What Does Buddhism Say About Harmony? – Dialectic Two-Step

Dialectic Two-Step  is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio

What Does Buddhism Say About Harmony?

Response:  In the Mahayana tradition, harmony shows up in the Bodhisattva ideal. A Bodhisattva has two virtues – wisdom and compassion. One virtue often follows in the footsteps of the other. Compassion can instill wisdom and vice versa. They are the natural consequence of harmony with nature.

Each of us is acutely aware of the difficulties of daily life. We make mistakes. We come into conflict with others. We find ourselves immersed in uncertainty and fear. Even the most successful of us are plagued with doubts. This insecurity can bring out some pretty ugly behavior.

We can be petty and selfish. We get cynical and paranoid. Our hearts harden to the plight of others. We build a wall of protection that shields us from the world. We develop an us versus them attitude. The Buddha described this as the source of suffering.

But what if we recognize that the seed of our discontent is something shared by all of us? What if we consider what we see as deplorable in others as being rooted in the same fears and insecurities that we have? Compassion can arise. When we see that others suffer like us, cracks start to form in the walls. This is compassion. From this arises the desire to end suffering for others. This is personified in the impossible ideal of the Bodhisattva; save everyone.

This is a noble but daunting sentiment. On the face of it, it’s crazy. How can we help everyone? How can we help even one person, when we can’t even get our own house in order?

I like to view my suffering as the consequence of the fact that I can’t seem to get out of my own way. I bring it on myself by wishing things were different than they are. Viewed from another angle, it’s the delusion that my preferences should somehow dictate my experience. It’s a disconnect between my head and reality.

When you look at it that way, the answer seems obvious. If I could reconnect with reality, then I could reduce my suffering. How is that done? By letting the world in. Or put another way, by establishing harmony between me and reality.

A Bodhisattva’s wisdom comes from harmony. They effortlessly act by being in the world, free from biases. In doing so, they liberate themselves from suffering and act as a beacon to others seeking the same.

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