In a striking piece of poetry ( Sn 4:15), the Buddha once described the sense of saṁvega — terror or dismay — that inspired him to look for an end to suffering.
I will tell of how I experienced saṁvega.Seeing people floundering like fish in small puddles,competing with one another —as I saw this, fear came into me.
The world was entirely without substance.All the directions were knocked out of line.Wanting a haven for myself,I saw nothing that wasn’t laid claim to.Seeing nothing in the end but competition,I felt discontent.
Rather than trying to solve the problem by looking for a larger puddle for himself or his fellow fish, he looked inside to see why people would want to be fish in the first place. What he found was an arrow embedded in his own heart.
And then I saw an arrow here,so very hard to see,embedded in the heart.Overcome by this arrowyou run in all directions.
But simply on pulling it outyou don’t run,you don’t sink.
For any who are interested, the complete article is found here:
