EVERY GREAT MYTH about the hero’s journey entails a cycle of departure, transformation, and return. At the end of the story, the hero or heroine returns to their community to bring back the newfound knowledge, wisdom, and medicine they have bravely acquired. Most significant of all, they return transformed and ready to begin a life of service. We see versions of this returning hero archetype in works of art, in Star Wars, Avatar, and in the lives of great women and men all over the world. Archetypes are the patterns, images, and symbols that appear in dreams, myths, and fairy tales. They represent the instincts shared by all humans toward compassion and the many other qualities that are collective, ancestral, and bigger than any individual. The great myths are our stories. As we grow in the practice, we start to move in the direction of heroism. Ultimately, the hero surrenders their life to something much bigger than themselves.
Siddhartha spent six long years in the forest trying to undo the tangle of his mind. The climax of his struggle was an epic showdown with Mara, the chief demon, the ultimate personification of greed, hatred, and delusion. As Siddhartha sat under the bodhi tree, Mara’s armies ferociously attacked him over and over. In the end, he was able to conquer them all and discover the great truth he had sought for so long. After his six years in the forest and his encounter with Mara under the bodhi tree, Siddhartha, now a Buddha, returned to his family’s home and community. He had discovered spiritual truths that he wanted to share, and he offered teachings to his former wife and his father, and then he passed these teachings on to his young son. All of them understood the depth of his message and they became devoted followers. Shortly thereafter, the Buddha left his home a second time, this time as a great spiritual teacher. He would go on to teach for forty-five years, setting in motion one of the biggest spiritual movements on the planet, which has lasted for more than 2,500 years and continues to grow in the present day.
We all go through hardships, wherever our journey takes us. Our lives may look different, but we—and all heroes and heroines—face difficulties and tests along the road of trials. In every mythical story, there’s a moment when the hero feels unprepared to go forward, and yet he or she has to find the strength to keep going. We all reach a point when we believe, “I can’t overcome this problem,” then we do and we learn how to meet the challenges as they come. We encounter those places in ourselves that we thought we could never be open to; but now, even when we feel overwhelmed, we stay present with them and we grow.
When we can’t see clearly ahead and we don’t know whether to turn left or right, we go forward anyway. An aspect of faith is trusting that life is happening for us and not to us. When we experience this support, our energy is freed up and we find the courage of a warrior. There are moments in life when we genuinely don’t know what to do. Yet we have to move in some direction. Freedom requires us to move toward our goal. If we have that faith, we’ll see that everything is happening for a reason and on time, and we can move with a certain grace and trust, even if it’s risky. We can’t always play it safe; sometimes we have to seize the moment and act boldly. This is part of the hero’s journey, finding our strength and learning to trust our gut instincts.
We don’t always know what’s going to happen, and there are always demons, trials, and struggles. And just as we’re about to get out of the prison of our own creation, the most intense demon of all stands before us. When the Buddha conquered Mara, the greatest demon, he placed his hand on the Earth, roared like a lion, and declared his right to be free. That is what we all have to do at times. We declare our power and our right to be free. We do this while trusting in the higher intelligence that is guiding our lives. The more we transform ourselves, the more tests we face; it’s part of the journey, it’s all part of the bigger story in which our lives are playing out. Every challenge is meant to wake us up so that we can learn and become able to benefit others when the time is right. One human being who opens their heart can inspire many others. Never underestimate the power of love and compassion.
A Bodhisattva is someone determined to free others from the harmful effects of greed, hatred, and delusion. It’s a core theme in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and it’s said that Prince Siddhartha had been a practicing Bodhisattva for countless lifetimes. Taking Bodhisattva vows is a commitment, and it is one I have taken many times with some great masters. Bodhisattva means “awakening being” or “one who understands the nature of things.” The word bodhisattva is sometimes translated as “enlightened hero,” one whose every action is for the benefit of others.
Bodhisattvas often make vows to walk into hell for a heavenly cause. They commit themselves fully to a life of service. I feel that true Bodhisattvas are the descendants of awakened beings. They are part of a living web of celestial beings, devas (gods), and Dharma protectors who support their heroic intentions to serve others. They use the challenges and sufferings of life in order to wake up. With each experience, they ask, “What can I learn? How can I grow?” Bodhisattvas are moved into action by soul force and fierce compassion. They don’t shy away from difficulties; they relish them.
Bodhisattvas appear in many forms, including environmentalists, teachers, activists, artists, musicians, and everyday people who work to alleviate the suffering of others because they care. The movement is growing. Motivated by compassion and understanding interconnectedness, bodhisattvas work day and night to step off the wheel of suffering and become a light in the darkness. If just a few people wake up, their awakening will affect the whole world.
Every morning, the Dalai Lama recites a prayer called the “Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity,” composed by Shantideva, an eighth-century Indian Buddhist sage:
Bodhisattva Prayer for Humanity1
May I be a guard for those who need protection
A guide for those on the path
A boat, a raft, a bridge for those who wish to
cross the flood
May I be a lamp in the darkness
A resting place for the weary
A healing medicine for all who are sick
A vase of plenty, a tree of miracles
And for the boundless multitudes of living beings
May I bring sustenance and awakening
Enduring like the earth and sky
Until all beings are freed from sorrow
And all are awakened.
I would never have been able to keep going in the face of so many difficulties if it had been just me that mattered. I had to have a bigger motivation than that. While on retreats I would often suffer, but when I would think about the state of the world or my community at home, an inner strength would come over me. I would think about the children in the world who are suffering and the women struggling to feed their families. This power would give me the courage to keep going so that one day, I might be able to help alleviate some of the suffering in this world. “For the benefit of all beings” is not just a recitation practice. For me, it’s my life; it gives me wings and the motivation to keep going. My joy comes from this.
Last year, Jack Kornfield and Alice Walker did a benefit for the East Bay Meditation Center called “Fierce Love in Times of Conflict.” I asked Alice, “How do we love people who hate us?” This was a few days after the mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and many in our community were hurting. Her answer was immediate, “We have to understand that people are programmed, they are taught to hate.” It’s the programming and conditioning that is so destructive; it’s a form of sickness. She told stories about doing voter registration in the late sixties in Mississippi. She talked about how prepared people were to die. Yet they were happy. They had parties and would tell each other, “If we die like this, let it be so.” The KKK left hate mail in their mailboxes, but they just ignored it. They were determined. They felt so committed to the rightness of what they were doing and there was such love between them, that they were not afraid of dying. People are feeling the need to stand with others now, even at the risk of their own lives. We don’t need brute force when we have soul force. Soul force is the power of truth in action and it’s fierce.
Interconnectedness is a fundamental teaching in Buddhism, and it’s a part of what motivates us to act compassionately. It’s a worldview that sees oneness in all things. Separation exists only on the level of appearances. The deluded mind sees separation and says, “You are different.” You speak a different language or your skin is darker or there’s something else that makes you seem separate. But there is so much beneath that. Beneath the surface, everything is interwoven. Ecologist and social justice activist Joanna Macy sums it up this way: “Our lives are as inextricably interwoven as the nerve cells in the mind of a Great Being.”2
While incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “All life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”3 All things are interconnected. They are of a single underlying reality. Deep within, there is no separation. We are all a part of this universal oneness.
To do the work he did, Dr. King had to see this clearly. Freedom, in his mind, wasn’t just for one group. It was for everyone—those filled with hatred and those who were being oppressed. He understood that for him to be free, everyone needs to be free. He couldn’t have done all that he did unless he realized it wasn’t just about him. It was about something bigger than any one of us. He vowed to free the oppressed and the oppressors from the effects of greed, hatred, and delusion. This is the power of love.
Recognition of interconnectedness motivates us to serve in the world and brings healing. It serves us all to see ourselves in others. I see myself in you, and therefore I want you to be well. I hope you have that deep level of respect for yourself. I see myself in the planet, so I want the planet to be healthy. Black Elk said, “And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.”4
Understanding interconnectedness has practical importance. We are interdependent with everything and everyone. The Buddha taught that there is no separate self. In separateness lies the world’s greatest misery; in compassion lies the world’s true strength. Even our least significant thoughts, words, and actions have consequences throughout the universe. If you throw a pebble into a pond, its ripples create other ripples that create other ripples and other ripples. This is the butterfly effect in which a small change here can result in large differences there. When you purify your heart and mind, the ripple goes out and out and out. A single moment of mindfulness leads to another moment of mindfulness. This universal truth becomes the rallying cry of our practice on behalf of all beings everywhere. It’s this truth that motivates the hero and the great bodhisattvas in the world. It’s time to take a stand for all life on Earth.
Recognizing interbeing, we cultivate connection and gratitude (and we complain a little less). Interconnectedness is the key to forgiveness. We all come from the same source. We’re part of the same tree of life, the Edenic tree of knowledge. George Washington Carver said, “How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and strong because someday you will have been all of these.”5 We are everything. When we see oneness in all things, we see ourselves in everyone we meet. César Chávez said, “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community….Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sake and for our own.”
The Dalai Lama writes, “No matter what is going on around you, never give up. Develop the heart. Too much energy is spent in your country on developing the mind instead of the heart. Be compassionate, not just to your friends, but to everyone. Work for peace in your heart and in the world….Never give up.”6 It’s your life, and you can choose how you want to live it. To some degree, we all have traumatic stress. Like fallen angels, we’ve lost the use of our wings, and it’s time for us to regain them so we can take flight. One wing is compassion and the other is wisdom. These wings work together to carry us further and further on our journey. To fly, we need both. Wisdom helps us see and accept the truths of life. Wisdom and compassion are the wings of awakening, our protectors.
Our outrage, concern, and despair are an expression of how much we love, and so we can turn it into a powerful form of compassion, the kind of compassion Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, César Chavez, Steven Biko, Black Elk, Gandhi, Wangari Maathai, Malala Yousafzai and so many others had and have. They are standing with us. Stay close to your soul tribe and unite in the light of truth. There’s work to do. Hold your head high, and don’t give in to despair. The Truth is stronger than a lie. Pens, poster boards and picket signs are just the beginning. Do what’s right, and resist what isn’t. Dr. King said, “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”7
We each carry within our hearts what is needed for the healing of our world at this time. It’s the gift you came here to bring, and you will find your unique way to express it. Trust your innermost being, trust in your true nature. My prayers are that you find your call to action. In spite of this world breaking my heart over and over, I love it with every ounce of my being. I signed on as a friend and I hope that you do too. If you ever get lost, look at the path closely, then ask yourself, one question: Does this path have heart? If it does, then follow it, friend.
My Closing Prayer
For the benefit of all beings and for all life on earth, Please Stand Up.
For the seven generations from now, Please Stand Up.
For our Ancestors and all those who have come before us I ask you to Please Stand Up.
For all those without a voice, abused, lost, and neglected I ask you to Please Stand Up.
For the indigenous Earth keepers and protectors I ask you to Please Stand Up.
For all those who have died defending the sacred I ask you to Please Stand Up.
In the name of wisdom and infinite compassion, together with a Fierce Heart, we will Stand Up.