Just too lazy

There is not much point in explaining the Buddha’s teaching to someone who leaves their front door open in the summer; who then complains about the flies in his house—and won’t clean out the barn which is full of cow manure.  This guy doesn’t want to screen his porch or clean out his barn.  This guy is looking for a panacea, that is, a cure-all whereby he won’t have to labor very much.

In the world of religion there are plenty of people like this.  They, too, are looking for a panacea in order to avoid the hard labor of repairing their being so it can withstand the vicissitudes of life and attain some measure of confidence that they are more than the sum of their anatomy.  This panacea is the belief in a merciful god or a savior who will save them the labor of reforming themselves.  Like the guy mentioned earlier who leaves his door open then complains about the flies, those who believe in god or a savior are lazy.  They complain that they have too many other important things to do.  In this regard, it is much easier for them to turn their lives over to some preacher or priest—or believe in some ridiculous tale of a second coming (e.g., Maitreya or Jesus).

The avoidance of spiritual labor, that is, the indifference to the reformation of one’s being, is something people, in general, find easy to do.  Rationalizations are easy to come by.  Such people are still infatuated with the ordinary world.  They still believe that its reality is the true one.  This is why they cling tenaciously to their possessions, friends and family.  

It hasn’t dawned on these people that the animative principle of their body, which the Buddha uncovered, is the only true panacea.  It, so to speak, is god, or the savior that will deliver beings from their misery— but only if they turn to this animative principle.  In the example of the guy who leaves his front door open; who will not clean out the manure in his barn which is a breeding ground of flies, the savior is a fountain of enthusiasm that finds him one day screening his front porch and cleaning out the barn.  

This savior (i.e., the animative principle) comes from within which leads us to fundamentally change our relationship with the outside world.  By being more and more in accord with it we come to see the intrinsic harmony and goodness of the universe.  On the same note, we realize that suffering has a cause—it just doesn’t come out of the blue by accident. 

Comments

[TGL]

Your article brings back memories of a funny conversation I had with a great thinker concerning the humanized mind. It went something like this;

"If I were a visitor on this planet my first question would be; why do you have to pay to live on a planet you are born on?"

"Obviously it is considered to be the zenith of human civilization and above all self-definition."

"If that is the zenith of our self-definition I dare not even imagine of what the nadir is."

"Somewhere spirit obviously lost track of itself and started counting beans as means of finding a way back home."

"It is the notion that we have arrived somewhere with fertile soil that brought us all the problems in the first place."

regards

TGL

[axel g]

Zen is a deep source of inspiration and wisdom to many-a-seeker.

I find that living and breathing zen in a monastery is a wonderful way to take in and practice these profound teachings.

Strive on mindfully...

Nice site +_+