Chapter 34 Chapter 3 Everything Is Empty-8

"The Snake and the Rope" is a classic example of Buddhism illustrating emptiness.Suppose there is a coward named Jack who has a phobia of snakes.Jack walked into a dark room, saw a snake curled up in the corner, and was startled.What he actually saw was a patterned Armani tie, but in a panic, he mistook what he saw, to the point where he might have scared him to death--of a snake that didn't really exist.The pain and anxiety he experiences when he thinks it is a snake is what Buddhists call samsara, which is a psychological trap.Luckily, Jack's friend Jill walks into the room.Jill is calm, normal and knows that Jack thought he saw a snake.She could turn on the light and explain to him that there was no snake, in fact it was just a tie.When Jack knows he is safe, this liberation is what Buddhists call nirvana - liberation and freedom.But Jack's liberation is based on the removal of a false threat.There was no snake, there was nothing to cause him to suffer.

It is important to understand that when Jill turns on the light and points out that there are no snakes, she is also stating that there is no "disappearance of the snake."If she was honest, she couldn't say the snake was gone now, because there was never a snake there.Nor did she make the snake invisible, any more than Siddhartha created emptiness.This is why Siddhartha insisted that he could not wave away the suffering of others with a wave of his hand.His own relief cannot be like some kind of prize, given away in pieces or shared with others.All he can do is to explain his experience and tell everyone that there is no pain from the beginning, just like turning on the light for us.

When Jill sees Jack petrified, she has a few options.She can directly point out that there is no snake here, or she can use skillful means to lure the "snake" out of the room.But if Jack is so frightened that he can't tell the snake from the tie, even with the lights on, and Jill can make things worse if she's not skillful.If she had shaken the tie in front of Jack, he would have had a heart attack and died.But if Jill is skillful enough to know that Jack is deluded, she can say, yes, I saw a snake, and carefully remove the tie from the room, making Jack feel safe for a while.Maybe later, when he's relaxed a bit, then gently lead him to understand that there were no snakes in the first place.

If Jack hadn't entered the room at all, if there hadn't been a misunderstanding at all, then the whole scene of seeing or not seeing the snake would mean nothing.Yet because he saw a snake, he was caught in the sight; and because he was paralyzed by fear, he wanted a way to escape.Siddhartha's teachings are the way of this liberation, and his teachings are called "Dharma". The Dharma is sometimes called a "sacred" path, yet strictly speaking there is no divinity in Buddhism.A path is a method or a tool that leads us from one place to another; here, "dharma" is the path that leads us out of ignorance and into non-ignorance.We use the words "sacred" or "sublime" because the wisdom of the Dhamma frees us from fear and pain, which is the role of gods in general.

Our everyday experience is filled with uncertainty, occasional moments of joy, anxiety, and emotions that snake around us.Our expectations, fears, ambitions, and general hysteria create darkness and shadows, thus making this illusion of the snake all the more vivid.Like Cowardly Jack, we searched for answers in every corner of the dark room.The sole purpose of Siddhartha's teachings is to make us cowards understand that our suffering and delusions are based on illusions. While Siddhartha couldn't erase pain with a wave of a magic wand or some kind of divine power, he was very skillful when it came to turning on the light.He offers many paths and methods to discover the truth.In fact, there are thousands of paths to follow in Buddhism.Why not simplify them into one method?Just as different diseases require different remedies, different approaches are necessary for different habits, cultures and attitudes.Which path to take depends on the mentality of the disciple and the skillfulness of the master.Siddhartha did not frighten everyone with emptiness at the beginning, but taught many disciples in general ways, such as meditation and behavioral norms-do the right thing, don't steal, don't lie, etc.According to the nature of his disciples, he prescribed different degrees of renunciation and austerity, from cutting hair to not eating meat, and so on.These religious-looking strict paths work well for those who cannot hear or understand emptiness at first, and for those whose natures lend themselves to ascetic practice.