There is an old story, you may have heard it, called
The Story Of The Perfect Heart
Once upon a time, in a certain place, there was a competition for the perfect heart. Various people entered the competition. Each one opened his body and showed his heart, and the judges would observe. And in each case, there was some defect, there was some blemish, some scar. Each heart had some problem or other.
But then, along came a young man, and he opened his body and there was the perfect heart. It was smooth, it was clean, it was untouched, unwounded. It was perfect in every way. And everybody marveled at it. Everybody who watched the competition said: “Amazing, Amazing.”
And the judges said: “Well, I think, we can end the competition here, because we are never going to see anything more marvelous than this.”
But then there stepped forward from the crowd an old man and he said: “Hold on a minute, I have something to show you.”
And the crowd started to laugh as the old man stepped forward. They were saying to each other “What can he possibly have to show us?”
And the judges, in order to humour him, said: “Ok, old fellow, show us what you have got.”
And he opened his body and he showed his heart and it was covered in scars. There were holes, there were wounds, there were scabs, where the wound had grown over.
And the judges said: “Well, you know, seriously, how can you present this in this competition?”
The old man said: “This, my friends, is a perfect heart, for this is a heart that has loved, this is a heart that has had compassion, this is a heart that has shared the joys and sorrows of many companions going through many experiences.
This is a heart that has suffered, this is a heart that has had sympathy and empathy and that sometimes stood strong for another as he went through the most awful travail.
This is a heart that has been broken many times, but in each of those times it has learnt something and wisdom has grown and deepened and spread in such a way that the love has become more.
The heart of the young man is pure and innocent, and many people would like to have that kind of heart. But this, - this heart that has suffered – this heart that has known real life, is a truly golden heart.”
And the judges were all amazed and everybody present was deeply humbled and greatly affected by what the old man had said.
***
And I think this is, what the Buddha meant when he put dukkha at the center of his teaching and made it the gateway to the Path. And this is why I call out to him Namo Amida Bu.
Namo Amida Bu
Thank you very much.
Dharmavidya
David
Replies
But would Buddha know 'Amida Bu'? ^_^