THE LOGIC OF PRAJNA

Sakyamuni Buddha was the first to realize this way of looking at life through the eye of wisdom, of Great-Self, of non-ego. In the subsequent history of Buddhism, the process of this realization took two main streams : the monastic life in which meditation is central and the way of the ordinary lay person in which nembutsu becomes central.

In our everyday lives we tend not to see or think about things other than in terms of a subject-object dichotomy, a separation of subject and object. Our assumption in this is that separation implies difference. Only when the dichotomy is negated do we come to see that all subjects are objects, and all objects are subjects. In this view, which is possible from the standpoint of Buddhist wisdom where all is subject (great mind or great self and all is object (egolessness, non-ego, without permanent substance), simultaneously all these are equal. Subject equals object. Object equals and is the same as subject. Each is part of, and one with, the other. D.T. Suzuki expressed this as `A= not A.'

The level of dualism where the split of subject-object dichotomy occurs is the level of samsara (illusion). It is when one is enabled to see from the eyes of the enlightened one that the split vanishes. The illusion which is samsara is then perceived as in itself the same as enlightenment or oneness. In fact, it is often said that in Buddhism, samsara is in itself nirvana, enlightenment. Buddhist wisdom (prajna) has this power and ability to make two contradictory poles (such as `A' and 'not A'; samsara and nirvana) become as one.

Dr. D.T. Suzuki's `A' equals `not A' was devised as a formula to express this activity that makes two contradictory poles able to be seen as one. However, it is a formula in which the `equals' is not at all the usual simple kind. Samsara (`A') equals nirvana (`not A') when one is enabled to see with the eyes of the Buddha. This is the `equals' of the dynamic experience of shinjin. The struggle in our lives is how to work through to become awakened to this.

In this process of awakening, Shinran says the Buddha Dharma, the teaching, is like a finger pointing to the moon. That moon is itself the world of shinjin. Do not mistake the finger for the moon! In other words, do not mistake the teachings for reality itself. No matter how good a talk or a book may be, they are only like fingers pointing to the moon, leading us to the moon. Ultimately, each of us must see the moon with our own eyes. Prajna, the dynamic activity of shinjin, makes this possible.

In Mahayana Buddhism, the focus is on prajna, (which is a synonym for satori-enlightenment,) and also on prajna's inseparable companion and component, karuna-compassion. It can be said that karuna has two aspects: to mourn and to cry-not the cry that comes from a child but the cry of anguish that comes out of the activity of deep sorrow. Buddhist wisdom has this aspect of the ability to see things as they are in this world, and at the same time to feel great sorrow for our human condition-a sorrow expressed as Great Compassion.

In Shin Buddhism, the Pure Land (Jodo) is the realm from which the workings of this compassion are manifested. The ceaseless activity of Great Compassion working throughout my life is a process like the maturing of pearls in an oyster shell. Just as the oyster is taking in the piece of the shell that is part of him and yet not part of him, so karuna (Great Compassion) is taking my life into its sorrowing embrace. We can say that as the oyster in its own dynamism `cries' because it is painful to take in a foreign substance, so, as I am taken in and transformed by Great Compassion, great sorrow is expressed at my human condition. In other words, the Buddha is always sensitive, crying, moving to embrace me in the world of samsara , taking in and transforming me from a being of delusion into a being of enlightenment.

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