Seeing Things As They Are

G Sakamoto

Seeing things as they are G Sakamoto

When we look around us, we see objects that we can touch, that have substance and weight. We recognize what is familiar, even if we are looking at something for the first time. If the object we�re looking at has features that suggest �chair�, a seat, legs, back, we recognize it as chair. If the object has unfamiliar features yet still has characteristics of a chair we may assume it to be a chair. Our idea of chair influences how we behave. We look at an object, determine its a chair, if we�re tired we might sit down.

Although �sitting on� is one of the uses of chair, chairs are not the only things we sit on. We sit on tables (which we shouldn�t do), sit on benches, sit on the floor, at picnics we sit on the ground. If sitting defined chair, then when I sit on the ground the Earth becomes chair, a big chair that circles a star every three hundred sixty five days, five hours, forty eight minutes and forty six seconds. �Sitting on� is not the only use of chair. Sometimes we stand on chair. Sometimes, as in �Singing in the Rain�, we dance with chair. Chair can be a support or a prop in a trapeze act. Chair can be a hiding place for an scared puppy. Chair can be what we think it might be, limited in part, only by its physical attributes. We�ve launched chairs into space and probably with a trebuchet across fields and walls.

A simple thing like a chair, something we are all familiar with, can have many possible descriptions and uses. It can be a work of art or serve an unintended purpose or simply be a place to rest. Our understanding of what a specific chair is would probably be pretty straight forward however it could also be quite outside our imagination. When is a chair a chair or not a chair? Does its� significance dependent upon something other than what is immediately obvious? Could what we assume to be chair be something else?

To see things as they are is the direction the Dharma moves us. We encounter difficulties or cause difficulties for others because we tend to see the world through our own expectations. To say a chair can only be a place to sit denies other possibilities; to dance with, to hide under, to launch. Acknowledging other possibilities does not mean I would use the chair for something other than sitting. It simply acknowledges that there are other ways of seeing the chair. My view of the chair then becomes one view in many; not the only view. Its difficult to let go of something I deeply believe in but if I can not accept the chair as something to stand on, it is not because of the chair, but because of my view of the chair.

How we understand chair may or may not be important. In large issues, however, like love, trust, hope how we understand what we see can have profound consequences. If I see only my needs, if I can not allow for the needs of others, I will encounter difficulties, for myself and cause diffidulties for others. If on the other hand I can begin to recognize that what I see and understand is simply a narrow view of what is, I can begin to expand and dissipate the boundaries that define my needs and separate me from others.

In Jodo Shinshu we recognize the limitations of our understanding, our inability to see things as they are. Yet we also recognize that even as we continue to see chair only as something to sit on, we are constantly presented by life with opportunities to expand our view of the world. The world and life is not centered around my concerns, yet I am sustained by life. To begin to see this is the beginning of awakening.