The Right to be Lazy ... Blessings of Work
In 1770 at London, an anonymous pamphlet appeared under the title, An Essay on Trade and Commerce. It made some stir in its time. The author, a great philanthropist, was indignant that “the factory population of England had taken into its head the fixed idea that in their quality of Englishmen all the individuals composing it have by right of birth the privilege of being freer and more independent than the laborers of any country in Europe. This idea may have its usefulness for soldiers, since it stimulates their valor, but the less the factory workers are imbued with it the better for themselves and the state. Laborers ought never to look on themselves as independent of their superiors. It is extremely dangerous to encourage such infatuations in a commercial state like ours, where perhaps seven-eighths of the population have little or no property. The cure will not be complete until our industrial laborers are contented to work six days for the same sum which they now earn in four.” Thus, nearly a century before Guizot, work was openly preached in London as a curb to the noble passions of man. “The more my people work, the less vices they will have”, wrote Napoleon on May 5th, 1807, from Osterod. “I am the authority … and I should be disposed to order that on Sunday after the hour of service be past, the shops be opened and the laborers return to their work.” To root out laziness and curb the sentiments of pride and independence which arise from it, the author of the Essay on Trade proposed to imprison the poor in ideal “work-houses”, which should become “houses of terror, where they should work fourteen hours a day in such fashion that when meal time was deducted there should remain twelve hours of work full and complete”
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Mahamudra is attained in one go.
The confused err when they reckon it in terms of levels and paths.
Still, in order to please the confused,
The levels and paths of the vehicle of defining characteristics
Must be reckoned as a substitute even here.
The special dawning of [that] realization
Is the level of the path of seeing [called] extremely joyful.
Cultivating this realization of equal taste is the path of meditation.
When there is nothing to meditate upon [any more], this is the
path of completion.
Although suffering is not done away with,
And qualities and abilities do not immediately arise
Upon the realization of nonduality,
No one would object and say that this is not the path of seeing.
Although the ice cannot be melted
And the ground and stones do not turn warm
Immediately after the sun has risen at dawn,
No one would object and say that this is not the sun.
Phyag rgya chen po lam zab mthar thug ~ Zhang [Tsalpa Tsondrü] ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_Yudrakpa_Ts%C3%B6ndru_Drakpa )
At partner’s father’s olive grove.
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Lion’s Roar said: “O World-Honoured One! How many kinds of things does the Bodhisattva-mahasattva need to accomplish to arrive at formlessness Nirvana and non-possession?” The Buddha said: “O good man! When the Bodhisattva-mahasattva accomplishes ten things, he can truly arrive at formlessness Nirvana and non-possession. What are the ten?
First, he is perfect in faith. How is faith perfect? This is believing deeply that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are Eternal, that all the Buddhas of the ten directions effect expedients, and that beings and icchantikas all possess the Buddha-Nature. It is not believing that the Tathagata is subject to birth, old age, illness, and death, that he has undergone penance, and that Devadatta truly caused blood to flow from the Buddha’s body, that the Tathagata ultimately enters Nirvana, and that Wonderful Dharma dies out. This is where we say that the Bodhisattva is perfect in faith.
"The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra (Chapter Thirty-Eight)
(Source: shabkar.org)
"In this article we take a discourse-historical approach to illustrate the significance of George W. Bush’s (2001) declaration of a war on terror. We present four exemplary call to arms’ speeches by Pope Urban II (1095), Queen Elizabeth I (1588), Adolf Hitler (1938) and George W. Bush (2001) to exemplify the structure, function, and historical significance of such texts in western societies over the last millennium. We identify four generic features that have endured in such texts throughout this period: (i) an appeal to a legitimate power source that is external to the orator, and which is presented as inherently good; (ii) an appeal to the historical importance of the culture in which the discourse is situated; (iii) the construction of a thoroughly evil Other; and (iv) an appeal for unification behind the legitimating external power source. We argue further that such texts typically appear in historical contexts characterized by deep crises in political legitimacy."
A Call to Arms at the End of History: A Discourse–Historical Analysis of George W. Bush’s Declaration of War on Terror
by Phil Graham, Thomas Keenan, Anne-Maree Dowd
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Yet right and wrong have gotten a bad rap in Western Buddhist circles, largely because of the ways in which we have seen right and wrong abused in our own culture — as when one person tries to impose arbitrary standards or mean-spirited punishments on others, or hypocritically demands that others obey standards that he himself does not.
To avoid these abuses, some people have recommended living by a non-dual vision that transcends attachment to right and wrong. This vision, however, is open to abuse as well. In communities where it is espoused, irresponsible members can use the rhetoric of non-duality and non-attachment to excuse genuinely harmful behavior; their victims are left adrift, with no commonly accepted standards on which to base their appeals for redress. Even the act of forgiveness is suspect in such a context, for what right do the victims have to judge actions as requiring forgiveness or not? All too often, the victims are the ones held at fault for imposing their standards on others and not being able to rise above dualistic views.
This means that right and wrong have not really been transcended in such a community. They’ve simply been realigned: If you can claim a non-dual perspective, you’re in the right no matter what you’ve done. If you complain about another person’s behavior, you’re in the wrong. And because this realignment is not openly acknowledged as such, it creates an atmosphere of hypocrisy in which genuine reconciliation is impossible.
"Reconciliation, Right & Wrong by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Source: accesstoinsight.org)
If we understand how to go about things in our own life already, then we will develop a natural sense of how to extend out to others as well. That ability to reach out is based first on how one actually views oneself as Joe Schmidt or Karen Doe. Is this a good Joe Schmidt? Is this a wretched Karen Doe? Or is this David Doe questionable? It is possible, and it has been done in the past, to take an attitude toward oneself that is quite positive and ordinary, in some sense, but which is also extraordinary and which sees life as worthy of celebrating. We can cheer up our attitude toward ourselves. Joe Schmidt could feel a genuine sense of Joe-Schmidt-ness in himself. There is an actual connection that we could make with ourselves.
In some sense, that’s very tricky If you are trying to attain Joe Schmidt-hood, egohood, it is problematic. Joe-Schmidt-hood is stubborn, aggressive, and speedy. On the other hand, Joe-Schmidt-ness is quite reasonable; such a Joe Schmidt is not looking to attain Joe-Schmidt-hood at all, hut rather a could-not-care-less existence. That Joe has planted the sun in his head. That Joe Schmidt has a natural sense of dignity. At that point, Joe Schmidt or Karen Doe has achieved some genuine understanding of him- or herself. It may not be a full-blown accomplishment, but at that point, Joe and Karen begin to relax and feel good about themselves.
Step by step, the situation evolves and becomes cheerful and humorous at the same time. Karen and Joe develop industriousness. They enjoy life; they eat good food; they enjoy how they dress, how they walk, how they talk, how they live. Although they might be living in just one room, their living situation can be uplifted and elegant. Having lots of money and a big apartment doesn’t solve your problems. You still experience emotional struggles of all kinds. The point is that, whatever your environment is, you can create an uplifted living situation. In the warrior’s world, you are the king or queen of your domain, in your own right. This sense of celebration comes from joining the moon in your heart and the sun in your head. Elegance and dignity become natural and lovely, wholesome and good. There is no deceit and no pretense of any kind. This natural wholesomeness is the beginning of developing what we call vajra or indestructible nature. Vajra is a Sanskrit word; it is dorje in Tibetan. There is really no good English translation that I have found. Vajra means having a diamond like nature, a nature that is indestructible. Having developed some elegance in our own personal existence, which is reflected in our sense of demeanor and composure, we then discover something further, which is known as vajra nature. It is a quality of indestructible wakefulness and undeniable presence.
Smile at Fear: Awakening the True Heart of Bravery
By Chögyam Trungpa, Carolyn Rose Gimian, Pema Chödrön p.30-31
Christian religious devotion had historically been accompanied by rejection of mundane affairs, including economic pursuit. Weber showed that certain types of Protestantism – notably Calvinism – were supportive of rational pursuit of economic gain and worldly activities dedicated to it, seeing them as endowed with moral and spiritual significance. Weber argued that there were many reasons to look for the origins of modern capitalism in the religious ideas of the Reformation. In particular, the Protestant ethic (or more specifically, Calvinist ethic) motivated the believers to work hard, be successful in business and reinvest their profits in further development rather than frivolous pleasures. The notion of calling meant that each individual had to take action in order to be saved; just being a member of the Church was not enough. Predestination also reduced antagonising over economic inequality and further, it meant that a material wealth could be taken as a sign of salvation in the afterlife. The believers thus justified pursuit of profit with religion, as instead of being fuelled by morally suspect greed or ambition, their actions were motivated by a highly moral and respected philosophy. This Weber called the “spirit of capitalism”: it was the Protestant religious ideology that was behind – and inevitably lead to – the capitalist economic system. This theory is often viewed as a reversal of Marx’s thesis that the economic “base” of society determines all other aspects of it.
Wikipedia
If God shows you a way in which you may lawfully get more than in another way (without wrong to your soul or to any other), if you refuse this, and choose the less gainful way, you cross one of the ends of your calling, and you refuse to be God’s steward, and to accept His gifts and use them for him when He requierth it: you may labour to be rich for God, though not for the flesh and sin.
Max Weber, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” (p.108)
The meaning of the term yid la mi byed pa [derives from] the term amanasikara in the Sanskrit language. As derived from this term used in the locative case, manas is rendered as yid, sikara is rendered as [la]byed pa and these are negated by the a. One thus speaks of an absence of mentation (yid la byed pa med pa) in the sense of not dwelling in ego-mind (yid la mi gnas pa), being free from ego-mind (yid las grol ba) or transcending ego-mind (yid las ‘das pa). If we translate it as “not dwelling in ego-mind,” the meaning of the term is easy to understand.
However [the translation] yid la mi byed pa (non-mentation; literally, “the ego-mind not focusing upon”) [means that] divisive concepts (rnam rtog) and hypostases (kun rtog) [i.e., the ego-mind] arisen from sources of error are taken as the subject, and then [yid la mi byed pa] is “these agents (de byed pa) not doing.” Given that understanding [of the term], then even when there is non-mentation [in this sense], there will nonetheless be activity in one’s mind. The point is that however the all-pervasive substratum (kun gzhi) and its five sensory operations arise, they are but the self-effulgence of the conceptless and this is the intrinsic dynamics of “Mahamudra.” Thus, when the emotionally-tainted ego-mind (nyon yid) gazes inwardly upon the all-pervasive substratum, it holds it to be its ‘self.’ And when the egoic consciousness (yid shes) looks outward through the five sensory gates, it divides it into the categories [of the life-world] (rigs su bcad). Hence, all that presents itself as samsara, as the subject object [duality] of the two-fold egomind (yid gnyis), and all our beliefs in good and evil are what is meant by “ego-mind” (yid). To go beyond this and not remain in it is “Mahamudra.”
Gyalwa Yang-Gonpa (disciple of Götsangpa) “Mountain Teachings”
