Intimately Interwoven Into a Seamless Web of Sentient Life

 

[Shantideva] departs for the solitude of nature in search of "wide open places devoid of any sense of 'mine.' " He wanders freely, resting to meditate "in caves, empty shrines or at the feet of trees." The inspiration of the sublime selflessness of the nature world enables him to see the pettiness of his self-centered fantasies. Yet at the heart of this spacious stillness he discovers that he is not alone but intimately interwoven into a seamless web of sentient life, which he compares to a vast organism:

Just as these arms and legs
Are seen as limbs of a body,
Why are embodied creatures
Not seen as limbs of life?

Just as the hand reaches out to soothe the pain in the foot, why does one not spontaneously respond to the suffering of another in the same way? Shantideva realizes that this is due to a deep, visceral clinging to the idea of being a separate self. As long as one is in thrall to this fixation, spontaneous concern for others will tend to be felt only for those who fall within the range of what is "mine." The pain of those outside this range can then be treated with indifference and even satisfaction.

---Stephen Batchelor---