We continue now with Shambhala Sun Editor-in-Chief Melvin McLeod’s 10 reasons why Buddhism can be enriching to the growing number of us who identify as “Spiritual but not Religious.” Reason #2 appears here; click here to read Melvin’s introduction to this series, and here to read the first installment (#1: “There is no Buddhist God.”).
It’s about your basic goodness.
Buddhism is not about salvation or original sin. It’s not about becoming somebody different or going somewhere else. Because both you and your world are basically good.
With all its ups and downs, this world of ours works. It warms us; it feeds us; it offers us color, sound, and touch. We don’t have to struggle against our world. It is neither for us nor against us. It is a simple, vivid world of direct experience we can investigate, care for, enjoy, make love to.
We are basically good as well, confused as we may be. In Buddhism, our true nature has many names, such as buddhanature, ordinary mind, sugatagarbha, Vajradhara, or just plain buddha—fundamental awakeness. The thing is, we can’t solidify, identify, or conceptualize it in any way. Then it’s just the same old game we’re stuck in now. We do not own this basic goodness. It is not inside of us, it is not outside of us, it is beyond the reach of conventional mind. It is empty of all form, yet everything we experience is its manifestation. It is nothing and the source of everything—how do you wrap your mind around that? All you can do is look directly, relax, and let go.