by Maria Gabrani

In Day 240, Lama Yeshe says, “Ego and attachment pollute our mind, making it unclear, ignorant, and agitated, and preventing the light of wisdom from growing. The solution to this problem is meditation”.

I have recently realized how lucky I am to have all my fingers, how diverse, expressive, and behavior-based their function is, but mostly how blind I was to the fact. I had to reflect more deeply on the situation of our family doctor, who has a couple of fingers missing. I have known her for so many years and took her missing fingers and my full set as given. I have seen and interpreted her reality based on my own experience and opinions about fingers, or lack of them. But her view of reality and mine may well be totally different.

Why do we need fingers, how do we use them, are the actions positive or negative, what are the functions they serve, what is their impact on the rest of the world and on us? It is our choice, driven by our thoughts, but also from our habits and behaviors (e.g., Aloha sign1 vs. the loser sign2), which are driven by our deep-rooted karmic seeds. And we may be so blind to these.

These are just a few realizations of which I was not even conscious or aware before. That is why analytical meditation helps. It helps us peel back the layers of unconscious conditioning that shape our conventional “reality”—the one we scarcely recognize, as His Holiness the Dalai Lama often reminds us. We keep analyzing different layers of ignorance, until, eventually, we reach nothing. There is nothing more there. It is only the ultimate, universal Truth, and we can finally see it without obstruction. As Buddha realized3: no more builder, no more rafters, no more ridgepole. Free from any destruction…

I am continually surprised by how many blind spots/seeds I have. It even scares me! But I am also grateful that I have the chance and tools to discover them, to see them, eventually to eliminate them! One step… to wisdom, at a time…

References:

1. The Aloha Handshake Sign
2. 21 Hand Signs and Gestures (and what they Mean)
3. The Verses (Dhammapada 153-154):

Through many a birth in samsara have I wandered in vain, seeking the builder of this house. Repeated birth is indeed suffering!

O house-builder, you are seen! You will not build this house again. For your rafters are broken and your ridgepole shattered. My mind has reached the Unconditioned; I have attained the destruction of craving.