The Eyes of the Buddha – Interbeing

Summary

This talk, delivered on June 13, 2000 at the Lower Hamlet during a 21-day retreat, presents a sustained teaching on how Buddhist practice should address the urgent suffering of the present time. The speaker emphasizes that the Dharma is not an abstract philosophy for future speculation, but a practical path for recognizing, embracing, and transforming suffering here and now. The central method is deep looking, carried out with the “Sangha eyes” and the “Buddha eyes,” meaning a collective and awakened way of seeing that can reveal the true nature of personal and social distress. The talk identifies three major issues of the age. First is dukkha in the form of alienation, loneliness, division, and the disintegration of family, community, society, and even religious life. The speaker argues that modern civilization has been shaped by individualism, which weakens communication, harmony, and solidarity. The remedy is rebuilding Sangha, community, and social connection so that people can live more like a river than isolated drops of water. Second is violence and intolerance, which are described as pervasive in adults, children, families, nations, and traditions. The speaker links violence to despair and to the kinds of media and consumption that feed fear, anger, and hatred. The teaching of mindfulness, especially mindfulness of consumption, is presented as essential for preventing the destruction of body, consciousness, and society. Third is fear and uncertainty about the future, especially in relation to electronic and genetic technologies, cloning, and human attempts to manipulate life. The speaker urges wisdom and careful practice so that technology does not become a path to self-destruction. A major portion of the talk explains core Buddhist doctrines through direct, practical examples. The speaker describes interbeing and dependent co-arising, or pratityasamutpada, as the insight that nothing exists independently. Everything arises through conditions and mutual relationship. This insight is linked to emptiness, sunyata, meaning that things are empty of separate, permanent selfhood. The middle way, madhyama, is presented as the path beyond all pairs of opposites: being and non-being, birth and death, same and different, coming and going. The speaker also discusses prajnapati, or conventional designation, to show that many categories and identities are useful but not ultimately real. These teachings are not meant as theories; they are tools for liberation from discrimination, pride, attachment, and fear. To make these ideas concrete, the speaker uses vivid illustrations such as a sheet of paper, a flower, a cloud, a flame, and an onion. Looking deeply into a sheet of paper reveals the forest, rain, sunshine, workers, and the whole cosmos. The paper’s “birth” is shown to be only a continuation of prior conditions, not a beginning from nothing. Likewise, burning the paper demonstrates that nothing is destroyed; it becomes smoke, heat, ash, and eventually new forms in the world. The same logic is applied to human life, grief, and death: a loved one is not lost into nothingness but continues in other forms. The cloud becomes rain, the flame is a series of manifestations, and a person is made of non-self elements. These examples are used to help listeners transcend attachment to form and sign, and to realize the doors of liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness. The speaker also connects these teachings to other traditions and public life. Christian language such as “I am in the Father and the Father is in me” is cited as compatible with interbeing. Political and social examples, including Hindu-Muslim relations, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and references to Clinton and Saddam Hussein, are used to show how the Buddha eyes can support non-discrimination and reconciliation. The talk concludes by urging participants to organize into groups, discuss the three major issues of disharmony, violence, and fear, and apply the Dharma in concrete ways. The overall message is that true Buddhist practice must be socially engaged, compassionate, and immediately relevant to the suffering of the world.