Love and Greatness Sutra

Illusions don’t sustain themselves.

Only ultimate reality lasts.

Suffering comes from these illusions.

We project our desires onto reality

And we suffer because we are living

In a dream world that does not coincide

With the way things are.

The discord

Between our desires and reality

Causes suffering.

As we realize our illusions,

And stop projecting them onto others,

We get in touch with the way things are.

I know a woman who desires Love above all things,

But she doesn’t realize love within;

She attaches to the illusion of love

And projects her desires onto men.

She suffers when she realizes that her love is not real.

She is left with the same aching desire

For what she doesn’t have and

She craves it even more.

By dwelling in our illusions

We see only that—our desires—

And we mistake them for reality.

When reality surfaces, we suffer.

The real thing is so much greater.

Why do we traffic in counterfeit?

Clouded by illusions,

We do not recognize the real thing.

The only way to know the supreme source is to live in it.

A man I know desires Greatness above all things,

But how can he ever become great

Until he dispels his illusions about himself.

This man I know projects his greatness everywhere

But that does not make him great.

He is still clinging to the illusion of greatness.

Law, religion, education, art,

A masquerade like love,

Not the real thing!

Men I know project Freedom, Democracy, and Justice

Onto battlefields abroad;

But their ideals only create

The shadow of what they want,

False freedom, false democracy, false justice,

False education and false art.

Just as for some women

Love cannot be attained

By simply desiring it,

So for these men

Greatness cannot be attained

By simply desiring it.

Awash in the dreamy world of illusions and ideals,

Men and women alike will not know true greatness,

Men and women alike will not know true love.

Greatness must desire you,

Love must seek you out!

This can only happen when

You become a vessel for

The grandeur of the universe

And your work, a sacrifice.

CRA

1/24/2008