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Common Gladiolus
Inn Along the Way, Damariscotta, ME
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Psalm 34.8 -
Taste and see the LORD is good...
Dainin Katagiri Roshi -
In Buddhism, wisdom does not refer to our usual type of understanding - that is, understanding based on concepts. Wisdom is deep and direct understanding, which, unlike conceptual understanding, is without confusion, questions, or doubt.
*You Have to Say Something: Manifesting Zen Insight
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A Christian asked the Sage, "Could you give me some advice on how I might know God?" The Sage said, "To know rain, walk outside into the rain; to know the scent of a rose, inhale the scent of a rose. Nothing is known but through intimacy. If you want to know your God, get close to your God."
*Brian K. Wilcox. "Meetings with an Anonymous Sage."
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Imagine you attended a university and earned a Ph.D. in the Theory of the Sun. You studied books about the Sun. You studied photos, poems, songs, and essays about the Sun. Would you know the Sun? You would have a Ph.D. about the Sun, but would you know the Sun? You might seek to impress persons with that knowledge, hang your degree in sight of visitors, write volumes on the Sun, and even defend the orthodoxy of your view of the Sun. But you would not know the Sun.
Now, imagine a person living alone, in poverty, and without formal education. She has never read anything about the Sun. She walks out each morning and up a hill, through a path worn by her feet over many years, from her little hut in the wood. From this height, she admires the Sun rise each morning over the vast valley below. Each evening she repeats this ritual, enjoying being with the Sun as it disappears slowly in the West. Would she not know the Sun, for she enjoys intimacy with the Sun?
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When the Jewish and Christian Scriptures read, "Taste and see the LORD is good," the instruction points us to the way of all true spirituality. Whatever wisdom path one follows, it leads us to "taste." The path is an increasing receptivity to knowing through direct experience. No one can give us the experience, even though sharing the path with others supports us. As no one can taste food for you, or you know its taste through their report of how it tastes to them, no one can give us the experience of the Sacred.
Thus, in tasting, we "see." This seeing is spiritual wisdom. Christianity and Buddhism have images of wisdom as sword-like. In Mahayana Buddhism, the Bodhisattva Manjusri, usually rendered "gentle glory," most often sits on a lotus flower wielding a sword. The sword is prajña (Sanskrit, "wisdom, insight"). The sword represents how wisdom cuts through delusion and relieves suffering.
Thich Nhat Hahn speaks of this supernal wisdom, in The Diamond that Cuts Through Delusion, saying, "The accuracy of our perceptions depends on our insight." He continues, "When we achieve insight, our knowledge is no longer based simply on perceptions, and we call this knowledge prajña, wisdom or understanding beyond signs." Accordingly, through spiritual insight, we see through appearances; appearances, or signs, become means to know the Truth. If we cling to the signs, regardless of how we esteem them spiritual or holy, we miss the signified. This is why Buddhists speak of not attaching to the finger pointing to the Moon. The finger points, as all signs do.
In a similar image, we read in the Christian Bible, "For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes (judges, discerns) our innermost thoughts and desires" (Hebrews 4.12, NLT). The "word of God" is spiritual wisdom, not to be equated with what came to be called the Bible. One could study the Bible a lifetime and still be blind to spiritual insight pointed to by many of its scriptures.
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The psalmist notes the "LORD" is seen to be "good." Different paths will use other images for what we experience through spiritual contemplation. There are many images of what we taste and see, but only one taste. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, what is tasted and seen as good is personified. Yet, the same taste can be depicted in abstract ways.
Last, those who keep growing in spiritual understanding come to realize all signs of the Sacred, regardless of the tradition, are helpful to the extent they inspire persons to know Truth directly. And, some persons may find it helpful to integrate the use of signs from different wisdom paths, for diverse signs signify various aspects of the one Truth.
Have you ever had an insight in which, in the words of Katagiri Roshi, there was no room for "confusion, questions, or doubt"? Is there a difference between spiritual wisdom and wisdom as understood generally? What are spiritual practices you engage in experiencing the Sacred? What is your favorite image for the Sacred? What changes in your life show you have grown in spiritual insight? Is there a person - author, teacher, friend ... - who has been instrumental in guiding and inspiring you in direct experience of the Truth?
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*©Brian K. Wilcox, 2022.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and notation of title and place of the photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
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