free much more directly than reasoning out why a snake is in the closet.

In practice, consider something such as “love”. That word means something to you, and perhaps something different to your ex, your mom, your dad, me, and so forth. As we let go of our solid “love means this and not that”, then we open up the space inside us to see what love means to other people. For instance, perhaps mom thinks love is a trap, because she loves a difficult man. Perhaps the ex thinks that love means sex, because rather than warmth, his attentions were fueled by sensual desire. Perhaps I see love as an expression of freedom. Or whatever. Consider that an attachment to what an idea means, such as “no, you are wrong, love is something different” pushes out, keeps away. “That is not true” we might say, but what makes our version “truth” and theirs “false”? Nothing, of course, they’re just views.

Then we can grow spaciousness inside, accepting the subjective nature of forms and concepts. Said differently, people see and relate to the world in many, many different ways. Finding peace, growing, blossoming isn’t about finding the one true meaning of “everything”, rather accepting that “everything” is a knitting together of subjective views.

With warmth,
Matt

Hi Tina,

I think Matt’s rope/snake metaphor works well. What came to my mind when I read that quote is the Zen idea of having to empty your own cup (i.e. mind) first in order to allow the truth to flow into the cup. That your views and opinions may be blocking you from finding truth, that when you drop these then clarity ensues and insight happens naturally.

As to your follow up questions, that is for you to find out for yourself. People can you give you an inkling, but it won’t really mean much until you experience and feel it in yourself. For me it seems to come little and often as I try to walk along the inner path.

Tina,

Buddha taught that the three qualities of existence are impermanence, no-self, and suffering. Things change, have no fixed meaning, and ignorance/unacceptance of that produces dissatisfaction. Some distill these down further to “karma” or “forced views”. Said differently, when you question someone else about their truth, what you receive is their version of truth. When you speak your truth, you give your views of what is. Assuming of course a direct and open connection, free from intentional deception. However, these views are not truth, just views… and the truth is some things we see collapse the space inside us, and some open them.

Consider for a moment these sharings like a mirror. You say “what, who” and someone answers “that, him”. We are looking into a mirror to try to understand “truth” or “ourselves”. However, if someone had mischeviously (or ignorantly) drew a moustache on the mirror, when we look at the mirror, we might assume the moustache is on ourselves.

For instance, mom might say “matt, you are ugly”, and if I take in those sounds as true, it produces a false reflection in my self perception. This closes the space to see my mom clearly, because i am busy feeling icky over being ugly. If I see the mirror has the ugliness painted on it (from her childhood or whatnot) then it is never about me, its about the mirror, about my mom and her views. Truth with a capital T is sometimes related as what arises from a completely clear mirror, or one whose mind is completely unstained, no confusion of where the moustache comes from. The rest is fog and mirrors… kids playing wise, grasping at truth from observing cause and effect. Said differently, an awakened mind never produces a self image from the reflections, sees the moustache, and never considers it as something to do with them. Just a mirror with grit on it, pigment, projection, unhealed wounds or whatnot.

In your example of a conservative politician (assuming their view is unskillful) your bafflement arises from a lack of compassion, a lack of spaciousness for them. They don’t have their views for “no reason”, they have them for exactly the reason they have them. Their views aren’t causeless, they are caused, bound and sustained by something. Self importance, low empathy, rigid morality, whatnot. Something causes them to relate to their environment in such and such a way. Sometimes that cause is simple, immediate, such as seeing someone that acts racist because they clearly fear differences. Sometimes it is more tangled, more interwoven, such as someone that claims capitialism is a form of social darwinism and helps the strength of the species. Or whatnot.

When we feel the bafflement, we sidestep or ignore the laws of karma, of cause and effect, and our space for their view collapses. For instance, we may see a thief and judge them as a terrible person as the bafflement sets in as to how such a thing could happen. But, if we make space for them, see deeply into the potential pain and twists that produce such actions, we do not produce confusion, only more space for karma to just be what happens.

With warmth,
Matt

In Zen, they say: “don’t seek the truth. just cease to cherish opinions.”
what does that mean?
To me it means to let go of identification with your mind. Who are you beyond the mind then emerges by itself.

From personal experience, I find that when I say to the other person, “lets find out the truth, IT’S not important about who is right or wrong”, it still is coming from the ego, my ego. I am confident that my point of view is correct. Buddha is saying to give up seeking the truth, it causes suffering. This is the mind wanting to solve a problem which it created in the first place. The ego does not want to solve a problem.
THE ego loves to fight people with their opinions because it is considered to be an attack. THE ego cannot tell the difference between a verbal attack and a physical attack. That is why is defends itself as if IT’S life depends on it.
Buddha also says that wherever you go you will find people WITH opinions. You can fight with everyone you meet. But nobody’s opinion will hurt you or kill you.