Vol. 6. August 6, 2020
P. G. Wodehouse once wrote, “It was a lovely day of blue skies and gentle breezes. Bees buzzed, birds tootled, and squirrels bustled to and fro, getting their suntan in the sunshine. In a word, all nature smiled.”
Ah, Summer!
What is it about summer that causes artists to rhapsodize? The clement weather? The happy sunshine? The soft breezes?
Buddhism blames it on the Six Harmonies.
The five senses, plus thought, apprehend the world of nature. The eyes see green trees. The ears hear birdsong. The nose smells flowers. The skin feels ants crawling on one’s bare feet. The tongue tastes an ice cream cone.
The mind thinks, “Ah, Summer!”
Thoughts, sights, sounds, flavors, odors and sensations blend together seamlessly, harmoniously, to give the impression of a beautiful, substantial world out there.
But it’s all an illusion. Anything grasped by the six senses resembles an illusion. At a fundamental level, all things are impermanent, and therefore, empty.
The reason why a summer sunset, or a relationship, is so beautiful is because it’s here today and gone tomorrow.
The Six Harmonies trick us into believing the world is separate from us. That it’s something we can divide, analyze, judge, classify, admire and adore.
But we are no different from it. We are it.
All things are different forms of the same thing.
Buddhism calls that “thing” the Dharmakaya.
The Dharmakaya
The Dharmakaya is the unity of all things existing.
Wisdom is to see the shadows of the Six Harmonies as the unity of the Dharmakaya.
We glimpse it though meditation.
Buddhas come into the world and immediately grab shovels to rid themselves of intellectual crap and emotional garbage so they can perceive the pure Dharmakaya.
While we’re sitting around on a lazy summer afternoon, Buddhas are busy shoveling rubbish out of their minds.
When we do the same, we let meditation achieve its victory.
We are at one with all things existing.
We can then behold a beautiful summer day and sense that … all nature smiled.
Even you.
The Buddha Times 