Forum Post: Occupy the Present
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 1, 2011, 5:25 p.m. EST by sinnerg
(0)
from Oakland, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
In our kitchen at home, we have a statue of the Buddha siting on our windowsill. Currently it holds the following sign:
"If we can look upon our work not for self-benefit, but as a means to benefit society, we will be practicing appreciation and patience in our daily lives.
If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.
It is not life and wealth and power that enslave people, but the clinging to life and wealth and power. Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Whatever suffering there is in this world arises from desiring only myself to be happy. And whatever joy there is in this world, arises from desiring to share happiness with everyone. True charity only occurs when there are no notions of giving, giver, or gift. Any material form, or thought, or feeling, past or present, should be regarded as, ‘This is not mine, not what I am, this is not my self.’”
I AM THE 0.00%"
Yep. I agree....mostly.
Really "0%"?
And "If you knew what I know".
Interesting, "sinnerg"...
But, with respect, do you know much about the LIFE of the Buddha?
Because The Compassionate One is so often represented sitting in meditation, many people - even among our "pop-idol-gurus", who should know better - are tempted to think that the Buddha was always sitting silently in deep samadhi and never getting his hands dirty with such "mundane" issues as war, poverty, social justice...
Well, as it turns out, the Gautama did NOT have a meditation cushion sowed to his ass like so many of our self-proclaimed "enlightened ones". He did quite a bit of traveling and - take a deep breath - he even got INVOLVED IN POLITICS. YUP! The Buddha was a PEACE ACTIVIST, who often tried to mediate wars between the kingdoms of the day. He wasn't always successful, as human folly is quite a formidable adversary, even for one of the greatest Teachers the world has ever known.
To use the coarse language of the "trolls" on this forum, you might even say that the Buddha was a "dirty hippie commie peacenik". And he could very well have been accused of looking for "free handouts", as he in fact systematically trained his monks to BEG for their food. Luckily, they were not in 2011 America...
A majority of the Great Masters - such as Confucius, Pythagoras, Socrates, the Great Jewish Prophets, including of course Jesus, were VERY DEEPLY INVOLVED IN THE POLITICS OF THEIR TIME. Socrates was so irritating to the Athenian Establishment that he earned the nickname "the gadfly"... And of course, Jesus entered the Temple with a WHIP to chase the money changers who were the equivalent of the greedy banksters of Wall Street. And - surprise surprise!! - both men eventually paid the ultimate price for their courage.
So yes, in conclusion, I agree with much of what you say above, as long as it does not become an alibi for indifference to politics or PASSIVITY, as is so often the case with religious leaders or pop gurus in today's America. Some of the latter have in fact amassed enormous personal fortunes and have never been heard to utter in polite company such disturbing words as "social justice", "need for change" or "the poor"...
The example of the Great Masters teaches us that a spirituality focused exclusively on the "inner life" is INCOMPLETE. At some point, one needs to get off one's fat... zafu cushion and get one's hands dirty, as the amazing young people of "Occupy Wall Street" are showing to America and to the world.
P.S. Do you seriously claim to be the 0.00% percent? Do you really think you are beyond the ego? Forgive my bluntness, but they say that those who truly are would NEVER make the claim... When there is no more ego, WHO can claim?