Doing Our Best

2025, November, Issue 174

As a droplet

In the ocean,

battered

among crashing waves,

wishing

to liberate all droplets,

to liberate

All sentient beings

from this endless suffering,

these perpetual storms

of heart and mind,

Wishing to free,

this droplet, this self,

observing

All this turbulent madness,

We aspire to awaken,

in order to free all beings,

in order to become free at last,

in order to overcome

This most violent ocean!

A poem by Robert Aho © 2025

If we wish to escape this most violent stupid world, we must awaken. Only through discovering this bright nondual brilliance within is it possible to find a way to liberation. Until we discover Ultimate Reality for ourselves, we remain completely at the mercy of this Ocean of Suffering.

Cyclic existence is the Ocean of Suffering. It is created by mind, perpetuated by delusion, adhered to by attachments, and engaged in by our own embroiled aversion to it. We may see all the horrors apparent with this most terrible cycle; however, very few choose to actually cut to the root of what makes it happen in the first place. Few wish to embrace knowing that we are not separate from what I have referred to as Timeless Luminosity.

It is not hard to see that our downfall occurs when we think that we have an ego that needs defending or that our actions do not have consequences, or when we close our heart and mind even further, becoming very dark and destructive, simply by assuming that we are not connected to everything everywhere all at once. It’s not hard to see that we, each of us, are not even possible without absolutely everything else.

We lock ourselves within this prison of cyclic existence with our ego. When this happens, suffering increases for everyone, because we are certainly not separate. When we allow ourselves to live in a condition of less love and compassion, by not having even the aspiration to awaken, we harm everyone. Engaging in battles with those whom we disagree with will only create more darkness, more delusion, more pain and suffering. Only awakening will truly remove suffering.

Now, don’t take my word for that, really investigate mind, really discover just what is going on here. When we look inwardly at our heart center, at mind, we discover that we are the cause of all this misery in the world. And, that is a daunting discovery. Where can we even begin? How can we even hope to remove even an ounce of suffering? We truly are like a tiny droplet in a great turbulent ocean. Removing all that suffering seems hopeless.

Well, we do the best that we can. We’re one tiny droplet remaining calm. We’re one tiny droplet discovering reality. We don’t scream at the crashing waves. We don’t fight the currents and the tide. We look within, discovering an amazing sense of ease. When we do this, it calms the waves around us. As our power increases in this way, the entire ocean begins to calm. We don’t create ripples and waves, we remain at ease.

Of course, as you may already know, calm abiding in and of itself does not lead to awakening. It is merely the basis that is required, when we want to have enough insight into reality in order to awaken. If one mere droplet in this great ocean awakens, becoming fully liberated, then blessings are spread throughout. Awakening becomes a possibility for the entire ocean. The ocean becomes pacified.

When we are on the Path, that is we have aspired to awaken, we do our best. We don’t leave the Path in order to bark at the beasts in the jungle. We remain at ease under all circumstances, even if we are attacked by beasts. Remaining at ease is something that we can do, and it allows us to find some benefit under all circumstances.

When we have sufficiently developed our Bodhicitta, which is the compassionate wish to free all beings, we can start to make decisions in life that bring benefit to all. This doesn’t mean that we will always make the right decision. What it means it that we have created an intention that will form the basis for decisions in life. When we look at the suffering in the world, we begin to act in ways that will cause no harm, or at least a lesser amount of harm. We look at our own mind, making sure that we are not disturbed, then carefully bring benefit to all. Maybe we are generous with food, or give donations to worthy causes, or pick up a worm from the pavement, moving it to a safe location. We don’t do anything on purpose that harms any being, whether it is human or animal, or even beings that we can’t perceive with our ordinary senses.

This does not mean that we need to follow specific rules or take certain vows, it simply means that we keep this aspiration to awaken as supreme, placing the well-being of all sentient beings as our practice, so that they too can awaken in time. Our actions create causes and conditions for the benefit of all; and, so, we dedicate each moment in this way. We do our best.

Blessings in Light,

Robert Aho