Too simple to understand (a thought in the moment)
It comes down to this: not only what we do, but how we do it. Ultimately, "why" becomes the point. (Which is just another way of saying that in the end our actual motive manifests ... it comes to be ... it creates karma
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Let me tell you why I'm uhhhhhh something like bewildered. "If I act more assertively and drive for my own fortune and wealth .... That kinda seems self-explanatory. I mean ... I don't know what part of that is confusing.
This is important to me because I quite often find myself grappling with this ummmm puzzle. If I was referring to some bizarre situation with some eccentric frame of mind, well, then I'd understand a "What do you mean?" sorta question. But to drive assertively for my own gain? I don't see what's not kinda universal about that. And that's my point: I assumed, when writing, that most everybody had some experience of something like that, either themselves or someone else.
Ok, a situation. It's the Friday morning project meeting.
a) I go in knowing that Joe Bloe had a bad week and has been slipping. I've wanted into Joe's team since the start and, even though I can't displace him, might weaken his cred by insinuating myself into his crew to "bail him out", making myself look flexible and resourceful and aware of what's happening in the big picture.
b) I go in knowing that Joe's kid was admitted to hospital with something serious and his wife hasn't been taking it well ... he's got rings around his eyes. I identify an area of his task list that overlaps what I'm doing and so suggest that there'd be some efficiency gained by bringing that task over onto my list.
That sorta thing.
But it's the "how" that interests me more, cuz that's what makes it important regardless of specifics. Taking it from a sorta cog-psych angle: I will tend to see what I'm looking for ("cognitive schema" ... it filters stuff that's "salient" so it pops up out of the background) at the cost of blocking other things. Or when I have an opinion I want to press I'll put emphasis on whatever makes me seem right and down-play anything I guess might trip me up.
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You're kind, but heh it's more like compulsion ... it would have been an effort for me to put it out of my mind!
I wanted to right #2 but I've misplaced one of the quotes I wanted to pass on.
Do you have a library of texts? Shatideva's "Guide to the Bodhisattba's Way of Life" has to be top of the list for this sorta thing, and there's a ton of sites about it on the web. (I happened to be working on a translation my teacher released in '94, "The Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva". Wouldn't be surprised if there were 0 sites that about that one.)
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;-)
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;-P
NP with delay ... good of you to come back.
"I don't have a library of texts."
Then you've got a lovely project ahead of you!
Oh, say, I just archived my old "Web Buddhism" page (Dusty!) and associated with that I had a page of texts on the web. Likely lots of them are 404, but still ...
"Thanks for mentioning Shatideva. I'll look it up, though I don't have aspirations."
Sorry? No aspirations? I'm sure you mean something other than what those words say.
"... and much to practice before I would even dream of going that direction."
Okay, there's some sorta confound at place here. "Direction"? The practice is something that's just part of normal daily life.
Wow, social work ... my X was a social worker. She changed tack and became a federal bureaucrat. (Still doing good, but less vulnerable.) Likewise a good friend long ago ... "arresting" kids really burned him out.
My appreciation and sympathy!
Hey, I bet Pema Chödron's books would I bet really appeal to you. (She's the abbess of Gampo Abbey, where I trained.) She's real big on everyday life ... "kitchen sink" is her still-point. *grin*
regards
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