The Unfinished Buddha

I have a small statue that I made of a figure sitting in a meditation posture. I made it from ceramic clay that my roommate gave me. I'm not a skilled potter by any means, and I used the simple methods I learned from when my 5th grade class made ceramic coffee mugs for our parents. After I had finished the basic shape of my sculpture, I wanted to give it more detail, but my good friend stopped me. “No!”, he exclaimed, “Don't finish it! It's perfect just like this.” I thought about what he said, and he was right. There was something charming about the basic form of the figurine and it having those unfinished characteristics. Over the years, I've come to understand that my “unfinished Buddha” has a more profound meaning too.

Every one of us has the basic “shape” of a Buddha. We want to be happy and avoid suffering, and we do our best to achieve these goals. Through daily life, we come to understand better ways in which to do this, and we learn how we may work on ourselves and improve on our shortcomings. Of course, whether we follow through with what we learn is another matter. We may have the basic shape of a Buddha, but everyone also has “rough edges” and “unfinished features” in their character. We can be selfish, arrogant, and destructive. However, there does seem to be a general theme that we learn from our suffering and the suffering of others and grow and change in ways which promote everyone's well-being.

One of the most challenging parts of this process is coming to terms with our faults and shortcomings. We all must deal with the experience of observing our shortcomings and areas where there's room for improvement. It's challenging to not feel bad about ourselves at these times, for they have a severity which can be distressing. As a result, we often fall victim to a perception of ourselves as being flawed or inadequate. We read stories about enlightened beings who attain perfect states of consciousness and watch movies with heroes who embody superhuman qualities, and it's impossible to not compare these characters with the reality of ourselves. A short browsing of any social media app will quickly show how common it is for people to show only what seems “perfect” in their posts. We avoid showing the parts of ourselves that seem like anything less. However, no matter how hard or how long we work on ourselves, there is always room for improvement.

What can be done about this predicament in which we find ourselves? One possible solution is to take on a different view of our shortcomings. What if there was no final, top level for humanity and instead our potential was unlimited? If it were, then there would always be room for improvement. In fact, our shortcomings would be essential for the furthering of our growth. Therefore, we would have to adopt a different attitude towards our flaws. We would need to develop an attitude of acceptance and even appreciation of our shortcomings, because the potential for growth would be a necessary ingredient to allow us to continue on. Instead of a peak achievement, our Buddhahood would be a continuing process of transformation and growth.

Of course, we also can't be complacent. If we don't address the ways in which we need to improve, we simply suffer as consequences build up. Paired with the acceptance and appreciation of our shortcomings should be an understanding of the need for timeliness in addressing them. As our shortcomings become known to us, we should work to improve and correct our faults as best we can. In this way, there is a rhythm to our growth. We learn to not rush ahead, because we know that we are involved in a process that we will never finish. However, we also do our best to not lag behind, instead aiming to be in harmony with our growth. We accept our unfinished features, but we work to maintain our basic form. Like my statue, we are all “unfinished Buddha

s”.