Love in “Only Love is Real” and “One Belt, One Road”
Translator’s note: The original article was published on Tam’s personal website on Jan. 11, 2018.
Bharati is a student of mine. After reading what I wrote on the Einstein Archive, she wrote me a long letter. Along with the letter, she gave a book, Only Love is Real written by a psychiatrist, Brian Weiss. On a day after a snowstorm in Toronto, I sat by the window, reading her letter and reading the book. I gazed at the snow piled up on the grass. And the greyish blue sky. What Einstein says about love came over me all of a sudden. According to Brian Weiss, this love is the only thing that is real; according to Einstein, this love is the unifying force field; according to Nyingma practitioners, this love is the virtue of Dharmakaya. The three can be said to be the same. They can be said to be different. What is real applies only to our world; the unifying force field applies only to our universe. And yet, the virtue of Dharmakaya is the oneness that pervades not one but infinite space-time and countless universes.
To say that they are different, they are in fact also the same. When we experience this oneness, the oneness of the infinite universes, what we can feel, we can be aware of, is also this unifying field, the only truth. By the same token, what Einstein felt as this unifying field is none other than this only truth. It is just that the emphasis is different, the language to express this becomes different.
The change in time, the change in phenomena, can mask this oneness. The blooming meadows in spring, and the snow piled high in winter, these are differences. What we see as differences can also hijack the oneness. This way we become blind to the grace of Dharmadhatu, the virtue of Dharmadhatu, the love of Dharmadhatu. This way we have fallen into the cyclical world of samsara – because of this blindness, we become mired in confusion, mired in the noise of right and wrong. Those who believe in God, if they weren’t blind to the grace, virtue and love of God in the first place, they wouldn’t have discriminated because of race or because of religion; they wouldn’t bully those in the minority and their religion. If God’s love is seen as the only thing that is real, the sense of equality comes naturally – without equality, how can there be oneness? The bullies and the aggressors are never good disciples of God, and they are destined to a samsaric existence.
There are a good dozen trees in my backyard and I have never seen the big trees bullying the small trees. It is quite interesting. The big trees always leave enough space for the little trees. In my garden, they are also many flowers of many varieties, and every kind is able to bud and blossom. There is never a case where one species is invading another. So when I read in the news that some suggests that only three hundred million people[1] should be left alive on Earth, I think about the flowers and the trees in nature; I think of the cultures and the countries who are being bullied. Humans are inferior to plants and trees. We humans have thoughts and yet we understand nothing about oneness, the only truth. Or we take this “only truth” as “only me.” Me me me.
Why am I a supporter of “One Belt, One Road”? Because only love is real. Many Chinese websites overseas heavily denounce China, saying that the country will meet its end soon. The reason? China has no freedom, democracy or human rights. These concepts have become the tools of aggression. Consider this, what have these concepts brought other than war and civil unrest? In constrast, what has“One Belt, One Road” brought other than a sharing of peace and prosperity? Some say it is a tool for invasion. In some African countries, some have begun rousing anti-China sentiments. Africans will eventually understand, who brings them peace and benefits, and who brings them harm. Time will tell, the truth will out. “One Belt, One Road” is the forester, the balancing force against deforestation. I don’t for a moment believe deforestation will prevail.
The idea of “One Belt, One Road” is an echo of the thinking of Wang Yangming[2] called “zhixing he yi” or “the oneness of knowing and action.” In truth, this oneness is not enough. We should also promote Love of “Only Love is Real,” the Love of Einstein’s unifying field, the Love of the virtue of Dharmakaya. Use Love to tilt the balance of the oppressors and the aggressors. Because Jesus loves us, Allah loves us, and the virtue of Dharmakaya pervades all universes. Let us follow this love and this virtue. May the seedlings of “One Belt, One Road” become the buds, blossoms and fruits for all!
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[1] The current population on Earth is estimated at 7.6 billion.
[2] Wang Yangming (1472-1529) was a philosopher and a calligrapher in the Ming China (1368-1644). He was a Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian thinker and rose to the rank of a general and the Minister of Rites in the Ming court. His philosophy was later coined as “Yangming Tradition.”