After lunch, dishes, paperwork, just going about the life I lead, just as it is, I come across this in a work about the bodhisattva ideal:
« In whatever life we are already leading, just as it is, we can choose to direct our energies toward accumulations of worldly power and material wealth, either with well-meaning or self-serving intentions, or else toward beneficial consideration of all concerned, aimed at the development of spiritual awakening and the liberation from suffering. »
The basic choice, everyday
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
Thank you for clarifying.
Good weekend!
Devoting one’s energy to accumulating worldly power and material wealth requires a focus on what is illusory and is born of and gives rise to separation, division, exclusion (I am more powerful than you, I have more money, bigger house, faster car, etc.). What kind of liberation does that bring?
It is true that we need to find the "right amount" of "wealth" to satisfy our material needs (food, shelter, health, etc.) and those of our family. It is also true that we can use "right amounts" of material wealth for the benefit of others, for liberation and spiritual awakening. That’s not the same thing as accumulating it and seeking power.
I read this sentence many times since it was published it and I never understood it and I don’t pretend I do.
However, I think the question should not be about what we choose to do instead of the other. We have to embrace both, don’t we? Is just a question of getting/giving "just the right amount" of each.
No waste.
self-confirmation
or
stepping into the unknown – meeting life – fully
…?
great… life of the mind and life of the heart…. i go for the heart!