Bodhisattvas in Hell

According to all the world's great wisdom traditions, the secret to happiness is said to be remarkably simple: all we need to do is cherish others, to learn to love as deeply as we possibly can, to the bottomless depths of our souls. These words, however, are as easy to read as they are to write—truly opening ourselves to another human being, seeing through another's eyes and feeling another's heartbeat as our very own, is to embrace the impossible pain of existence. After all, beneath the veneer of day to day life, we all know the same hidden dread, the desperation and loneliness we were all born into. And through the sacred channel of human empathy, the veils of comfort, desire, and separation begin to fall away, slowly revealing the true face of the manifest world: suffering.

Where then, in the sulphur and shadow of this uniquely human hell, is our "happiness" to be found? Effortlessly we watch as the question unasks itself, and the flames of our suffering become just another texture of our salvation—the cool waters of liberation caresses our calloused skin, and together we can finally awaken from this nightmare.