Author: Jason

The Role of the Heart						Jason Espada

Wisdom is not just an intellectual study, but a study of perception, of right and wrong perceptions.  For this reason, what we call 'the heart' has to be considered.  

We can see for ourselves, there are certain types of emotions that veil the mind, and other kinds of feelings that make the mind wonderfully clear.

I have heard that in Asian languages there is just one word used for both 'heart' and 'mind'.  And when we know that when we are concerned, when we are appreciative, then everything appears to us differently.  And we see things very differently when we love.  The whole world becomes luminous.

I believe there is an important difference between having this developed, and when this quality is not brought out as much.  This is something we all need, not only to survive and to find fulfillment as living beings, it is also necessary to see things as they are.

Sitting very still, no movement, everything very still, a person can be like a smoky mirror.  When we love, this is like being a clear mirror. 

What I am referring to is not the emotional love that many think of when they hear the word, rather it is a feeling and an outlook that is based on an appreciative knowing of the life we are graced to be here with; our family, our world.

Our true nature is not recognized only by correcting one's view.  This is because of we have certain 'mental veils' that prevent us from knowing.  This means that a certain level of mind is obscured, and these 'veils' are made of our conditioning.  

We act, and have acted in the past without knowledge, uncompassionately, with anger, or with impatience, pride, selfishness, and so on.  All this is with us.

So it is that positive actions counter these tendencies that have a false basis.  When it is said that one needs a great stock of merit to meditate on wisdom teachings, and get a true result, this is what is meant.