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The Perfection of Inclusiveness: Transcending Birth, Old Age, Sickness, and Death
Pāramitā means crossing over, crossing over to the other shore of suffering right in the present moment. Practicing Kṣānti Pāramitā (the Perfection of Inclusiveness) is not about gritting your teeth to suppress or repress (refouler), because repression will lead to an explosion (le retour du refoulé). In Vietnamese, Nhẫn is understood as chịu đựng (endurance). Chịu means accepting the truth so that the mind can have peace. Đựng is the capacity of the mind to contain; the larger the mind, the smaller the suffering, just like a large river that can receive filth yet the water remains drinkable, unlike a small bowl of water.
To practice is to make the capacity of the heart grow larger every day, called the great capacity of inclusiveness. Elders (parents, teachers, older siblings) must have a large capacity to embrace those below them, as Nguyen Du wrote: “Only by embracing those below does one show superior capacity.” In the teacher-student relationship, the teacher needs to have authority (thanks to precepts and mindful manners) accompanied by grace (kindness, inclusiveness). Inclusiveness helps the practitioner face and untie the four greatest sicknesses of human life using the substance of understanding and love:
- The sickness of death: Everyone carries the sickness of death; we need to touch the ultimate dimension to see that birth and death are only waves and we are the water, attaining immeasurable life.
- The sickness of birth: Where there is birth, there is death; the goal is to be liberated from birth and death to attain the state of no-birth, as Tue Trung Thuong Si said: “Birth and death press in on each other, but how can they harm me?”
- The sickness of old age: Old age is inevitable; instead of resisting, use looking deeply to transcend it, just as Zen Master Huyen Quang borrowed the plum blossom to relieve the sickness of old age.
- The sickness of sickness: The fact that humans can always fall ill; we need to get used to it, embrace it, and not pray for the absence of sickness to avoid craving.