Indra's net of jewels

Indra's net of jewels
Originally uploaded by Onkel Ulle

I am reprinting a small portion of a wonderful article found in the Spring 2009 issue of Tricycle Magazine. The piece is entitled 'Son of A Gun' and it has to do with a young man's crisis of conscience and a turning point as a result of that crisis. The author is writing under a nom de plume, Shozan Jack Haubner. If you are not familiar with Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, you can explore it online at www. tricycle.com

"I thought of Indra’s net, the metaphor Buddhism uses to explain our oneness. The universe is a web of interconnectedness, everything in it a diamond, each reflecting and reflected in all the others. Instead of gems, I imagined bombs, one going off, setting off the rest.

In the Buddhist view, I depend on you for my existence. All things depend on each other, equally. Welcome to the doctrine of dependent origination. It’s teeter-totter metaphysics—I arise, you arise; you arise, I arise. Forget about our presumed Maker, the divine machinist in the sky. Take a look at this moment right now. You are you because you are not something else; therefore, what you are not—the chair beneath you, the air in your lungs, these words—births you through an infinity of opposites. It’s like the ultimate Dr. Seuss riddle: Without all the things that are not you, who would you be you to? There’s no Higher Power in this system to grab onto for support; we are all already supporting each other. Pull a person or people the wrong way, and you immediately redefine yourself in light of what you’ve done to your neighbor."