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The Net of Love 5
Earth is an extraordinarily special planet in the universe, the only place where life exists. When we practice walking meditation with mindfulness, each step becomes a miracle, bringing happiness, healing, and nourishment to the soul. Zen Master Linji reminded us that the very first miracle is the mindful step, which helps us let go of the past, the future, and our worries, allowing us to live fully in the present moment.
The Sutra of the Net of Affection uses a series of profound metaphors to illustrate how sensual desire binds the mind:
- the net of sensual desire and covering oneself with the net of desire—enveloping oneself in craving
- the umbrella of attachment (umbrella of love)—shielding, obstructing the inner truth
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the fish entering the trap—easy to enter, difficult to leave, along with the image of a calf seeking its mother’s udder, always clinging
All these are symbols for the endless cycle of craving. Only when we abandon desire, not following the tracks of attachment, can we escape the net and liberate the mind from aging and death.
The path of the Middle Way and liberation is expressed through two main practices:
- The threefold training of mindfulness—concentration—insight, a method to eliminate the afflictive obstacles (greed, anger, ignorance…) and the obstacles of knowledge (rigid views), so that the mind becomes light and clear
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The three conditions to become a great being:
- Untying the knots of discrimination—“this and that”
- Not discriminating between this and that
- Not being caught in the duality of subject and object
Modern scientists, whether exploring the macrocosm or the microcosm, also fall into the trap of dualism when they believe that time and space are objective realities. Buddhism points out that time is without beginning or end, and that consciousness and the observed object are interwoven. Only when we let go of the notion of time, of dualistic discrimination, and overcome obstacles, can we step through the door of the ultimate dimension, which has always been open.
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The Net of Love 6