Switching On the Light for Us

Here is an excerpt from the book: What Makes You Not a Buddhist by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.  I have always been attracted to the Buddhist philosophy.

 It is as if, Lord [Buddha], a man were to set upright that which was overturned, or were to reveal that which was hidden, or were to point out the way to one who had gone astray, or were to hold a lamp amidst the darkness, so that those who have eyes may see. Even so, has the doctrine been explained in various ways by the Exalted One. - Sigala (Sigalovada Sutta).

The classic Buddhist example used to illustrate emptiness is the snake and the rope. Let's say there is a man named Jack who has a phobia about snakes. Jack walks into a dimly lit room, sees a snake coiled up in a corner, and panics. In fact he is looking at a striped Giorgio Armani tie, but in his terror he has misinterpreted what he sees to the point that he could even die of fright - death caused by a snake that does not truly exist. While he is under the impression that it is a snake, the pain and anxiety that he experiences is what Buddhists call "samsara," which is a kind of mental trap.

Fortunately for Jack, his friend Jill walks into the room. Jill is calm and sane and knows that Jack thinks he sees a snake. She can switch on the light and explain that there is no snake, that it is actually a tie. When Jack is convinced that he is safe, this relief is none other than what Buddhists call "nirvana" - liberation and freedom. But Jack's relief is based on a fallacy of harm being averted, even though there was no snake and there was nothing to cause his suffering in the first place.

It is important to understand that by switching on the light and demonstrating that there is no snake, Jill is also saying that there is no absence of the snake. In other words, Jill cannot say, "The snake is gone now," because the snake was never there. She didn't make the snake disappear, just as the Buddha didn't make emptiness. This is why the Buddha insisted that he could not sweep away the suffering of others by waving his hand. Nor could his liberation be granted or shared piecemeal, like some sort of award. All he could do was explain from his experience that there was no suffering in the first place, which is like switching on the light for us.