14. Jesus said to them, "If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves, and if you pray, you will be condemned, and if you give to charity, you will harm your spirits.
When you go into any region and walk about in the countryside, when people take you in, eat what they serve you and heal the sick among them.
After all, what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, it's what comes out of your mouth that will defile you."
1 comment:
Conforming to the formalities of religious practice while not living up to the core principle of loving others is not God's will. This sort of hypocrisy is exactly what turns people off to religion. If you are fasting and someone offers you food, don't offend them or be offended by them. Accept it in the spirit of love.
When I took my refuge vows, the lamas suggested that we set up a shrine in our house. However, they said that if this would cause a disturbance or anger our housemates that we should not do it, and simply keep a shrine in our hearts. In other words, good relations with others trumps spiritual pro forma.
"If you give to charity, you will harm your spirits."
Perhaps this means that giving to charity with the goal of being respected and admired by others is indeed, to borrow a phrase, spiritual poison. Giving with no hope of reward, recognition or benefit out of a genuine selfless desire to benefit others is the truly spiritual path. The following quote is the 25th practice from "The 37 practices of a bodhisattva" is relevant.
If those who aspire to enlightenment willingly give up their bodies,
What need is there to mention external objects?
Therefore, with no hope of reward or benefit,
To give with generosity is the practice of a bodhisattva.
The actions we commit in this life have the potential to live on and propagate in the world a very long time after our death. (This is just causality.) If we commit good actions, we can benefit many beings, despite the fact that we don't know what effect we are having on them. (In a previous post, I compared this to how dropping a stone in water will cause waves to propagate outward and touch countless boats, even though we can't see the boats.) This is truly selfless and compassionate. We want beings in the future to benefit from our current kindness, even though they won't know who we are, and even though we will be long dead. I believe this is the infinite body of merit that the Buddha was referring to in the Diaomond Sutra. Our good deeds, especially those which propagate the dharma, have the potential to extend indefinitely into the future.
Some might argue that we are reborn as a more highly accomplished being if we commit good acts, so that our behavior can ultimately be called selfish. Well, I'd rather not get into whether reincarnation is literally true, but this still brings up the related idea that if we behave selflessly for the good of others, this brings about our own happiness. In a sense that means that we are being selfish, but in an informed way. When I examine my motives, I have to admit that I am trying to become a better person so that I can be truly happy. But in the end, the goal is for all beings, including myself, to be truly happy, so there is no paradox here. I just have to realize that recognition or reciprocation of my efforts is not required.
Post a Comment