Impartiality is not a glorified word for dismissal or non-action when action is necessary. Looking but not seeing does not mean to live in a messy environment and not see it for what it is. Neutrality is not another word for callousness or denial. As practitioners of wisdom and compassion, we must be very clear about such misunderstandings and misappropriations of instruction. The illustrious Padmasambhava instructed Yeshe Tsogyal, “Ascend with the conduct while descending with the view.” In other words, all conduct is to be uplifting of self and others, high in its quality and caliber, and pure in its intent and motivation. Simultaneously, the view of emptiness (everything and everyone being more than what it seems and also not what one perceives since self and its apparatus are empty) is to be the way of one’s mind.

This might read as a contradiction and might feel like it sometimes, but in actuality the smooth texture of uninterrupted benevolence is being activated. The view of emptiness undoes all distinctions thus all preferences and biases. That is the impartiality that we – with dualistic minds and emotions – can embody.

Quotation: from Luminous Melodies by Karl Brunnholzl (highly recommended. Purchase it from your favorite bookseller.)

Image: Ah by Infiitefiend on DeviantArt

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