revolutionary benevolence

sharon salzberg writes in her essay, "becoming the ally of all beings," that the buddha once said, "develop a mind so filled with love that it resembles space, which cannot be painted, cannot be marred, cannot be ruined." salzberg continues, "imagine throwing paint around in vast, endless space. there is nowhere for the paint to land... when we relax the divisions that we usually make, the mind becomes like space."

a mind as vast as the universe. open, immense and empty (and therefore full of possibility). no walls. no solid surfaces for things to stick to. no fences.

supposedly, there is this place in all of us that is untouched by any of our life experience, no matter how painful or traumatic, no matter how lonely or afraid we might feel day to day. it has nothing to do with politics or religion. this place in us is spacious and deep. it naturally knows how to love and be kind unconditionally. supposedly, this is our truest nature as human beings.

i choose to believe that this is indeed true. not based on some sort of faith or because the buddha said so, but based on my own trial and error experience. i am beginning to recognize more and more tangibly that when i speak/act out of authentic kindness, even if on some level it might seem somehow risky at the time, the kindness trumps any other feelings and without a doubt joy, peace, and a deepened sense of ease follow. and the space within grows. true connection between beings does too.

to cultivate unconditional loving kindness feels fiercely revolutionary, deeply subversive to unconscious, age-old habitual reactions. it also feels like the most self-loving thing to do as it creates peace and freedom inside the heart and mind.

last week i told all of my students it was "kindness week." i encouraged them to commit a random act of kindness and then come back to class at the end of the week and tell all! after the students were finished sharing their stories, the feeling of warmth and openness in the room was palpable. people were laughing and smiling, long after the stories were told. kindness has a beautiful way of lingering...and it's inevitably contagious!

"it is only kindness that makes sense anymore." - naomi shihab nye


-sharon salzberg quotes from: "voices of insight: teachers of buddhism in the west share their wisdom, stories, and experience of insight meditation." edited by: sharon salzberg