Here's a
"dharma" version I wrote of the much loved I Corinthians, 13, passage
on love. In Buddhism, "wisdom" is typically seen as the highest
attainment, but I feel that "love" can fill that bill too,
if love is understood in its fullness and selflessness, that is, in its divine or fullest sense.
Beyond
all fabrications and conditions, wisdom and love are one—indeed wisdom
and love "inter-are"—for genuine love is always wise, and highest wisdom
is always loving, though we may not always understand these as such
with our present self-centered sense of wisdom and love. Anyway, here's
my paraphrase. I think it rings true. ~ Steve Goodheart
"If I speak in the tongues of gurus or of divas, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If
I have the gift of samādhi and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge of the True Self, and if I have concentration that can move
mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ..
Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in
evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But
where there are samādhis, they will cease; where there are spiritual
teachings, they will be stilled; where there is spiritual knowledge, it
will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when
completeness, non-duality, appears, what is in part disappears.
When I was
a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like
a child. When I became an adult, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face
to face—our 'original face.' Now I know in part; then I shall know
fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: wisdom, insight, and love. But the heart of these is love."
For more in-depth dharma articles and instruction, visit: METTA REFUGE
"Having the right attitude is essential for success in meditation. Although it is necessary to motivate ourselves to meditate, samâdhi will not arise from ego-based craving for altered states of consciousness or for the repetition of previously experienced peaceful states. This craving will actually increase stress. There is too much desire and sense of self.
