To me, one of the most interesting stories in the history of Buddhism is found in the hagiography surrounding Asanga. As a convert to Buddhism, he sought long and hard to follow the path as he first learned it. But he never felt it gave him all that he was looking for, that there should be more. He decided he wanted to learn from Maitreya, the Bodhisattva who it has been said will be the next Buddha in our world. He set out a path of isolation and asceticism to do so, meditating for over a decade. Several times he almost gave up, but he kept at it. During this time he was changing, being made for the better, even if he did not know he was. His struggle was purifying him and making him ready so that one day he could, and would, have his desire fulfilled. It was when he thought he was a failure, that he was never going to find himself in the presence of Maitreya, that he wandered away from his hermitage, thinking it was time for him to do something else. In that journey, he saw a wounded dog, howling from its pain, with maggots crawling out of its side. Filled with compassion for both the dog and the maggots, he pondered how he could help the dog be relieved from suffering without hurting the maggots. In the end, he cut into his thigh, making a place for the maggots, and he decided he would slowly transfer them there by use of his tongue. Nonetheless, he was sickened by the site of the maggots, so he closed his eyes and set about his task. When he found out his tongue was not moving properly, he opened up his eyes to see Maitreya was there before him. Asanga asked him why Maitreya had finally come and heeded his request. Maitreya said he had come and had always been there, but first Asanga had to have his heart purified through meditation so that Asanga would have the heart of compassion needed to see him. Maitreya also said that only Asanga could see him, for everyone else, they would see the dog, not Maitreya. Asanga was not convinced, so Maitreya asked to be put on his shoulders and to be taken into town. When there, Maitreya’s point was proven to be true: most of the people there only saw the dog. Now ready to listen to Maitreya, Asanga was trained by him and given several key texts which Asanga would use for his own Buddhist writings, allowing him to help form the tradition which would develop into the Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism.
Despite its Buddhist source, there is something very Christian to this tale. All we need to do is recount how Jesus said that those who help the poor, the needy, the helpless are really helping him:
When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?’ And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:31 -40)
If this is true, one would expect that we should somehow be able to see Jesus in the people we help. Perhaps the truth is as we find in the story of Asanga. To see and know Jesus requires a heart of compassion; Jesus said those who are pure at heart shall see God. If we do not see Jesus in the poor, this is not to say he is not there — it is, however, to say we have a long way to go for such purity of heart. Giving and helping the poor, the needy, the suffering, however, is the start which is needed for us to get there. The more we give of ourselves in acts of love, for the sake of Christ, the more wholesome seeds of grace we will sow in our heart, and the more these seeds will be able to grow and develop in us, overtaking the seeds of sin which obscure our vision of God.
When we contemplate the way things appear, we must remember that such appearances tend to be contrary to their reality. How we approach phenomena will determine how we will understand them. The problem for most of us is that we approach the world with hearts of stone. We have stored up seeds of sin, and let them thrive. We do not uproot the seeds of egotism, but rather, let them bloom and reseed in our consciousness, causing more and more sin in our lives which will need to be set to fire in the fires of purgatory. The weeds of sin which grow can be overtaken now by seeds of grace, but we must be willing to develop the virtues which overcome the habits of vice. This is the reason that, to us, it is just a poor, depressed person before us, someone who we tend to blame for their own misfortune, thus justifying our neglect. We need to do better. We need to realize what Jesus himself said. We need to find out how we can see Jesus in them. Once we do so, many of the debates we have will turn out to be meaningless. One who loves Jesus will love the poor, wretched soul before them. Indeed, if they are capable of taking great care and concern for liturgy, because the eucharist is the sacramental presence of Christ, should they also not take great care and concern for the wretched, whom Jesus also identified with?
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