What if…

I read a book once that proposed the following thought experiment: imagine that everyone you encounter today is a fully awakened Buddha whose only intention is to help you wake up. It’s an interesting thing to consider because it both exposes our underlying assumptions and invites a shift in our perspective.

Most of us assume that we live within a world where we have to compete with others for limited resources. Our collective culture sanctifies the notion of private property and holds its highest accolades for those who accumulate the most. We worship ideas of self-effort and self-determination as if they were the main source of the shape of our lives.

In school we are constantly measured to see who is ahead and who is behind. We are encouraged to work hard and make it to the front of whatever line we are in. Not everyone can be at the top of the class so we learn to compete against each other. Success and praise are limited quantities so you had better work hard to make sure you get enough.

This mindset is terribly motivating. We learn we must rouse ourselves into action through activating our sense of lack and our desire for more. The problem is that since there is no end to desire, nothing actually soothes the deep sense of not being enough that is hard-wired into human experiences. The Buddha called this fundamental human discontent dukkha. He also said that the cause of our suffering is desire for more. The Buddha taught these two truths and taught a path that can lead us to a radically new way of living.

The thought experiment of imagining everyone you encounter is a Buddha whose only intention is to support your awakening is one way to explore both our own endless desire and the possibility of living in a different way. Imagining the wisdom and beneficial intention of those around us invites us to notice our constant competing and complaining and to even consider that the separation we take for granted might not be true.

I tried this yesterday. I was doing well until someone said something that upset me. I felt criticized and unappreciated. I felt unseen. ‘I work so hard and the only thing that counts is what I don’t do’ I thought. How could this person be a Buddha trying to wake me up when they were so critical?

But as I stayed with my reactivity, I could notice its power. Though I can sometimes get lost in uncertainty, when I am upset, I feel 100% certain that I am right and whatever is upsetting me is wrong. In Buddhism, we call this delusive certainty which is a particular kind of ignorance, one of the three poisons (along with greed and anger).

I also saw how easily I am distracted from my deeper intentions. I want to live a life of generosity and love, yet sometimes I am so reactive that I forget what is most important. I want to be the one who is right and good and blameless. No, I want to be the one who is seen as right and good and blameless. This is embarrassing to admit and mostly I try not to notice how tied I am to other peoples’ opinions of me.

Gradually, over a couple of hours, I was released from my realm of complaint and delusive certainty. I realized there was truth in the comments that had upset me and that perhaps some changes I could make to live a little slower and a little more aligned with my deepest values.

I suppose that these Buddhas that surround us will use any means possible to help us see where we are stuck and where we have tried to co-opt the world to support our small and deluded fantasies of perfection. Waking up is sometimes uncomfortable, as we are required to acknowledge our part in the suffering that seemed to be someone else’s fault.

So if you’re up for a challenge, imagine today that everyone you encounter is a Buddha whose only intention is to help you wake up—to help you break out of your delusive certainty into the wider possibility of life. But don’t expect it to be all hearts and flowers for you (and I) appear to be hard-bitten cases that sometimes require rather extreme interventions.