Buddha-nature is, in itself, impermanence and interdependence. An interdependence with all beings in the Universe. Like Indra’s net, in which each being is a many-faceted diamond, and on each facet it reflects the facet of another diamond. In this way, a net is formed in which all the diamonds are connected to one another by a thread of light. The light is reflected now on one facet, now on another, until it encompasses the entire net in an instant. This interdependence also means that each thing, each phenomenon, contains the whole Universe, like the moon reflected in a drop of dew. And this is not merely a concept: we can experience it directly, through the practice of zazen.
A meditator described his experience of the interdependence between phenomena and his own nature in this way: “Recently, something happened to me that affected me deeply. I was reading a first-person account describing certain behaviours on the autism spectrum, and suddenly I realized that many situations in my life fitted some of these autistic behaviours—mildly, but enough to have made it difficult for me to integrate into the social groups I had been part of. I sat down to meditate, and I saw many of those situations in which I had experienced hostility or rejection from the group because of my behaviour.
A thread of light reveals a hidden world
This had always made me feel guilty, and I had experienced it as a form of reproach. One by one, these situations from the past began to pass through my mind. The most recent ones, those from my youth, my adolescence, my childhood. It was as if a thread of light, arising from this present understanding, reached back into the past and connected all the situations I had lived through. Now I could understand myself, and also accept and forgive myself, because I clearly realized that these behaviours were a conditioning stemming from my birth, or from before birth, and I felt great compassion for that child, that adolescent, and that adult.
From this understanding, the thread of light illuminated my entire life like a flash of lightning. And it left me with a profound feeling of compassion. I could understand many things that I had never understood about myself and about others, things that had caused me so much pain. Now I could forgive myself and forgive others. Forgive everything. And this gave rise to a great feeling of peace within me.”
It is a very interesting story. Each of us has our own difference. And at the same time, we are all part of a whole. Understanding our conditioning, understanding our own karma, understanding what has made us feel separate from the world—our difference, whether because we are reserved or because we are very open. The moment we understand the interdependence of these conditionings, in all the nuances of our lives, we can free ourselves from the whole burden, from all reproach. When, through the practice of zazen, we deeply understand our difference, then we naturally feel that we belong to the Whole.
Nansen